London agreeably sunny and warm . Ten years ago Londons hotels and restaurants were staffed by eager young Poles. Now the young Poles have been replaced by hoardes of eager young Spaniards. A sign of ' the crisis '.
Angus orders an ' English breakfast '. The young Spanish waitress assures him the mushrooms are fresh. They turn out to be fresh in the sense of '' fresh out of the freezer ". The grapefruit juice is also supposed to be fresh. Processed beyond recognition . Fresh out of the carton perhaps ? Strange how something with so much added sugar can retain the tartness of paint stripper.
A humdrum story on the inside pages of the morning paper. The words ' taken a sip of wine and placed her handbag on the floor ' adding a layer of pognancy to the report. The 'packed' restaurant it happened in right in the heart of the financial district.
Back home. A year ago an old oak tree fell on the barn roof. Now the roofer has shown up, late and unannounced, to repair it. He brings with him an amiable alsatian. At lunchtime ' the font' finds the alsatian, Hugo the malevolent Maltese and the fresco restorers proprietorial dog, all asleep in the shade of the cherry orchard. They can only just have met but act as if they're old friends.
I'm puzzled. Is the liquid in that second photo the so-called grapefruit juice? If so, I think the appearance was a good clue to the taste...
ReplyDeleteWe hope you had a few jaffa cakes for the Alsatian, oh they're called Alsatians here, too.
ReplyDeleteSurely the wine wasn't that bad.
XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy
That's the best thing about animals - time has no meaning.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we will get to see a picture of the two - seems that your garden is the dog chilling place to be... Happy you have some four legged company around greetings from Southern Italy Susanne, Daisy, Foxiie and Kiri
ReplyDeleteThe sorry tale of your breakfast is a sad reflection on the catering industry in this country. Real fresh food is not difficult to find or to cook but cheap processed stuff is probably more profitable and can be dished up with minimal training. But to say it's fresh - how daft do these people think we are ?
ReplyDeleteDogs should rule the world, we'd all get along, living in peace and harmony, and there would be no unnecessary wars and conflicts....we can learn so much from our canine friends.
ReplyDeletelike here when they say "fresh hashbrowns"
ReplyDeleteand they come out in a little square shape. lol.
fresh out of the big square box!
i love dogs. they're the best people i know.
Define the word "fresh"... Ha! That made me laugh!
ReplyDeleteFunny how dogs can make things so simple! It must have been quite a sight to see them all together. :)
What a sad ending to that young woman's life.
I rarely comment but often read your blog. I enjoy the slightly "cynical" (do I mean that?) style and your photographs which sum up life in La France Profonde so well. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the woma deliberatly taking what she knew was her last drink of wine ever and knwoing whats coming...you want to stop her
ReplyDeleteThe small detail about the handbag does make the story all the more poignant.
ReplyDeleteWe should all be as easy-going as good dogs.
We would love to see a picture of the three dogs sleeping in the shade, please! That would be a wonderful visual demonstration of how we can all get along even if we appear to be very different. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe Magpies and Mitzi the Dog in California
Why do female's jump off very high buildings?
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ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to figure out what that is next to the tomato!!
ReplyDeleteYou've written on so many topics, Angus. But what we'd really like to know is how you can eat hearty breakfasts, lovely pastries, enjoy wines and still stay slim!
ReplyDelete(At first, I thought the server had given you a yellow plastic glass!)
The fry up looks pretty good! Miss Cumberland sausage!!
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