Sunday morning in deepest France profonde. Bipolar weather. Chilly and wet in the mornings. Hot and humid in the afternoons. It's been like this for the last month. Sophie makes it clear that a little rain shouldn't delay our start of the day tour of the village.
The family diva waits expectantly for her days adventures to begin. Leading the news this morning a report from Greece where high temperatures and winds have fueled the forest fires around Athens. It looks as if it's going to be a second bad year in a row for the Mediterranean tourist industry.
Nineteenth months since we've been back to the UK. We start making plans for a quick trip to the dentist later this month. The Brits require tests. France only requires proof of a double jab and a signed 'attestation' saying that we don't have any of the symptoms of Covid. The local pharmacy will do the required pre-departure test for nothing. The London hotel can arrange a 'second day' test for a cost of £150. This must be booked and paid for even if you plan to be in the country for 24 hours.
This morning, just as we're about to drive off in search of a croissant, the farmers sheepdog appears. He has that unmistakable sheepdog ' What are WE going to do now ?' glint in his eyes. He is rather crestfallen to find that he's too late to greet the long haired diva. The long haired diva is delighted that she's in the car and doesn't have to deal with this enthusiastic suitor.
8 comments:
Hari OM
Morning all... I hesitate to say, but there is a touch of autumn in the air by the Hutch today - some yellowing leaves, reddening of rowans, cool... just that sense of a year turning on its heel. Seeing this glorious array of sunflowers helped cheer it up a bit. And that smiling Border Collie. How could Sophie resist?! YAM xx
Bertie is ever envious of the cleverness of squirrels and their 'robust gap-crossing strategies'!
No touch of autumn yet in Tokyo, unfortunately. Today, we are having a small typhoon just in time for the Olympics closing ceremony. I am intrigued by the idea of your flying to the UK to visit the dentist, as I just heard from my brother, who lives in Dorset, that he is flying back to New Jersey for the same purpose - can't find a good dentist in England, he says. We see a dentist in Tokyo, but he is a US dentist, as were our two previous dentists, now retired. Must be one of those things . . . I enjoyed the email from Giraffe Manor. Visiting that hotel has been one of my dreams for years.
It feels like September in Carcassonne. Even the rainy days have sun. Highs in the low 80s. Lovely standard for September, but a bit cool for August.
May I remind you I have a very good dentist and dental surgeon (the surgeon is a local but went to NYU) only an hour past Toulouse.
We are going to the U.S. for the first time in 6 years. Very nervous. I have a thick packet of printouts of everything--vaccinations, Covid tests, attestations--as well as having it all on my phone.
Langata was out in the middle of nowhere when I lived in Kenya. Now it's part of the capital. Giraffes are lovely. Back then, in the 1980s, it was easy to see them, just out on a hike in the countryside. Or on the shores of Lake Naivasha (where the "Born Free" series was filmed)--they grazed among the cows. Got as close as I dared--they don't bite but do kick. Much more dangerous at Naivasha are the hippos.
Poor Sophie, the weather can do terrible things to a girl's hair - she looks slightly fed up in the first photo!
Inca too, would rebuff the advances of the Border Collie - handsome chap though he is. There is a feisty Weimaraner we meet most days on our morning walk, and he's very interested in Inca. If she's off her lead she turns round and runs away!
The numerous squirrels around here perform some marvellous high wire balancing acts on the overhead cables. It's amazing the sure-footed way they run along the wires at top speed.
The Giraffe Manor was the subject of a TV programme some years ago, very interesting, and is still shown occasionally.
In your glorious sunflower photo, there is one sunflower standing a wee bit taller than the others; as if to say, ‘hi, see me!’. What a happy way to begin a Sunday! Thank you Angus.
Hello Angus! I've missed stopping by, and have so enjoyed catching up on your news. This is my favorite time of year on your blog, when the sunflowers are in bloom. They are truly magnificent, and to see them myself remains on that bucket list. We had a patient in my office last week that is from outside Toulouse, and she was telling me that she misses seeing the sunflowers as well. She has not seen her family in 3 years and is afraid to come because if someone gets sick with COVID in her village, she doesn't want them to blame her family, even if they were not the cause of it. A terrible dilemma for her. But what a lovely and very homesick girl she is.
I hope your weather improves.
We're heading to the Hebrides in September. Masked and double jabbed, unlike so many of our irrational countrymen.
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