God is good, but never dance in a small boat.

A somewhat 'animated' phone call with the heating oil people about the non-arrival of their truck. They promised a delivery on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday.  By Thursday lunchtime this bloggers patience is wearing thin. While Angus remonstrates with the sales lady, Bob and Sophie are left to their own devices.Ten minutes, max, without supervision.The little angels turn their attention to gardening. The recently replanted rose hedge gets a makeover - again. Nine of the twenty roses excavated, the roots chewed then scattered across the lawn. Bob gets the blame but his sister is the one with the muddy muzzle. The hedge is now a re-replanted hedge.

In the supermarket two mechanical Christmas tableaux have been installed.  A floodlit Santa graces the badly lit area between the cash desks and the front door . Over by the emergency exit three teddy bears gyrate away, their routine interrupted by two chipmunks that appear, then disappear, into a Styrofoam snow drift. Above it all Nat King Cole's 'Mona Lisa' on loop. Proof positive of that European belief that if it's sung in American English and is vaguely balladic then it must be a Christmas carol.