Maximo Again
In full flight
Maximo, Mighty Max, as Sharon called him, was to remain with her for 3 weeks. I had constant updates from Sharon and visited him several times. I’d had no chance for pictures that first evening but by the time I last saw him he must have been one of the most photographed of all ‘my’ dogs. Not once did he show any distrust or menace, on my visits we played and he ran all over the place exuberantly while I clicked away. Sharon said that try as she might she couldn’t get him to bite her. Once she stood on his foot, difficult to avoid as they were as big as my hand, and on another occasion he was a little to quick for a friend who was in charge and nearly got trapped in the cage door. Andy, Sharon’s husband, said that he was a real sweety, the same term he had used to describe my own Ramona back in the day when she too was thought to be mèchant. And with equal accuracy. What on earth could these people, who I later learned were supposed to be adopting him, have done to cause him to bite them both? Or was there a different story that we will never know truth about?
Finally a place of temporary refuge was found for him in Paris. Maryanne asked me to take him there one Friday morning and, after a run around, no rein these days, he was reunited with Roady in the car. 6 hours I reckoned to his new home so I planned on just one stop, in the forest to the north of Vierzon where there is plenty of space for a walk and a stretching of the legs. As usual, both he and Roady refused a drink and, after my short lunch in the front we were all on the way again.
I had planned to take the N104 east after Etampes for a short way before leaving it to head towards the centre and the commune of Villeneuve le Roi. This was no problem, well researched beforehand and involved a pleasant 5 km drive along the riverside, until that is the last kilometre when I met an unexpected one way system. That wouldn’t have been so bad if another road, following my instincts of course, had not been blocked by road works. At this point I was glad of my Paris Banlieu street index and I was soon outside the small house with the secure and lengthy garden. Maximo was out of the car and into the garden without fuss to meet his new and noisily welcoming companions with Nathalie, the young lady who was to be his foster mother for the time being.
As soon as politeness would allow I was on my way again, it was after 4pm and I would have to be back in the Dordogne in the morning to do the round trip collection of dogs for the regular Phoenix transfer to Holland. This would include my little mate Roady who of course didn’t know it, otherwise he might have made a little less of a nuisance of himself during the coming evening.
3 hours later we rolled off the A20 at sortie 9, which happens to also be the name by which all drivers know the routier which is just there. The real name? I have no idea, but I do know that it is a popular spot, and with good reason. The place is quiet tonight, it being Friday and I park in the car area at the front before converting the car and giving Roady his dinner and a walk round. The patron here has 2 animals, a donkey in a byre close to where we are parked, and a dog. Roady wandered near to the byre and didn’t at first notice the large head looming over him. When he did he leapt back in total alarm and then, when the donkey seemed to follow him along the wall he scuttled here and there in total confusion. I tried to get my camera but by the time I had and it was all set up he was staying well clear of the monster. Next up, the dog. At first they touched noses to say bonjour, and then a sticky moment when he got shouted at but soon they were quite friendly. I settled him in the car after covering my bed with his blankets in a vain attempt to stop him re-arranging it and it was into the bar for a couple of kirs before the meal.
As soon as politeness would allow I was on my way again, it was after 4pm and I would have to be back in the Dordogne in the morning to do the round trip collection of dogs for the regular Phoenix transfer to Holland. This would include my little mate Roady who of course didn’t know it, otherwise he might have made a little less of a nuisance of himself during the coming evening.
3 hours later we rolled off the A20 at sortie 9, which happens to also be the name by which all drivers know the routier which is just there. The real name? I have no idea, but I do know that it is a popular spot, and with good reason. The place is quiet tonight, it being Friday and I park in the car area at the front before converting the car and giving Roady his dinner and a walk round. The patron here has 2 animals, a donkey in a byre close to where we are parked, and a dog. Roady wandered near to the byre and didn’t at first notice the large head looming over him. When he did he leapt back in total alarm and then, when the donkey seemed to follow him along the wall he scuttled here and there in total confusion. I tried to get my camera but by the time I had and it was all set up he was staying well clear of the monster. Next up, the dog. At first they touched noses to say bonjour, and then a sticky moment when he got shouted at but soon they were quite friendly. I settled him in the car after covering my bed with his blankets in a vain attempt to stop him re-arranging it and it was into the bar for a couple of kirs before the meal.
I have been coming here for years and originally the table set up was pretty conventional. Then the boss must have gone to a bankrupt auction one day because the next time I was in all the tables had been removed and replaced by a giant, highly polished oval boardroom table. And so it remains, amazingly, still highly polished after more than 10 years. It is very nice, and different, but hardly communal with one driver each side and the others half a dozen feet away across the other side. Still, the food is good. At 9.30 I am tucked up with Roady settled beside me and the Kindle in hand for a 10 minute read before sleep. Or so I thought. The darkened windows are a perfect answer to the lack of curtains, it is almost impossible to see in from outside but from inside out everything is visible. And so it was with good guard dog Roady, every driver that walked by on his way back to the lorry park produced a loud spell of barking, waking me violently each time. In the end I had to don my trousers and drive to the bottom of the half empty park. Nearer to the autoroute there but no more passing distractions. Sleep at last.
The next day we did the rounds of the Haute Vienne and the Gironde, collecting dogs to join Roady on the road to Holland. A relief for us at home with all the trouble engendered by the animosity of Sami towards him, but a very sad parting for me.
Latest news in of Maximo, after 3 weeks in his foster home he is enjoying every minute of the long walks and active play with his canine friends. His recall now is good...........and he is still looking for a permanent home.
Total distance 914 kms
The next day we did the rounds of the Haute Vienne and the Gironde, collecting dogs to join Roady on the road to Holland. A relief for us at home with all the trouble engendered by the animosity of Sami towards him, but a very sad parting for me.
Latest news in of Maximo, after 3 weeks in his foster home he is enjoying every minute of the long walks and active play with his canine friends. His recall now is good...........and he is still looking for a permanent home.
Total distance 914 kms