Appreciate everything that you have

Madame Bay appears at first light. She has found an old watercolour painting of the house. The palm tree has grown to at least twice the size shown, so it must have been done at least forty years ago. '' There wasn't so much traffic then " says the saintly septuagenarian with a sigh. This uncharacteristically maudlin tone of voice may have something to do with a large, fresh, dent that has appeared on the rear driver side wing of the gold metallic 'Wild Child' voiturette. It almost matches the old, still unrepaired, dent on the front passenger side caused by a wayward lamppost in the supermarket car park.

The warm weather has brought the builders out of hibernation. Work on the German billionaires garage once again feverishly underway. Bob looks on in silence as a large truck delivers the elevator that will whisk cars from the garages lower levels to the floors above. He carefully picks his way home, en route chosing to walk through every muddy puddle he can find.

In the afternoon a trip to check out a local kennels . Always a useful thing to have in case of emergencies.The kennels aren't the Ritz but they're clean and the people that run it seem sensible. Bob spends an hour on the 'dressage' course with the kennels owner. Weaving through traffic cones and old car tyres a source of evident delight. Sophie sits this out. She's not going to let just anyone hold her lead.