"Did they pay?" Cords asked me.

I looked across the room to see the back of the huge man I had just been chatting to, disappear round the corner.

My face dropped - this was my whole purpose, my total mission was threatened with abject failure. There I was, standing by the counter, lamenting the pitiful first half performance of a hopeless England Rugby team when I should have been tackling £1.50 off each person who decided to sample some chocolate chip cake and have a cup of tea.

The first monster truck to crush a car was apparently driven by a chap called Bob Chandler in 1981. There is a bit of debate about this is the high up circles of monster truck folklore but suffice to say, the whole car crushing thing was a hit with the paying crowds and so, 30years on, it was with a huge amount of delight, family Gamble headed to the Great Dorset Steam Fair to see Big Pete - the biggest monster truck in Europe - crush some cars. 

Went to the circus this week. No - I wasn't visiting relatives, heading back

to my birth place or running away from home, I was taking Team Gamble on an

afternoon trip of power. By circus we're not talking dancing elephants,

seals chained in bathtubs, or juggling ferrets - we're talking one of

Britains voted best small circuses where the only animal they had was a well

Test blog entry on the new site of power. Epic night - had to see an emergency with a horse gushing blood from it's hoof after a nail got stuck in it, nurse a dog through the night post surgery after one of the team had removed a huge partially digested rat from its stomach. All fine though because on afternoon rounds had been given a large bag of home made fudge after treating a pet rabbit. Oh - also got bitten by a JRT - ages since I've been nipped by a dog but there you go and am taking a nurse with me next week to clip a particularly tricky dew claw!