Happy/sad day →[More:]A close friend of mine had to have her dog, Leo, put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. He was 14, a good age for a big dog. He'd been growing increasingly frail with spinal problems, and his time had come. He was a great dog, which is something for me - a cat person - to say.

Today we had a little ceremony to scatter his ashes at his favourite swimming spot, the Lea Valley canal at Tottenham Hale.

It poured with rain for most of the day, but the sun came out at just the right time and we walked for about half a mile along the canal, past the houseboats and the anglers, until we came to the little jetty where Leo used to dive in. He loved swimming, and it kept him fit and healthy and made him look much younger than his years.

His ashes were scattered over the water and the sunlight made them glitter like gold dust. There were a few tears, a couple of poems and our last goodbyes. Then ten of us went back to my friend's where we all caught up with one another's news, laughed a lot over silly things and ate far, far too much.