The social whirl of Garrenaud

Although the summer may just be considering going into retirement, the hectic social whirl that is life in the south of France continues unabated.

This time it was the visiting neigbours, Steve and Debbie Kemp together with my two mates Josh and Sam otherwise known as the Kemplings! They all came round for a swim and, needless to say, some of that bottle stuff.















Now I always have great fun with Josh and Sam even though I do not go in the pool, and this time I made them put on their "frog outfits" so that we could be three frogs together. Get it? Frog dog plus two frogs - gosh why am I so clever?


As if this was not fun enough, then my old mate Paul arrived with his Auntie Liz and Uncle Olaf. Me and Paul - seen here as the "pratt in two hats"- get on like a house on fire and I usually finish up getting far too excited by him playing games with me. I had not met his Aunt and Uncle before but they turned out to be really nice dog people so we all got along fine.





Even more bottle stuff was wheeled out together with what seemed like two tons of crisps and nibbles, all of which vanished in a very short space of time. For once I had nothing to do with this, although I can't say the same for my mates Josh and Sam.

Then, the very next evening, my bestest friends Uncle Stu and Auntie Jo, came round to dinner. I was so over the moon about this that I forgot to take any photos (sorry!) but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and, if truth be known, was a bit naughty in an over exuberant sort of way. Well, you have to let your hair down sometimes.

Finally, as regular readers will be aware, I am rather partial to a bit of a kip, so when the opportunity arose the other day to sneak into one of the bedrooms, I could not resist trying out the bed for size. The good news - it fits!

Meet the Fockers…er Brigdales

After a day and a half of serious bed therapy I am just about ready to tell you all about the really hectic week I have just had. It was the time of year for the annual invasion of the Brigdales, this time with friends!

The first I knew about it was when two cars pulled up in the drive and disgorged what seemed like loads of people. On closer inspection it turned out to be my old mates Becky and Grant together with their mum and dad plus two nice people I had never met B4 (sorry about that…after a week with four teenagers I am beginning to speak text!). It appears that earlier this year it was Grant’s 18th birthday (sorry I forgot the card Grant) and this trip was a sort of present from us.




First to appear were Auntie Kath and Uncle Clive who I met on my visit to the UK last Christmas. They are long time mates of mum and dad and apparently have been here B4 (oops! there I go again) although that was before ( got it right then ) my time.



Now you regular readers will remember Becky and Grant, godchildren of mum and dad, from their visit here last July when we all had great fun together. They have been here loads of times so there was no time wasted in getting back to our old tricks together.






Becky had brought her friend Emma with her and although she was at first a little apprehensive about me, once she got to know me properly and we had had a good cuddle, all was fine.














Grant brought his mate Liam along too. Now Liam is a real dog person as he has one of his own and also wants to become a police dog handler so we got on like a house on fire from the very beginning.





A lot of the social activity happened around the pool, even into the late evening, so bang went my usual afternoon kip and evening lap cuddles. Instead I was busy being a good host whilst all the usual eating and bottle stuff went on around me.



Amongst all of this jovial activity there was the odd “incident” like Uncle Clive falling into the pool fully clothed, and, more seriously, Grant running into me and sending me flying into the pool. Now you know how much I hate water so you can imagine that total immersion did not exactly delight me - in fact I was scared stiff (and cold) for ages afterwards.




Don’t ask me why Becky has got a fleece on in the middle of August. All I can say is that, whilst most of the time she has a reasonable fashion sense, there are the odd moments when it goes totally wrong as you can see below.



Towards the end of their visit I took them all up to Bouisse where I was born and they all had a picnic whilst I had a nap in the car. Uncle Clive tried running up a grassy slope and finished up tearing a muscle in his calf, so naturally that evening I had to sit with him and give him comfort.









All to soon it was time for them to pack their bags and go home. I could not even go to the airport to say goodbye as there was no room in either of the two cars so we had big cuddles and I watched them drive off. It was a great, if at times a little crazy, week but I had a fab time and I think they did too. Certainly, judging by the three crates of bottles and wine boxes that went out to recycling on Monday, the senior members enjoyed themselves. Can’t wait for their next visit, but I do need a few days rest first. Not much chance of that, though, as we are of to see Auntie Mary, Uncle Tim, and my mate Fig, on Friday. More news of that later.