Awww….poor wee thing and hope his heart recovers (of course it will!) and also, wish him well with the examens.!
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Has anyone said the roads? A joy to drive on smooth tarmac.
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Abso-bloomin-lutely.
I did the same for three and a half years, mainly within Europe averaging one trip every three or four weeks. It was gruelling and no amount of business class flights, great hotels and excellent food made up in any way for the sheer hard work of 12 to 16 hour days with little opportunity to see much of where you were. I was glad to be rid of it.
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I used to do a lot of travel to the US and it wasn’t too bad as visits tended to for more than a week or touched the weekend so I could swing a couple of leisure days. They also tended to be a bit off the beaten track* so they were interesting places rather than tourist places.
*New Mexico, Nevada, Washington state coast, Georgia coast and DC.
Until you lost your job to Madelson?
Think it depends on the nature of the ‘business’. All my foreign travel was for personal academic research or giving conference research papers, both highly enjoyable.
My wife and I got married in Joburg and our ‘honeymoon’ consisted of giving papers the following week at the SA Art Historians Annual Conference at Stellenbosch in the Cape winelands, and then two more a week later at a U of Lisbon conference on emerging trends in nature writing. The latter’s final night dinner was an incredible banquet in the magnificent gothic Jerónimos Monastery on the waterfront.
This was the one benefit to having to tour the US for a few months of the year listening to tens of thousands of (far too often tone deaf) people audition to sing on TV. After I left they actually sent tour buses with portable studios out so they could go to even more places across the country which made me jealous. But the annual audition circuit combined with going to contestants home towns to record videos gave me such a great opportunity to visit so many places I’d never think to, and frankly would possibly be disappointed by if I was going as a tourist wanting touristy things, but as someone just wanting to see a snapshot of life there was perfect.
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My 3 story 200 year old town house and garden in the heart of Amboise
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Such a pretty place, I think its time to visit Amboise again this summer.
Years ago now, a French friend took us to an interesting old church with a long history. We had our elderly dog in the car and were worried about having to park in the sunshine in a designated “no parking’”space. She insisted that all was ok, because we were simply doing it for humanitarian reasons.
An excellent way to deal with ‘’the rules’’.
I would have taken my pups into the church. They are creatures great and small
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Many public places (including churches) have the “no dogs allowed” rule.
Our village has just such a rule for the Maire, SdF and Church.
Obviously “rules” are bent/broken according to circumstances.
I know that allowances have been made at the church, outside of religious ceremonies, provided the dog has been held (firmly/safely) in the owners arms at all times whilst inside and that the pet has not caused any adverse reactions (allergies/whatever) from other members of the public. 
Dogs are lovely creatures but, even the best behaved might well cock its leg to mark its territory… (on more than one occasion I have watched in horror as a chair is sprayed before anyone can get the lovely animal outside… yuk! )
EDIT: In a nearby village, there is an annual Mass to bless the dogs… and it’s wonderful to see such an array(all the colours in all the sizes)… furniture is kept to a minimum and a group of volunteers give the whole place a good scrub afterwards to remove hairs, smells, whatever so no allergic reactions/nasty niffs when/if Joe Public comes to spend a quiet moment
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Dogs love visiting old churches, particularly on a hot day, when there’s some cool marble to lie down on, though the stoups are out of reach.
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I have no great respect for religious leaders who I have all too often found hypocritical. However the curé at the nearby Cathedral has been remarkable and most recently when our friend Jean-Marc died he allowed his dog Aglaé to follow and stay by the coffin. Strictly forbidden according to the canons of the catholic church as apparently dogs have no souls so can’t participate in a religious ceremony. But the curé chose humanity over doctrine.
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A friend of mine was verger for a while at a local old church that was opened up for special times of the year like Christmas. She had a terrier who followed her everywhere - the two of them happily trotting backwards and forwards as she decorated the church and prepared it for the service. It all felt very right.
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Returning from our holiday in Corrèze this week, we drove quite a long way to visit Oradour-sur-Glane, the “martyr village”. It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for years. Unfortunately it never crossed our minds that we would be unable to walk through the village if we had our dogs with us (on leads obviously). Oradour is surrounded by a fairly high modern wall and access to the village is controlled. I do of course understand that it’s rightfully regarded as an almost sacred place, a memorial to a deeply barbaric act, but the exclusion still came as quite a surprise. A classic case of being so near, yet so far. Do bear this in mind if you’re thinking of visiting it with your dogs eg when on holiday…
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We took turns. But great shame if you missed going in as is an emotional punch to stomach.
Possibly for the same reason that dogs are not allowed in cemeteries here. Respect for the dead?
There’s a joke about that in Wynkyn de Worde’s mediaeval joke book. Here it is, it’s not funny, like most of the jokes alas (outrage mild blasphemy and scatological jokes mainly)
Q. Wherefore are not dogs allowed into chuchyardes?
A. For fear they may sh*t on the dead.
Mediaeval jokes very overrated but it’s nice ol’ W de W wasn’t just publishing worthy stuff.
Edited to add it’s called the demaundes joyous.
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