Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
close at hand so I managed to have a quick word about our need to press on and left him to
remind our host about our schedule.
We proceeded upstairs to check out the bedrooms where Charles quickly joined us,
leaving
signore
alone in the kitchen. Each room was spacious, beautifully decorated and,
like the previous house, equipped with high quality fittings. We were told that this was
si-
gnora's
domain, which was fairly obvious due to the absence of fur, or heads, nailed to the
walls.
As we moved from room to room I became more and more enthusiastic about this
lovely property. It was a perfect size for us, required no renovations and very little in the
way of decoration. At this stage, all systems seemed to be set on 'go'. We still needed to
see the
domaine
territory and returned downstairs to have a quick look at the swimming
pool on our way outside.
Back amongst the animals in the open-plan area, try as I might, I couldn't make out
where the door to the sun deck was. But there was a simple enough reason for this: the head
of the wildebeest jutted out so far that it obscured the far end of the room.
We rejoined
signore
, who apparently hadn't noticed that his interesting discourse on
kitchen equipment had been delivered to thin air rather than an interested audience. Slightly
surprised by our reappearance he trotted on ahead to show us the door to the sun deck. We
dutifully followed in single file but came to an emergency stop because our host, unable
to pass the stuffed lioness without touching it, had reached up to stroke its ear. He took
advantage of this position to point out the deck area and then resumed his lecture on ladle
sizes.
Jack, who was now heartily sick of anything to do with kitchens and 'that damn cat'
paced off towards the door and heaved it open. I left Charles to listen to
signore
and joined
him. We were halfway outside when
signore
let out the most awful shriek.
