L'école

Alice had a swimming lesson at Beau Sejour this morning, so I did a few lengths (30 actually....yes, sadly I counted them) while she was otherwise occupied. Afterwards, we quickly went into town to get some nice baguette rolls from Smith Street - and popped in to say hello to J of course.

We arrived home to find M hadn't taken Softy to the vet. He took him yesterday, but the vet wanted more evidence than his Pet Passport of his usual monthly steroid injection. So lots of communication with the French vet, then he had to make another appointment this morning. But Softy was nowhere to be seen! M and I searched high and low - well, mostly low given Softy's advanced years and poor prognosis - outside and in. He wasn't responding to us calling him. After several hours, naturally, we all start thinking he's gone off to die somewhere quietly. This afternoon, M watered the plants on the border down the side of the drive. It wasn't long after that that a rather wet Softy emerged, totally non-plussed.

We took a van load of recycling to the clothes bank this afternoon, and made sure we were back before Softy's rescheduled vet appointment time. No Softy. M's first reaction was to get the hose out again, before coming back inside with a "he's gone again". However, there was Softy sleeping peacefully under the piano.

I also spent a lot of time searching for another cat today. The one that "King Catworth Smelly-Paws" sent to Alice in France a few months ago. He's a tiny little thing that lives in a tin. He went to school with Alice every single day after she got him. He's a very precious little cat, being a present from King Catworth Smelly-Paws. Alice was very upset last night when she realised he was missing. I found lots of other similar-sized-tiny-toy cats, but not the right one. I promised her I would find it today. Eventually I found him hiding out in a bag of toys that hadn't yet been unpacked, but I'd left lying in a corner in Alice's bedroom. Phew!

Mid-afternoon, Alice and I went to pick up Mum and her book-stall from the market. She enjoys selling her books to, and chatting with, visiting cruise passengers. We stayed for an hour or so.

Softy (and M) finally made it to the vet this afternoon, and he's had his injection. The vet cost three times the price of the French vet - for exactly the same consultation and injection. The other cats are ok. Minnie (skinny Minnie) isn't eating much, but she enjoyed the few prawns she was treated to today. Cookie is avoiding Dusty, and Snowy and Dusty like stalking the local wildlife, but otherwise the 5 of them are getting on ok.

I didn't take my camera out anywhere today, so the blip is a photo of the school photo - yes, it's the whole school. 50 children in 2 classes of 2 year-groups each. If we had stayed in France, Alice would have moved up to CE2 classe, but she would have been in the same class-room with the same teacher (the much-adored la maîtresse).