Days 146-151, 5-10 November 2014, Les Clotures. It's been a while and there's a dearth of other photos right now so Oui! C'est Moi! here in the deep, dark and increasingly cold depths of south-west France. We've not had a frost - yet, but definitely getting down to a damp and chilly 5 degrees most nights. Highlight of the week so far was Zoo-Day (also known as Sunday in the rest of the world and Dimanche here in France). Zoo-Day is when the rabbit and chinchilla get their barn and cage respectively cleaned, fresh sawdust, and a bit of a chat. Usually along the lines of "ooohhhh - what lovely fur you have..." (Not quite cold enough yet for my fur coat to be out - but as pictured, my rabbit fur scarf is on duty.) In any event, after 3-4 weeks of watching the chinchilla with a beady eye to make sure he doesn't run for it when the cage door is opened, I admit to slacking off and the little furry b***** got past me. He's about half the size of a rabbit, very zippy, corners like he's on rails. Honestly - the hatchback of the rodent world. So here's where you all have to think of the the theme music from The Benny Hill Show (google it if you need to) and then picture me and Meeko the Chinchilla running about the living room. For an hour. One of us had a huge time, absolute ball. Here's a hint. It wasn't me. I considered opening the front door at one stage... "oh no - he escaped". I considered gently smacking him on the head with the fire shovel, just to stun him and then put him back in cage... but thought that was probably a touch risky - not sure how much they have in the way of brains, probably not enough to risk brain damage. I even let Oscar back in the room - thinking he could chase Meeko and convince him to return to the safety of his cage. They stood nose to nose and sniffed each other. Seriously. This is what I have to rely on as a guard dog. Eventually the novelty of tormenting the housekeeper wore off and he ran up the ramp into his cage. I swear, I shut that cage door so fast his little furry a**se almost saw tomorrow. Not so much Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as "Vivienne Alone with a Chinchilla in the Room". All's well that ends well... Armistice Day tomorrow and I'm off to the ceremony in the local village of Lussac-les-eglises. Probably won't be as interesting as the 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall yesterday. Definitely no concerts. Or helium balloons. But as far as this area goes, it's the top of the bill.