21 Comments
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Gaslighted Boomer's avatar

Your ancestor, Thomas Coutts, would have had a wry smile at those comments as he helped many of his friends during the French Revolution having spent a long time in Paris.

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

Funnily enough have been reading about that recently. The French Department!

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Natasha Lunn's avatar

Really enjoying your newsletter ❤️

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

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Jeannette Hyde's avatar

Great post and I hope the wine and friends were soothing - that’s exactly when both are needed! Btw raw dog food is expensive if you buy it. My daughter makes her own dog cooked food. She home cooks cheap meat cuts from the butcher with a tad of rice and root veg like sweet potato (in a pressure cooker with some water) served sprinkled with ground flax seeds for a shiny coat and formed stool. Now he won’t accept anything else. Being cooked it’s easier to digest and he has lots of energy for running and playing.

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

LUCKY DOG. I wouldn't mind a shiny coat and a formed, er, well, never mind... But thank you v much for the tip!

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Barry Wilkes's avatar

Raw dog food : I must say that, while I love my flat-coated retriever, feeding kibble is just so convenient and smell-free. Take a look at Dr John grain free chicken - although my brother, who has a pair of Labradors, swears by Aldi's grain free offering. You certainly don't need to spend a fortune to feed your dog well.

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

Oooh thank you! I absolutely will take a look.

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Kayleigh Pirie's avatar

At risk of sounding like THAT millennial dog-owner who feeds her cavapoochon Natural Instinct raw food, I find the expense isn't much more expensive than good quality "normal" dog food. More so,

that it takes up a lot of freezer space. Something to consider in your CP maisonette!

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

Ah ok, useful thank you. *googles Natural Instinct immediately*

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Nicola Billington's avatar

On dogs: until 2020 (yes, that year) I was living in West Norwood/Gipsy Hill and regularly walked my dog in Crystal Palace. Never did the raw food diet although we considered it; our princess deigned to eat kibble as long as it had something more interesting Ii.e. what we were eating) added to tempt her. After a spate of digestive issues I turned to Chappie, which was around decades ago. She liked it, and it sorted her out, but was never her sole diet.

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Neil O'Brien's avatar

Nice piece, sorry you are getting hate from online weirdos

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David Arthur's avatar

I'm sorry you've been on the end of such awfulness! Surely anyone who's read - well, almost anything written between 1918 and 1960, really - should be able to tell that being posh doesn't automatically make one super-rich.

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

Thank you. And, well, quite. IF ONLY!

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susie corker's avatar

I heard you on the J.V. and I like you! I did think you were so careful not to tread on anyone's toes...you really can not please every one all the time, and lately, hardly any one all...I have decided to say it like it is in future...perhaps raw meat in all our diets may be a good thing, not just in dog food if we are to venture above the parapet! Susie

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

Ha, thank you v much! Or would raw food make certain quarters of the internet even more furious and testosterone-y?!

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Mike's avatar

I feed my whippets a combination of dry dog food and raw meat/bone. Chicken wings are particularly good as they have a good balance of bone : meat but they often get whatever I can get hold of from the butcher. There's nothing wrong with dry food and I think it's good that the dogs will happily eat it (useful if taking the dogs away somewhere with no fridge!) just make sure you get one which is grain free. Not only will this improve their behaviour but also makes a massive difference to their digestive system and consequently what you have to pick up multiple times a day....! The pre-made raw dog foods are a massively expensive for what they give you and a lot of hassle to boot.

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

Ah yes the grain thing is in India's book. Thank you this is v helpful!

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Tim Parry's avatar

It’s such a shame that any non mainstream opinions are now so often met with vitriol. It seems that online at least, people lose their filters and their sense of humour and gain an unjustified sense of entitlement. Still, from it has come an entertaining piece of writing, so…that’s good!

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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

I hope so on the entertainment front, and thank you! ☺️

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Apr 9, 2024
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Onwards and Sideways's avatar

Ha I think it was merely a sign of my neurosis about that desk that I used to get in early because I liked having a headstart on the papers. Although I did usually loiter in the canteen with some eggs for a while...

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