A Soggy Day Out – It’s Wimbledon Fortnight

Following the heatwave, we now have a traditional  Wimbledon Fortnight – it’s tipping down with rain. Equally predictable, the one day that we schedule for a day out to celebrate a friend’s birthday was the first day of (torrential) rain all summer.

Undeterred, we boarded the tube and reminded ourselves that stoicism was traditional (if not de rigeur) and the puppy didn’t care what the weather was doing anyway. The rain teased us as we changed trains, spitting and dripping as we sat on a damp bench on the platform. That was just the warm up – or rather cool down.

We traversed (Travised?) the High Road towards Ruislip Lido, on the way encountering a brilliantly designed water fountain – congratulations to Hillingdon Council. Water was to be the theme of the day. Sure enough, as soon as we arrived at the Lido, the rain came down in earnest. By then, we were hungry so we bought sandwiches at the Lido café. Business must have been very slack. Crusty bread had been promised, but we got stale bog-standard brown which, whilst not quite the full British Rail affair, lacking the requisite curl, was nevertheless the only dry thing in sight. We then headed for the dog beach. In fact, we missed it by a few yards but, having inspected the sodden, vandalised bench sitting on the litter-ridden sand, we headed back to the seating outside the café instead. As we walked towards the relative shelter of the woods, we saw the actual dog beach but nobody seemed to mind that paws had been on the wrong one. It at least looked as if the dogs hadn’t vandalised the dog beach or left their litter behind.

Travis was indifferent to the imported sand and there were suspicions of algae on the water. In any case, there was enough water descending from above for the lido to hold any additional attractions. We dutifully circled the water and checked off the Walk The Planets noticeboards (1 vandalised) and headed for home.

One tired, damp puppy had his first big soggy day out in typical English fashion. We ordered a comforting take away.

Next week: Home Alone 2

Get in touch to get help with enjoying your perfect day out, training your dog to sit politely in a café or not molest people with picnics…weather not guaranteed!