Sunrise. I open up the front door to let the PONs into the garden. Pandemonium ensues. They hurtle out, heads high, nostrils twitching. Sophie can match Bobs turn of speed when she wants to. Within seconds they're at the far gate peering through the bars. Bob has a toy in his mouth. He thinks this looks intimidating. Sophie stands four square on guard. What can have caused such excitement ?
On the other side of the lane a cat can just be seen wandering across the recently cut wheat field. It must be 30 yards away. The PONs olfactory sense is quite remarkable.
A somewhat uninspiring choice of cakes this morning but the croissant is exceptionally good. Dogs and master are happy. The bakers wife provides some slivers of choux pastry.
Back for an early video conference call with the hip young AI company. They are working on a system that can 'predict' which political events are important and which aren't. The young lady who is the CFO is expecting her first child. It's due any day. In fact any hour. She's going to take August off but will be back mid-September. Seven of her co-workers are expecting at the same time so they're putting in place a quiet area with beds so mothers and babies can take long naps. This strikes Angus as being very modern .
Bob has had yogurt with his breakfast kibbles. The yogurt gives his lower whiskers the look of an Edwardian pencil moustache. I tell him he looks very distinguished although this may be something of an exaggeration. His sister seems unconvinced.
A large multi-national has expanded and bought a farm on the other side of the valley. They've brought with them new farming practises. Small fields are bulldozed into large ones. This morning acres of plastic poly tunnels glow silver and alien under the seven am sky. When it rains the water flows off the plastic and forms deep gullies that block the drainage ditches and spread a thick layer of mud across the roads. At the end of the growing season the plastic they can't easily remove is ploughed back into the soil. After each storm it finds its way back to the surface . God only knows what it does to the local environment. All for the sake of improving the melon yields.
There is reason for good cheer this morning. At the cafe they've baked too many croissants. We ask for one but the pretty girl behind the counter gives us two. She bends down and tells Bob he's handsome. The manic 360 degree rotation of his tail is proof that he agrees. Angus has 1 and 1/3 croissants. The PONs each get not one but two crunchy croissant ends. The angelic duo are of the opinion that this is definitely the best day ever.
The poulterers mother is running behind schedule. We'd arranged to pick up the turkey first thing but when we get to the market she's not ready. She's only got to the letter J on her order list. Anyone with a surname starting with the letter M will need to wait for their bird to be gutted and decapitated. We are told to come back.
The greengrocer has a shipment of truffles from Perigord. These are wrapped in a silk scarf and kept in a cardboard box in the store room. We spend ten minutes choosing one. Texture , sheen and smell are discussed. The PONs look on . The greengrocer wonders if Bob would make an excellent truffle hunter. I explain that it's more likely Bob would make an excellent truffle eater. The man laughs. Bob gets a tickle.
The fishmonger hasn't prepared the lobster for Christmas Eve dinner. '' My family are visiting from Perpignan " he says by way of explanation. We settle for enormous langoustine.
A final detour to the florists. The youngest daughter has moved in with her boyfriend. Mother and eldest sister remain unconvinced that the young man in question is 'wonderful'. The youngest daughter is in no doubt. The intimacies of the relationship are discussed in front of an apparently invisible Angus.
Finally, the Turkey is ready. We collect it and head home. Later this morning Sophie will drive off with 'The Font' to the vets to have the growth on her muzzle checked. She's been in the drainage ditch and has gleaned not one but two dead voles. These have been swallowed whole. She now has the look of one of those abandoned dogs you see on Christmas animal charity adverts.
So starts a Christmas Eve morning in deepest deepest France profonde.
Did anyone see the light cast by the winter moon ? It was spectacular.
https://www.space.com/42673-december-full-moon.html
And almost the last Christmas Carol. This time a Bavarian favourite with peculiar choreography :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GV-V_kXLjo
Gone are the days of visas being issued overnight. Starting this week there are new regulations which require fingerprints to be taken and a full list of previous visits to be written down in exhaustive detail. Background checks require at least four full working days. The trip is delayed until the New Year. Angus quietly curses the visa agency for not having found this out sooner.
There are seats on the first flight back to Toulouse. At 5 in the morning London is quiet but the flower stall is ready for business. Who buys flowers at 5 am ?
At the airport a young lady is unpacking a large cardboard box containing the hire car company's Christmas decoration. '' It's a sheep with horns " she tells her colleague as what appears to be a quarter size albino reindeer emerges from the packaging. Angus refrains from pointing out that a sheep with horns would be a ram. What she's holding would appear to be that rarest of beasts - a sheep with antlers. The young lady toys with putting it on her desk. It proves too big. She finally opts for a position on the ground as far away from her as possible.
The sandwich shop in the departure terminal is doing a roaring trade. The staff all seem rather jolly. Some are in red Santa hats. Others in head scarves. Very cosmopolitan.
In the airline lounge guilt ridden parents on business trips have the chance to enter a competition to win an enormous bear. The enormous bear is the sort of thing that one might get tired of very quickly. In fact Angus has to wonder what you would do to get it through the front door ? Any toddler finding this under the tree on Christmas morning would probably lose the power of speech for a week.
Song # 10. The girls in the choir, being Swedish, are quite unperturbed by all the naked flames : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wIRw0m0xrk
