Even the wildlife wanna get out 
did 'e jump or was he/she pushed… 
nah… it nice to hear the good news for a change…
I got a lovely bunch of flowers from one of my daughters a couple of weeks ago which though beautiful, didn’t correspond exactly, when it arrived, to what she wanted. She complained.
Today, this beauty arrived with Interflora’s apologies
I must sing, sing, sing to the heavens the praises due to Wozza @Wozza (Warren Joiner) and his missus for their fathomless goodwill, kindness and trust in making available their delightful and intimate appartement in Nanterre to me and my own exiled but now returned missus, and going to extraordinary lengths to see to it that we have all we need for a stop-over between Essex and La Manche, when I meet her off Eurostar tomorrow lunchtime.
We’re going to have a picnic in the nearby park (weather permitting and with a bottle of bubbly) and a nicer homecoming is hard to imagine.
Wozza’s kindness is exceptional, and will be unforgettable. From the bottom of our hearts and the heights of the sunlit balcony the Joiners have shared with us two, both strangers, we ask you to join us in saluting them both: SF heroes!
Nearby park?? Not much in spitting distance of the Gare du Nord that is salubrious, so hope you are travelling back to Nanterre first!
Hope everything goes smoothly and you are reunited with joy.
Hahahaha, no the park is the leafy “back garden” of the apartment and is rather lovely with a wide wild-life reed-borded lake at its Centre, lots of naturally contoured grassy areas, and mature trees to give shade. As inner city parks go, I think it’s super and children make very good use of it learning to ride their bikes, to roller-skate, and to walk!
From my brief observation, Nanterre seems very racially and culturally diverse. Most of the families I saw picnicking were BAME people.
Peter - I hope you are ready and have your flower in your lapel standing at the end of a platform in a haze of steam & smoke.
Was it your birthday?
If so, Happy Belated Birthday.
These are beautiful.
Thank you! It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I was very spoilt with flowers by my daughters !
Not too sure I approve of UK human authorities curtailing the first cervidaen attempt at a solo trans-Atlantic crossing (even if it might be viewed as a tad ambitious).
Must admit… I had to think twice… before I realized what you were on about… 
and I started the thread … must be old age… or too much wine with supper… 
They are good swimmers, I have seen them in Scotland. I don’t know what the record is for distance though.
My PA’s son came ashore at my boatyard bleeding from a nasty wound on his hand. He’s been jilling about on the Tamar in his little sailing dinghy when he spotted a grey squirrel swimming to/from Corwall <> Devon.
Just minutes after slack water the Tamar runs like a drain. He picked this animal out of the water and it bit him for his trouble. A neighbour was a nurse so we sent him off to be medicated.
Nasty creatures, grey squirrels. The ones that infest The Flower Walk in Kensington Gdns regularly run up strollers’ clothing and perch on a shoulder, pestering to be fed. A hand to brush it off is usually bitten.
But, they are getting their come-uppance in a wood that a friend of mine owns and is ‘restoring’ in Glouc.
His tally this year is 66. With the seat at The Golden Hazelnut zeroed in on his airgun 'scope, the score will mount steadily.
The art connoisseur
The fat slob
He collects them, skins them, puts them in the freezer and when he has sufficient, makes squirrel stew.
Time was, if you took a grey squirrel tail into a police station they gave you 50p.
Ingenious, seductive and slightly macabre, but it would be churlish to disapprove IMO.
Resonates very strongly with the idea of the condemned’s last meal. 
/
I have cooked with squirrel and rooks.
Love it. We only had red squirrels in our part of the Lancashire/Westmorland border when I was young.
I used to go nutting on Warton crag and they would chit chat if you came to their tree.
Peter… are you home, safe and sound… or still wandering up and down the highways and byways…
Are they reliable sous-chefs? Do they each have signature dishes and if so would you care to share them with us? 
Oh no! We are still enjoying the immeasurable benefits and pleasures of our sojourn chez Warren and his generous partner. Will be making our way back to rural Normandie, loaded with the sweet pollen garnered in this blessed bower… 
More news on our return… 