Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open - Gunter Grass


Bob has gained possession of Sophie's 'doo-doo'. He trots proudly round the garden with it. Sophie protests. Bob feigns deafness. He greets passing pilgrims like this. Ferocity personified ?


The kitchen fitter shows up. He apologizes for not having been here last week. One of his labradors broke a leg, went into hospital for an operation and while there broke the other leg. The poor thing had to be put down. His four year old twins have been 'distraught'. 

The kitchen 'team' will be here on Thursday to install the ceiling lights, fit the dishwasher and build the cabinet around the radiator.  '' Everything will be ready by the weekend " he says. The Easter deadline has clearly been forgotten

The fancy builder with the big Mercedes comes to look at the damage done to the terrace when the morose lads dropped the cast iron cooker down the steps. He wants to start work on Monday. I explain we're away. He suggests they start anyway. '' You can give me the front door key and we'll let ourselves in ". 'The Font' vetoes this idea.  He'll start work in mid-May. '' Maybe I should do your new septic tanks at the same time ? " he volunteers brightly.


A hot afternoon. Sophie sleeps indoors. Bob helps me in the garden. Helping in this sense means sitting in the shade. This is otherwise known as 'supervising'.


As darkness falls Bob maintains watch over The Rickety Old Farmhouse from his vantage point on the wooden garden table. He's eventually ordered inside when he starts to bark at the owls in the plane trees on the other side of the lane.

For him , and his sister it's been a brilliant day.

Here's an interesting dog link :

9 comments:

OJ said...

The way of the pilgrim should not be expected to be without danger ... you never know what you'll stumble uPON!

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

What a resPONsible boy Bob is - supervising, keeping watch over the ROF, pinching Sophie's 'doo-doo' - is there no end to his talents!

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

If the excuse involved the family dog....then it has to be accepted.

Anonymous said...

What has Bob been eating? That looks like Merlin's 'spaghetti bolognese' face.
Poor labrador; how did it break it's other leg at the vets.
The kitchen is looking good!
x

Coppa's girl said...

With impending work on the damaged terrace, and the prospect of new septic tanks to be installed, it sounds like a summer filled with fun for the PONs when they return from kennels, and much 'supervising' for Bob to do !
What a tragic story - I, too, wonder how the poor Lab. could break it's other leg at the vets - hopefully not a case of negligence? Is it the same vet you take the PON's to?

rottrover said...

I agree with Bella, Roxy and Dui - The guy knew just which excuse to make!

Coppa's girl said...

If it's an excuse - it's way below the belt!

Whispering Walls said...

Not sure that it was so brilliant for Sophie...

Anonymous said...

For 'labrador' I read 'labourer' - so it was a bit of a shock to read he had to be put down and the twins were distraught!! Even by French standards that would have been an excuse too far! Glad to discover on a re-read that they aren't putting people down in French hospitals. But very sorry for the dog, obviously.