New Arrivals

My first Australian guests arrived yesterday afternoon. A lovely couple on a trip to the UK for a family wedding and getting in a bit of France whilst they are over here from the other side of the world.

It turned out that they had spent two nights already at the Hotel de la Cité - so I wondered what they would make of it slumming down here in the old town without 24 hour room service and all the other five star luxuries.

I got off to a bad start - I wasn't sure what time they were going to arrive and risked a late afternoon trip to Tridome for building supplies for Chris - but they turned up bang on 4.30pm (when we say rooms will be ready for check-in) and I kept them waiting for half an hour as a result. I have never felt so embarrassed.

So it was straight into over-servicing mode and I hope that after canapes and a restaurant recommendation last night and map lending and day trip planning this morning and dinner this evening, I have rescued the bad start. We had a very enjoyable dinner and conversation this evening and they ate everything put in front of them, which is always a good sign - so fingers crossed. Tomorrow I am sending them off on a wine tasting tour of the Cabardes and Minervois.

In the meantime, Christian arrived from England. He is here for a week initially, in the middle of his exams, and will then come back for a month after he has finished them for a bit of Languedoc therapy - sun, slower pace, a bit of manual labour for me and for Chris and a change of air from London life - after which I hope we and he will know where his next steps will lead.

I introduced him gently with a steak lunch in the square - like we need an excuse - and then he was straight into help mode with me on a supermarket re-stocking run and then rubbish removal for Chris upstairs. He did revert to type by asking me if I needed any help with dinner at the exact moment that I had finished two hours prep and just sat down for a moment - well, you can't expect the world on day one - it was a good start and it's good to have him here with us.

I just need to keep him away from a 'Men Behaving Badly' Chris and Patrick night out for a couple of weeks, at least until we've had time to work on him a bit!