We were in London last weekend: the entire Eardley clan. Two of my sons live there already, so my youngest who lives in Edinburgh, along with myself and my wife made the pilgrimage south on Thursday. This time, our dog Daisy joined us on our travels. She is usually farmed out to willing friends or extended family when we are away, however, on this trip you could say she was the guest of honour.

My eldest son, Nicholas, was unable to join the rest of us over Christmas due to his having moved house and his partner, Lesley, having to work over the Christmas period. So this was an early year catch-up in lieu of our lost mid-winter holiday. It was natural, therefore, that Daisy would feature in the cast.

The excitement of the Eardley ensemble hitting the city was intensified in that we were going to visit Nicholas and Lesley's new house. Not just visit but to stay there over our time in London. No big deal I expect you might be saying. I think you are probably forgetting the unpredictable element in the story: Daisy. She is getting on a bit now and is pretty fixed in her ways. It does not help that she is a bit of a princess crossed with a diva and is stubborn as a mule when she does not want to comply with the thing that you really want her to do. Someone recently asked me: where does Daisy sleep? My response: wherever she wants to! With that thought at the forefront of our minds, we began the journey south.

Luckily, Daisy loves a train journey. We now know the location of the lifts at Kings Cross, so can avoid the perilous journey down the escalator, carrying Daisy along with suitcases. We eventually made it to East London with only a couple of minor hiccups along the way. The big test was going to be the sleeping arrangements because at home Daisy is apt to request a visit to the garden at least twice a night, by way of scratching at the back door. Our trepidation was around how that would go down in the new house – the back garden was the playground for a family of urban foxes. It looked as if it might be a challenging few days.

I think Daisy is a wee chancer, for contrary to all expectations, her behaviour in this quarter was excellent as she lay on the bed with us, hardly moving at all in the night, except maybe just to do a round to ensure everyone was safe and well, before returning back to join us. I wonder if she also sensed that the fox family were out in force and decided to give her nocturnal meanderings a body swerve.

All in all, she had a great time and Daisy made many new friends, both canine and human. She made an effort to pal up with some felines too but it's never reciprocated. Highlights of her visit were chasing a squirrel up a tree in the garden and getting carried on the escalator by Nicholas on the way back to Kings Cross. Turns out she does like it, just not when someone is also carrying bags and cases. Sitting on Becca's (my son Dominic's girlfriend) lap in the pub and feeling so relaxed and comfortable, she fell asleep. She also attempted to hoover up all the dropped and discarded morsels of food to be found in the street around Spitalfields Market.

We humans had an enjoyable time too.

Frank Eardley



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