No Coat

It's not funny Uncle Claude! Buy me a coat - now!

When we woke up yesterday - the snow had arrived! Our garden was white and the weather was quite freeeeeezing. So it was to my Mum's intense surprise, when I didn't seem too reluctant to trot down the road for a coffee with her and my uncle Claude. Sure it was a little chilly on a girl's paws but I was stepping out in high hopes of obtaining at least part of a tartine (buttered baguette! yum yum) once we arrived at the cafe; (I had my best pleading eyes on) but it wasn't just that. Truth to tell, I was admiring all the cute little coats that my canine compatriots were wearing in this new brisk weather. It seemed the snow had brought out the latest styles in the fashion-conscious pups of Paris, and every pup I passed had his or her new winter coat on. All sorts of coats. Some beautifully trimmed in fake fur; some no-nonsense Gortex forty-below-Arctic-condition types (generally worn by stocky little French bulldogs); little beige trenchcoats... A perky white Westy in his light blue anorak; a pretty black poodle trotting by in her striking red parka; yes it was a pleasing sight to see that every dog had his coat.

And then - it hit me..... I was entirely naked! No smart new coat adorned my own back! No coat at all. I twisted round, in a moment of shame; trying to get a good look at myself, as if just by looking I could will a little fake fur leopard print number into existence. But it was no good. My back remained stubbornly unadorned by anything more than what Nature had graced me with at birth. And as every Parisenne -canine or otherwise - knows; that is hardly enough! I was shamed! How can a girl show her face again in our street. I think I might sulk for a year.

And do you know what my Mum did later that afternoon after our coffee, cakes and tea (and more tea) with Uncle Claude. Can you guess? Can you? Oh yes, I think you have done. Yes, she went out and bought herself a new coat.