Apropos of Nothing

A small variety of photo's just for a catch up. On the Thursday morning we woke up to a small amount of snow. We took a few pictures but this was about as Christmas Card as it gets. The picture of a 'pond' is actually a mistake. Having given us mains water on Friday but with curiously low pressure (about half the pressure we'd seen out at the road), we turned up on Monday to this expanding pond outside our wall but running into our run-off channel. It turns out there may have been a cattle drinking trough at that position which had been removed, and the water pipe cut though and buried. Sensible? Dad phoned the water boys on Monday and they showed up very fast, promising to return and fix us in days.

The fix was fast if a little rough and ready - expose the pipe with a mini digger, plug the end and secure the plug with a dodgy bit of wire you found in a handy fence. Re-bury the pipe. Ta daaaa! Full pressure at the house.

The big yellow lorries are the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) coming to turn on the mains power which involved running some new cable from the road and replacing the 'head', the fuse-box in the house and the meter. The kit was 15 years old and "we've moved on a bit since then".

Finally, this is what "shopping" looks like these days. On one day we bought woodworm treatment, a knapsack sprayer and masks for same, bitumen primer and a burner for torch-down felt, buckets and a plaster stirring weapon, yellow 'speed-line' spray-paint, a trowel, float, expanding foam, gloves and PVA (Unibond), steel mesh reinforcing, a tonne of sand and 24 sheets of 4 by 2 polystyrene sheeting.

Proper Man Shopping
Deefs

Shopping in Paris

Retail Therapy! Mum and that Diamond have been in Paris for the last 4 days, shopping. Sounds fabulous - Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, Bon Marche; all the make up and parfum counters - Chanel, Sisley, Fragonard..... ahhh sigh

Mum is home now (collected by Dad from the Eurostar last night) and is buzzing with tales of the bright lights, the window displays, eager-to-please assistance who naturally ask whether your purchase is "une cadeau" (a gift) which they will then beautifully gift-wrap in a neat pretty little box with ribbons and a bow.

Mum also collects all the designer shopping bags she can find (the pic is me diving into a Sisley "Soir de Lune" one to see what I might find. A dog sweetie? Maybe just possibly Dad snuck that in there to get me to stick my head in the bag?) I LOVE to smell hand cream and to lick it off Mum's hands, so you can imaging how I am as the car is unloaded - nose everywhere. Mind you, the Angel B, rather ungraciously says my nose is "everywhere" even when she is hoovering or tidying, curious to see if the hoover should unearth anything edible.

This way, Mum gets a break in Paris, Dad gets 99% of the Christmas shopping done without lifting a finger, so everyone is happy.

Hmmm... Christmas shopping. I wonder if there's anything in there for 3 angelic dogs.....

Have a good weekend

Deefer

La Shopping Parisienne ... ooh la la!

Oooh la la! I am a single parent family. Mum has departed today on the Eurostar train to Paris, with my "Auntie" Diane (owner of ASBO the dog, who I have not met yet, but whose reputation precedes him). She has filled me with wonder and exciting dreams - Galeries Lafayette! the Barbes Market! Montmartre! the Christmas Lights, posh restaurants where (quiet, well mannered) dogs are welcome, seedy smoky tabacs where tired shoppers can take the weight off their feet with a calvados and a ciggie, hydrants that are turned on daily to flush the dog poo down the gutters into the drains (ah.... what a romantic idea!)

Mum tells me she will buy me not one, but two collars, while she is in Paris (indeed, she tells me that that is the main reason she is going :-)) ), one for while I'm puppy sized, one for when my neck is thickened up to grown-up size. Sounds good to me, though I have not yet actually had a collar on. Meggie's black-spotted, dalmation coloured collar and Haggis's tartan ones both come from Paris after all.

2nd Jab tomorrow, then in a few weeks time, I'm allowed out in public

Ahhhh! Just scared myself silly. Was idly lying on the put-up bed chewing the nearest thing that came to hand (which happened to be the front paw of one of the "singing westie" toys I told you about yesterday. How was I to know that the switch to start them singing is in the paw of the "boy" toy! Suddenly started off on "They say we're young and we don't know.. we won't find out until we grow". Blimey! Didn't know my little legs could leap off that bed so stylishly and run that fast out into the landing

Scarier than "Torchwood" last night!

(Panting) Deefer