Slopes and saucisson....

Hello my friends....I am back from my holiday: I hope you didn't forget me.....

Miss Lola listened very closely to the plans....but did not hear her own name on the team sheet....

...I tried out some of the equipment...but i was not sure if this was the right size.....

Peter Tosh liked his balaclava very much but I was still not sure if this was the right way to wear it....it might be a size issue....

Lola was quite down in the dumps at being sent to the farm....but she felt better when I told her Peter Tosh was also staying behind to guard the house against burglars...

.....some of the luggage was a very odd shape.....

....there were some clues about where we were going....i studied the maps very carefully and noticed that there was some water between the UK and France....

problem solved: we went in a train that went under the water through a tunnel.....

....it was a long way but we stopped at an "Aire" for a rest and to get coffee....

....we set off at 4pm on Friday and arrived at 1pm on Saturday....just three hours sleep on the way down.....so William was due a little nap when we got to the hotel and were too early to check in.....

....bt the wait was worth it....I slipped into my robe and prepared for a reviving shower......

....and found myself somewhere to relax for the evening before going out for a steak dinner...the French do like their food....we checked that the steak was beef....

....we were in Les Arcs in the shadow of the big mountains.....

.....even the roads are covered in snow.....and there are no cars in Arc 1950....which is 1,950 meters up in the air.....

....in the morning I donned my cape and went off to speak French and try to get breakfast for the family....

Did I do ok? ......

....the local snow-terriers did not seem to mind the cold......

...William tried out their technique but he said it was a bit cold after a while...he has only thin fur....

...I did some reporting from the village every evening for the Hotel TV channel......

....er....including restaurant reviews......

...and typist and I whiled away the evenings exercising our brains.....I won.....

er....he's laughing now but he's outside the pizza restaurant.....

....hmmmm, back from the bakery again......it's a daily trip to get fresh croissants and baguettes

....but it's Christmas every day in Les Arcs.....

.....I watched the skiing and enjoyed the sun like a seasoned Piste-eur....

....a lot of the Brits enjoy a nap after a lunch with vin chaud.....

.....I took the lifts to the top of the mountains.....

....and gave William lots of tips before he set off....do you like his new goggles?

....I snoopervised the young children at Ski School.....

.....I even tried out my slippers around the hotel....more funny-sized equipment those skiiers seem to like....

I asked the ice sculptors if they could make me something nice to give to Princess Hellianthus on Valentine's Day.....we sent it out to all our friends....

....and....back to the bakery....this skiing sure gave the typist an appetite....."quatre pain au chocolat sol-vous-plait"....

....but I found time to visit the super-marche to get presents for my terrier friends....

....i was allowed a "little' bowl of hot chocolate every day.....with cream please...

.....I was staying in a manor house.....

....but I still had to make sure I was not run over by the piste-basher on my way to the bakery in the morning...(did I mention the bakery?).....

....it was always busy and we had to keep moooooving at all times....

.....one little pal took time every morning to bark up at the typist on the balcony....the French love their dogs and there were lots around the village and the hotel....

....the snow-terriers came into town in the evening to meet the children and taken them for rides on the sled....

...even Snow Cat remembered typist from last year and came to see him whenever we popped into La Ferme....our favourite cafe at the bottom of the long red run in Villa Roger....

...I treated typist to a special meal on his birthday......

William had a nutritious mid-morning snack every day....brownie and cold custard!!....

....I had to fight my way through the crowds at the boot room every day just to get onto the slopes....we could ski right from our door...

....and in the evening I got to hang out with my pals at the supermarket.....

....all in all it was the perfect week....

....but what is that i hear you say?....."did you do any actual skiing Clapton?".....well......



Did you think I did ok? I am in training for next year already....if i get a helmet I might be able to do jumps and the half pipe....

....a special message waiting for us when we got home....this is Amelia, the doggy we have sponsored through Dogs Trust....

....Lola: back from the farm......happy to have shared a home with three other border terriers all week....

Woof......Clapton.....

We speak of love...

Today my friends I speak to you of love...it is St Valentine's Day after all....firstly we shall the celebrate the love that old Marley had for his friends and the love they had for him....we received the most amazing present from Mr Ollie and Mr Griff in Canada last week...

...it's is a beautiful book full of messages from Marley's friends on twitter and beyond....it is an amazing thing...and clever Mr Ollie has made it available for you all to read on line here: The Marley Project and if you go right to the bottom of the page you can download a copy of the book for yourself in PDF format...Ollie just asks for a small donation to our favourite doggie charity. We are so grateful to Mr Ollie and his family and also to the amazing @clairetweet who helped with the project and most of all to all of our dear friends...we love you all...we will leave you to look at it yourself and to marvel t the kindness of people....

...nor for more pressing business....*combs fur*...*coughs*....I do send a Valentine Day message of love to my own Princess, Hellianthus...

*sigh*....

*swoon*....

...at least I do not have to spend my time staring at my own reflection any more.....

....one of a kind no more....

Clapton, Border Terrier HQ

Doctor Clapton, Phd

Hello everybody....we have had a very educational day today....although it started off with a very soggy wait at the train station.....

Brrrrrrr...I am glad the typist has a new waterproof jacket with big pockets....now, where is that train?

We've arrived in London....but we appear to be descending into the centre of the earth....can I slide down the middle? .......spoilsport.....

We are down in the Underground....at Waterloo on the Northern Line.....it's very busy because it's Chinese New Year and everyone is heading up to China Town....Kung hei fat choy!

Will I finally be spotted by @dogsontrains ? They didn't even like by picture on the Eurostar so probably not.....

I must say I am very fond of London....now....what is that young man doing in the background? 

Let's see if we can put his skills to the test......mmmmm....a large pepperoni pizza with added anchovies and olives.....nom nom

Something to warm those cold paws on before lunch arrives.....

I suppose i could save one slice for later......

Hee hee....we did not come all the way to London for lunch. Here we are at the British Museum....even William said he did not mind coming.....can you see all the umbrellas? let's get inside quick....

They have  a very famous roof here made by Sir Norman Foster the famous architect....it lets all the light into the middle of the building....

No wonder this Greek gentleman isn't smiling...he's bust....HE'S BUST...geddit? Is this microphone on?

Let's say this is an exhibit and not just a tourist suffering from jet lag.....shhhhh...just in case.....

This ancient Egyptian really speaks my language .......*yak yak yak*

We studied a potted history of Rome....a POTTED history!...geddit?...."Taxi for Mr Clapton"....

Now....which way did mummy go?

Mummy!.....oh come on, this is my best material....

Do you have this in my size?...yes, I am a fully qualified Samurai....

I'll have the special fried rice.....2,000 year old scroll you say?....

I got the distinct feeling that everyone in the lobby was calling me Big Nose....

Goodness me Madam....put your clothes back on!.....

I finished my trip in Old Pompeii....what could possibly go wrong.....

At this point, the iBone battery gave up and so we did not get any photos on the way home...but that was mostly just a soggy bus ride and the typist snoring on the train....we learned a lot at the Museum and we have put it on our list of Favourite Places to Go....I am going to write to them to claim by Phd in Old Stuff....

Wooof....Clapton, Border Terrier HQ

Newcomer

Hello my dear friends....i am always busy at the weekend and today I was very concerned to put some new food out for the birds in our garden because they have eaten all the fat balls we put out for them when it was snowing.....here we are at the tree....

....the coconut shall is empty of mealworms and the bowl of cereals and seeds is empty...I am fairly sure the birds ate it all....what other explanation could there be?....

....speak up I cant hear you.....*listens*....behind me? What's behind me?

....i dont think we have time for games my friends....I have to go inside and start work on lunch....i think maybe some of you need a nap....you are seeing things.....

....and what's more I intend to leave the back door open so that Lola can come and go as she pleases....she likes to make sure there are no intruders in the garden...and I like the fresh air in the kitchen whilst the oven is on....it can get very stuffy in there......

....oh...i hear Miss Lola calling me from the garden.....she says we have a very special visitor....I wonder who that could be...most of our guests come through the front door......no doubt Lola will give the new arrival a proper security snootering to be on the safe side......

oh happy day!.....it is our baboon from the Isle of Wight....let me explain...our dear old friend @kolo_martin, who is the most important baboon on twitter, finds and rehomes baboon on his island and he said that he had found a very special baboon to come and live with us....he is the only baboon who looks like Mr Kolo who has ever been allowed to leave the Isle of Wight

....i thought it might be nice to give our guest a little snack....and this was the most baboony thing I could think of....although apparently Mr Kolo has been keeping him going on a diet of pizza and cake....our guest told us that at Baboon HQ there is even a baboon called Marley!...you can catch up with all the doings from Baboon HQ HERE and see all the other re-homed baboons who are living round the world thanks to Mr Kolo....

....of course, I had to allow him to take a peek at twitter so he could see what all of his family are up to....he liked our columns and we explained our system to him so that he will be able to give proper instructions to the Typist when he needs to send tweets......

....Miss Lola reminded me that if our guest was going to stay we had to give him a proper name to show how important he is....we sat in the comfy chair and had a big long think about it....Pillow Marley joined in too....as you know, we like a musical theme to our names in this house and so, in honour of Marley and his very old pal Mr Kolo, we have decided to call our baboon Peter Tosh...can you guess why? That's right....Peter Tosh was one of the original Wailers alongside Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer....

We are looking forward to lots of fun adventures with Peter Tosh...and I hope he can come with me on some of my travels......It has also been a very big week for me because our friends @lillieandarchie on twitter sent me my very own super-hero cape.....Miss Sharon made it for me with her very own paws....we shared my measurements via a tweet and as you can see it's just right!!...

....to Infinity and beyond!!!!....oh no, that wont do I think someone else has used that catchphrase....

.....its a perfect fit....and the bow really shows off my fur to its best......

....see how the cape has a proper swoosh to it......

...I hope it will help me to fly....i shall be soon solving minor crimes.....tidy those pencils if you don't want a visit from Super Clapton...

We hope to be making a Super Clapton movie this weekend if the weather stays good....