Cantankerous

 

On our start of day walk we meet the girlfriend of the young man who  reads the water meter. She manages a dozen or so holiday homes owned by Brits . Her clients usually load up their cars with mince pies and Christmas puddings and drive down to the Gers for the holidays. Yesterday, the French government imposed blanket restrictions on travellers from the UK coming to France. The bulk of her clients had to cancel their travel plans at the last minute. One lucky couple made it onto the daily flight from Heathrow to Toulouse but are now forced to quarantine. She is heading off to turn down heating systems and make sure windows and shutters are all securely locked. 'It's a shame for them but if it stops it getting to France it'll be worthwhile' she says. Angus sees little point in being a Grinch and pointing out that Omicron is almost certainly here.

Sophie sports an unusual and somewhat comical post walk hairdo.  I tell her that two horns is a  suitably diabolic look for her. She ignores this with family diva  aloofness. Eagle eyed readers will note from her paws that she has already  been fishing for minnows, ineptly,  in the stream.

The Old Farmer spends much of the afternoon rummaging around in his basement. There are long periods of silence followed by brief interludes of swearing.  He finds another strand of Christmas lights. Our ninety two year old neighbour clambers, slowly,  up a step ladder and attaches them to the front and side of the garage . I wander over and ask if I can help but get a one word answer 'No!'. The Old Farmer has reached that age where fierce independence blends into the unrestrainedly  cantakerous. When darkness falls we observe that two thirds of the lights no longer work. We shall keep this observation to ourselves.

Advent music #20 from Brazil :https://youtu.be/o5vBnlbUvo4?t=43

A fun product ideal for pouring . Interestingly , it's made in the US  :https://fellowproducts.com/products/staggekg