Page 27 - IT'S A RUM LIFE BOOK FOUR Volume 1 "Northcote 1984 to 1998"

We had to explain to Dennis that Dinan’s role was strictly business. That is, he was there
to guard and protect. If anything, anything at all was to try and interfere with his horse or
carriage he would sort the problem out in no uncertain manner.

Dalmatians can be quite aggressive in their natural environment, we explained. It would be
best if there was no risk of other dogs being damaged.
It was decided that “our bit” would be filmed after lunch when all the other working dogs
had safely gone home.
(A note for readers to explain, the Dalmatian Dog is a traditional Carriage Guard Dog.
They have the ability to travel the same distance that a horse can achieve in a working day
and at the same speed. At night they would sleep under the carriage and continue with
their guarding. In the days of coach travel, if anything, human or animal, were to interrupt
the smooth operation of your carriage and horses it could be life threatening for the
passengers.)

PREPARATIONS
“Would we like to come for lunch?”
Would we just, after the trials we had been going through in the last 12 months.
Lunch at Belvoir Castle with a BBC Television team seemed like heaven.
Our transport for attending weddings was still our old BMC FG “threepenny bit” cab, diesel
horsebox. Not entirely legal but as yet sufficiently between MOT testing regulations to
allow it to be tested by “friendly” garages. (This was not to last much longer).
In fact on the journey to Belvoir we did encounter a police constable who was positive he
could succeed with a decent prosecution when he stopped us in Sleaford.
We will come back to him in a moment as we have to explain that behind the small box
lorry came a long, flat trailer. This normally carried the Victoria Carriage (the one Dennis
had ridden in previously, which loaded up and down with ramps and a winch.