London calling

I have seen the most glorious sunrise and a stunning sunset today. It has in fact been a fabulous day here but I didn't really get to see much of the middle of it.

After dinner on Wednesday night, I was tired yesterday and it was a bit of a struggle. So I had an early night and woke up at dawn this morning feeling full of beans. The Yorkshire clients had requested the bikes today so I decided to hit the streets early for a bit of a thrash about whilst I was feeling full of energy.

It was cool but not cold and the streets and riverside pathways were deserted apart from the odd dogwalker or jogger or street cleaner and the sun was just rising up over La Cité as I cycled back along the path by the River Aude. It was so low in the sky that at times I couldn't see a damn thing in front of me and was cycling purely on instinct. I did come across a red squirrel on the path and I can't remember the last time I have seen one of those.

This evening I drove the same clients up to the Michelin starred restaurant Le Parc just as La Cité was once more lit up by the sun, this time the dying rays as it set behind us turning the walls a beautiful mellow amber - the moon was showing above in the still blue sky but the horizon was tinged orange. My guests could not have failed to be impressed - I was pretty blown away myself and I've seen it before!

My other guests finally turned up a day later than planned after they decided to stay an extra night in Spain. I bumped into Miguel and Eric early evening as they were going out and asked if they were going up to the Cité or the Canal or a restaurant - none of those actually. They had seen a gym and were going there - obviously need to keep those figures looking trim!

No different than going out cycling everyday though. The other guests spent all day out on the bikes and I now have a broken mudguard on my bike to show for it - it needs a bit of service and some new brake pads anyway so I'll get onto that when I get back from London. When I asked if they had enjoyed their day she said she had "riden for England" - obviously my good manners stopped me exploring that comment any further.

Meanwhile in town it has all kicked off at Carca-Sun immobillier where the locks have been changed and Lesa is out on the streets having been given her marching orders by Yannick and the rest of the team, presumably for being too mad and erratic. She recounted the whole story to me in an extremely emotional and neurotic way which I could hardly make head or tail of between the shouting and the tears and the swearing - which of course just about sums it up. Her behaviour over the last few months has being increasingly commented upon and she has been losing friends fast. Indeed I had been distancing myself a bit because everything was such a trauma with her - well it is now and I'm not getting involved or taking sides.

Closer to home I told Christine, from the beauty salon downstairs, that I wasn't going to continue renting her parking space - none of the clients use it because of the difficult access and it was an expensive luxury for the sake of easier parking. She wasted no time in telling me to move my car to 'my side' of the courtyard and has been pointedly parking a car there ever since.

Brigitte upstairs has also been sulking for about a month now because she hates her new neighbours with the dog and the baby and hates the older neighbours with the other dog and the attitude problem. As a result she wants to move but the property market is still slow here and I don't think her apartment is in the best condition anyway. So she isn't speaking to anyone and just looks miserable and complains all the time.

What a blessing that I am off to London to see my lovely lady tomorrow - can't wait.