Ahem
Bonnie is now used to living with us. She is becoming obedient but is always ready to be spoiled. She has taken to perching like a parrot or a Siamese cat on the edge of the sofa and looking at her reflection in the window. She sleeps with us on our bed at nights, a practice that we all know to be a mistake but which Alli insists will cease when she grows out of puppyhood in a month or two. I often find her spread-eagled on the bed with her long legs gloriously akimbo in a fully relaxed position when I come upstairs at nights (er, Bonnie, that is, not Alli) and she takes up some of the duvet space of which I have so little to begin with (when I am the last to bed), and so even with a king-size I continue to sleep uncovered by a duvet. The unseasonably warm weather mitigates this challenge so far.
We have been Christmas-shopping in Freiburg in Germany. This is turning into a pleasing annual tradition and we did a lot of Christmas shopping. In the morning we split up, given the confidential nature of our tasks, and met for lunch at the Martin’s Brau, in the centre of the old town. Other excursions have been equally enjoyable. Ella and I have seen the Killers in concert in Zurich, after two cancellations last year. Unfortunately Jessie missed the show, as she had to attend pantomime rehearsals that night. She is playing the leading role as the Pied Piper of Hamlyn for a local English theatre group. But we all look forward to watching her in the pantomime, which opens next week. We have also seen “Holiday on Ice” which Gwen and Jessie enjoyed and which was distinguished by its liberal use of Tom Jones songs.
Gwen and I went over to the girls’ school gymnasium one afternoon to watch Ella and the ISB team play football in a mini-tournament amongst local schools. I was impressed by the way the girls played football. They were committed, full-blooded, fearless and determined. One of Ella’s friends was professionally fouled early in the first match, a scything tackle of which Roy Keane would have been proud. In fact, several of the girls professionally fouled each other repeatedly and robustly throughout. It was all a lot more muscular than I had expected. Gwen and I went on from this schoolgirl mayhem to the Herbstmesse, the annual fair that takes place in several sites in Basel at this time. We arrived at the Messeplatz just as the coloured lamps of the fair were burning brighter in the failing light.
Gwen took charge and decided what we were going to do. While determined, she was always polite, turning to me occasionally and asking “Dad, Shall we go on that?” I looked up, and then further up, and up, and up. No, I said, I would really prefer not to go on that. I catch my breath even at the prospect of the “Maxximumm” ride, a kind of manic pendulum lever that stood more than forty metres high and crashes around a 360 degree trajectory with a small rotating, no, whirling, carriage of eight strapped-in people at its very tip, creating a G force, said the rubric at the entrance, of 6 times’ gravity which would have no effect on the heart or the pulse. Oh Yeah? No thanks, I’d rather live. Gwen didn’t seem to mind. Besides, we went on the Mad Mouse which had plenty enough G force for my liking already, on several tombola shows, and watched an extraordinary show of daredevil riders on motorbikes driving round and round on horizontally on the walls of a hollowed out stage down on which spectators looked in awe. It was a true fairground spectacle from older days. The show featured cut-throat pirate-like characters riding motorbikes around the walls and performing apparently death-defying feats of synchronised bikermanship. We went inside the fairground covered halls for a while and when Gwen’s haul of furry toys became more than I was prepared to carry I suggested that we should go home. Mummy had probably got back from her second consecutive shopping trip to Freiburg, no doubt also with her arms full. Gwen did not demur and we returned home on the tram, having “done” the Herbstmesse properly.
Ella and Alli were in England to go to the funeral of Uncle Alan, Laurie’s brother, while Jessie, Gwen and I held the fort here. In fact, Jessie did most of the holding and managed me and Gwen very well. I had been experiencing some very painful headaches in the past two weeks, and I decided to go to the company doctor, who took one look at me and immediately called an ambulance. This was all a surprise, particularly as the doctor had referred to the ambulance as a fire engine. I was wheeled to different parts of the hospital for different tests. Finally I had a full brain scan. All the tests were negative but I am still taking heavy duty prescription painkillers. The family detox diets are working very well and most of our meals have been delicious. Alli and the girls have lost quite a lot of weight, and even I have lost a couple of kilos along the way without having followed it very closely. Or maybe that’s just the painkillers at work.
Say aaaaah
Lionel