Thursday, October 10, 2013

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.





'' Bonjour M'Ongoose. Bonjour Bhub. Bonjour Sophee ". The beer and absinthe crowd at the cafe under the arcades in fine form this morning. Even the lady with the  blue toggle dressing gown and pom-pom slippers greets us with a smile. We settle down at a table outside while the waitress goes in search of an illicit half croissant, a bowl of water and a coffee. '' English weather tomorrow " says the man with the maroon metallic motability scooter. By this I presume he means rain. We gently turn down his kind offer of an early morning beer.

' The font ' drives down to Toulouse to spend the night in a hotel. The astronomy exams start at eight in the morning so its either that or setting off at five . A hotel seems a better alternative.  For dinner Bob and Sophie have  smoked mackerel with their kibbles.  The thwack-thwack-thwack , metronome on steroids, sound of Bob's tail against the kitchen door indicating he is one very happy PON.  His " I has died and gone to heaven " enthusiasm for new flavours.

Replacement sheets arrive from London. France definitely not the place to buy Emperor sized bedlinen. 24 hour delivery and a shipping charge of less than $10. They are kept well away from Sophie.

An old friend, now at an embassy in Washington, calls for a chat. He says the White House switchboard greets callers with a recorded message : '' We apologise, but due to the lapse in federal funding, we are unable to take your call ". This surely must be urban legend . Can things really have gone this far ?

11 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

I can just picture Sophie thinking. "Oh Yes. Emperor sheets.Those are the ones for me."

CheerfulMonk said...

I wouldn't be surprised about the White House switchboard. The whole thing is a fiasco.

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Never heard of Emperor sheets...are they bigger than King size?

XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

Once got a message from the Community Transport Office..announced the opening hours and said 'don't leave a message, we don't check this.'

VirginiaC said...

Thank goodness The White Company in London can ship quickly.......
Wishing the "Font" the best of luck in her exams.
Please don't get me started on the White House shutdown fiasco, I think even Bob and Sophie would do a better job of resolving the whole issue.
Those men in dark suits don't seem to have a clue.

Julie said...

I always thought fish was a cat thing until I tried Mia on a bit of salmon, so dogs do fish as well then ! Hope all goes well in 'the Font's' exams, I couldn't wait to stop doing exams so I'm always impressed by those that keep going, mind you, I'm useless in the morning as well so the 8am start wouldn't suit me either !

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

For me to call the White House it's a local phone, so I looked up the number and called the switchboard to find out--You friend is indeed correct--Unbelievable. I'm guessing that perhaps and hopefully the President has a direct line and hopefully the other world leaders have that number ...

myboyzach said...

Good luck to 'font' on her exams. Nothing surprises me about the government at the moment. May you can come talk some sense into them??
oh, wait...they'd have to be willing to listen !!!

JacksDad said...

Let's just say the White House won't be getting any new sheets from the UK any time soon!!

houndstooth said...

Sadly, it probably isn't an urban legend. My husband had to take a FEMA test as part of his SAR training and ran into the same thing. Even our favorite local hiking place is closed due to the shutdown. I can't really figure out what we're paying the people in office to do...

Surely Sophie wouldn't repeat the same transgression twice!

Anonymous said...

I don’t want to intrude on ‘the font’s privacy but I am curious about her interest in astronomy. Is she studying astronomy for the joy of it or does she have plans for entering the field in some capacity?
I am a biochemist working in research and teaching at a university in Los Angeles. And I do enjoy my job immensely. However, I would work (play) in the fields of astrophysics and/or astrobiology in any capacity.
Does she have a telescope? It is beyond fun to hop from one astronomical object to another using only a medium power telescope and a star map.
Is she anxious for the arrival of Comet ISON in late November? I think it would be extraordinary to see a comet that is as bright as the Moon, or, possibly see it in the daytime. Unfortunately, it seems that Comet ISON may not be able to live up to the expectations hoped for it. Regardless, it will still be a wonderful sight.
I apologize if I am being rude and intrusive.

Angus said...

No intent to do anything with the astronomy workwise. Being studied for pure enjoyment. Yes, we have a Meade refractive telescope which plugs into the laptop and which makes stargazing much easier. However most of the work is to do with string theory, multiverses etc.