Last Sunday morning – in a jolly mood, I was moving with purpose across a grassy headland which has a beach on either side.

I was heading in a southerly direction toward the Tynemouth Longsands – with my gaze fixed intently upon the distant ruined Monastery and Castle.

Suddenly to my left i.e. in the East – I heard a woman shout – ‘Come here right now!’ …

Then with the full blast and authority of the formidable but thankfully fictional Aunt Agatha in P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster novels – ‘Right now!!’ …

All she had left out was the word ‘Bertie’ … i.e. ‘Come here immediately Bertie Wooster!’

I glanced briefly as I passed her – and it appeared somewhat menacingly, that something leather was flapping in one hand.

Clearly somebody a bit on on the ‘Tabasco side’ – I murmured discreetly to myself.

‘Come here – right now – RIGHT NOW!’ …

What could I have possibly done to offend this person who made Boudica – the Queen of War of the Iceni – sound like a broadway chorus gal singin – ‘A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody’? …

Was it my ‘Make Leicester Great Again!’ T.shirt that was the cause of all the fuss? – I demanded of the old bean …

I made it to safety behind a bench overlooking the Tynemouth Longsands.

‘RIGHT NOW !!’ …

Then as I turned, I saw a shy Alsatian advancing toward her with a bowed head and downward gaze. She attached the leather lead to the collar of the poor mut.

I said to an elderly couple sitting on the bench – ‘I thought she was talking to me!’ – they nearly fell off the bench clutching their tea flasks in laughter.

Now I had the big picture!

And the moral of the tale for Mediators – do not jump to conclusions!

I retired to La Riviera at Di Mascios for a reviving Americano – incidentally they serve the best coffee and freshly made Italian food in Cullercoats.

I stayed on the path all the way back home saying to myself – ‘Well I never!’ … ‘Well I never!’ … future material for a book? – perhaps ‘Reminices of a Mediator in Cullercoats’?

‘Perhaps not Sir!’ – advised the ‘inner Jeeves Mediator’ inside my head.

So, I reflected – even on a Sunday morning walk – a Mediator can sharpen the keenness of their observational skills.

It also helps I noted – to be able to think like Jeeves …