After fighting a very strange flu for two weeks, I had to succumb and take the evil antibiotics. The good news is that those horrible aches and pains all over my body and the fever had gone, but as usual, that tedious medications gave me insomnia and nervousness.
Crankiness apart, I am soon fully back on my feet.
No more excuses for keeping the morning dogs walk short, even because I don’t think that big ears german could cope with another day without a proper walk. He loves the couch, but he equally loves galloping on the beach and eats seaweeds like there is no tomorrow.

The sun is shining, and after a satisfactory walk we go back to the car.
Kurt jumps straight into the car boot, as soon as I open it, and waits not really patiently for his after walk treat; Clara, who waits with the same greediness for her treat, needs instead some help to get in. I help her, and while I bend to lift her back legs, I smell a nasty odour. Presumably it comes from the dog poo bag I’m still holding in my hand.
I am right , but the problem is that the bag had somehow popped and the poo was leaking on my boots: “Shit”, I think and say. And never a word was more accurate.
I slammed the tailgate closed and run to the first bin to throw the bag in. Afterwards, I go back to the beach and walk into the sea to clean my boots.

Back to the car, I notice that a piece of Clara’s lead is sticking out from the boot. In a rush, I must have close it through.
I try to open the boot but it won’t. I unlock ,lock and reunlock the car but still nothing.
The lead jammed in the tailgate must prevent the lock from working.
I push down the back seat so to access the boot from inside the car and check what the real problem is. As guessed, the problem is the lead stuck inside the mechanism that makes the tailgate open and close.
I try to pull it out, but it doesn’t move an inch.
If this is not enough to throw me in despair, just this morning I decided not to use the extendable lead for Clara. I simply slipped the ordinary no pulling lead through her head and so now the poor thing is stuck to the tailgate too.

Ten endless minutes and a few attempts from Kurt to hop his sister later, we are parked in front of the house.
I go grab a pair of scissors and free Clara, who is so happy that she even run towards big german ears, wagging her tail.
A mistake only caused by the fact that she couldn’t see him. And in fact, shortly after, I can hear a massive growl followed by big ears german crying.

Now that the dogs are more or less safely inside, I can go back trying to sort the car boot out.
I try again to pull the lead, and again with no success. Discouraged I think about poossible ways to tell the travelling husband that most likely this week end he can’t go hunting because he can’t put the dogs in the boot that won’t open because his wife, after leaking dog’s poo on my boot (boot that he gave me last Christmas), had slummed the tailgate close with the dog’s lead, (lead that is his favorite).

Now, because the human mind works in very strange ways, while I have already the phone on hand to call the car assistance, an idea popped into my head: what if I go for a drive at high speed, the pressure might cause the tailgate to pop open.
A bit risky, but it can work! Except what most likely will happen is instead that it won’t work and I will end up with a speeding ticket. Alternatively, it might work, but not without making me lose control of the car ….then a broken tailgate would be the least of my car’s problems.
As I said the human mind works in very strange ways but not always are clever.

I am kneeling inside the bloody car boot for over twenty minutes now, with my bottom up and half sticking out of the car. I need to shift position, and I am starting to wonder how many of the neighbours are having a good laugh at me.
Not that we have many neighbours that can see me, but the only who can, is usually quick to take pics of odds happenings.

The car boot has now became a sort of cosy place where to spend my morning. I hopelessly look at the jammed lead and the stuck tailgate. Of course, I don’t believe that keeping staring at them will magically fix them, but as they say, hope dies last.
To be honest, faith is not my strong point, but because I am Italian, I grew up hearing people saying “God helps those who help themselves” , and so I start kicking the boot.
one, two, three: kick
one ,two, thre kick
one, two, thre kick….
and magically the boot opens.

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