Friday, January 15, 2021

Not one but two.


It's started to rain again. This makes it muddy and treacherously slippery down by the stream. Angus plods along gingerly, his companion sprints ahead.  During our walk Sophie's coat absorbs her body weight in moisture. She sits in the back of the car looking ever so slightly bedraggled.


Today, despite dire warnings about the transmissibility of  new variants of Covid, we opt to go to the drive thru bakers.   Must be a month or six weeks since we were last there. Quite possibly longer. Lockdown time seems to develop an elasticity of its own.

Angus orders a croissant and a coffee from the young lady at the window. Today, she's wearing her mask properly so it covers both mouth and nose. That's progress. She's also wearing what appear to be a pair of those long , yellow, elbow length rubber gloves that  1950's era mothers used before dish washers were a thing. This is an unusual PPE accessory.  Angus keeps this thought to himself. Sophie sits in the back smelling the scents from the bakers oven. She exudes happiness.  I know this because her tail goes into a fifty to the minute beat against the metal dog grille. Payment made, we drive off and sit in the car park and put the world to rights. We listen to the French breakfast news broadcast. A Georgia Congresswoman, I don't catch her name, is saying that she's going to call for the new President to be impeached on his first day in office. We also learn that Lady Gaga is going to sing the national anthem at the inauguration.  This seems an unusual choice for the incoming president but I guess it shows he's cool. Sophie enjoys the curly croissant ends. Early rising shop staff look at the two of us chatting away. 


Perhaps it's a  really good croissant or perhaps dog and master are suffering from prolonged croissant deprivation. Whatever the reason we go to the drive thru bakers again. Then we head off to find  a different corner of the car park. Sophie clambers down and she and Angus share a second croissant sitting under the raised tailgate. . Sophie emits a gentle, but most unladylike snort to let me know that life is good.


Books from Amazon, 'The Fonts' unguents from Liberty's, and a couple of packages from Peter Jones all lost in the post. Following Brexit the French customs are painstakingly checking every single parcel coming from the UK . This is presumably some form of punishment for leaving the EU. The system is completely overloaded and shipments are simply being returned to the sender by the overwhelmed freight companies.



9 comments:

Virginia said...

Next the UK will start a tit-for-tat slowdown too and everyone’s businesses will suffer. Madness. At the other end of the world, our importers were concerned about the downturn Covid would cause and have decreased their orders, and a whole lot of things are in short supply. I’ve been unable to get an interesting 2021 desktop diary. In our house, it is THE diary, to which every other diary must defer. (And if that’s the worst I’ve got to cope with, I need to “get a grip”!)

WFT Nobby said...

Two croissants! A great start today for Angus, Sophie and a legion of loyal (but recently bakery-starved) readers!

Lisa in France said...

Ah, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon fan and one of the more interesting (?) freshmen in the House of Representatives. The choice of Lady Gaga for the anthem seems an appropriate response to the threat of impeachment. I am just sorry that the new President will not be able to travel to DC by Amtrak as planned. On the other hand, I am glad the you and Sophie were able to enjoy not one but two croissants after such a long break.

potty said...

There are many unsung heroes but I have to applaud the Postal workers here in the UK who have continued their usual 6 days a week service, Post from France has taken a bit longer and Xmas cards took over two weeks. I fear that delay was on the French side.
I would read an attempt to appear youthful for the Team that have engaged Lady Gaga.

Coppa's girl said...

We're with Bertie! Croissant starved here since our favourite café with the best croissants in town, closed for an indefinite period. We can still buy inferior croissants (shrouded in a plastic bag) from the supermarket. Yours must have been fabulous, Angus, to risk a second drive thru.

Sheila said...

You must be getting some interesting first-hand accounts of life in D.C. these days.

Maudie said...

I've done the two croissant performance myself - prompted by a glorious french bakery.
Lady Gaga could represent so much. In addition to her Biden-Harris support, she is incredibly talented, resourceful, hard working and evolves and transforms. Perhaps a message for all of us here in the US that we do not need to remain stuck where we are.

Bailey Bob Southern Dog said...

Very well said!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
...is it wrong that I am drooling over a photo of a full French croissant... (and again I emulate Sophie!) YAM xx