Postcard From The Village

   No dogs are permitted in Portmeirion, well not unless you happen to be staying in a self-catering cottage where having a dog is permitted {well it used to be, I'm not so sure about these days} because in the early 1990's my wife and I used to take Duke with us, this is Duke who is sadly no longer with us, having passed away at the age of 14 in December 2005. This is Duke.

  Anyway, we took Duke to Portmeirion on holiday, and one day we were walking Duke around the Village, and we heard a day visitor say "You see, we could have brought our dog into the Village." Ah, but they couldn't, because Duke was at Portmeirion as a guest, and we had to pay for Duke to be there.
   I remember one day when we were down on the beach, just after this picture was taken I believe, when I was playing 'Ducks and Drakes', Duke was most intersted in this. I used to throw sticks for him, but he would just sit there watching me throw sticks and was otherwise completely uninterested. I suppose he thought that if I was stupid enough to throw sticks about the place, he might as well sit and watch me! But anyway, there I was skimming stones across the water, and as I say this Duke found most interesting, so much so that suddenly he was off like a shot into the water..........Now Duke had never liked to encounter water, unless he was being forced to have a bath, which he never did mind because someone was washing him. And of course Duke could not have known how deep the water was at that point along the beach. It was shallow enough to begin with, but then the beach suddenly dropped away beneath Dukes feet and he was gone.........I was in the water, and there was Duke swimming about under water! then he turned about and came out of the water, shook himself and wouldn't go into the water again no matter how much I tried to tempt him in! It was at that point we found out that Duke could actually swim. And by the by, Duke was the only dog I ever met who could actually smile.    Be seeing you