Having made the decision, I finished what I was doing in the study ...
.. and then it rained!
And did it rain - very heavy, mixed with hail, the odd rumble of thunder and more than a little bit windy. That set the pattern, on and off, for the rest of the week.
On Wednesday afternoon we took Ulysse for a walk across the fields and into some woodland. As we approached the wood, three deer came bounding out and across the field - immediately followed by one small terrier!
The small terrier came back, exhausted, ten minutes later. No need for any more walk for him that day! Generally, he is very responsive. A single call or whistle gets him straight back - unless he is focussed on something else, then he goes deaf! Not an uncommon problem, I know, but still annoying!
We took Grandma back to the airport at Limoges on Saturday, for her return trip to England. Ryanair now fly regularly from Limoges to Bournemouth, and it works out a little cheaper than FlyBe to Southampton. The only downside is that, in order to catch the FlyBe flight, we need to leave home by 10am; for the Ryanair flight, we must be away by 6am!
We needed to pop in to see Kim anyway, so decided to slaughter as many birds as we could, with the minimum number of stones. The trip to Limoges airport is a little over two and a quarter hours by road. The trip to Kim's house is a little under two and a quarter hours. The trip from Limoges airport to Kim's house is a little over an hour. Given that it takes four and a half hours' driving to get to the airport and back, and four and a half hours' driving to get to Kim's house and back, if we combine the two, we reduce from a total of nine hours' driving in two trips to five and a half hours' driving in one trip. That saving of three and a half hours converts to 35€ petrol saved! Molluscs to the planet - that is cash saved!
So we set off at 6am, Clare and I up front, Grandma and Ulysse behind and Flash in the back. The dogs having survived and enjoyed the Millau trip a few weeks ago (over four hours each way), we were quite confident taking them with us. After we had ensured the Ryanair flight was on time and watched Grandma disappear into the departures area, we drove the hour and a bit to Kim's house, arriving at about 10:15am.
Ulysse was the first out, with Flash not far behind. The pack was as Ulysse had left it, except that his place had been taken by Trevor, a Jack Russell capable of moving faster than a speeding bullet (particularly if another dog drops some food). There were a few small things I needed to do on Kim's PC, but we took all of the dogs (except Flash) for a long walk first. It was fascinating to see how Ulysse quickly settled back into the pack, and he and Trevor were soon chasing each other at breakneck speed, disappearing into old hunting haunts and generally having a good time.
Before lunch Kim offered to give Ulysse a trim for us, and to show us the style she had developed, which Ulysse seemed positively to enjoy.
Before we took him there, Ulysse was looking like this:
Kim gave him some attention, whilst other dogs and a parrot looked on
and now look at him
Isn't he smart?
Both our dogs took part in another long walk before we took them home. Flash did much better than we had expected and seemed really to enjoy the day, as did Ulysse.
We arrived home at about 7:30pm, both dogs having slept through the entire journey. Both dogs then went straight to their beds and slept all evening - bliss!
Incidentally, for anyone thinking about buying property in western France, Kim has an estate agency business at www.caissinfrance.com and if you are looking for a dog, her dog rescue and rehoming activities are described at www.porridgeclub.com.
Have a good week.
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