This morning the car covered in a light coating of yellow Saharan sand. It's thick enough that I have to use the windscreen washer. The winds heading up from North Africa are pushed high over the Pyrenees and then fall and dump their cargo of sand on us.
En route to buy our breakfast berries we listen to the radio. Some French generals have said there will be a civil war if the country carries on its current path, the number of daily Covid cases has eased back slightly to below 30,000, and the British Prime Minister ( all things British being a source of amused consternation to French radio ) lost his temper in parliament over allegations he bought $1,000 a roll wallpaper. Nothing about when lockdown will be lifted.
From the New Yorker :https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-challenges-of-animal-translation
7 comments:
The New Yorker article is fascinating, although something in me resists the idea that we should be able to "translate" what the animals are saying, as that would surely take away some of the wonder of inter-species communication. We've shared our home with parrots for many years but I think we've mostly learned more parrot than they've learned English or Japanese. Our African grey Lucky is the exception to this rule. She is a dedicated communicator and keeps us under constant observation. If I take a tissue from the box, she sneezes. If I take a bottle from the refrigerator, she pours a drink. if I don't take her out to watch TV with me in the evening, she shouts "Mama!" in my son's childhood voice. If we aren't paying enough attention to her, she makes the intercom sound so we will come see who's at the door (the intercom screen is next to her cage).
How I wish we in the UK were in a position to find Boris's various sleazy antics amusing... The joke is running very thin.
Cheers, Gail (who is heading off to Angus today, in the sense that her Thursday cycling group is taking advantage of the relaxed travel restrictions and venturing a little further afield than usual, starting their ride at Montrose and aiming to complete a circuit around Arbroath, Carnoustie, Monifieth and Forfar).
Safe travels. I hope that you have the chance to take a break at Lunan Bay on your way back. Brechin has a very interesting, but well hidden, medieval core. Arbroath has some wonderful architecture along its high street but is a now a sad reflection of its former self.
Inca can sympathise with Sophie's impatience with her master! Sometimes it takes us a while to actually get out through the front door too.
The article about animals is something I'll set aside to read later. However, I watched the video with mounting horror, at the lengths these silly women go to dressing up and pampering their pets. Much as I love and have loved my pets, they are dogs and as such have been treated with the respect they deserve, but that doesn't include painting their claws or dying their fur to match my hair!
Good luck to anyone trying to pamper a PON. Ferreting for badger poo in the drainage ditches is more their style.
Hari OM
As I have just spent the whole month on "A-Z" narrating 'Coviditionits' and parodying the parlous political position in the disUK, I think it goes far beyond 'bemused consternation'... YAM xx
Lucky sounds like quite the character!
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