derbyshire

stop, look, listen, whisper it, i reckon spring might just have arrived in my corner of rural derbyshire, a light air frost greeted us this morning and, as the sun rose higher into the sky, for the first time this year, a touch of real warmth, the bitter easterly wind has finally dropped, after a massive mr's b veggie breakfast and numerous cup's of tea it was short's, boot's a base layer and a crag-hopper fleece, the first time in month's i hadn't had a berghaus or north face jacket on, as i put the boy's leads on i even decided to leave my thermal gloves behind, the dog's sensed that spring is finally coming, ducking and diving, sniffing every rabbit hole in the hedgerow's, still bereft of green shoes, but, today i saw my first daffodil's in flower, even the air is different, just that smell of soil and earth and musk, gus suddenly loses interest, i know something is wrong straight away, when you spend as much time with these dog's as i do you just know, he carry's on for a mile or two, but he's just soldiering on, even as we pass the farm where his sworn enemies 'the psycho geese' live he's not straining at the leash trying to get at the two, spitting, clucking, puffed up, all-beak and no manner's pieces of shit that can't even fly properly, he's running on three, front, nearside leg held up in the air, i stop to have a look, as soon as i touch his paw his lip is up and he's showing me his big white nasher's, growling low to warn me that if i overstep the mark i'm going to get nailed big time, i have to look close to see it, but there it is, a big blackthorn in his pad, i reckon it must be 5mm in diameter, it's got to come out, no question, i'm going to get bitten but i can't see my boy struggling like this, i grab the thorn and pull it out, bang, claret, [me, not him] he nails me, the blackthorn is around 20mm long, bloody hell, that must have hurt, a bit like my finger's really, it's not so much the cut, more the crushing action of a dog-bite that causes the pain, as soon as the thorn is out he's ok, he know's he's bit me but he's wagging his tail and licking me to let me know, well, you know..........