Put the flags out: Bear actually enjoyed himself today and was in a good mood (part of the time anyway).
He had a long lie-in while I went with Jay to an appointment in town but when he eventually got up we went into town for lunch and then did some shopping at his favourite D.I.Y. shop.
After that we drove to Launois-sur-Vence where there is a small brewery and bought two dozen bottles of 'blonde' - and of course, Bear sampled the draught beer while we were there. I had a fruit juice because, although I like their 'blonde', it was a hot, humid day and I didn't want to provoke a headache.
"I find beer helps reduce my sugar levels," said Bear jovially.
"Really? But I don't think you're supposed to drink too much." (he's diabetic).
"This is only my third." (He'd had two at lunchtime.)
During the afternoon he was busy on the computer and I had to help him with sending emails, but then he asked me about searching for a book on Amazon. I found the site, brought up the book search and told him to enter what he was looking for.
He wrote 'musical instruments' and clicked 'go' before I could stop him. There were thousands of results.
"Can you you be more specific?"
"Yes, organs."
This still brought up many pages so I asked if he knew the title or author.
"It's about wurlitzers."
We were now reduced to four books and the first one was "it" but rather more expensive than he'd thought. It seems his daughter had asked him to chose a book for a birthday present (he'll be 80 next month) but this one was over budget.
"Why don't we go halves?" I suggested.
A bit more humming and hahing and then he agreed. I put it on my account and he was very happy.
A bit later he came up with the idea of trying out the new TGV (fast train) to Paris which starts the day after his birthday. We looked it up on the website but couldn't persuade it to accept a reservation for a day return.
"Let's go to the station. Will you come with me?"
So I dropped everything and went along. We booked first-class return tickets for 80 euros (total - not each) and so he came away extremely pleased.
On the way home he was in a really good mood and wanted to stop at the local bar to celebrate. He had three beers in the time it took me to drink one campari and, although you couldn't say he was tipsy, he was certainly mellow.
That evening when his daughter rang, I answered as usual and said "He's a happy bunny today".
"Goodness, that does make a change." she replied.
