Let's shampoo the dogs of York...

York must have very clean dogs. I say this not as a complement to the lesser girls of York but instead because of two things I have seen today.

The first thing I saw was a van driving round the ring road that contained a mobile dog cleaning service. If you phone them up they will come around to your house and clean your dog for you. I found this quite an odd idea but not as odd as the next thing.

The next thing was a shop on Tadcaster Road called Metro Dogs. They offer self service, coin-operated dog-washing machines. Yes, I did just say "self service, coin-operated dog-washing machines". You read it right the first time, you are not drunk or dyslexic. Well, maybe you are and if so, good for you. Well done on being able to read the vodka label.

I really can't believe there's a big market for coin-operated dog-washing machines. Dogs are supposed to be smelly and dirty. That's the whole point of dogs. If people wanted a clean pet they'd have a cat or a fish.

So if this was being dragondenned to me (it is a verb!) I'd be saying, "sorry, but I'm out" at this stage. There do seem to be franchise opportunities available for any readers outside of York though. Details are on their website if you're interested!

I don't see why people don't just throw their dogs in a canal to clean them like they did in the old days. Much easier.

Leak Avoidance

I went to put some washing on earlier and in the seal of the washing machine door I spotted a dark bit. I figured it would be just a bit of fluff or hair so I reached in to pull it out. What I actually found there surprised me slightly:



It was a black Bic biro. It was all bent round into the shape of the outside of the door. I'm not sure how long it had been in there - it's hard to tell now. I'm normally quite good at checking my pockets though and in any case I rarely keep pens in the sorts of pockets I put in the washing machine. It's a mystery.

However it got in there though, I guess I'm quite lucky that
a) it didn't cause any damage to the washing machine door seal and hence a leak over my floor.
b) it didn't itself leak in the washing machine and make all my clothes black.

The most important question that I bet you're all asking though is... did the pen still work afterwards?

No, it was buggered.