Returned

London was cold and very, very wet. Altogether bone chillingly miserable. My brothers in Scotland tell me the weather has worsened in the north with the return of heavy , constant snow - a dreadful time to be farming. Braemar recorded temperatures of minus 19 earlier in the week - just imagine what it must have been like there with the wind chill ! More Montana than Aberdeenshire. Thankfully,here in the south west of France it's now a rather lovely 18 degrees (70 in old money) and altogether pleasant.

The flight back was only delayed by an hour due to the French air traffic controllers latest five day strike . This is the second closure of the air routes we've suffered in three months so they must be upset about something. Yesterdays flights faced a slew of cancellations so I'm rather relieved we were only held up for such a short time. Having landed on terra firma we now face the problem of gasoline shortages due to the national strike of French oil refinery workers . In my absence 'the font' has been busy bustling around the lesser known filling stations of deepest 'France profonde' keeping the cars full of petrol.

Wilf and Digby are in fine form and are now in a deep, deep sleep after a wildly emotional reunion and much throwing and retrieving of tennis balls.