Wry humour.

A hearty and enthusiastic Good Morning from Sophie.

To the cafe in the little market town for a coffee.The waitress  gives Sophie an ear scrunch and an additional portion of croissant. Sophie accepts the tickle in silence but emits an almost silent squeak of delight when presented with the croissant portion.

On the shopping street a large Christmas penguin has arrived. Sophie gives it a cursory sniff. Then off to the market for some hyacinth bulbs. They want to charge E2.80 each. We opt to buy them from the supermarket where they are E1 apiece.  Sophie takes great interest in a gaggle of live chickens. She is encouraged along.

By the roundabout the little hotel has finally given up the ghost. A compact gem of late 20's, early 30's architecture. Must have been quite the thing in its day. The arrival of the motorway meant that the passing trade and commercial traveller business disappeared. It has struggled on with a few summer tourists and a restaurant that served lunches for E12.80 - glass of wine included. A McDonald's opened up next door which put paid to the lunchtime custom.This years railway strikes have meant that seasonal business has collapsed and with it the owners last hopes of scraping along.

On the way home we overtake a car with a trailer towing part of ( what is presumably ) a fair ground attraction - a dodgem car ? The doors aren't secured properly so it looks as though its flapping its way along the road.

Christmas song 13 for the joyful and triumphant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rUFy3Id7aI


And wryly humorous photo caption of the year goes to the Washington Post for this.