A trip to the seaside

I know I’ve been a bit quiet recently as there has not really been that much going on. However, that all changed on Thursday.

Mum and dad took me for my first trip to the seaside – Port Vendres to be precise – as apparently my dad is off there shortly for a little holiday and mum needed to check out the route. To ensure my comfort a new chunk of foam has been installed in the back of the car which makes seeing out much easier and is ever so comfy for crashing out on.



I actually managed the two hour journey there without being travel sick – a record for me, and my thanks go out to Rescue Remedy for helping with this. Once we had arrived we had a bit of a walk round the harbour where I encountered boats for the first time. Not sure if I like the idea of these but I will reserve judgement until I have actually been on one. These harbour places are great fun ‘cause there are some bizarre smells and loads of birds wandering around just asking to be chased.

Then it was off to a restaurant for lunch. Now you may remember me talking about a film called “ Marley and me “ in which there is a scene (which those of you have seen it will recall) where Marley is tied to the restaurant table and then flies off after another dog taking the table with him. Well I rather brilliantly re-enacted this scene using a low flying pigeon as the item to be chased and causing my dad to be covered in beer and my mum to cut her hand on the resulting broken glass. After that for some strange reason, I was tied up to a nearby bench for the duration of the meal.



The journey home was really hot and despite my best endeavours I failed to make it as incident free as the outward journey, finally succumbing to travel sickness in the last ten minutes. Still, not bad for a dog who, only a month or so ago could hardly go round the block in the car without a problem. Mind you, I was so tired when I got home that I actually fell asleep standing up, although I cannot recall any of that!

Oh, and I forgot to mention, as of Wednesday my international travel passport became valid so I can now travel around Europe with gay abandon.

Lily and I ride the train

Saturday saw our neighbouring village, Antugnac, celebrating the start of the grape harvest. Naturally we all walked up there to join in the festivities including Aunty Mary and Uncle Tim who came over especially for the occassion.


On the walk we met up with the procession of very important looking people in funny outfits off to bless the vines or something. I was not interested in this much so dad took me to my mate Lily's house where we both had a doze whilst the humans went off to do lots of that bottle stuff and eat baby pigs! And all of that took place in a winery. Dad reckons it came close to his view of heaven.















After the lunch Lily and I were retrieved and taken to join the remaining celebrations and socialise a bit.


Then came the best bit. As part of the fun they had this little train that was doing tours of the vineyards and Lily and I got to ride on it.



I've never been on a train before, not even a toy one like this. It was great fun and I especially liked sticking my head out and watching the world go by.

Frog (dog) meets a tadpole!

So there we were the other afternoon relaxing on a nice day when who should arrive but my old mate Uncle Billy with his lovely lady Tad(pole) - it's her nickname apparently, but I did not go into that!


Well Auntie Tad and I hit it off straight away and she is now my new best friend. It may be something to do with the fact at she is a dog person - she had her own dog called Hovis. Now the fact that she named her dog after a loaf of bread probably tells you something about Auntie Tad. That's right, really lovely but ever so slightly wacky. I thought she was great and can't wait for her to visit again, which she promised would be very soon.

One dog vendage

You may have heard me refer from time to time about this "bottle stuff" that mum and dad and their friends keep consuming. Apparently this is made from grapes.


Now I have recently discovered that I am rather partial to grapes, and as I live in the largest grape producing area of France, this is rather fortuitous. So I got to thinking, why don't I get into this "bottle stuff" myself, only I will do it the economically and ecologically friendly way without any processing or packaging but instead go straight to the source. This has the added advantage that one does not keep falling over with this stuff as mum and dad do with theirs.

With that in mind I have decided to start on my one dog vendage - grape harvest for those of you who don't speak the lingo. Yes, I know that the vendage does not officially start for a week or two yet but I thought that if I got in early I could get all the good stuff.


Over the last few weeks I have been checking on the progress of the local grapes and I now declare that they are up to my standard, so henceforth over the next six weeks or so I will be harvesting like mad. As a result, my blogs during this period may become a bit rambling or even slurred but I am sure you will understand.

I will report back on the quality of this years vendage shortly. In the meantime - CHEERS!

Boudie's stormy visit

We have just had an enjoyable,if a little bizzare, visit from my mate Boudie and his mum and dad. So there we all were on Tuesday afternoon, enjoying a spot of sunbathing and swimming (not me, but I did manage a paddle in the shallow end) before partaking of some food and (the people) some more of that bottle stuff. I even managed to get my nose into the peanut bowl before once again being severely rebuked! Guess I am going to have to give up the peanuts.


The sky was blue, the temperature was about 34C, and it was a really pleasant afternoon. Then, fairly rapidly, some dark clouds began to form over Quillan and started to head our way. It soon began to spit with rain. "No worries" they all cried - it will soon pass over (isn't that some form of religious festival?). "We are OK under this large umbrella".

Well, to cut long story short, it did not pass over, but developed into a major storm with torrential rain and hail and when the wind started driving it horizontally everyone (including us dogs under the table) decided to make a run for the house. We all made it, thoroughly soaked, battered by hailstones, and with everyone (except us dogs) clutching some item of food or drink from the table.

The house, which had all its doors and windows left open because of the heat, was somewhat awash and I actually saw mum's pink flip flops drift past in the conservatory.

The afternoon's event was forced to continue in the rain soaked house whilst us dogs were relegated to the conservatory - something to do with very muddy paws I think.

Django's domestic duties

I know how much my mum loves ironing (not!) so the other day, when I saw the ironing board and iron being got out in readiness for another mammoth session, I thought I would offer some assistance.

Now I would be no good at actually wielding the iron but I thought that at least I could help by keeping an eye on the pile of ironing waiting to be done, and releasing the odd bit to mum whenever she needed it. I felt that this would contribute greatly to speeding up the whole process and making life easier for her, but for some reason she did not see it that way.

Well, one can only try to help, and if it is not appreciated, then one can always have a nap.

Three new friends and a barbeque

The social whirl of Montazels continues apace! After two unexpected (but very welcome) visits from my mate Lily within the space of a week, on Wednesday three new people turned up for what was to be a fun afternoon.


Aunty Jan, her son Josh, and his friend Jonno were on holiday in the next village to us so they came over for a bit of a swim, a barbeque, and some more of that bottle stuff. Now although we had not met before, we all got on like a house on fire. Aunty Jan is really sweet and she plays guitar too, which I think is really clever. I've never heard anyone play before so it was really interesting.


Josh and Jonno were great fun and I spent lots of time chasing them around when they were in he pool. I still have not summoned up the courage to jump in yet but I don't mind getting splashed.



At one stage I even managed to get a quick Frog Dog snog in with Josh!



There was a great barbeque at which I managed to hoover up a couple of crisps and a bit of sausage and even got my nose in the peanut bowl at one stage, although I did get told off for that!

Unfortunately they are off back to the UK soon so I won't see them again 'til next time.