Friday, March 25, 2022

The poltergeist.

Angus wanders into the drawing room to open the shutters. The strangest thing has happened. Overnight one of the sofa cushions seems to have been flattened. Closer examination would indicate that something has used the sofa as a bed. Whatever it was must have been about two feet long and heavy enough to flatten the cushion feathers. 

We have never allowed any of the PONs on the furniture. It hardly seems conceivable that  at the age of nine the family diva would suddenly start to break all the canine boundaries. Certainly none of the male PONs would have considered such a thing. Must be a poltergeist.


The 'poltergeist' is loaded into the back of the car. This morning, by seven am,  she has greeted the council refuse workers, had the curly ends from my croissant and  enjoyed a lengthy walk through the onion fields. To top it off she has fished ( ineptly) for minnows in the stream and had a chin drenching drink from the small waterfall. Add to that the vicarious pleasure of sleeping on a forbidden sofa and it can safely be assumed that life for her is grand.


Rhodes Scholarships get 12,000 applications each of whom must supply no less than eight letters of recommendation. 99.3% of applicants are rejected. This seems like a huge waste of time . There must be better ways of doing things :https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/p/grant-funding-is-broken-heres-how





15 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

The grant funding article is interesting. Back in 2008 I had an American lodger Naomi, who applied for (and was subsequently awarded) a Fullbright scholarship, and I remember being absolutely stunned at the amount of work the application required. I was thinking about Naomi earlier this week when I heard about the death of Madeleine Albright - both were graduates of Wellesley College, Boston.
Cheers, Gail.
PS Do poltergeists have weight?

Lisa in France said...

Experience suggests that, at least when the dog in question is a PONette, you can teach an old dog new tricks - or rather, they are perfectly capable of thinking them up on their own and executing. That sofa does look very compelling.

Angus said...

Do poltergeists have weight ? Only very shaggy ones.

The Life of Riley said...

My late Golden Retriever Riley perfected the skill of leaving our leather couch with creases in the cushions and warm, but we never saw him on it as whenever we were home he knew he wasn't allowed on the furniture so never tried to get up onto it. Several video recordings, over the years, showed at the sound of our front gate closing he got up onto the couch, where he slept and everytime he heard our car and the gates opening he got off and waited on the floor to greet us. His secret made him happy!

Coppa's girl said...

Poor Sophie - I had to laugh when I saw the photo of her in the back of the car - poor girl - that's a really bad hair day!
Only two of our dogs never attempted to climb onto the furniture - the rest claimed anything remotely comfortable as their own. Our first dog (a Lab.) Sultan, latterly even had his own fancy swivel chair! Inca likes to curl up beside me on the sofa these days and, when we're in the living room, spends most of her time there asleep. I have half a dozen huge throws that I use to cover the sofa we use regularly.

Travel said...

It looked so comfortable, and she is such a sweetie

Diary of a Nobody said...

My hubby was up at four this morning because our elderly dog had got stuck between the fireplace and the book case with his back legs in the water bowl , but everything is ok I slept through it .

Poppy Q said...

Maybe 2 heavy cats are sneaking in ans sleeping together on the couch.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
... now it will be interesting to see if that poltergeist takes up permanent residence... YAM xx

sillygirl said...

I think the poltergeist is Bob returned to show you all he is still your boy.

Camille said...

Perhaps Sophie was only attempting to keep the Rampant lion and Unicorn company. Otherwise, you do seem to have a chunky poltergeist setting up housekeeping. My money's on Sophie. Wee Dottie seems to consider that all furniture is for her enjoyment, a concept we've discouraged but without a doubt, appear to be losing the battle.

Maudie said...

Imagining this scene made me chuckle - although I hope your buddy was not too frightened.

10NISNE1 said...

Aaawwww... :)

10NISNE1 said...

Hilarious post!

Tigger's Mum said...

If poltergeists can move things (like the surface of the cushion) and you believe in equal the rules of physics and all that then all poltergeists must have weight (perhaps in the form of an energy). In Sophie's position i would be claiming on plausible deniability.