The Travelling Ark

   One of the major disadvantages of having animals is that they present great difficulties when you want to spend time away from home. Indeed many people avoid having pets at all to leave themselves free to take off with the wind whenever they want. I can sympathise with their wishes to simplify their lives, but we feel that to have a house empty of animals would be a sad life indeed. On the other hand, the logistics of ensuring that the passengers are cared for when we are away is complicated to say the least.
  Cats can`t normally go on holiday with you, though we have taken very young kittens with us within France on two occaions. Dogs can now even go abroad but the formalities are complicated and expensive. Sheep and fowls must stay at home...
   If I am voyaging to the UK, here`s how it goes;-  I arrange to treat the two big dogs against ticks less than 120 hours before I sail under the terms of their Pets` Passports, a visit to the vets involved, of course. Jacquie Brown kindly agrees usually to look after Toffee the smallest dog, though I have added him to the `Travellers Club once when Jax was not available. Mounette, the latest kitten is too young to be left and our friend Agnès Watson has agreed to lavish cuddles on her at her house while ours is empty.  Ian MacDonald will usually agree to feed and survey the remaining part of our menagerie, a heroic task involving twice daily feeding of the cats, tropical fish,sheep and fowls. I am more grateful than I can say to these friends. I do make some return in looking after Ian`s dogs while he is away, however and have in the past looked after Minnie, Jax and Adrian`s dog. I do feel a bit guilty at the work I impose on these generous people.
 All that remains then is to deliver the various boarders with their food, baskets etc and to set off at the appropriate time with the traveling Ark to catch the ferry at Roscoff, 540 kilometers away.

  And that, in fact was where all went wrong last Saturday, when the infamous Bonnets Rouges blocked the RN 12 causing me to miss my ferry and forcing me to cancel all these arrangements. My sympathy for the Breton cause has considerably weakened or even disappeared! I hope to do it all over again in two weeks time, successfully this time I hope!

   Bye for now going to stroke the kitten!