Clever Bird is about as clever as Clever Mutt is - not very!

For once Baggy slept! She only had to get up twice and slept for four hours in between each one - a miracle! Calum woke her up phoning her at 11.30am! Yes 11.30. Clearly she needed it. So Furry Mama set off a little late with Minty Mutt, having dressed Baggy in her new (retail therapy) hippy trousers and mac, because it looked a little overcast. She headed off, only to realise after a few hundred yards that Clever Bird had forgotten Baggy's sunglasses; even though it wasn't bright, Baggy's head soon started to spin from her cataract playing up. Oh the joys of falling apart at the seams. It was chilly though and Baggy felt cold, even with a jumper on under her coat #englishsummer. Pah! As she wandered across the village football pitch, Baggy noticed the pond that the village hall car park had turned into and remembered the torrential rain of last night. Clever Bird decided that perhaps the water meadows would be a bad plan, so when Minty Mutt pulled Furry Mama towards Assington Thickets, Clever Bird agreed that this was a good plan. Wrong!

They had barely got through the gate into the Thickets before Minty found his first puddle. Sigh! As Baggy wandered on, Clever Bird remembered just how heavy the rain had been and looked down at the footpaths that were more like streams. It didn't take long for Clever Bird to realise that her clothing choices for the day were a little off - Baggy might has well have been wandering along with bare feet!

The further into the Thickets they went, the wetter they got, but Minty Mutt was in need of a long walk and led the way. Creative Clara was singing to herself and admiring the foxgloves and not

paying as much attention as she should have, to what Mint was up to, as he wandered along sniffing stuff.

Next thing she knew, he was in another puddle about fifty yards in front of her, only this one was HUGE because it was the overflow from a ditch; a ditch that Minty Mutt was heading straight towards. Furry Mama panicked! Baggy had memories of being a teenager in the 1970's when her home town of Bungay had flooded really badly. The River Waveney burst its banks and covered fields and gardens for acres and acres. Baggy and her friends made the most of it and canoed off the course of the river, over fields and through people's gardens, over roads and car parks into more fields. They came to a field which was a bit shallower and had to get out and pull their canoes behind them. Of course, it was Baggy, who leading the way, found the ditch by basically suddenly disappearing under water! Totally underwater, bearing in mind that she is (and was then) five foot ten inches tall. Very cold, muddy water! Furry Mama screamed at Minty, "Nooooooooooo! Go back" Occasionally he pays proper attention - probably something to do with the note of hysteria in Baggy's voice. He stopped, just as his front legs were suddenly a foot under muddy water. He backed up. "Good Boy", called a very relieved Furry Mama who had had visions of Minty disappearing in a narrow ditch that he couldn't have turned around in. And breathe.

Home once more, Clever Bird was happy that at least Gloria Gardener had no need to do any watering today.............