COCO - THE ALARM SPANIEL

For those of you who don't already know, I refer to my dog as the alarm spaniel. It's great having an alarm spaniel around; any time a visitor or a cat comes near...the barking begins. Unfortunately, it takes a while for her to respond to the off button, but I'm working on it.

At around 7.30 last night, the alarm spaniel went off. I imagined it was a cat and wasn't concerned until I heard footsteps coming to my door. Eek.

The outside lights didn't activate, (hubby had turned them off because the cat kept setting them off). So there I am, sitting on my own, pitched black outside with someone knocking at my door.

I opened a window because I knew if I went to the door, Coco would have a few words with this stranger . There was a man there who introduced himself and asked if he could come in for a few minutes for a chat.

He looked harmless enough and for a moment, I considered letting him in. I didn't want to say - My husband is away so could you come back another day? I managed to come up with, 'Now's not convenient, could you come back another time?' He replied, 'Sure, how about tomorrow night?' I didn't know how to respond. If he was dodgy he would either know I was home alone or my house would be unattended the next evening. I asked him if he could come back next week instead and left it at that.

Makes me wonder why people in this day an age go door knocking. Don't they realise they are putting themselves at risk entering strangers houses? Maybe he felt safe being a man. Silly man if you ask me. I realise he didn't know I was home alone but don't people think about these things? Home invasion if rife. I don't usually have visitors arriving on my doorstep, by foot, unannounced. He scared me half to death.

Which reminds me. Today, I passed a hitchhiker on my way to the shops. I felt sorry for him and almost stopped. He was still there when I headed home. I think hitchhikers must be mad. Talk about making yourself an easy target.

The moral to this story...if you are going to pay me a visit in the evening, make sure you phone first or you may have to deal with the alarm spaniel.


Oh dear, I think I've been watching too many horror movies again. Wonder if there are any romance movies on tonight...