Safe Return Doubtful

It’s quiet in northern France as the flooding slowly subsides in the Loire valley. Today I moved a 90 minute drive north of Genillé, where I spent the weekend, and many of the villages have been devastated due to the water level. I went into a Carrefour which was recovering, and only partly open; the flooring was ruined, and produce was being replaced on its shelves that had been emptied in anticipation. Many schools are closed the week that they should have returned after the mid term break. Any of the aires along the river are unusable, and consequently I am at a sports hall, that is closed, waiting for a health check before it reopens. 

Genillé was very pleasant for the weekend. There’s a bar with a good reputation, Le V and P, is its name. I called in for a beer late on Friday afternoon. It was very quiet, and the guy told me he wouldn’t open at the weekend unless he had any customers. There were hiking options, through local fields and forests, but flat, and therefore muddy. 

I’m getting towards the end of the European section of this course, by longest one already at 151 days. I’ll be in Normandy tomorrow and have a week there, before a ferry into Poole next Tuesday. On my calculation, that will be exactly 90 Schengen days. I plan to see some friends on my way up north, and take a roundabout route, through west and then north Wales. 

I have been thinking for a while about when to take on a puppy. At the end of last week I made some enquiries, and followed up on two with video calls on Saturday morning. As well as those, I had asked a friend in Shap, who has had fox reds for many years, if she heard of any litters through her friends. Also on Saturday morning she contacted me to let me know of one in South Yorkshire, through a stud dog she once used. This was by some way, the most impressive set up. The others had been through online websites. In both cases the puppies were ready to leave, and born of a Kennel Club parent, and one not, one fox red and one yellow. Alan, the breeder in South Yorkshire, 70 years old, was a committed and experienced fox red breeder whose whole life, now he was retired, was centred around his dogs. 

As a result of a couple of calls, I will collect Rua on 13th April. He was born, one of nine, on 16th February. I came across the name Rua when I was in Ireland last summer. A woman though I had called it, but its was Roja. She explained to me that it is Irish for a specific shade of red, coppery, like the colour of a fox. The timing works well, it will be useful to have support of friends in Shap. I expect to be back there a week or so before.