Dogs and difficulties....and a little rapprochement

I have a confession to make, one which will probably upset almost as many people as any exposition of my sexual orientation or my atheism. I'm not a dog lover. In fact, I tend towards the attitude epitomised by a quote attributed to Alan Bennett - 'I wish dogs were like lions in the Serengeti, only five left and all male'. And after what happened as I was on my way to work last night, I'm no more of a 'canineophile' than I was before, although, to be fair to the animal concerned, the 'human factor' was more significant. I got to my 'local' station, to find it heavily populated by the Surrey Police, presumably targeting Saturday night revellers. Amongst the assembled 'forces' was a sniffer dog, which decided to take an interest in my bag. As a result, I was subjected to the humiliation of being searched on the station concourse, treated like some worthless criminal, particularly by a female officer who, if she'd ever known anything about dealing humanely with people, had evidently forgotten it, before they grudgingly concluded that what the dog had reacted to was my heart medication. Train the £@%&!?* dog properly, that's what I say. As a parting shot, the male officer involved said, with a detectable tone of irony, 'Thank you for your cooperation'. Like I had a choice. As a result, I was noticeably distrait for the first third of my shift at work, which was thoroughly messy - I'm sure at least one of my colleagues thought I probably was on something, even if the coppers hadn't had their fun. I managed to get through without doing anything deranged, but I wasn't anywhere near as sharp as I would have liked to have been.
I thought the difficulties were going to extend into my journey home this morning. I got to Paddington in good time, but because of the failure of a train going elsewhere, our train was 'pinched' to replace the failure. In the event, a replacement for our train did materialise, and we only left two or three minutes late, and I arrived back at our 'town' station on time, to be met by my wife and daughter. After the hiccups of recent days, first impressions were far from encouraging. My wife seemed very cool, as though she really didn't want to be there, and that her coming to meet me was a real effort, even though I'd said I was quite happy to go home on the bus - we're lucky enough to have an hourly service on a Sunday, unlike many places. My daughter was pleased to see me, but I didn't feel I could be too demonstrative in return, because I didn't want to antagonise my wife any further, as she's often said that my daughter and I have some sort of 'special relationship' which she's not party to. Basically, it was all very stilted and awkward, a feeling that continued into the shopping trip we undertook on the way back. By the time we got home, I was starting to feel very downhearted about things, wondering whether my fears about the end of it all weren't just paranoiac, but more substantial.
It took a bit of badinage on my part to break the mood, if I can say so without seeming immodest. I'd had an hour or so asleep, and was feeling a bit more human, when my wife came into the front room and mentioned the selection of 'reality' TV programmes that are on at the moment, and that she's following. I have not the slightest interest in any such programming, something my wife is well aware of, so that when I came out with a 'none of this is going to change my life' kind of comment, she wasn't too pleased, and parried with a remark about not being interested n the sort of things I like to watch. It could have led to another bout of acrimony, but, for once, I managed to say the right thing - 'At least we've got something in common, then, no interest in each others' interests!'. She got the humour, and the exchange ended in laughter when it could easily have ended in raised voices. The ice was broken, and the rest of the day has been pretty civilised, perhaps lubricated by my cooking a very pleasant, if I say so myself, lamb roast this evening - is the way to a woman's heart, sometimes, through her stomach, too, just like us blokes. I'd like to have a relaxed week off - we've got no money, so chilling out is about all I can afford to do - and if this afternoon is the precursor to that, I'll be more than happy.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B