Sunday, January 23rd 2011

Hello Everyone,

I'll begin with the essentials:

Lunch this week will feature our very own Hub – wit and charmer par excellence – I am so sorry that I shall miss him! The speaker will be equally charming and (dare I say it?) even prettier – being Sabine Holub, the wife of the university chancellor. If you have not had the chance to meet her, I can tell you that you are in for a treat.

Musings are rather thin on the ground this week as my thoughts have been equally divided between preparing for our trip this evening to the Caribbean and ensuring that I have attended to all the necessary tasks in order to keep Chestnut's life and the household ticking along as usual.

We did, however take a long walk yesterday morning at Amethyst Brook, on Main Street/Pelham Road. I do believe that this may be the prettiest walking area in town, with its combination of open fields, stands of evergreens, murmuring brook  and hilly trails with the occasional vista. Yesterday in the snow the gentle path meandering alongside the stream was as beautiful as any you would find in Europe and I was yet again reminded of how lucky we are to live here. Amethyst has a regular clientele of dogs and their walkers who recognize each other and exchange greetings. We tend to remember the names of the dogs rather than their owners and have been know to greet someone at an event or in one of the town stores as "Hello, Jeep's person, how nice to see you, how are you?"

I remember that some years ago I was staying in my Aunt's flat in London to look after her black lab while she was away. I would take him for his daily walk just around the corner in Hyde Park and he would be greeted by gentlemen in bowler hats with "Hello Ben, old chap, how are you today?" I was merely an appendage at the end of his leash and merited nothing more than a tip of the hat!

That's the British for you, of course, with their very own set of priorities. Some friends were looking at photos we had taken in Scotland and were puzzled by a road sign that read 'BEWARE OF SQUIRRELS' with a depiction of a rather cross looking squirrel to accompany it. The intention was to alert traffic that increasingly rare red squirrels were in the area and care should be taken not to run them over. I suppose that the cross squirrel was a warning as to the possible consequences of upsetting an injured squirrel's relations, who might appear en masse to seek retribution.


  You have been warned!

Enough of that nonsense – I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 8th just in time for Love Notes the following Sunday.

Best,

Vivienne