Change in the Taylor household

Chris and I were on holiday last week and there was a big change in our house.

As some of you may know, Bailey, our chocolate labrador has been almost like a child for us. We love him dearly and whilst being a bit on the stupid side, we loved his daftness. When we first got Bailey, Chris was working steady 9 to 5 hours and I was soon to be working part-time. We could also take Bailey to work with us. But since we first got him 5 years ago, jobs have changed and hours have changed. Chris has mainly worked from home but is now office based in Warwick, whilst I am generally working 9-7.30ish or longer. So....we took the brave decision to re-home Bailey. It was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my 28 years of life so far. But, it was not fair to have the dog in the house on his own for 12-13 hours a day. We were troubled by the decision we were making, but having spent Monday and Tuesday at home with Bailey, we saw what a difference having company full time makes to him. He was so happy to be part of the pack all day. So on Wednesday morning we packed up all of Bailey's worldly possession (and there were a LOT of them), I wrote an 8 page guide book to tell his new family everything they could ever wish to know about Bailey and off we set in the car, to Huddersfield.

Rehoming Bailey is something we have discussed on and off for the last year or so, but have never found a family we were happy with or really made too much of an effort to find a new family for him. Having mentioned it to a few people, Victoria, Chris' cousin had a few suggestions and the second family she put forward to have him sounded perfect.

As soon as he got out the car, his new mum, Jennifer showered him with kisses and cuddles and I immediately knew we had found the right home for him. Jennifer and Matthew live in a large house facing onto fields outside Huddersfield. With an acre of garden to run around in, two children and 11 chickens to chase, we are confident Bailey will have a great time with them.

As happy as he will be there, we will miss him and he will always be our dog. Needless to say, as soon as we pulled out of their drive, Chris and I were both in tears.

Part of my guidebook to Bailey talked about how he interacts with children - he loves them! He especially loves sniffing dirty nappies. On Thursday morning we received a message from Matthew and Jennifer to let us know that Bailey was settling in well. He was thoroughly exhausting having played with the children ALL day. They were also amused to have found Bailey rolling the youngest child (who is 18 months old) over to sniff his dirty nappy (we did warn them!).

Having dried our tears, on Friday, we set off for a weekend in Scotland. The traffic was terrible and the journey to Edinburgh took us about 6 1/2 hours. For once I did not sleep (I am renowned for sleeping on any journey of over 30 minutes - but hey, what a great opportunity for a nap?). We stayed Friday night with my mum's older sister, Helen. She cooked us dinner and I showed her my family history. Helen has an interest in family history but hasn't done much herself. I shared what I had found with her so far and she was able to add a few names she had found to my pedigree charts, which was an unexpected bonus. We also looked through old family photos trying to match them to the names we had and it was great to look for the family features in the photos we had and for me to hear some of the stories Helen remembers from our family history. My mum and Helen are only 9 months apart in age so it was surprising that they remember different stories.

On Saturday morning, having been fed with a fry up, we drove around the corner to my Nanna's to visit her and my grandad. Grandad has alzheimers and I last saw him two years ago. In the last two years, his condition has worsened and he didn't know who I was but seemed happy enough to sit and listen. He was smiling away and when my Nanna asked him if he knew who I was he simply said "I don't think so" but carried on smiling and was happy enough for me to give him a kiss goodbye.

We drove to Eyemouth where Chris was diving. I spent the afternoon with my gran and the weather was absolutley G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. Eyemouth I am convinced is the coldest place in the UK. There is a constant northerly wind blowing off the North Sea and stand still long enough and you will freeze to the bone. But Saturday was an exception. So I walked down to the High Street with my Gran, watched out for traffic for her whilst she sat on her mobility scooter, watched her narrowly avoid going head first into a bush, run over small children and cause a traffice accident. Did you know you don't need a licence to drive one of those things and they could be lethal!! She's quite a whizz on it though, so watch out Eyemouth residents!

We watched the seals in the harbour and enjoyed a handmade icecream cone in the sun. It was great. I coaxed some family history from her too, but its tricky for her to remember even half the names - not because she is old but because her dad was the youngest of 16 and her mother one of 13 - goodness me, that is a large family! I also discovered that my great grandad was 7 foot 2 inches tall and his wife was only 4 foot 8. What a funny couple they must have made.