Benign.

An e-mail from Lufthansa in the inbox this morning. 'Angus - Allow us to fill you with joyful anticipation '. This offer turns out to be, rather pedestrianly, a chance to buy a selection of cabin luggage at 25% off. Not the joyful anticipation hoped for.

Bright but cold. The air so clear you can see forever. A Norwegian wind making me add not one, but two, additional layers to the three I've already got on. It is bobble hat weather. Sophie is in her element. At the cafe in town we take our place at the table on the pavement by the window. While we're waiting for our Jaffa Cake and bacon roll a man from the University Security Response Team arrives. No doubting he's from the Security Response Team because he has a van that says this in large letters along the side. He greets Sophie with the words ' You're a sweetheart '. He's told that he's a bad judge of canine character. We laugh.  I ask him if he sees much violence in his job. He looks at me in a ' Are you mad ?' sort of way. It seems that the greatest security threat he deals with is students losing their keys and locking themselves out of their dorms. This is distantly followed by students who try to make chips for the first time and set their kitchens on fire. In a world gone mad the mundanity of these risks is strangely reassuring. The generation born in the 2000's will almost certainly make a better job of running things than their grandparents.

On the way home a detour to the farm shop. They have something called Chicken Orchid. This turns out to be chicken stuffed with haggis. Who knew there was such a thing ?  No temptation there. The Peking Duck Seaweed Chips are also given a wide berth.

Sophie has had a small growth on the side of her muzzle for some time. The vet in France looked at it and told us to not worry. Over the last ten days it's grown - as in a threefold increase. There will be a trip to the vets this morning to make sure it's benign. It is well protected by the fur on her cheek. Wilf and Digby both had these same type of growths as they got into 'older' age. They proved to be alarming but harmless.  Must be a PON thing.