CF Acquaintance turned up today despite refusing invite

[Grumpusaurus]

We live in a popular tourist destination and after numerous people took advantage of us, we nip it in the bud now. Most seem to follow the same script by contacting us out of the blue and mentioning that it would be so lovely to see us. I now answer in a very friendly manner that it has been years since we last heard from them and it would indeed be lovely to catch up over coffee in a nearby spot when they are in the area. This does tend to put an end to most of those potential CFs, however, one acquaintance pushed back and asked to stay with us at the beginning of September. I told her that this would not be possible, especially as we have a very tight deadline and will be working flat out to finish a commission. DH and I are self-employed craftspeople and sometimes we do work all day and most of the night to finish pieces and the DC stay at their grandparents during that last push. Not heard back from the acquaintance since July even though she clearly read my WhatsApp message.

The doorbell went this evening, I ignored it as DH and I were in the middle of working on our commission but someone kept pushing the bell. Our property is an L-shape so you can see from our workshop who is at the front door. CF acquaintance was standing there with a suitcase! DH is more of a people pleaser and while really cheesed off was about to answer the door till I told him no bloody way! He redeemed himself by immediately agreeing. The bell went a few more times and then got a flurry of WhatsApp messages, which I ignored. She eventually left after half an hour. I am almost bemused by the cheek of it but there is no way I am going to let anyone railroad me into being their free accommodation and greatly inconveniencing us, especially while we literally get up to work all hours and fall into bed. DH is fretting about her coming back but I told that we will just continue to ignore the doorbell. We have a back gate to a dirt track we can stealth like leave the property if she is holding a siege at the front door 😎 There are plenty of hotels and B&Bs in the area, albeit quite dear. Who does that! A rhetorical question but am just shocked by the cheek of just turning up after saying emphatically No!

I'm with Julian Clary on dogs' lifespans Grump -

Or, more whimsically, Philip Pullman, with his joined-souls daemons, where you are born together & die together -
www.amazon.co.uk/His-Dark-Materials-Philip-Pullman/dp/1407135597

😂😂😂

Deerhound lady lasted 13 years til an unfortunately inability to stand up (no dramatic falling over just a gentle slither into a perplexed sit she couldn't not hoik herself out of) meant we had to say goodbye. She said she could just live on the sofa and eat cake for many years to come and we entertained that for a bit, but its not overly practical, particularly as she would want to swap sofas in the middle of the night meaning someone had to come down and scrape her off the floor to facilitate this! So sad when their bodies let them down but the mind is still willing!

Still I highly recommend deerhounds and we'd have another but the insurance costs are eyewatering and my health and earning capacity diminishing so it isn't a sensible idea (not that I am wholly bound by 'sensible ideas'... ugh, how terribly boring!)...

Omg my favourite thread in a long time is now discussing my favourite dogs that I will never own but dream of doing so on a daily basis

13 years is a stonking achievement from deerhound lady.
And you, for giving her the care that kept her into healthy longevity @WiddlinDiddlin

Aww thanks - she was an absolute cracker of a dog, we were her willing minions all her life, throughout her modelling career (she was in some of Hills Science diets puppy info stuff on their website, she went to ONE photo shoot and met the boxer that was then on Eastenders, and after that, well........ she was a SLEB you know!) and beyond... she had her own sofa! Truly, a Hairy Princess :D

Oh @WiddlinDiddlin it's a good thing OP is so pro-dog, we can pretend we haven't hijacked the entire thread by DogBoring 😎

I love her in her Sleb role, & hope she milked the aloof demeanour that hounds, esp. tall ones, are prone to summon.
I fell in love with that expression with the lurcher - obvs, bought the lurcher training manual (ha ha ha hahahahhahahhaha yeah right) & one of my fave pics was a big lurcher, poised atop one of those narrow maybe 4 inch wide1950's tiled mantelpieces. Her entire expression just oozed "WHAT? What is it NOW, human?"

The Flatcoat was marked "not for working" in his 7-week test, which is how I managed to get m'paws on him, as his breeder is a renowned working trials expert. It went to his head, he developed a lot of frankly quite Public School Attitudes, so was shocked when I started a new biz which he was asked to promote by wearing a branded tabard. However, being a flat, he wasn't at all disconcerted by the attention & soon associated the tabard with Showing Off & Treat Accepting Duties.
His breeder had the absolute grace & kindness to tell me how proud she was of him. He did bloody well for 'just a pet' in terms of performance/tricks/communication etc. (I'm not a field/trials expert, just an enthusiastic dog lover) It was simply that the lad would NOT retrieve ... 😂

Yes I was feeling a bit of the ole 'thread hijacker guilt' there earlier...

Galgos! Now those are a fantastically pointy and ethereal creature - I'd love one.

I once met one in Calais and immediately befriended it (possibly to the annoyance of its person) and then put it in my cartoon strip, as you do.

My own recently passed lurcher was a huge fan of standing on the worktop, the cooker, the extractor fan hood once (he didnt like that, that was a leap too far, he bonked his head on the ceiling)... when we foolishly believed it to be somewhere he couldn't reach food... dratted hounds! :D

Hold on one moment here young Widdlin.
Don't reckon PP can be accused of dripfeeding, but even so this is a mighty one - you have a cartoon strip?!!
Not gonna ask for pics (or even a diagram ha ha) as clearly that would be outing. But wowsers!

the extractor fan hood once
😂😂😂
With you on the ethereal pointiness of the galgos. The kind of dogs elves would have had if Tolkein had written them in.
Couldn't have one though, I live in (whisper it) sheep country ...

Wonderful how this thread has evolved! From a stressful moment of cfuckery to the discussion of chic intruder deterrents to sight hounds. All of my favourite subjects combined!

Ha, cheers for appreciating the derail Grump.

It's very intermittent... I am a lazy lazy artist (who has to do other jobs too!)...

All quiet on the CF front @Grumpusaurus ? How are the oubliette plans coming along?

I'm by

I have very much enjoyed reading this thread but am now too obsessed by the fact you have hounds to care about the CF (as you should be). Has your MIL come across Galgos del Sol? Everyday their Facebook puts us at risk of trying to adopt a third long nose.

I've had to stop looking at Galgos del Sol's page - i looked LOADS when I did some artwork for them, and now have a strong hankering for a Galgo... and when they have puppies in, it is soooooooooooo much harder to resist (but for practical grown up YAWN BORING reasons I must).

Oh we are talking sighthounds now?! I’m in!

your poor old deerhound girl @WiddlinDiddlin

we have 2 deerhound lurchers who are receiving a ridiculous amount of love (what IS it about them?!), oldest girl is 10, hope she has many years left as she’s my soul-dog

Oooh, I love Galgos del Sol (Hank is one of my favourites and reminds me of one of our old Galgos), Scooby and parenas, plus Lévriers Sans Frontières and a few other organisations. We also often tend to send a donationt to Candy's Hound Rescue International.

Had a good bitching session chat with a friend this evening who has seen CF's social media posts. Looks like she is still around. Loads of 'reasons for being thankful' faux spiritual stuff with photos of her cropped legs on beach, wistfully gazing out at the sea and some stuff about knowing who to trust and who is there for you, having to be strong when alone blablabla. Cue the requisite 'Are u ok hun?' brigade and her response about PMing her. It actually made DH and I grin about the ridiculous pity fishing. I have no social media connection to her, she did sent me a friend's request but I ignored it.

We met a gorgeous friendly saluki in a shop yesterday. She was a beautiful blonde-pale cream and beige.

ridiculous pity fishing

Well I knew what is IS, but never heard that phrase before. Admirably succinct & merciless, hurrah, thanks OP 😀

Ha ha @sueelleker I have an saluki acquaintance in those colourways.

She reminds me of that 'certain class of laydee' who wears pearls, understated but expensive pastels, & a camel coat.
You know the type - cool & elegant, probably played by Lyndsay Duncan ...

@Grumpusaurus I love that you’re really able to give zero fucks about this chancer. Not that you should of course, but I have the habit of second/third/fourth guessing myself and twinges of “I’m not being mean am I?”

who the fuck does she think she is that everyone owes her a living/worship etc? The friend request wasn’t recent was it?

@MzHz I think when it is someone you really do not care about and nor particularly like, then it is easy to not give a flying fuck. Harder when it is someone you thought you were close to I suppose

She sent me a friend's request quite a while ago. In fact, it was a mutual friend came to visit us before the lockdown and put up some photos of her trip.

the ridiculous pity fishing

Pity fishing - love it! I know several people who do this and now I have a handy phrase for them

After my dog was killed by an ex racing greyhound I wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole. The owner thought it was lovely to save an animal from being destroyed while that beast tore my dog to bits.