Time for my straight jacket if you please !

" Say Cheese" !

After a busy Easter weekend doing what seems like nothing and everything all at once, i'm glad to find us back to normality again.

Being back at my desk at Ginger Army HQ makes me feel good, and somewhat lifts my spirits.
It feels good to be back being pro-active once again. I hate this quiet lull, a sense of no direction leaves us feeling the loss even more.

So today i'm back in the GA hot seat and working out what direction we take next.
I am thinking of contacting all the traveller liaison officers across the country in order that I ask them to keep a lookout for Jacob on their visits.
Now, of course this task for me is easier said than done as how do you diplomatically ask someone involved with a minority group, to look for a missing dog, without it coming across as you seemingly say they have him.
It's a difficult one to tackle, and one which will take a few email drafts to get right me thinks.
It would be good to have these 'lookouts' but I fear their could also be a down side to us doing this also. That said, if word spreads throughout the Traveller community that there's a missing dog out there, and additionally there's a really substantial reward then it could set up a hunt for him, but then hey, if that's what it takes then that's what it takes.
Quite frankly we're running out of ideas right now, and so will soon no doubt find ourselves covering old ground to think back to things that maybe offered clues, but were suitably dismissed at the time as being no go's.
CSI has nothing on the Ginger Army - ;-)
Once we get some clues or leads, we spring into action, and the 'thought lab' goes into overdrive to decipher the information until it's rung dry !

I wish I could relive the dream I had last night and change a few things in it, it was very vivid and those that read into dreams may be able to take something from it perhaps ?
I was in a huge factory, in fact forget factory, think huge processing plant of some kind, the type with massive steel cylinders all around and steel walkways and ladders.
This place was the size of a football pitch, and I was walking around and saw 2 other dogs their, cross breeds tan and black, then in the far distance I saw Jacob, but he had grown a longer coat, it was slightly fluffy, about 3/4" long. He came closer when I shouted his name, and didn't know who I was (I remember feeling bereft at that moment), I walked closer, slowly, and he did too.
He was interested in me, so I crouched down and he came across, suddenly realising it was me, but not quite sure all at the same time. As I had my hands on him, I slipped a belt round his neck, I had him. We started to walk away through the factory and the belt had a knot in it, so I stopped, took it off to untangle the knot, and then suddenly he was no longer there.
He was gone again.
What does this all mean I wonder !? (apart from i'm losing it!)
I was then looking over a beach with thatched parasols, and next to the side of the water were 2 men (foreigners) of which one of them was in the water baptising (I know but remember it was a dream !!!) 2 dogs who were visibly floating under the water.
The next thing I remember thinking (dreaming) was that oh, no they aren't dogs perhaps, as on the side of the water were monkeys !
Most of all I remember waking and feeling terrible anger that i'd had Jacob in my grasp but had lost him.....I remember shouting out his name in my sleep, then that awful reality check, you know how you feel when you wake from a dream and it feels so real you confuse it with real life.
(Have I lost the plot I hear you ask......well, yes, most probably !)
Hmmmm ! Dr Ffion, Dr Tim, I think it's time for my straight jacket now please !
I think I definitely need that chaise longue Ffion, but I think I will definitely need to be the patient, and you the psychiatrist this time !
:-0

Jon just had a call from a lady in Dover, I think she said she worked at the port.
She saw our poster in a vets there over the weekend, and remembered seeing a Bracco go through the port the day after Crufts, or the Monday, so 8/9th March.
She was very savvy about all the details, Jon said had times etc if we needed them.
She knew it was a Bracco as she was going to get one, but later chose another rare breed (which breed slips my mind right now) - so she would definitely not confuse a Bracco with another dog.
The lady was Swedish, and the car plate was Spanish. She said the dog looked quite thin too.
I am wondering, could this be World Champion Bracco Axel ? isn't he owned by a Swedish lady ?
But the Spanish plates ? I cannot remember what colouring Axel is but I was sure he was Chestnut and not Orange ? Off to interrogate the Bracchi community now, someone would hopefully know more information and put this (hopefully) down to being a dog that was shown at Crufts.
Time to call in the CSI.GA !!

Will report back later on my findings..............

The GA cogs have been whirring
The dog that the Dover lady saw was definitely Axel, and yes he is orange and white, and actually looks quite like Jacob (except Axel is a heavier build) - so this lady was very keen eyed, for which we are very grateful indeed. We are very thankful for her letting us know.
It's good to know that there are people like her who are visibly out there, looking and taking note. Thank You, i'm so glad we know it's Axel !
PHEW ! Off to take a nerve pill now !! - EEEEK !!!!