ball thief at local park

Me and my sis and the kids and the dogs went to Oakwell Hall Country Park on Saturday. We go a lot in autumn. And winter. And even Spring. But not summer. We don't go much in summer. It's too busy. Full of people and screaming kids. We like it when it's cold and the softies are all at home having a DVD-duvet-day. We don't have to queue for an ice cream when it's cold. And there are plenty of rustic wooden benches free to park our bums on while the kids jump in the stream.
So there we were on Saturday enjoying the peace and quiet when along comes this dog called Poppy and steals my Minnie's ball! The bloody thing got it in it's mouth and would NOT let go of it. At first the owner was all like "Oh she'll get bored in a minute and put it down".... but after 20 minutes of gentle coaxing it became apparent that Poppy the dog would NOT get bored. Ever.
But the kids were moaning. We needed to move to the next bit of muddy stream. I offered to just swap our ball for theirs but Poppy's ball was clearly some sort of family-heirloom-wonderball because instead the woman said they'd just walk with us! Er hello? We don't need new mates, we came for some peace and quiet! 
So there we were. In the park with no ball to chuck and a hanger-on-er following us about. Ace! If it hadn't been for the big one I think we would've been stuck with them for ever and they would've had to come to live with us. But luckily the big one is dead clever. She told the woman to buy an icecream from the van-with-no-queue for Poppy the dog. Good trick JodiePie! Faced with the choice between ice cream and a tatty old ball the 99 won! We got rid of our new mates, Minnie got her ball back, the kids got an ice cream from the van-with-no-queue and we all lived happily ever after!