His journey had taken him much of the day. “A day well spent” he muttered as he looked at the watch on his ancient hand. It was now well past three o’clock and the sun was giving way to what would become a beautiful sunset.

A nudge from his right hand side shook him abruptly, his face was suddenly wet, something was upon him. Too shocked to be frightened, he quickly rose to his feet. The pain from the day’s efforts shot back through his joints as he saw the black labrador’s owner worriedly scurrying across the broken ground shouting something and waving his arms in an unbalanced and in-effective attempt at controlling the wayward hound.

Roy laughed loudly and coughed a bronchial “ugh-hurgh” reaching down to give the dog a sweet. “You must be hungry, dragging this lad about the hill” he declared as the owner arrived. “I see you like these as well”, he gave the beast another. The owner apologised profusely, his face red with embarrassment. “It’s ok”, Roy said as he set off down the hill in the dusk.