Oh my goodness, July left quietly and August sneaked in without me realising it and here we are already the 4th ! I’m sure I’m not the only one who frequently gets confused since confinement, the days just seem to roll into one and I often wake up wondering what day it is and what I’m supposed to be doing.
Last month was like the parson’s egg, good in parts. One very good part was that I met up with Shelagh from Pheonix Association and Tiffany, ex of Pheonix. The three of us go back a very long time and Pheonix is in fact the reason I got into dog rescue after I went up there to adopt a Border Colley puppy. Ignorant then of how refuges work, I was very embarrassed when I chose dear Geoff (who sadly turned out to have a cerebral problem and lived only 18 months) to find I had forgotten purse and chequebook ! At that time I was working in an hotel, so pledged my next month’s tips to Pheonix. Shelagh and Rick were doing (what am I saying, are STILL doing) amazing work and helped me immensely when I started Poorpaws. We live quite a long way away from each other but meet up a couple of times a year at Villereal for a long lunch and catch up. Tiff left and went to live in Cornwall for a time but came rushing back when Cornwall voted Brexshit and now does ‘animal sitting’ for people going on holiday. She has tremendous experience with all animals and in fact will be our saviour at the end of September when we do our annual ‘down tools’ and go off to Ile de Re – covid permitting.
A very sad part of the month was when my friend Karen died, after a long, painful time, from a rare disease. I met Karen when I used to clean for her and go and sit with her terminally ill husband so that she could get out to shop. Her husband died and she didn’t need me so much, but we became very good friends. She was a lovely person who suffered so much but never complained. The worst I ever heard her say was “Oh, it’s a bugger aint it”. I try to remember that when I’m moaning about some trivial thing.
The scary part of the month was taking my French language examination in preparation for applying for French citizenship. I’m still not 100% sure I will apply, but I couldn’t do it without the exam under my belt anyway, so I decided to take it to get it out of the way. I was SO nervous on the day, I haven’t taken an exam since my O levels and that was ……. well, let’s just say a long time ago ! The exam takes two and a half hours and consists of of French oral comprehension, written comprehension, oral expression and written expression. I won’t get the full results until September but was told “not to worry”, so I’m hoping that was a good sign. One of the oral questions was ” What is your favourite domestic animal and why ?” Well, how jammy was that ? They had to hook me off from the side to shut me up !!!
Lovely Etain and Patou were adopted this month, hang on in there Pheobus, your time will come ! We’ve had a few more in and I must update the website. You can always go to Seconde Chance website, click on Midi Pyrenees, then Lot, then search and go to La Mere aux Betes (you can also find the site on facebook) where you will Danielle’s dogs.
Finally, nowhere to go on Friday 7th ? Then go along to the Marche Gourmande at Tournon d’Agenai where Absolutely Fabba will be performing a great selection of songs – with quite a bit of Abba as the name suggests. Gaynor and Pam who form A F are two of The Stanley Sisters who entertained us all last year. If you can’t make the 7th, then you have another chance on the 25th at Beauville at the Fish and Chip night. See the Bon Coeur website for details.
Enjoy August ….. and pray for a bit of rain !
Sue x