It’s a Dog’s Life

I woke up this morning bleary-eyed, aching all over and (exhausted) — suffering in fact from too much wine at last night’s party. I was still wearing my party gear and looked (overdressed) in the sober, grey light of morning.

Glancing at my watch, I realized with a shock that it was almost midday, and Old Tom had been due at nine o’clock to cut the front hedge. Had he turned up? One look out of the window proved that, unfortunately, he had,, despite the awful weather — it was (raining very hard) — and what had once been a perfectly serviceable hedge had been transformed into a shapeless mish-mash of half-sawn-off branches and gaping holes. Still, Old Tom had to be paid for his work, so I set off for the Coach and Horses pub, where I knew he was usually to be found on Sunday lunchtimes.

I stopped off on the way at the corner shop and bought a dirty, rain-drenched, thoroughly (tatty) newspaper and a cold (sausage in a bread roll) to ward off the pangs of hunger, and arrived at the pub with a throbbing headache at one o’clock. Old Tom was nowhere to be seen, so I ordered a much-needed (alcoholic drink to cure hangovers) and sat down to wait for him. After 20 minutes I was feeling a lot better — the headache had cleared up, I felt fresh and alive again. “So there’s (mental and physical activity despite advancing years)!” I thought to myself with some satisfaction.

Old Tom came in at half past one, wearing his usual (miserable, shamefaced) expression. And who can blame him? Most of his life he’s been (hounded) by bad luck and disaster. As a young man he had been (the most important person) at the local steelworks, but when his wife left him he gave up all hope in life, resigned from his job, took to drink, lost all interest in his appearance — went completely (downhill), in fact. I’ve tried to persuade him to take better care of himself and stay off the booze, but he always replies: “It’s too late now, I’m set in my ways. You can’t (change the habits of a lifetime). He manages to scrape a living by acting as gardener, handyman and general (drudge) to the village.

Anyway, as soon as Old Tom saw me he seemed to cheer up and headed straight to my table, grinning (delightedly). He pointed his gnarled finger at me and announced bluntly: “You owe me exactly five pounds for cutting your hedge.” Angered by his rudeness, I felt like telling him he was supposed to cut the hedge, not cut it down, but decidedly it would be wiser to (avoid stirring up trouble) and gave him the money without a word.

I was about to order another drink when I remembered, too late, that I was due at my girl-friend’s house for Sunday lunch at one o’clock — she’s a great stickler for punctuality. I dashed out of the pub and ran all the way there, only to find a locked door with a note pinned to it which read: “I’m fed up with waiting for you and have gone out for the rest of the day.” Oh dear, this time I really was (in disgrace) and didn’t even have (the least possibility) of finding anyone prepared to cook lunch for me at such a short notice. It’s a dog’s life, isn’t it?

1. dog-tired

2. a dog’s chance

3. in the dog house

4. to the dogs

5. like a dog’s dinner

6. let sleeping dogs lie

7. dogsbody

8. to the dogs

9. teach an old dog new tricks

10. dog-eared

11. raining cats and dogs

12. top dog

13. hang-dog

14. dogged

15. hair of the dog

16. life in the old dog yet

17. hot dog

Team 2