Bear and I went to look at a house this afternoon and left CC in charge.

The trip to the village near Laon was lovely - pale blue, cloudless sky, lush green trees with just a hint of Autumn colouring here and there and hills and valleys that stretched into the distance.

The house, on the other hand was a disappointment. We won't be making any offers there.

But when we got back Whale had a sad tale to tell.

He had lost his balance and fallen over. Even with three people it is extremely diffucult to get him back into his wheelchair and so CC couldn't do anything on her own except offer a cup of tea.

They rang the surgery but it is our doctor's day off and her colleague didn't want to know so the secretary kindly rang SAMU for them.

The pompiers (firemen/medics) arrived pretty quickly and picked him up. They checked him over, but agreed no harm seemed to have been done except for a few bruises. However, he had to sign a paper to say he declined a trip to the hospital and they advised him to call our doctor tomorrow.

He hasn't lost his appetite so I should think there's no serious damage. It could have been much worse.