Monday, January 24, 2022

Morning slapstick.

Six am. It's dark and bone chillingly cold.  Neither of these factors dissuade Sophie from wanting to get her day started. Angus has already been up for an hour talking to Manhattanites about Russias ever shriller rhetoric and Americas decision to withdraw its diplomats from Kiev. Not the most light hearted of ways to start a day. Sophie, who is unconcerned about such things, hurtles off into the darkness in inelegant pursuit of something only she can see. The sound of a PON hurtling through, rather than around, a laurel hedge is unmistakable.

Today, serious conversations over, we head off to the drive thru bakers.  Dog and dogs companion share a rather uninspiring croissant in the back of the car. There is then time to chase the mallards and explore the waste paper bins outside the new gastropub before the workers arrive and the car park fills up. Sophie would be happy spending all day exploring the bins ( a cold burger patty is in there somewhere ) but is 'encouraged' back to the car.


On the way home we stop off at a motor way service area. The weather is beautiful so why not squeeze in an extra walk ? French motorway service stations are a delight - arguably the best in the world - and light years ahead of their miserable British namesakes. This one has a road that winds up into the hills for a good kilometre. The view from up high is worth the climb. Sophie enjoyed the shopping centre car park but the service station scents are of an altogether different calibre. They send her into olfactory raptures.


Back in the village we catch a glimpse of seven moorhens.  There is the thinnest layer of ice on the pond. As the moorhens scurry into the safety of the foliage they slip on the ice. Pandemonium ensues. I laugh at this morning slapstick routine.


So starts a quiet Monday morning in a village in deepest, deepest France profonde. 

Unusual story of the day : https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dead-man-propped-up-by-two-other-men-in-attempt-to-collect-pension-at-post-office-41265529.html

 

7 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

Bertie has limited recent experience of motorway service stations but remembers there is a nice walk around a small lake at the Annandale Water stop near Johnstonebridge on the M74.

Lisa in France said...

I don't think you can blame the early-morning start entirely on Sophie. Perhaps she would have been happy to sleep in if you hadn't awakened her by speaking with those Manhattanites. There are so many things to worry about these days, it does feel like the seriousness of the situation in Ukraine kind of crept up on us all.

We actually have some remarkable highway service stops in Japan as well. I never knew about them until we "escaped" to Kyoto after the 2011 earthquake/nuclear accident, and I was amazed - none close to home, unfortunately.

Coppa's girl said...

Lucky Sophie to have such a good selection of walks - the shopping centre and the motorway service area too! I remember from our many trips, over the years, through France, how much better they were than in the UK. When we came across from the UK on the permanent move with our dogs, we and they enjoyed the "rural" walks at the service areas along the route.
Undecided weather here this morning, so we'll delay our morning walk until it decides what to do.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
It has been so long since I was oot an' aboot, that even a visit to a service station forecourt would seem as exotic to me now as Sophie clearly thinks them to be...

Living just doon the watter frae Faslane as I do, I too am keeping a weather-eye on the news from the Eastern Front... YAM xx

Travel said...

Callers need to remember the time zone differences, or we will wake Sophie from her slumbers

Camille said...

I find it absolutely shocking the number of times the reporter for the news story used the word 'shocked' regarding the dead pensioner. Fascinating story. I think I would have been...appalled. Lovely photos of sweet Sophie this morning.

Stephanie said...

I'm enjoying the recent "night" photos of Sophie and the ROF, though Sophie looks especially pretty highlighted by the morning sun.