Saturday, November 7, 2020

Never out of fashion.


Loic arrives with two friends to blow leaves. En route the matron, who is driving them to the house, is stopped by the gendarmes to check her lockdown documents. 61,000 cases in France yesterday so the authorities have started to be quite strict in policing the new rules. Adjusted for population size that would be the equivalent of 300k a day in the US. Something has gone seriously wrong. The gendarmes notice the matron has a broken rear turn light. She's given a ticket with a fine of E25. Loic and his colleagues find this to be very exciting. Angus thinks the fine heavy handed . Our guests blow leaves, have orange squash and cookies and have a turn on the lawn tractor. Laughter rises to heaven. Sophie retires to the grooming table and cautiously observes these new visitors. She does not take to new faces unless they come bearing gifts. I detect a certain proprietorial pride in Loic when he talks to his friends. This is HIS garden. 


The wind blows fiercely all day. Real shutter rattling weather. By the evening the lawn is once again carpeted in leaves from the plane trees that line the lane. Loics leaf blowing skills will never go out of fashion. He can justly be proprietorial.




7 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

What a fine day out for Loic and his friends. To hear their laughter in the garden must have brought joy to your day (unless perhaps you are Sophie!)
Favourite tweet of the week in this household has been the Greta Thunberg 'anger management' one.

Lisa in France said...

Thinking about what a grand time Loic and his friends must have had is just the break I needed from thinking about the election. I also liked both your candidate for best tweet and Gail's. Sophie, I have to say, also looks a bit proprietorial from her perch on the grooming table. We are visiting our weekend house today. Cherry has always loved the backyard, where she could play Frisbee on the grass. These days, with her eyesight fading, Frisbee is beyond her, but she's discovered something perhaps even more wonderful - peeing on grass. Our dear city dog never did this over all the years we've been coming here, but she must have finally figured out what some other dogs have been doing in her yard and, all of a sudden, the light went on - nowadays, as soon as we arrive, she bolts for the back door so she can do her thing. I have some doggie version of Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman" playing in my head

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
The simple joy of Loic's pleasure in his work and sharing that with his friends makes such refreshing reading. Thank you Angus. YAM xx

Camille said...

Very strict gendarmes when the matron is only performing a small kindness for her boys sums up how serious Covid rules are being considered over there right now. It seems to have disappeared from the news here in the states. One must dig deeply to determine the numbers are still ever increasing here in New England. Like YAM, I found your story this morning a pleasure to read and refreshing.

Coppa's girl said...

Agree wholeheartedly that this is such an uplifting post Angus. How good to have such pleasures at at time like this, and so kind of Sophie to share HER garden! How we all wish that such simple things as leaf blowing and a ride on the lawn tractor could be such fun.
How mean of those gendarmes with their fine, but at least it gave Loic and his friends even more excitement.

Stephanie said...

Angus, I haven’t been able to comment recently but I’m still here and just want to say what a real delight it is to read what you write (as well as all the great comments), view your splendid and often stunningly beautiful photos, and – of course – follow darling and adorable Mlle. Sophie on her daily adventures. May all at the ROF (and all who visit here) stay well and have good cheer.

rottrover said...

Sophie!! We're going to have a DOG in the Whitehouse again! Major. A stunningly handsome GSD! Hallelujah!!

What a happy day!

-Otto and Osa in LA