What a week!

Aren't there just periods of time that seem to somehow be elastic? Times where so much happens, so much is squeezed in that they seem to last both a lifetime and pass in a heartbeat, simultaneously? When I look back over this week, I realise that I've just passed through one of those manic weeks which has been so crammed full that I'm half convinced it's really been a month since I last posted.

I think one of the reasons that it has felt very full was that I expended a fair amount of nervous energy over various things. Some are to do with work, which is of little relevance here, but many are to do with Benny. We had been in ongoing contact with the RSPCA regarding the prosecution of Benny's previous owners as we always knew it was possible that he would have to be assessed again to provide further evidence for the case. And we were notified that a further assessment was required about ten days ago.

Unfortunately, one of the vets involved with producing the paperwork was based many miles away, in Shropshire. When he asked to meet Benny for his assessment, we ended up in an elaborate game of phone tennis that lasted nearly a week, trying to make vaguely convenient arrangements. However, we failed miserably to make a time where we could take Benny to meet the vet, either up here or down south, and in the end, the only solution was for the RSPCA to collect Benny from our home, drive him on the four hour round trip to Shropshire for his fifteen minute assessment.
I was really unhappy about it; I didn't want him going back in the van, for such a prolonged period, with neither of us there, to be poked and prodded by strangers. I do realise I may be sounding a tad melodramatic here, but I really do have a profound sense of needing to protect him, above and beyond anything I have felt before for one of my dogs.

Needless to say, the day of the assessment passed without any major hiccups, and though Benny was W.I.R.E.D when he got back (a touch on the manic side), he hasn't suffered any ill effects from the experience, so I probably just sound like a neurotic owner!
The case was then in court on Friday, and though I naively expected to have some kind of report on it's conclusion, it is ongoing and we will have to wait to hear the final outcome at some point in the future.

And all of that was before we even got up to the Lake District for our big test of running together, which had also been weighing on my mind all week. That, of course is a whole story of its own, and I shall tell you all about it in my next post.