On the case .

1:08 am . Out of the darkness a banshee wailing . The window frames rattle and shake . Wilf comes hurtling up the stairs and into the dressing room . One panicking old PON in search of reassurance. His body trembling .By now the whole house awake .

Some airline is taking possession of a new Airbus from the facility at Toulouse. Usually these delivery flights don't bother us . Either we're well away from the flight path or they're already at twenty five thousand feet and climbing , quietly, away . Their passage no more than a gentle rustling in the distance . Not this morning . Whether by accident or design a huge six hundred seater comes lumbering over our little corner of paradise , engines screaming . From the garden we watch it thunder down the valley , lights flashing , tailplane floodlit. Two thousand, three thousand feet ?

Touch so important for a blind dog . For humans touch represents guidance , comfort , tenderness . For a dog who can't see it's so much more . It's a sign that his packs on the case , his flock safe. Two minutes of quiet stroking and his heart beat slows. Much yawning and sighing. Then he's asleep again . Danger past , forgotten . By now the new plane will be well on its way to China . Here, the old PON's still asleep.