Earlier this month I again spent a short week with Sonja in Germany. We went for lovely walks in the environment and enjoyed our hounds. Chidish and Cytaugh saw their first deer and were quite enthusiastic. Bernice was slightly unwell, as they had made a wrong move and left her with a bad pain in her back. After physical therapy she was a lot better, but not running and playing during the first few days of rest.

Sonja gave me a printed copy of “Deutsches Windhundzuchtbuch” [Book of German Sighthounds], which was written specifically for exhibitors and judges, and I agree with what it says. I have translated it and placed the translation below this blog entry. The article also is listed in “The Deerhound” under “Interesting Articles Generally.”

On Friday, Simon arrived at Hermannsburg after working in Denmark and visiting a trade fair in Berlin. Saturday afternoon he explained a great course held on a bare cornfield so the hounds could all run freely. It started with making the lures, and of course with real rabbit-skin in it! The hounds definitely had to watch that.

Next Simon took the lure machine and pulleys into the field, with Sonja following with a wheelbarrow. Very handy, that, because otherwise you walk back and forth with the stuff. After fifteen minutes I drove the car and all the hounds to the field. Because to tie them up to a tree while others were on the coursing field, didn’t look very clever to us.

First we slipped Bernice and Silva to run a half course. Bernice ran like the wind but afterwards was a little stiff again. Silva enjoyed it thoroughly but could not keep up with Bernice and so cut a lot. Good enough!

Chidish and Cytaugh are terrifically fanatical and ran really well. For the second course add Brandir to them. He started very well but halfway saw something in the woods. He suddenly stood still with his ears straight up. Then he cut off a portion of the course and made the kill as first.

That was enjoyable!!

Sonja, thanks again for the wonderful days, but especially thanks for the splendid birdhouse!! I will install it this weekend and make a couple of photos to show how it looks. It is really beautiful.

The invitation to the European Coursing Championship in Finland on 6 and 7 June 2015 is already online. Via http://suomenvinttikoiraliitto.fi/eccoursing2015/en/you come to the site and you can find all the details.        

There are some of these months that we do not see our bed in the Oekelsbos. After coming home from Tüttleben, I had just enough time to finish and pack my ceramics, put the hounds in the Defendog, clean the caravan and do the laundry, before we travel to Italy. After that, everything had to be taken back into the party tent and ceramics. The car was jam! Also in the caravan was the necessary road stowed. The journey began on Saturday towards Gelsenkirchen (approx. 200 km.) I was able to approve the Azawakh's, Magyar Agar's, Afghans and Saluki's on Sunday 22 June. It was radiant again and I had some very nice hounds to judge. Especially a very Rastypisch Magyar Agar Youth Female and an exemplary showing Afghans puppy, of which I could grope all the feet without resist, made a lot of impression on me. Trautskirchen inzing Racecourse. Monday morning early from the feathers and direction Trautskirchen (approx. 450 km.), where we held the first stopover on the way to Italy, where the European Championship coursing was to be held on the weekend of 27, 28 and 29 June. Ingrid and Jennifer, Gert-Jan and Jacqueline joined us and the next morning we left for Inzing in Austria for the next stopover (approx. 370 km.). We had chosen the route through the mountains. Beautiful! But the last piece went too steeply downwards, allowing us to cool down in the village of Stilhielden and the rims/brakes with tig litres of water. Oops, that was just as exciting! In Inzing we were at the racecourse. Here the hounds could stretch their legs and especially Brandir enjoyed the meanwhile arrived people and hounds. John and Karin and Monique and Dennis were already there and also later came Alexandra and her son Jordan. As usual, Chris and Henriette arrived in the middle of the night. The next morning the journey continued, crossing the border, over the Brenner Pass, through the Dolomites to Lavarone, Malga Millegrobbe (approx. 220 km.). The road that was discouraged did not turn out to be circumvented and was so narrow here and there that if there were oncoming roads we had a big problem. But it was wonderful!!! (and occasionally very exciting!!!) And don't believe how long you can do about this short distance! It was still a search for the Coursingterrein, fortunately we came across Ingrid and Jennifer who knew the right route. After a further several kilometres of narrow mountain lanes we arrived at 1400 meters altitude in Malga Millegrobbe on a gigantic terrain that had a beautiful accommodation for the cross-country skiers with all the luxury amenities. We could park on a paved parking lot which is normal for the (luxury) motorhomes. Plenty of power and water around the corner. The participants from most other countries had to drive to the grassy meadows and were able to park between the cows and horses who had the enormous terrain at their disposal. She had to hold a power wire from the plotted coursing courses. Later we heard that the organization did get a lot of damage claims because the cows used the cars and campers as barn piles. This caused some mirrors to break down and/or dents. Also tents are not koebestendig. Furthermore, these animals were definitely not unfriendly or curious, so you could walk through your hounds in a quiet way. Most of the participants were already on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Ad and Anneke had to return to the Netherlands with their five reported Pharaohounds because of a death in the family. Really sad, they were so very excited about this EKC.   The official opening was Thursday evening. There was a small stage with so little space that the spontaneous feast that normally takes place before the opening could not take place. The "real" partygoers were a bit disappointed. As usual, several speeches were held and a wind orchestra had to hear too many songs. The sound quality was also very bad here, so that a huge murmuring soon emerged. No, this opening is at the top of the list of bad and unpleasant openings. Very nice was that almost all Dutch participants had put themselves in the orange before the opening (and every award ceremony). This is something and thanks to our enthusiasm for the winners, every year the award ceremony is a real feast.     Two courses were laid out on the extensive terrain. Trail 1 was a thick kilometre away against a slope. Here were hefty pits, stones and other obstacles so that the hounds really had to use their eyes. It was a reasonably well-covered trail with sharp twists and a few long pieces but it was not long enough according to the FCI rules. Route 2 was between the "camping pitches" and was explained on a flat stretch of very uneven terrain. It was a great round race course! There was only one place where the hounds had to watch out and the total length of the trail did not exceed the 600 meters. So also not championship worthy!!! And both the delegate of the FCI and the CDL did nothing to!!!   Crazy, or Jet. Chris with TIZPA. On Friday we had five Afghans males and two bitches and five Saluki males and one bitch in the fight. After the first turn, Azarang Taikatalvi of John and Karin was in second place, which was exciting again! He had to fight in the second round again together with the same dog as last year for the first place but unfortunately they walked on the racecourse and this was a big disadvantage for Heiki. He also went down again and this was his chance. But in the end he ended up in fifth place and that of thirty-two Afghans males! Also with the Saluki males and bitches it was exciting after the first circulation. They had walked as the first course on the racecourse. Darayavanush of the Brown fire was in the first place and TIZPA Porgouhar Isfandiyar also of Chris and Henriette stood on a shared third place. There were fifty-five Saluki males and forty-nine bitches. In the girls Crazy of the brown fire of Gert-Jan and Jacqueline was in a second place! But on the technical trail everything turned out to change. Darayavanush landed at the sixteenth place and Tizpa climbed to second place! Crazy did not smash hit, and unfortunately ended up in a twelfth place. The award ceremony was held somewhere else than the opening. Spontaneously the party of the flying flags arose but when the award ceremony began, it turned out that the people could not keep away until the stage so no one could see anything. Also not good of course.   Saturday, the day of the Deerhounds and Azawakh's. Just before the races started, a cloud fell down and the Coursingterreinen in nebulae. The start was postponed. After half an hour there was a view but after the start there was a cloud again and the whole thing was still quiet. Again, the cloud went quite quickly and the hounds started again. Also this year I was glad that I had no hound in the fight. During the opening on Thursday, a Deerhound male had attacked another hound, and not pretty much! It turned out to be the French male Fait scandale Du Triple Bois by Brigitte Parere. This male gave his name to honour. Also during the first circulation he grabbed his companion and was happily disqualified.  But the evil had already happened, the duped, Islay's Gilroy walked in the second circulation very badly. In the first course in the morning Blixen became the Great Scott started. On 13 February this male became 8 years old. If he topfit would be okay but he wasn't! He started, well, he bumped in and got off after a little 50 meters. At first he stayed what stood, did a few strides and stayed again. The Turner just turned on for the other hound and Scott still had the intention to walk through. Everyone was furious and yelled at the Turner that he had to stop. He didn't! Scott Hompelde again a bit towards the hare and finally his owner managed to catch him. The vet also ran the field to investigate Scott further and nothing seemed to be broken but he was well broken. Normally standing on his feet and walking was not there. I was deeply shocked, who let there be a male of that age, who has not really done well in previous years and was not fit at all, walking!? And certainly not in such a field!!! Sorry, I have no good words for about it. In The third course was conaire or Redbrook of Jan and Joke. He walked with another French male from the same owner as the aggressive male but luckily it went fine. A reasonable course. The course after that was disturbed but the jury did not see it. The course on it ran Islay's Irbhinn of the family the Wagstaff. What you saw arriving on the way, happened at the reception. He did not behave quite correctly, but the hare lay silent and the jury did nothing with it. Then came the course with the aggressive French male and it was so good that this French male flew out, a thick disk. What was I glad my brandir didn't join!!! The character of the males is not going to advance! Really a-typical. Of the six males courses there was only one that was nice and correct and where speed and condition were shown. In the bitches, of course, some more beautiful courses but also several where it was clear that the women's condition was too short. In the afternoon ran in the first course Conaire with Grayrory's Finlaggan from Sweden. Once the hounds were left loose you saw Finlaggan already look at Conaire. At the time that Conaire one step on the Finlaggan for the lag Finlaggan struck. Result A FAT disk. Funny that Simon has accidentally been able to put this whole incident in the picture. Conaire was the last to regain his course but went down a hundred meters before the shelter and then walked to the Turner. Everyone thought he would get a ' rejection for the day ' (which is normal) but… Nothing is more insane in Coursingland, he was placed fourth at the awards ceremony. (Of course, Jan and Joke also didn't count on it, Conaire was sleeping in the car so Jan had to observe the honours). Sorry Jan, but this picture is too unique not to post. In the second last males course, Irbhinn ran with Nelungaloo Meshach by Esther Bühler. Immediately after the start disturbed Irbhinn on Meshach But the jury saw nothing. At the reception it was naturally blown. Irbhinn was placed fifth instead of being a disc. Should have. At the Azawakh's (14 bitches) We had two Dutch ladies in the fight including last year's winner; Kainda of Marlou. Also now she ran the stars of Heaven, both in the first and in the second circulation she had the highest number of points. Tigidit Savannah of Elisabeth performed to end both outlets with the lowest number of points.                             The award ceremony was held this evening again at the podium, here was more space and the people were kept remotely by a few urge fences. Apparently that is necessary. Due to the fact that the organisation had the Dutch team the most exuberant, enthusiastic and noisy, she threw the planning of the award ceremony and did the Azawakh's last. They thought it was exciting but we didn't kick in and under loud cheers, a happy and proud Marlou with Kainda was in the first place.   These horses were not really curious but were already grazing right along the Coursingterrein. I shot a few pictures of them and they came ever closer. Actually I got in the way but they decided to walk around me anyway. Joke shot there some nice pictures of it. Still thanks Joke!   On Sunday there were three Dutch Whippet males. After the first turn, Happy Halloween of Mr. Wakefield's Dia-Rafat was in a shared fifth place but after the second turn he could not keep this place. Eventually, he ended up as the best Dutch Whippet in the fifteenth place. Henry Del Karfo of Monique and Dennis baked did nothing of this year and finished in the 40th place, Leroy vom Small mountain of the family Will was zevenenveertigste of the forty Whippet males. At the Barsoi's we had one bitch in the fight; Blagorodnja Krasotá Igrushka of Elisabeth blacksmith. In the first round, she obtained 207 points and was thus in the last place of the forty-six bitches. But in the second turn she did a bit better and crawled up to the éénenveertigste place. Yes, and then the Italians. Twenty-nine did it including three Dutch. After the first turn, Ganim's Ziva of Alexandra Stout with two others was in second place! Poslusjnye Wihri Zjuk of Marga van Zeeland was in sixth place and Poslusjnye Wihri Jetsjoh, also of Marga, in a ninth place. For the second turn they had to go up to the technical trail. Unfortunately it was absolutely no Italians again because it stortregende! At the moment the course of Ziva came into view, a large cloud was slowly rolling over the ridge. He went painfully slowly so we had hope that Ziva could still walk. They started but unfortunately…. The cloud swallowed the little dogs. The Turner stopped the Hare and it was decided that they got the last course. That was really bales. A number of courses later ran a French female named Femme Fatale Gilani de Magistris by Nathalie Hurel. This name did her no good. Halfway through her course she disappeared behind a straw bale and no longer emerged. Apparently she was struck over the head and was lying there. As a jury, he was the closest and ran to it, but could not do anything but keep her against the ground as she tried to get out of what was not successful. The veterinarian was not able to find anything at first and took the female from the terrain as soon as possible and brought it to the veterinary post. Later we heard that Femme fatale had died of a schedelbasis fracture and a broken neck. In and in Trieste! A few courses hereafter, Ziva should run again. A number of participants could no longer make it to run their Italians and thus had to Ziva to the Ark. Simon asked Alexandra if she wanted Alexandra to say that if she did not let her run her now, she would never do it again. Brave though! And there went Ziva, we stood with tears in our eyes and bald fists, which was exciting!!! But she walked the stars of heaven and did not go down once, something you actually see constantly in Italians. What were we all happy when she came unscathed at the shelter! Eventually, Ziva ended up in fourth place and Jetsjoh on the fifth. Zjuk became fifteenth. It is worth mentioning that Jetsjoh in the second circulation ran the highest number of points of all the Italians all day long! The award ceremony began with the sad announcement of the death of the Italian. All the participants who wore a flag left them lying on the ground and a minute's silence was observed. During the speech that followed everyone was muisstil. There was an in and in a sad atmosphere and the crying stood with many more than laughing. At the awards ceremony of the Italian males, Nathalie Hurel had a sixth and a third place but the flag hung half-stick and of course she didn't come on stage. The ceremony was handled but there was no party, no joy.   On Friday, a number of injuries were already occurring. One of them quite serious, at first everyone thought that the Saluki had broken a paw, but later we heard that he was out of the bowl. Painfully enough of course but better than broken. However, I have to put the comment that this hound was not suitable for walking. At the beginning of the course you could already see it, no bet, high walking and uncertain this hound went over the field, then another slip and over the head with the result of the elbow from the bowl. And there were more Saluki's that didn't ran well. On Saturday, a Galgo broke his paw. This hound was totally unwalked, so from the car the field on and yes, in such areas it is still necessary that you are a little warm and supple. Also, Don Juan of Ingrid got injured, he walked a spierscheurinkje. It was clear to see that he moved twice and after the second time he walked no more diligently to the shelter. And then on Sunday the fatal accident with Femme fatale. This was a trained little dog, this was silly bad luck. However, many other injuries were really due to ongetraindheid. We and many others think that the biggest problem lies in the fact that the greyhounds are no longer let go. They always walk on the leash and do not learn how to work with their body and eyes. If such a hound only runs on the racecourse, this is not yet such a problem, but it is very much like such a race hound is then put on the coursing! These are the hounds that most injuries incur and sometimes fatal.     If you want to see photos of real coursing click on http://www.lenstreephotography.com/index.html and for live-coursing photos of Saluki's and Deerhounds in Scotland http://www.lenstreephotography.com/Page15.html

The Coursingseizoen has started again, even for us, we thought. Brandir had taken his license on Ronostrand and we let him run a few more times. That's the luck if you own a turntable and bobbins. We then drive somewhere, put a small trail out, knot a real hare skin on a string and spin. Every time we did this, Brandir was exemplary, whether he was walking with Calhoun, Caintha, alone or with his threes. So with good courage we reported him for the national coursing in Babenhausen on 15/16 March. Bernice was also reported because they both needed two coursings to qualify for the European Championship coursing and this would be their first official coursing. For this coursing, 13 Deerhounds were reported, 11 bitches and 2 males. A nice number! In The first circulation Brandir was classified with his sister, Bernice. Well, then I was sure there would not be disturbed. Brandir is a real "fire-type" and would, if he is disturbed once, be guaranteed no more walking. (On the site of the holistic practice for animals "Den Hoek" You can find the type of your hound under "Media Library" and then "the Five Elements in dogs". Brandir and Bernice started well. It went wrong with Brandir when the rope jumped a head. He had to take a closer look at this, but then he picked up the weather and walked nicely and full of surrender behind the hare. Bernice finished with 57 points and Brandir with 48. It was clear that the jury did not forgave him his mistake! In the break Brandir and Bernice had to check the vet. The vet grabbed Brandir's foot, arch and stretched it, on which brandir loudly responded. But when the vet studied further, Brandir did not hurt any more. Also in the corridor work he showed nothing. So he was allowed to move on to the second round. In the second round he had to walk together with a bitch who had aangegromd him the day before and was shot at him during the walk-in. So I already had a hard head in it, Brandir knowing. And indeed, after the start signal he looked to the right, to that bitch, did a few strides and stayed then standing. Even when the hare came a little bit close to the area, he looked very interested but did not resist a step. Too bad, he's still not strong enough in his ball. Bernice was in second place after the first round and was classified with a dog by Ira Johannes, Islay's Hollyhock. They both went very well from start but Hollyhock showed slightly more speed. Bernice followed better, she is not so experienced yet. It also turned out that Bernice was more agile and once she was well underway she didn't Hollyhock in speed anymore. They walked a wonderful course and were well-matched.           Sonja does not look happy in this picture but I can guarantee that she was indeed!! Because Bernice ended up in a well deserved second place. And that on her first coursing!

The next day we let Brandir and Bernice run for a while and play on the abandoned Coursingveld. After a few big sprints brandir stood on three legs. It shot through me that a few months ago he also lifted his right hind, but after a short walk it was good again. Would something not be right? In the meantime, X-rays have been taken, but of course nothing can be seen. An appointment for follow-up research has already been made, but hopefully it will be solved with a long rest period. For now, no more coursing for Brandir but also no more loose in the woods and behind the fields, which is of course very annoying! But yes, it should be here.                            

European Championship coursing in Pouch, Germany.

  During the weekend of 22 and 23 June. The European Championships coursing on the Pouch in the immediate vicinity of Bitterfeld was organised. The many negative rumors in advance and the high tide alarm ensured that we were prepared for everything. There would be no clean drinking water, the catering would not be good/sufficient, the area would have been inundated with all the consequences and there would be too little manpower to make everything run. Luckily it all came along and all this was fine. However, what was not in order and where it was going with a European championship coursing was the Coursingvelden. To begin with, the total area was strewn with glass shards. Several weeks before there was a concert and the visitors had left their glass bottles which were then broken by the bulldozers/lorries that had to clean the terrain again for the next event. Incredibly dangerous of course for a dog sporting event. For Thursday evening, a cleanup action was planned, if all the participants were to walk next to each other over the Coursingterreinen, it was necessary to clear the most and most dangerous glass. But… at seven o'clock a huge distress broke out. Gusts who had the Dixie toilets flying through the air, extremely heavy rain and big hails made sure that everyone hung on his awning/tent/Party tent. And it took quite a long time! Just before that the storm erupted, we sat down with a pretty large group to eat. Chris and Henriette had a tremendous uitgesloofd on this delicious meal, but it would literally fly in the air later. At the last moment we decided to pick up everything and move to our awning and canopy, about 20 meters away. But when Simon and Sonja went with a table loaded by the gate, and the table had to lift a little higher, a squall came and blew everything off the table! That happened to everyone who walked into his hands with a table. In no time it was a ravage of your Welsh. If the bugger had to be windows and skylights closed, awnings had to be turned on but because of the enormous wind this was almost impossible. An additional problem was that because of the hard rain, the roaring winds and the huge thunders that followed each other at a rapid pace, it was not understood if someone shouted at you something. Awnings had to be hung, but also our large party tent that I wanted to use for my ceramics was built. The hounds also walked outside and did not understand. Except Lavinia, who saw her chance where and began to eat all the food she could find on the ground, on. As the bugger we have done the hounds through open doors, not looking which hound where and if we all had them. Our awning at the front tent was already broken, so we first demolished it quickly before he could damage the car, when the canopy of Angelika was saved, that of Sonja could still wait (we thought) and then hung with eight men at the party tent. Large hail stones beat against our hands and that did twisted a lot of pain. In no time everyone was soaked and there was ten inches of water locally. Among others at my party tent where the ceramic boxes were already covered. There was no more saving here. Also our freezers stood deep in the water, all the chairs, dog beds/rugs that stood outside, everything, everything was soaked. When the storm fell and we could see the damage, the courage fell into our shoes. What an incredible gang!! Everywhere lay food, the pans and dishes with food were filled with water, everywhere couched tables, chairs, plates and cutlery. Well, garbage bag and tidy. When the biggest troop was gone we went to watch the hounds. Most lay quietly to sleep only a confused brandir came at Angelika from the RV, Xena of Angelika, came from Sonja's camper and Silva from Sonja lag in our car. After having a bit of order again, we first got some drying and a glass of sect, we would see the next day. Friday shined the sun again and dried everything up quite quickly, except for the dog "water" bed, which needed a little longer. Of course I had an awful lot of extra work on my ceramics. All the boxes were soaked and several I couldn't even bite. First everything but displayed so that it could dry a bit in the right form, fortunately this went quite quickly and I could then extract everything and let the boxes dry and possibly paste back into the model with tape. The ceramics had nothing to do with it except the ones that were really under water, which after drying were pretty dusty and I have to finish with a tassel fabric.

Many had considerable damage and the enormous mess that had arisen took a lot of hours to clean up. In the meantime, the courses were turned off and it soon became apparent that two areas were not suitable in any case and did not meet the regulatory requirements of the FCI for a EKC-course. The minimum length is for the large varieties 800 meters and for the small varieties 600. Only Field 1 complied with this and it was also a fun and challenging course which was also well-overlooked by the officials. Two other fields were not fully overlooked for the Turner and the judges, the one had a length of 500 and the other 600 meters! Also the trailed courses did not suggest much. Last year, Simon agreed that he would also explain a course. This would be field 4. Simon had already started running a trail on Wednesday, but soon found out that he couldn't get rid of the necessary meters. It was promised that there was more mowing and that the glass would be cleared. Unfortunately this Friday had not yet happened and several people were in the meantime interfering with the race route so that Simon was forced to pull his hands. Here, something was put out where he was not behind. Field 4 would only be put into service on Sunday, and this area was not fully met by the requirements. Absolutely not championship worthy so!

On Friday-evening, the opening took place in the amphitheatre in the middle of the peninsula. There Simon (almost) was too late and had forgotten to attract his orange polo, I sent Sonja with that thing to him to dress and-audience him. There were several speakers, and the hounds who appeared to have won last year were still honoured. These were two, a German Azawakh and our Dutch Saluki; Non-Serviam Abdelhaziz of Henriette of Constance and Chris Bekker. The opening was brightened up by a ballet group with accompanying orchestra. The atmosphere was super again, and under the line of three orange colored Dutch people, a true party arose between the performances of the group.

Even Sonja couldn't control himself and stepped on Bernd Josh to work with him to dance a waltz on the merry Notes of the Wind Orchestra.

            From 19 countries there were 808 hounds registered, with 157 reserves remaining. The number of hounds that actually started was on Saturday 305 and Sunday 443. The biggest report of course from Germany with 159 hounds, the Netherlands had 45 there. For the first time no Dutch Deerhounds at the start, where I was happy for several reasons. Firstly because of the glass, secondly because of the bad and short courses and thirdly because of the atypical Deerhounds that we currently see many appear on the Coursingveld and also win everywhere. By the way, this year it was very striking how many atypical rasvertegenwoordigers there milling about. Dogs that I really thought were the crossings were standing on stage in the evening. It is high time that all the greyhounds were tested on varietal purity.

What was noticed by the larger varieties like the greyhounds, the Deerhounds and the next day the Barsoi's, Chart Polski's and the Irish Wolfhounds, was that there was quite a percentage of lame going to the podium. And there are only twelve of them…. According to the Chef D'équipe this was not by glass but by the bad courses/terrains. There were also several hounds unsubscribed for the second circulation due to injuries. Among other glass anyway??? All in all, the Netherlands did not perform badly, two first places, four second places, one fourth and one fifth place and yet we sang three times the Wilhelmus. I would like to add another critical note; We see more and more often that the FCI regulations for International Sighthound races and Lure coursing Events are not respected. In this case rules No. 1.2 Protection of Animals The safety and health of the animals must always guide all officials and participants during racing and lure coursing events. and 4.11.2 Track length for lure coursing. Distances to be applied for FCI European Lure coursing Championship • For Whippets and Italian Greyhounds: 600-800 metres • For all other Sighthound breeds: 800-1000 metres Small variations of the above distances are tolerated. Two years back, at the EKC in the Netherlands, there was a Whippet without her union booklet and she had already done a test run on the field where she was allowed to walk the same day. At least two rules have been violated in this one hound alone! Last year, in Hungary, because of the ground squirrel-holes were life-threatening, there was (just like this year) not enough spare material available and so I can go on. Rules are apparently to trample on. Is it not possible to abolish them all better? That makes it a lot more relaxed!