The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Bless his cotton socks.
I'm stealing this saying. :clap:

What’s the story with your back seat? Are the seat bottoms folded up or something?
They are Honda Magic Seats: they flip up in addition to folding down flat like most cars. So I flip them up and then pack all my stuff directly on the car floor, then put a dog bed on top for Carbon and...voila! If you're looking in, it just looks like a flat bench seat with a dog bed on top. Great for travelling without looking like all my worldly possessions are with me. And super comfy for Carbon as the top layer is all my clothes. 😊
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
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ML hijack: This is Carbon's face when I told him that once again I'd not downloaded his photos so that he could share his creative genius with the world (the "world" being MLF of course). No excuse except I'm zoinked at the end of each day. I mentioned on the fitness thread that I was starting with a personal trainer and while he is approaching everything in very do-able small steps, i've been so inactive for so long that even doing these little steps (along with the touristing and the working) has meant I'm flat out in a drooling coma every night. Which is great for sleep...but not so good for letting Carbon have his say.

"Pfft!" - Carbon

But the photos are taken so at some point, we'll all get in the real TARDIS and visit Normandy. :nod:
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Hola todos! It is our last day in Normandy and POR FIN, finally, ML lets me have the keyboard. Was that so hard? Pfft!

Today we went to many places. It was mostly in the rain, but I was very brave and did not complain. First we went to a place that is famous for sand dunes and what the French call "pre-salted sheep". Si, si, that is as bad as it sounds. Apparently the sheep eat the plants that grow in the tidal marshes and it makes them taste different. I say that we should not be eating our friends the sheep anyway, but ML says that if I had a chance to eat a sheep, I absolutely would eat every morsel. Mmm...she may have a point there.

Donde estoy? Where was I? Si, si, the sheep. We saw no sheep. Not a single one. We did see lots of sand dunes and there were many delicious mussels on the beach for me to (try to) eat, so it all ended well.

ML took some photos off me with her phone because she was too lazy to carry the big camera. I think we can all agree that a professional such as myself is best served with a professional level of equipment, and these fall sadly short of my high gentlemanly standards. But do not worry, she had the big camera for our other stops today and I'm SURE those are better! Ojala!

A shed, lots of marshes...no sheep.

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My I am having fun face.
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My serious working face.
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Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Hoping you are safe and well @Emily_Babbelhund , I`m sure I am not the only one looking forward to hearing from you ( and Carbon of course x )
Kate, you are a tonic! Hopefully that doesn't make me sound 105, even if that's how I feel tonight. I needed a nice message, thank you. ❤

It was a tough drive. i usually drive French border to Regensburg on a Sunday because I get very stressed out driving the Autobahn during the week. Lorries aren't allowed on Sundays and it's so much easier. With my little car, I either need to stay in the slow lane (80-`100km/hour) or take my chances overtaking in the fast lane. The problem with that is my car - the tiny TARDIS - has a motor run valiantly by small gerbils. Trying to overtake at put put speed (120-140) is like standing still next to the cars doing 200. You look back, see NO ONE, start to overtake and then suddenly Mr BMW is flashing his lights. Staying in the slow lane is also not ideal as I get sandwiched between two lorries. I don't mind, but quite often the one behind me seems to take offence and tailgate or flash his lights. I guess they don't like cars in "their" lane. It's very hard on my nerves.

Today - a Monday - after two hours of lorrie hell, I decided to take the country roads instead, which added nearly three hours onto the trip. It was some beautiful countryside, but bumpy roads and quite a bit of car traffic, so exhausting in a different way. The trip was 10 hours in total including a couple fuel/wee stops.

When i got into Regensburg, my street was blocked so I couldn't unload my things. I just grabbed my overnight bag and Carbon's bag and headed to the apartment on foot from the nearest parking garage. I'm going to try to get into my street early, at 5:30am tomorrow, before they start works.

Oh, my apartment smells of mold and cigarette smoke and the landlady changed the wifi password and hasn't answered my messages asking for the new one. I'm using my expensive backup 4G option at the moment. Still, rather it cost than not have it at all! (thank you @Cath and her OH for educating me on 4G hotspots before my trip to France).

And as I was setting up my 4G device in the window (only place with reception as the walls are 2 feet thick), I must have upset the blinds as one of them fell off and I can't get it back on. As I live in a semi-basement, that means that anyone can see in.

I just don't care at this point. If someone gets a thrill from me in my pyjamas, then they have a sadder life than I do and more power to them.

Oh, and it was 15 C when I left Normandy and 32 C when I arrived in Regensburg. :sweat:

It's always a tough return from either Spain or - for the past three years - Cornwall. Regensburg is very beautiful and i will settle into the rhythm but my heart absolutely sank to my toes driving into to town today. I don't want to be here. There's nothing wrong with it, it simply isn't my thing anymore. I have to think about this as there must be some changes I can make...

Carbon is absolutely fine, bouncy and happy. He loves Regensburg - no doubt dreaming of his friend Fine, pretzels on the ground and my lawyer and neighbour who feed him cookies. He got miffed at me last night for not letting him under the covers in the hotel room, so tonight I'll make the bed properly so he can dive in. Not sure how he'll stand it in the heat, but what the Spanish gentleman wants is what the Spanish gentleman gets!
 
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