Today we walked up to a mountain chalet/refuge/restaurant on the Spanish border, on the crest of the Pyrenees. It was organized for my friend Michel who was visiting from Alsace with his own springer spaniel, Orphée. Unfortunately Michel was struck down by illness ( 'colique néphrétique', don't Google it, it is one of those maladies that you are better off not knowing about). So Jasper and I went on our own, and by chance met this nice couple and their owners. Talked for a long time but I forgot to ask their names, all I know is that the black one is 2 and the one on the left is 7, a year younger than Jasper.
Took this with the phone camera. Not really doing very well with it - without my glasses I can't read what's on the screen, not used to holding it out in front of me, things happen that are not supposed to. I doubt if I will ever be able to use it for anything but snapshots.
Michel texted me just now with condolences about the death of the Queen. It was the first I had heard about it, I have stopped reading British news sites and haven't watched British TV for nearly two decades. Not sure I need condoling, she was part of a different England to the one I grew up in. When her mother died I was at the Opera House in Manchester waiting for the start of Miss Saigon. We were made to stand up for a minute's silence, though it wasn't very silent, with a constant hum of mostly grumpy Mancunian male whispers along the lines of "I don't see why I have to stand for the owld .....". To be fair, the Queen did wave to me once, in London during my university days, as I waited to cross Pall Mall. She was in a coach, on her way to work, for the State Opening of Parliament. I didn't wave back. Won't get a chance now.
She was an icon to me for the UK. May she rest in peace.