pizza night

I think last night ranks up there with some of my worst nights' sleep ever. Probably number 1 in fact, given not only the lack of sleep, but the horrible things that happened during the night. I also think I probably shouldn't write it down here in black & white as I don't imagine I'll ever want to remember it. Maybe it'll be cathartic...

So, first night sleeping in the upstairs grenier rooms in the house. For a start, the heat was unbelievable...I don't know whether it was that that kept waking me, or the noise the squeaky bed made every time Pierre or I moved. And I mean every single little time. Argh!

So, at 2.30am, I decided I would go on to the little single, spare bed in the next room and try and get to sleep there. Got up and noticed we'd been sleeping below a scorpion that was right behind our heads...just above the headboard. Oh my...

Dealt with that (well, Pierre did...) and then we could hear a couple of dogs barking somewhere in the village. We looked out the wee side window and could see two dogs barking up at a cat that was sitting on the bridge in the middle of Les Pilles. Do not read on if you're in the least bit faint-hearted.

So, we laughed and thought "silly dogs, they'll never get the cat...cats are brilliant escape artists and they run rings around dogs". But, these were hunting dogs...obviously used to the chase, to cornering and to terrifying their prey into submission by continuing to bark angrily at them.

Now, I don't know what happened next...whether the cat tried to make an escape, or whether one of the dogs just managed to jump high enough, but we then heard the horrifying squeal of the cat.

I thought it was maybe having a stand-off with the dogs...you know that way they make that guttural, from-the-depths-of-their-soul cry and their tail goes up like a toilet brush?

Why, oh why, did I look out the window to see? Someone tell me why...

The dogs had got the cat and, within seconds, you could hear its squeals no longer.

One of the worst sights I have ever witnessed in my life.

Yeah, I know, it's nature and all that...and those hunting dogs have been hanging around the village for a while - obviously strays who are ravenous and willing to eat anything - but, seeing an animal cornered, terrified and then ripped apart, right in front of your eyes is not something I want to see ever again.

Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep for the rest of the night. I lay and could not get the images out of my head.

We got up and headed in to Nyons to do some shopping. I blearily walked around the supermarket, picking stuff up for our fathers' day barbecue we'd have the next day. I also got the ingredients to make a dessert to bring to Carrie's for pizza night - chocolate key lime pie!

Making that in the afternoon, having a siesta, going over to Caroline and Paddy's for tea, all helped to clear my head later in the day.