I will return !

Off bright and early to buy the breakfast croissants in the little market town . Another sunny, cloudless day . Can winter be far behind ? There is a garlic buyers convention in the Salle Polyvalente and by the time we get to the boulangerie all the croissants have gone . The same story in the cafe under the arcades . Somehow half a rather battered looking croissant is found for Wilf . In return the waitress receives a lick .

Home to find Madame Bay sitting at the end of the kitchen table talking animatedly to 'the font '. Madame Bay is nursing a large cup of coffee in one hand and a slice of heavily buttered toast in the other . She sees me , puts down her coffee , then holds up her hand , palm forward traffic policeman style and says " M'Ongoose, M'Ongoose Le Rhume ! Le Rhume ! ". I look bemused . She then moves her hand to her brow and repeats this incantation. An involuntary image of Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey , in a turban , flits through my mind . It seems that our saintly septaguenarian has had the flu and wants me to stay well clear. She announces that she will return when ' I am recovered and not before '. With that , and a derogatory comment about all the dust Aude is making , she goes.

Wilf settles down in the hallway with his stuffed penguin. There was a time when a toy like this would have been shredded within five seconds but these days he's happy to use it as a chin rest . The old fellows Thanksgiving Day PONder ? You can't buy happiness but you can buy coconut ice cream .