Angus lays some turf. The PONs dig it up. The ring around the bath tells the rest of the story.
Freshly washed and groomed the PONs spend several happy hours barking at pilgrims.
Sunday lunch at a local restaurant. We are seated in the 'dogs welcome' garden at 1.00 and leave at 3.35. Wonderful food. Hyper-relaxed service. Bob and Sophie settle under the table to sleep. The waitress brings out two bowls containing some slivers of ducks breast and roast potatoes cooked in goose fat. They also get some verveine ice cream. The chef comes out to talk to them. Bob licks him. Sophie passes wind - copiously. The effect of the duck breast or the goose fat ? Or both ? By two thirty they're getting decidedly fidgety. Lunch is interrupted while they hurtle round the gardens of the neighbouring church in search of blackbirds.
A somewhat 'animated' phone call with the heating oil people about the non-arrival of their truck. They promised a delivery on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday. By Thursday lunchtime this bloggers patience is wearing thin. While Angus remonstrates with the sales lady, Bob and Sophie are left to their own devices.Ten minutes, max, without supervision.The little angels turn their attention to gardening. The recently replanted rose hedge gets a makeover - again. Nine of the twenty roses excavated, the roots chewed then scattered across the lawn. Bob gets the blame but his sister is the one with the muddy muzzle. The hedge is now a re-replanted hedge.
In the supermarket two mechanical Christmas tableaux have been installed. A floodlit Santa graces the badly lit area between the cash desks and the front door . Over by the emergency exit three teddy bears gyrate away, their routine interrupted by two chipmunks that appear, then disappear, into a Styrofoam snow drift. Above it all Nat King Cole's 'Mona Lisa' on loop. Proof positive of that European belief that if it's sung in American English and is vaguely balladic then it must be a Christmas carol.
The pups spend their first month getting to know their new family.
The second month is spent working out how to spend every possible waking moment with their new best friends.
3.07 am Bob is woken from his sleep by heavy rain lashing against the window. He decides that as he's awake it would be a great idea for the whole family to get up and do something exciting together . That head back ' wo-oo-oo-oo-of ' yell of joy that PON owners get to know only too well. How can such small dogs make such an ear rending hullaballoo ?
' The font ' asks if I'm going to get up and see to 'my' dog. After ten minutes Bob falls back asleep. All puppies finally learn that excitement sometimes has to wait.
They get a handful of cake crumbs at the bakers this morning.
