Yesterday's storm came as quite a surprise! The weather did forecast some rain and some possible flooding, but hey... Wimbledon's over - it's not meant to rain until the tennis finishes. And of course, I've come to accept that in the UK, meteorology has never really progressed from hobby status.

Anyway I had to 'rescue' my wife yesterday evening. She was driving home to our place in NW London, only to be faced with what can only be described as a new swimming pool for the cars at the bottom of our road. Lisa parked her car where she could and started her long walk back and around the flooded roads. When I arrived to collect her, she looked more drowned rat, than happy wife.

In our complex, it turns out, 7 homes were flooded and having done a run a round to see if we could help, luckily most had been able to clear the flood waters. Now the drying out starts.

So it definitely added to what has been an interesting week. Murray put up a fantastic effort after his surgery, and how fantastic is Raducanu - I look forward to seeing more from her.

And then there's the football. Now don't get me wrong - as most of you know, I'm South African born (making me an SA Rugby supporter first and foremost); and I'm not a big football fan. But I do tend to watch the bigger tournaments, and yes I did watch most of the England matches. The England team may not have delivered the final result we all wanted, but I feel they delivered! So firstly, shame on anyone who joined in on the racist attacks on our 3 young England players. Not acceptable!  And of course, well done to our many Italian friends out there.

So we were debating this about the football.... this generation of players includes people like Marcus Rashford and Sadio Mane' as well as other players who are doing incredible things to 'give back' to their communities. If you've not heard about what Sadio Mane' has been up to, look him up - most people I asked attributed his 'actions' to Rashford - don't confuse them - he is amazing. These are young people who have earned our respect (in my humble opinion).

So the question is as follows... not to take away from all the incredible work that I think Gareth Southgate has done with the team, but these players make up a generation very different to the players of old. These people are givers, sharers, and helpers.

Do you think their nature has contributed to the growth of the England TEAM?

I'll leave you with that for now.

So, from me, Lauren, and the Long Paws team, we hope that our customers and friends are safe from floods, from Covid, from the riots in South Africa (another story), and that who were affected by the floods can recover quickly. We also hope the animal shelters have all been safe and the dogs and other animals are are being looked after.

Looking forward to a real summer ahead.

All the best
Elan, Lauren, and the rest of our Long Paws Team