I’ve had two new experiences today. This morning I washed a dog for the first time in my life. My friend has “acquired” her mother-in-law’s dog when Mother-in-law came to live with them. The old lady had been too infirm to wash the poor dog for months, and it was so dirty my friend couldn’t bear to touch it – so it just got dirtier. Someone had to break the vicious circle. So I went along in old clothes, carrying dog shampoo and clothes to change into afterwards to do the deed. Actually it was much easier than I’d expected, and nothing at all like bathing a cat. (In my experience, all those gags about cat bathing going round the internet rather underestimate the difficulty.) I’d tied the dog up, but he didn’t fight back or try to run away at all. In fact I think he was glad to be free of all those ticks. I must have taken at least 20 of the horrid things off him.
And this afternoon I made chutney for the first time. My parents used to make quite a lot of chutney, but I’d never done it, and for some reason I was nervous about trying. But then my friends in Franceses found something in the pumpkin family in their garden which turned out to be a panceno, which was too old just to eat as a vegetable in the normal way. I was advised to make jam out of it, but it’s not my favourite jam and we don’t each much jam anyway. Then I had to cut back a load of weeds, and it included some little green tomatoes. I like the wild tomatoes here when they’re ripe, but these were very green. So I took the plunge and made a couple of litres of chutney. Then I tasted it and added more sugar. Then I tasted it again and added more sugar and some raisins. And then some more sugar. I wouldn’t say it’s the greatest chutney since the dawn of time, but it’s OK for a first try. Especially since it’s unheard of here, so I almost never see it in the shops.
