That’ll be a pattern. Dog discovers rotting fence panel and goes next door for a run around. Only the gate next door was open … three times we had a phonecall to ask if we’d lost our dog!

Third time was the neighbours two houses away! He’d (the dog) used his wiles to get through a damaged panel between them and our direct neighbour.

They were understandably nervous of our dog appearing in their back garden and didn’t know where he’d come from. Mobile numbers on his collar are proving to be handy and essential.

The first two escapes he made it out onto the road causing traffic chaos and we reckon he was trying to get to the rec ground for a run and sniff around.

Helpful neighbours helped to round him up.

Whether his shenanigans are helping my mental state do depend on how much fun I see in his eyes and how much he barks at me to continue the game.

But the fence panel ordered to plug the gap was too big for the space and has had some sawing in a vertical line, wiggling of small pieces of the horizontal strips and nibbling of nails to take a small piece off the panel and preservative has been applied to preserve the wood where it’s been sawn.

And more of the laurel has been clipped to get to the panel before the gardener comes next week to take the whole thing down. Half the bush and many brambles have filled the green bin.

Still lots to do before the garden stops being our sanctuary and becomes a cold, wet and muddy mess. At which point the woodburner makes being inside more appealing.

A couple of privet bushes and the laurel will hopefully come down next week. Brambles behind them all and behind the potting shed need some kind of macerating and painted with weed killer. (Carefully and responsibly applied.) I’d like to clear a lot of the garden but it’s taken ten years!