They do not have “occasional days” in schools around Barcelona, so our daughter Carrie-Anne has to go into school for a week before the school year starts to work on the plans for the next 12 months. That means neither of her daughters can go to the school, because the term has not begun. So she needs a child-minder, which is an expensive operation, so what is the alternative?

You have guessed it. Every year, the first week in September, Ellie heads down to Narbonne and completes the three-and-a-half-hour trip just over the Pyrenees and then the mountain from Barcelona, to Sant Cugat. That means I am left on my own with the dogs for company. It works out well for both of us, but this year Ellie took the dogs with her.

We are off to the UK and then the USA, for a total of 32 days, so Carrie volunteered to look after our two King Charles Cavaliers for the duration. The grandchildren adore them, particularly three-legged Dixie, and it saves us around 800 euros in kennel fees. The dogs are familiar with the apartment in Spain, the children and the walks. They settle easily.

Which is a darn sight more than I did.

Normally, when Ellie is away, they provide the company. I take them for their walks as usual, provide them with their food and Dixie will jump up on the bed and sleep next to me. Fudge sleeps in his basket on the floor at the end of the bed.

They are always there, always following me out into the garden, busying themselves with that particular part where I am working. I admit I talk to them now and again, letting slip such conversational riveters as: “I think I’ll go in and have some coffee now.”

Hey. Don’t mock. They are dogs and grateful for a few kinds words. But this year I was left totally on my own and it took about four or five days for me not to think of them automatically, as one does catering for their needs.

Even with Ellie back and packing for the holiday, I am not at ease without our little friends around: funny how they grow on you and provide companionship. Even as I type this in my office (bureau as they call it in France), normally Dixie would be curled up beside me while Fudge would be outside on the landing, hedging his bets and keeping an eye on his beloved mistress.

Carrie-Anne has been supportive however. She emailed us a couple of photos for the dogs. After their last walk in the evening, headed for “their” bedroom: Fudge in his basket and Dixie curling up next to grand-daughter May. We had asked Carrie if she really thought she would cope with two children and two dogs but she pointed out, they are no trouble. She is feeling good, as she has just obtained her university degree, which is quite an achievement, having spent the recent years, giving birth to two girls, holding down a teaching job and taking the university correspondence course with an English university.

There was a time back in August when, sadly, we had to get used to the peace. Our visitors had gone. First off we had some dear friends drop in on their way back from Spain. They stayed two nights, and they were overlapped by the arrival of Tara and her two girls, plus friends. Fortunately we were able to house all the visitors on the third floor, where we have four bedrooms. (Yes, it is a big house and it seemed even bigger as I walked about on my own without dogs.) After they had been with us a week, I took them back to Carcassonne and put them on the plane which delivered Lucie, her partner, daughter and boyfriend. The same day, Carrie and her husband and the two girls arrived from Spain. So it was another good week with plenty of wine and beer flowing. We spent much of it sitting on the covered terrace but we only had need to watch the rain on one night, from our covered safety. The weather was fairly good throughout.

Then it came time for me to take them back. I returned to hear the buzz of the washing machine but even that could not make up for the quiet that descended upon us.

We overslept on the next two mornings, a trifle exhausted but happy to have seen them all.

Last year we had a total of 17 visitors (mostly children) over a period of three weeks and when we took the last two back to the airport at Carcassonne, Ellie reflected: “I could quite happily pick up Tara , the girls etc and start the entire three weeks off again.”

We had a fortnight to get used to the relative quite and then Ellie left for Spain and it was even quieter.