On Monday the 20th February I was up at the crack ‘o dawn waiting with my suitcase for my friend to arrive and knock on the door.
Although the Kennel Club doesn’t possess many Items relating to the Lhasa Apso, we did manage to see a painting of the very first Champion in the breed, Champion Rupso along with his certificate.
There was also a selection of books and photos (some of the original show dogs) which we were also able to take a look at, I even found a photo of my Ch Deelayne Forever Diamond and Lee Connett found a book on the Tibetan Mastiff which his mother wrote many years ago.
At 6am we loaded my case into her car and started on the long drive to London.
The streets of London were very busy, full of people and bad drivers. One shocking moment happened, whilst stuck in traffic, we noticed a body lying on the pavement and people walking by and doing nothing to help.
After the tour we ended up back in the lounge for a drink and a chat prior to our meal, which was a lovely three courses plus wine and chocolates
We eventually arrived at our hotel, the Chesterfield in Mayfair (very posh) and were escorted in by our lovely doorman.
After a short chill out and rebuild in our room, we met up with our fellow Apso lovers, Sarah and Paul who were staying in the same hotel, and off we all went to the Kennel Club which is situated on Clarges Street, not far from where we were staying.
After checking in we were escorted to the lounge and met up with the rest of our group for tea/coffee and biscuits before being taken on a guided tour of the gallery which contains may fabulous paintings and articles relating to our world of dogs including the Crufts Best in Show trophy.
We ended our amazing day in China town, checking out the London nightlife and the cake shops. I had such a great time with great company…I can thoroughly recommend it.
Chris Lawson