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The weather turned cooler as autumn approached, and we experienced what the weather forecasters called ‘a cold snap’. The news was full of reports of icy conditions in the north of Scotland, and we kept the heating turned up in the tea shop, with the street door shut and the kitchen door open. It was too chilly for Poppy to be left tethered outside, and we encouraged her to stay in her basket in the corner of the café. If I hadn’t taken her out for walks several times during the day, she would have pestered me or the customers to play with her. As it was, she was generally tired and docile, except when children came into the tea shop. Somehow she seemed to recognise that they too were young, and she tried to enlist them as playmates. Not all of our customers were happy for their childr
