I've done something to my left shoulder - not sure what though. I think I must have slept on it in an awkward sort of way late last week and it's been getting worse ever since - as I try to compensate for it I think I am making it worse. It's rubbish having your wife in a different country half the time - no sympathy and no massage - but then it might not have been a sympathy and massage giving day anyway - you never can tell until you ask!
Debrah had some good news though - Christian has got a college place this year after all. He will have to work a bit to catch up because he is starting late and he better not let down all the people that have made this happen for him - but the opportunity is fantastic and I'm sure he'll make the most of it.
All of which might mean an opportunity for Debrah and I to spend a bit more time in the same country, same place, at the same time, together. It's all still a bit too soon to start celebrating as we need to work out a number of things to do with property (market dead) and Christian (fees and place to live to sort out), but at least it gives us something to work with and start planning ahead.
Talking of planning ahead, my lovely Irish guests who bought me the chocolates yesterday and for whom I cooked dinner this evening, have decided that they would like to book both the suites for Bastille Day in 2010 - next year is already booked, so they have gone for the year after!
We haven't quite got round to relaunching the website with next years prices (imminent) and I've only just set up all my booking sheets for next year, never mind the year after.
Still, it sounds good to say that we are booked out for Bastille Day until 2011.
Showing posts with label Bastille Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bastille Day. Show all posts
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Early arrival
It was supposed to be a straightforward day - client breakfast, market shopping, finish the ironing, clean out the apartment and fit the toilet roll holder and, if I had time, clean the kitchen and move some stuff out of the office down to the basement, before a client dinner this evening.
It started well enough - breakfast as normal, then a trip to the shops for chicken and vegetables - resist a coffee in the square, get the ironing out of the way - and then the phone rang ..
My Australian guests, who were due to arrive tomorrow, had decided to head to Carcassonne a day early and wondered if I had a free room - well I did but it wasn't ready and it had a half fitted toilet roll holder - but I couldn't turn them away could I?
"Be there in two hours", he said - "No lunch for me", I thought
Welcoming guests a day early when the room is free is not a problem, but combining that with my DIY skills is always an issue and so it proved. The fixings were too close together and the plasterboard between them broke which left me with a hole and a problem that I didn't need - so there is a temporary fix and the extra time taken meant that I only just finished the room just before they arrived.
I tried to grab a half hour rest before getting stuck into dinner preparation but the guests wouldn't leave me alone for five minutes and the phone kept ringing and text messages too - so I gave up and prepared the chocolate puddings instead.
Dinner turned out to be a bit of a laugh and my Sheffield guests were so happy with life here that they are going to come back for Bastille Day next year, which means that we are already sold out for the big event - fabulous.
It started well enough - breakfast as normal, then a trip to the shops for chicken and vegetables - resist a coffee in the square, get the ironing out of the way - and then the phone rang ..
My Australian guests, who were due to arrive tomorrow, had decided to head to Carcassonne a day early and wondered if I had a free room - well I did but it wasn't ready and it had a half fitted toilet roll holder - but I couldn't turn them away could I?
"Be there in two hours", he said - "No lunch for me", I thought
Welcoming guests a day early when the room is free is not a problem, but combining that with my DIY skills is always an issue and so it proved. The fixings were too close together and the plasterboard between them broke which left me with a hole and a problem that I didn't need - so there is a temporary fix and the extra time taken meant that I only just finished the room just before they arrived.
I tried to grab a half hour rest before getting stuck into dinner preparation but the guests wouldn't leave me alone for five minutes and the phone kept ringing and text messages too - so I gave up and prepared the chocolate puddings instead.
Dinner turned out to be a bit of a laugh and my Sheffield guests were so happy with life here that they are going to come back for Bastille Day next year, which means that we are already sold out for the big event - fabulous.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Bastille Day
It was Bastille Day yesterday, which of course means a French national holiday, trading in the streets, pomp and ceremony at the 'Monument des Morts', the second largest firework display in France (after Paris) and a thumping DJ late into the night. Something for everyone I guess.
The day itself was relatively quiet - in fact it seemed to be quieter than a usual Sunday, which was a bit strange. There was a fairly low key farmers market, where we bought a huge sausage sandwich as breakfast and three bottles of 'Carthagene', a local aperitif - but it was a bit early in the morning for wine tasting (even for me!) so we said we would come back but we never did.
So we wandered down the main shopping street and bought shoes. Well, Sandra didn't buy any because they didn't have her size in the ones she liked and I spent €14 on some summer knockabouts and Debrah bought three pairs - plus ca change.
After a lovely dinner on Sunday evening, which both sets of guests seemed to thoroughly enjoy, we had to plan a pre-firework supper. It was meant to be a barbecue down at Patrick's house before viewing the fireworks from his terrace - but he seemed too pre-occupied with the bar build and a little freaked about having to provide food for our two vegetarian guests, despite me assuring him that we would have all that taken of. So we decided to eat at home first and then wander on down there about an hour before the kick-off.
To spice things up, we did a wine tasting - compare and contrast three reds from different wine regions within the area - which was a lot of fun. I cracked my usual joke about 25 years of research before I realised I couldn't drink Bordeaux reds because the Cabernet Sauvignon grape gives me indigestion and everybody laughed except Debrah, who stifled a yawn.
That's not fair really, because Debrah has been joining in everything despite feeling really grotty with a horrible summer cold that she bought with her from The UK last Saturday. It's probably not a summer cold because I hear it is still winter in the UK!
I didn't get to see the pomp and ceremony at the statue to the dead but I know it happened - some speeches, a few medals, a lot of bowing and handshakes, an enormous amount of kissing and a band all trying to play in time and in tune - even the same tune - but failing.
The fireworks were as spectacular as they always are and my guests thoroughly appreciated the private viewing platform rather than slumming it in the street with the half million visitors that annually attend the event. I have seen it four times now and it didn't have the same impact as before despite being every bit as fabulous - I don't think you can replace the first time that you see it because it just blows your mind - every first timer yesterday said it was the best firework display they had ever seen (including Hong Kong handover, Millenium etc)
None of us stayed long after the event and I don't think any of us lingered in the square where the DJ was in full swing as we passed through on the way home. We are just far enough away not to have been kept awake by it (Chris said the windows were rattling in their frames, in his apartment overlooking the square, until after 2am) which is just as well as I had to be up at 6.30am this morning to give guests a lift to the station for an early train.
After a bit of fun and festivity at the weekend, it was back to room chnages and washing and cleaning today, with a new set of Irish arriving mid-afternoon. Debrah and Sandra have swanned off to the coast and then the mountains to see Nick and Chris down at Argeles and Ceret - lucky devils.
Oh, to be so laissez-faire now and again.
The day itself was relatively quiet - in fact it seemed to be quieter than a usual Sunday, which was a bit strange. There was a fairly low key farmers market, where we bought a huge sausage sandwich as breakfast and three bottles of 'Carthagene', a local aperitif - but it was a bit early in the morning for wine tasting (even for me!) so we said we would come back but we never did.
So we wandered down the main shopping street and bought shoes. Well, Sandra didn't buy any because they didn't have her size in the ones she liked and I spent €14 on some summer knockabouts and Debrah bought three pairs - plus ca change.
After a lovely dinner on Sunday evening, which both sets of guests seemed to thoroughly enjoy, we had to plan a pre-firework supper. It was meant to be a barbecue down at Patrick's house before viewing the fireworks from his terrace - but he seemed too pre-occupied with the bar build and a little freaked about having to provide food for our two vegetarian guests, despite me assuring him that we would have all that taken of. So we decided to eat at home first and then wander on down there about an hour before the kick-off.
To spice things up, we did a wine tasting - compare and contrast three reds from different wine regions within the area - which was a lot of fun. I cracked my usual joke about 25 years of research before I realised I couldn't drink Bordeaux reds because the Cabernet Sauvignon grape gives me indigestion and everybody laughed except Debrah, who stifled a yawn.
That's not fair really, because Debrah has been joining in everything despite feeling really grotty with a horrible summer cold that she bought with her from The UK last Saturday. It's probably not a summer cold because I hear it is still winter in the UK!
I didn't get to see the pomp and ceremony at the statue to the dead but I know it happened - some speeches, a few medals, a lot of bowing and handshakes, an enormous amount of kissing and a band all trying to play in time and in tune - even the same tune - but failing.
The fireworks were as spectacular as they always are and my guests thoroughly appreciated the private viewing platform rather than slumming it in the street with the half million visitors that annually attend the event. I have seen it four times now and it didn't have the same impact as before despite being every bit as fabulous - I don't think you can replace the first time that you see it because it just blows your mind - every first timer yesterday said it was the best firework display they had ever seen (including Hong Kong handover, Millenium etc)
None of us stayed long after the event and I don't think any of us lingered in the square where the DJ was in full swing as we passed through on the way home. We are just far enough away not to have been kept awake by it (Chris said the windows were rattling in their frames, in his apartment overlooking the square, until after 2am) which is just as well as I had to be up at 6.30am this morning to give guests a lift to the station for an early train.
After a bit of fun and festivity at the weekend, it was back to room chnages and washing and cleaning today, with a new set of Irish arriving mid-afternoon. Debrah and Sandra have swanned off to the coast and then the mountains to see Nick and Chris down at Argeles and Ceret - lucky devils.
Oh, to be so laissez-faire now and again.
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