Monday 9 February 2009

The view from here

The rain wash lashing down on the car windscreen so heavily it created an amazing view
The prodigal daughter is back. Already she is missing the clear air, the snowy peaks and waking up in the bosom of a relatively sane nuclear family. So it was back to earth with a bump. Daisy loved Switzerland and she was thoroughly spoilt by her host family.

I packed her off with Yorkshire tea. A fruit loaf, shortbread and Marmite they loved all the sweet stuff but I think the jury was still out on the Marmite! Daisy returned with lots of Swiss cheese, more chocolate than even the staunchest chocoholic could deal with but which I will dutifully consume before lent kicks in and a beautiful Swiss penknife.

Daisy stayed in what sounds like a stunning house that had been built into the side of a mountain. It was only accessible via a steep road which you then descended from, via some even steeper steps. God knows what this poor girl will make of our house of chaos and carnage. I have got 6 weeks to whip it into some kind of order.

This week, I have to look forward to, my annual visit to The Tate Modern with 40 students, oh lucky me. but do not forget we do get the holidays and oh, I seem to have a week off next week, so off to Oxford I shall go.
The highlight of this weekend was a visit to Battersea Dogs Home. He has finally decided that life is just not the same without a dog. my criteria if I have to endure another animal slowly trashing my house and sanity is that I must be able to pick up it's crap with one hand. So no bloody Labrador's
A visit to Battersea is always sad, I could have bundles up at least 5 dogs but very few were suitable for a household such as ours. Most were for those families with out children, we offered to trade, but they did not seem interested.
However despite the excitement of the girls, we have lots of forms to fill and interviews to pass. Watch this space.

2 comments:

materfamilias said...

when we got our Golden retriever as a pup, we had to fill out questionnaires, and a "psychological profile matching" was done between us and the dog. I have wished ever since that we had lied and said we lived in a 400sq.ft. space with our aging parents rather than in a waterfront home with three teens still at home -- the latter got us one of the most lively ("ambitious," she was once called by a kindly vet) dogs I've ever known. Lovely, friendly, but still a bouncy pup at over eleven, and it can get very wearing!
Have fun choosing! at least you have one still young enough that she might be at home as long as the dog is. I'm sole caretaker of ours most days, as I have been for several years now -- NOT the original plan!

indigo16 said...

Oh trust me one Labrador is enough. I am very aware that even with a house full I will be the one who walks it in foul weather.