Not standing still

Anna and Aib have gone back to Aquitaine but it won't be long before we see them again because at the end of next week my whole family will be descending on the chateau to celebrate my father's 80th birthday.

In the meantime I have guests to think about with two new couples arriving tomorrow for the weekend and two couples during next week for two nights each. The rooms were prepped this afternoon and all is set for airport pick-ups in the morning at 10.30 and 12.30.

Anna bought some of her lovely vegetables and herbs and flowers from her garden (which of course makes us think about our lack of outside space) and we enjoyed a tray of roast vegetables with some of our delicious local pork this evening.

In my time in France I have grown to appreciate the fig, and fennel and celeriac and have mastered the preparation of the artichoke - all things that were unappreciated in London in their raw and unripe state. However, we still haven't conquered the aubergine despite the absolute beauty of the vegetable in it's many different forms here. Tonight was no exception, with the pieces of aubergine in the vegetable bake proving the hardest to swallow. We are not going to be defeated though, and the uneaten vegetables will be mixed with more tomatoes and peppers and cooked again and given another chance. Food absolutely never ever gets thrown away here.

It's always interesting talking and exchanging ideas with Anna and Aib. Things that work for them and don't work for us and vice versa are usually just down to the different scale of our respective operations - but there are areas of overlap and areas where we genuinely help each other out.

Debrah and Aib spent some time this morning discussing website build and design (Aib can build them and Debrah can design them but they couldn't possibly do each others role - which they readily admit) Both of us are looking to update and indeed possibly redesign our respective websites and are keen to add more services for our clients.

Here at 42rvh we need to promote the wine tasting possibilities (as discussed yesterday) and we have also had a discussion with Christine, who runs the beauty salon on the ground floor, about promoting her services to our clients. Both need adding to the website so that clients are aware of the full range of available enjoyment to be had.

It's all about enjoyment - for them and for us. When it stops being enjoyable it will be time to move on - but that is happily not a factor at the moment. Fun is good and fun it still is.

Go on, laugh.