It was an interesting week, that’s for sure. Recently I noticed a slim, elderly lady with a jaunty blue cap being led by a gorgeous black Labrador guide dog. I said hello. Her name was Gerda and she spoke with a soft German accent. After a week or so, Urny, her dog, would pause on the path opposite the cottage, push against Gerda until she patted him approvingly, then trot across the road, and sit outside my half-door. “He misses people talking to him,” she said. “Before Covid we used to have lots of visitors and they spoilt him. Urny is ever so social.”