Thursday, February 12, 2015

Be proud of your place in the Cosmos. It is small but yet it is.


The sky the sort of blue colour that you assume has been photo shopped. It's cold. At the cafe under the arcades the lady in the padded dressing gown, red curlers and pom-pom slippers is wearing grey track suit bottoms. She lifts her pre-breakfast glass of Pelforths in greeting. 



The gardeners arrive, unexpectedly, to replace some laurel bushes flattened by last weeks snow. They unload the new bushes from the back of the flatbed and place them in the middle of the courtyard. Then they have a cigarette. Bob and Sophie are incensed by the arrival of what appears to them to be a forest of talking shrubs. 

A man from the tax office comes to value the house. He's due at three but arrives at four fifty. No apology. He's wearing a GANT windcheater several sizes too small. His late arrival means he's not keen to linger. Having a French tax valuation is like selling your house but in reverse. Angus emphasises every negative he can think of. Better yet the man is clearly not a dog lover. He eyes Sophie's doo-doo , discarded in the middle of the downstairs hallway, with distaste.


A strange meteorological phenomenon. A rainbow pointing upwards into the sky rather than downwards. Something to do with a weather front passing through ? The word lenticular comes to mind. A fact dredged up from 'O' level days. 'The Font' thinks it's a prismatic cloud . Whatever, this is the first time either of us have ever seen anything like it. The i-Phone photo does it scant justice.


Things too small for a diary but too important to be forgotten.

23 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

Why not suggest the tax valuation man read your blog for a few months? It would surely help your case.
Cheers,
Gail.
PS I think the font may be right about the clouds. We see lenticular ones on Deeside (indicating good conditions for the gliding club, I'm told) but they are a different shape from those in your photo.

Climbingmandy said...

How exciting!! I think you spotted a sun dog!! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dogs

Camille said...

I believe Mandy may have guessed correctly regarding what looks to be a Sun dog in your photo. Now that really is special. By the way - tax men...Harrumph!

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

We just received a Valuation in the mail....sight unseen.

Anonymous said...

A Sun Dog. I have not heard of the term before. How cool!
Stunning pictures.
I had the house assessed a few years ago. I do hope I am not due another!
I hope your mans findings do not prove too painful.
x

Kari said...

Circumzenithal Arcs are the upside down, smile in the sky ones. I've never heard of a sun dog either! Something new to learn every day.
Anything having to do with taxation is a nightmare.

Unknown said...
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Julie said...

A Sun Dog, isn't that amazing? Never heard or seen such a thing

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

I also agree with "Mandy" that it's what we call here in the US, a "sun dog." I saw one many years ago--They are amazing, and rare.

Its been good to be able catch up on what I've missed on your blog for more than a week. I'm still here in Kentucky taking care of my the affairs of my brother who passed on Monday -- I'm sure the "tax man" and I will become very well acquainted. But reading your post of your day in deepest France Profonde, has given me a sense of "normalcy" that I'm so missing of my life in Virginia.

Angus said...

Good to hear from you. Sorry to hear of your loss. Those 'early morning' calls usually impart unwelcome news. Hope that you'll be able to get back to Va. soon. Healing thoughts.

Whispering Walls said...

Never seen a lenticular rainbow before: I'm sure ancient Greeks would have interpreted it ominously eg the pot of gold will be empty.

Angus said...

Or full ?

Angus said...

Thanks to the world of dogblogs we now know they are 'sundogs'.

Angus said...

Yes, but of the inverted rainbow type.

Angus said...

You learn something new every day !

Angus said...

This is France - the land of bureaucrats.

Angus said...

The dreaded wealth tax for residents.

Angus said...

Very rare. Bur beautiful.

Angus said...

The happy marriage of Sun and super chilled air.

Duke and Petite-Chose at 2G said...

Talking - (and smoking?) shrubs - that's a new one! Did the arrival of the dreaded man from the tax office cause Sophie to temporarily abandon her doo-doo, or has the novelty already worn off. Nope, can't say we've ever seen or heard of sun dogs either, but the word lenticular rings a vague bell!

Anonymous said...

I know those kind of people that can't handle it! They don't come around!

VirginiaC said...

An upside down rainbow...Sun Dog........what an interesting phenomenon....never heard of it before...not even when I took my Geography O'levels way back when....I've learned something new.
I also had a tax man visit my home a while ago, see my post "The Tax Man Cometh"....I too tried to sway him with everything that was wrong and antiquated with my home, but his new increased value has made me pay higher taxes..

MrsDuncanMahogany said...

Here on the Canadian prairies on very cold winter days we have sundogs all the time. Pretty but you know you are getting walloped with frigid cold. Tonight we go down (with the wind) to a lovely -41 celcius. The PONs would love it here I am sure.....

If you ever happen on our national radio station, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), sometimes viewers send in pictures of weather. Sundog pictures are prevalent in the winter.