Dogs and shops

It is lovely to see Dolly our dog, again. I was afraid she might have forgotten me after five weeks away but she stood on her hind legs and rested her front paws on my chest whilst she licked my face a lot. And she wagged her tail while she did it. It was all very reassuring. 

       

 

 

 

 

 

There are lots of great walks to take her starting within a mile or so from our house so in the last couple of days we've marched round the back of Lake Coucou and also climbed up to our nearest hamlet, Puybelly, and down again the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent Saturday morning in the charity shop in St Yrieix with my French friend, Irène. The shop has been running for something like three years now. It took the local French some time to get used to the idea of a charity shop – it’s a new concept around here – but after a while they responded enthusiastically and we spent the morning selling, sorting and taking in new donations. The shop is small so most of the stuff is crammed in.

 

We have lots of books donated but not the space to arrange them properly. A fat biography of Louis Mountbatten was sitting between a book on photography and another on pan fried chicken. The major challenge this morning was the new till. Other helpers had training on it whilst I was away on holiday. Irène may have had training on it but, whilst she used to work for a Paris fashion designer and is ace at window dressing, arranging and general style advice, operating a till isn’t her strong point. We did muddle through, though, in spite of, at one stage, cashing up 2 centimes instead of €2. The till told us that we ought to be offering the customer €1.98 change from the €2 euros we received. But I think we’ve got the hang of it now.

 At home, later last night, Mike was becoming incensed about the spam in his email account. He doesn’t open them but was reading out the headings and giving an increasingly good imitation of Victor Meldrew. “ ‘Tanya wants to be in touch’ –  'Carol would like to be friends' and what about ‘Let us talk – my BUNNY’!” I did understand his frustration – he has never put himself in line for any of this stuff - but I did sing “My Bunny lies over the ocean” on the way to bed.