Fallen From Grace

Creating Mountains out of Nothing

Andy and I had three most gorgeous days down Western Supermare. It was beautiful weather. Our mornings consisted of an English breakfast, white toast - watching Holly Willoughby on This Morning (Philip Scholfield had been taken off air in regards to a past relationship he had that was inappropriate at this point) with Penny just to the side of us. Andy fed her bits of hash brown and bacon to keep her quiet, but she was as good as gold anyway.

The hotel itself was out of this world. It was magnificent. I loved the Victorian architecture engraved into the walls and the staircase, as the old authenticity made it look upscale and refined, and their stairs was the focal point just after reception. Yet the hotel gave off a warm and inviting feel. It was because of the beautiful carpet the minute I sat foot on it.

Andy and I had a double bedroom, which Penny made a beehive for the clean white bedding, so we shooed her off. She did have a few accidents on the carpet, which were sprayed and immediately cleaned up. Our guess was that she was trying to mark her territory from previous dogs that had been in the room. We wanted to keep everything perfect from the moment we walked in till we left the following week. Therefore, when Andy said our curtains were ripped, I was flabbergasted.

"I just pulled these back..." he said, showing me the way their net curtains operated. "Just to get a bit of sunlight out the room for Penny. A bigger dog has jumped and done this."

I stared at the window, thinking at least it wasn't the curtains. He'd be sending my head barmy if I took him at his initial words sometimes.

"It doesn't look too bad with the light coming in from behind," Andy says as he studies it. "You can hardly notice it."

I understood it was a dog friendly hotel and I rationalised that there may be certain things that were perhaps indicators a little bit due to dogs staying here, but still, now that I think about it how much could a bit of netting cost and put that right?

We had another scare the following morning because Penny, of course, slept in the bed. So as I was in the bathroom, Andy called, and I immediately knew there's something wrong with the way he called my name, so I came on out. It didn't make any sense to us knowing there was a tear in the bedding.

"She's slept in a bed before. She's never done this," Andy said glumly. "We're going to have to say something. You do realise that Kimberly? If there is anything wrong with this room, we will get charged with additional fees."

I sighed. I supposed they deserved to know. Whilst Andy was trying to find ways to tell the hotel staff to me something from the back of my head kept coming to the forefront of my mind.

"What if you tell them and I try and...."'

"Hold on a second," I shushed him as I was thinking. "Wait. I don't think Penny did this."

I had the image of pulling the duvet over me last night and groaning because there was a rip in the sheet. So I told Andy this.

"You're right," he gasped. "I remember you complaining last night because I hadn't gone to sleep. I was on my switch! So Penny's not done this?"

"No."

The look of relief just washed over his face, and he started to smile.

"Right, now you take Penny out for a poo whilst I have a shower. I took her out this morning whilst you were asleep. She weed but didn't poo."

So, armed with poo bags and quickly putting my clothes on from yesterday, I took her out. I walked with her all over the grounds, and she had no desire to poo. She weed, and for the first time, I noticed her do the strangest of things. After she weed, she clawed and threw dirt over her wee. I stared at her for a few moments, flabbergasted, and it wasn't too long before I came back into our room just as Andy was out of the shower.