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We have a mouse in residence, or to be precise, we are not sure if it is a singular mouse or a happy family of mice.
None of us have seen more than one at a time traverse across the kitchen floor and then slide behind the center island or slyly disappear somewhere in the house, but evidence is mounting that we might be talking about a community.
Years ago, our cat Coco was a determined killer, who didn’t enjoy a night on the killing fields at all, leaving the evidence of his prey, invitingly exposed entrails on our expensive rugs or outside the bedroom door.
But now, 17, he doesn’t have the appetite for the chase, and although he frequently finds himself outside the closets where we think mice lurk, he has lost his killer instinct.
Although I’ve been alerted twice by the blood-covering screeches and thrown into the room, only to find Coco gently holding a mouse in her mouth and then releasing it unharmed. (The squeaks are from the mouse).
I’ve been pretty optimistic about the occasional mouse for a few months now, but taking this relaxed attitude has clearly encouraged them to take more liberties. So now they have (or) begun to challenge the higher rungs of the food cupboard.
Flaked almonds seem to be the food of choice. Even though we’ve moved the cans to the bottom shelf as a barricade, this doesn’t seem effective. Neither did my attempt to block potential entry areas with wire wool.
Clearly we need to get rid of the mouse/mice, but the idea of poison and traps is too horrible. The search is on for a kind terminator.
A mischievous moggy eye A mouse on a table, although Alexandra Shulman says her cat Coco (not pictured) has lost her ‘killer instinct’ and prefers to catch mice and then release them unharmed
Proof that hard cash is all that counts
Immediately after Melania Trump stepped out last Monday in her Adam Lippes Navy coat, and Ivanka Trump appeared in Dior’s sensational Couture Dior, the Greek chorus began to sing.
We were told that no self-respecting fashion house would want to be associated with the Trump clan.
Had he marked Oscar de la Renta’s house by dressing the vice president’s wife, Usha Vance, in a chic pink coat?
It was reported that, contrary to normal practice, these fashion houses did not take the opportunity to announce who, at the presidential inauguration and ball, was wearing their look.
But the presence of Bernard Arnault, president of Luxury Goods Company LVMH, sitting silently at the podium with his wife Helene and daughter Delphine, told the real story.
Which is that luxury fashion would not exist if it were not for right-wing and authoritarian patronage in society.
Expensive fashion has expanded enormously in the last three decades, almost entirely due to new money from India (the birthplace of Usha’s parents), China, the Middle East and (before sanctions) Russia, places not particularly known for their free forms.
Closer to home, the queues for a Goyard bag on Mount Street in Mayfair, or a Hermes shawl on Sloane Street in Chelsea, are not made up of the artistic people who vote Labor (or even Tory artists, for that matter). you can find one) but by Visitors from countries with the spending power rarely find themselves in shared flats in Hackney or Peckham.

Ivanka Trump looks effortlessly chic in a Forest-Forest-Green Dior outfit as she arrives ahead of her father Donald Trump’s inauguration
While there are celebrities who might endorse Democrats, such as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, who certainly dot designer labels, the majority of non-show spending comes from people who have made their shields in finance.
Such types are not known for their support of high taxes for social good.
Although many independent designers are more left-aligned in general, fashion tends to stay quiet on the subject of politics or, like Ralph Lauren, who had dressed all previous first ladies, allows personal politics to be a bit flexible. .
There may be a lot of noise in dressing Republican women, but it’s the hard money, not the noise, that counts.
A hotel shower? Just don’t wash
We just stayed in a hotel in Marseille, where our bathroom had no bath, just a shower. How someone can prefer showers over baths completely confuses me.
Unlike the ease of sinking into a lovely bath, which by the way, as you ran you’ve already warmed up a potentially cold bath, approaching a shower tray is an exercise in self-harm.
Either you stay naked, shuddering, risking freezing or climbing in your turn in an effort to bring the water to an acceptable temperature, or you have to engage in a ridiculous shoveling of sticking your arm in to test the water, until the temperature correct and flow is achieved.
While baths are one of the simplest pleasures available.
There is little more delicious than gentle immersion, even briefly, in a scented bath, as opposed to the beating of a shower. Showers are for gyms. Not vacations.

Ryan Gosling washes Rachel McAdams’ hair while the couple takes a relaxing soak together in the 2004 film The Notebook
A scary coat, but a serious message
Davos is billed as a World Economic Forum, but like all such conferences, it now attracts speakers on a broader range of topics interested in seeing where the global action is. Enter the unlikely vision of
Melanie Brown (aka Scary Spice) speaking out about domestic abuse in a pepto-bismol-pink coat, urging governments to act not talk.
Let’s hope Davos’ mainly male audience made time away from the main agenda to listen to it.

Spice Girl Melanie Brown gave an impassioned speech about domestic violence at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday
The happy side of Monsieur Grumpy
It’s notable how much friendlier the shopkeepers and waiters are than they used to be.
They no longer make any effort to understand our school-level French or give us one of their infamous ‘caring’ shrugs.
Even the classic Monsieur Grumpy, who served us breakfast, had thawed out by the time we left. Maybe it’s one of the effects of Brexit: they feel they can afford to be more welcoming now that the British no longer have any claim to being European.
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