Little pleasures

 Sunday was a splendiferous day. When the sun woke up   ...   eventually, the crows ( les corbeaux) cawed loudly, little birdies chirped and my tiny squirrel friend made another appearance. Unfortunately, he is very shy. I had to suffice with watching him scamper across the driveway, before he retreated under the neighbour's hedge. His little furry tail and beady, brown eyes are too cute for words.

After all the poor winter weather, the sun was a welcome respite. Time for a much-needed walk. As you know, all the shops are closed on Sundays,  ...   except for the patisserie. It was doing a roaring trade at midday. The little shop had a queue of a large number of people, before I could make my purchases: a praline brioche and a croissant aux amandes.

I was completely flamoozled at the empty main street. Where is everybody????? Are they at church, sleeping in or doing the housework? I saw one cyclist and a few cars.

In Gap, parallel to the main street, there is a wide cycleway and pedestrian path.

Today, I rose to see a sky that was a magnificent blue. Yummy!

However, oh soooo cold. Determined to profit from the time available to me, I donned 4 layers of clothing and topped it off with ski pants and a ski jacket.

The one hour walk was invigorating and energising. I was amazed that only a 15 minute walk out of Gap and I was in rural countryside. The fields, quaint houses and pollution-free air were exquisite. There was a bitter polar wind and I kept the pace up to keep my body temperature up.

I was able to pause long enough, minus gloves, to take a snap of this superb piece of art work at the entrance to someone's place. Obviously it is number 2. "Bis" means "B" when used in the context of someone's address. The tiles and patterns were quite eye-catching.

A hot cuppa tea on returning to my warm sanctuary was an added pleasure to begin my day.