When did we become... such a penny-pinching, selfish, third-rate country?
Or is it all down to a long consistent line of smiling, glamorous, teeth-flashing politicians who tried to convince themselves as much as us that we were really doing very well???

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/the-great-british-decline-what-went-so-horribly-wrong/ar-AA1OY574?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=51cd62fd012e433580b8eb6f1c6433de&ei=32

Here's another photo of Oscar the Magnificent, down on the South Coast about 2009. Could not believe that on the beach, he still managed to find and get covered in mud...

Here's a photo of Oscar & myself taken down on the South coast of England back on 2009. I had just suffered a serious stroke and he was helping me recover, soon after I suffered another more serious one, and then Oscar was sent for training up to be my personal Service & Support Dog. And he also went on to be a PAT/Occupational Therapy (cuddle-dog) in the hospitals, health centres and colleges, as well as doing some acting and modelling (!) on the side. But that is a story for another time...

Another picture of our old retriever. tI, looking cool back in July 2005...

Here are a couple of pix of tI, our 1st Golden Retriever who sadly passed back in November 2008. She was an amazing dog, and the only one I have ever encountered who liked to do jigsaw puzzles with you... She would actually stare at the pieces of the puzzles for hours on end, then move them around gently with her nose. We wondered what she was doing, before realising she actually was trying to get them to fit together...

Here is a 'before' and 'after' pair of photos....

They may start off very kewt and fluffy, full of mischief and curiosity about you and the world, but they just grow up in to hair, dirty, Mammoth-like monstrosities...

Here's another photo of Eden the Black Labrador. He's had a very busy Summer, and is quite a popular dog on the Disabled Sports (Cricket) circuit over here in England. He is regularly spotted patrolling the field boundary looking for squirrels and moles.
THese are a couple of photos taken of him by my carer a few weeks back when it was very hot, we'd taken him for a walk in the nearby woods (cooler!) and he was paddling in the little stream that runs through it looking for 'water squirrels'.

Here is another post of Eden guarding his washing/laundry, he thinks if he hides under where it is flapping he can surprise any squirrels who try to steal it...