Whew, what a weekend. Lots of activity, lots of rest.

The yacht launch was hilarious, great fun. Not for Colin though -- he described himself as "sick with fear". His brother and father were also there. In the end Colin came and collected me and took me across to the sailing club, because they needed extra hands to help raise the mast. Then the boat was backed into the water using the club's tractor. Slight panic when it appeared the outboard wouldn't be strong enough to reverse the boat away from the shore, and we drifted scarily close to beaching. Then more panic as Nichol grappled with attaching the rudder and I fended us off the raft.

We got clear though, and the rest of the trip was relatively drama-free -- apart from Colin & Nick arguing over every single thing.

Their dad met us at the other side, and so did Anthea. She and I headed back to my place for lunch, then off to Elie despite the rain. Bertie was thrilled to be at Elie again. More than thrilled, ecstatic. So ecstatic he jumped over a barbed wire fence into a field.

Anthea thought it was hilarious; I wasn't so amused. I couldn't see whether he'd cut his feet jumping the fence (he sprang on to the top wire, which was the barbed bit), and I didn't know whether there was a gate in the field open to the road beyond. I couldn't see a gate on our side, which presented another problem -- how to get him out. Meanwhile he was bounding around the paddock like a springbok, purely happy.

I climbed over the fence and once he'd run out of steam a bit managed to get him to come. Clipped on the lead and began the long walk to find a way out. Finally we found a bit where the ground dipped under the fence, leaving a gap -- but was it big enough for 32kg of unco-operative greyhound? I bent his front legs and pushed them through; Anthea grabbed them and pulled while I pushed his skinny bum. Bingo!

He was on the lead the rest of the walk, but he didn't care because he was bushed anyway. The rain held off but it was good we left when we did -- on the drive back the rain was torrential, it was nerve-wracking because even with the wipers at full speed I couldn't see very well. Most people drove as fast as they would have if it had been dry. Terrifying.

Friday I got my wetsuit, did my recycling and washed the car. Saturday I went for a sail -- serious wind, a wild and bouncy couple of hours. I didn't capsize until the very last minute, when I was "parking", very embarrassing. Happily I had one foot on the slipway, so I didn't end up in the mud, and the boat flipped right way up easily. The wetsuit was a great buy, it really made a difference.

I was meant to go out on Saturday night, but was so whacked out by all the activity I flagged that away. When I took Bertie for a walk in the field up the back at about 8pm all his best pals were up there with their people, and we all walked round together. These days that's my kind of social event!

Sunday I worked in the front garden, it was starting to get choked with weeds.

So, all in all a very pleasant few days off, restorative. This week is busy with visitors: Annmaree and her husband are coming for lunch tomorrow and Andrew is arriving on Thursday for an overnight stay, coming back on Sunday I think (he's going to a wedding down south). Wednesday a shake-down sail in Eraser is pencilled in (pencilled in, geddit? Ha!). Saturday is the grand opening of the Forth & Clyde Canal, a big flotilla of all kinds of boats is sailing from Grangemouth led by "a beautiful 35ft fish that will transform into a spectacular fountain" according to the publicity.