Young and Old

Our suites here at 42rvh are very much geared towards couples - but, to keep our market as large as possible, we thought that babies under one year old could be accommodated too and we said so on our website.

Well, people have come and gone all year and not a baby in sight and then two come along in the space of a week. Cute Pippa has the honour of being first baby in residence and she left this morning with Doug and Anna as they continue their 3 month tour of France. Eliot arrived this morning from England with Paul and Caroline and immediately becomes our second baby visitor.

We finally resolved the cot problem - Debrah was a bit confused by the whole issue too and had the added problem of not being able to purchase anything that looked badly designed or was in ugly colours (which ruled out pretty much everything on offer). So we paid more than we might have done but it is totally in keeping with the 42rvh design ethos.

So old guests gone and new guests arrived in both suites and the usual round of domestic chores (room change, laundry and ironing). Debrah is still nursing her toothache with antibiotics and painkillers and I'm not feeling 100% either - we were both in bed asleep by ten last night and it won't be much later this evening.

Damn the years and the mileage.

Cot in two minds

It took some time to register, but I finally realised that it was my alarm and that it was time to get up and sort breakfasts - it felt as if I'd only gone to bed five minutes earlier.

My plans for a little afternoon nap to boost my energy levels came to nothing as well - just too much to do - so it will be an early night.

Lance and Ellie left this morning. When he asked me to find out how to get to Paris, I initially thought that they were going to stay a couple more days and go to Paris as planned at the weekend - alas for me, they just decided to go to Paris immediately and bin the rest of their tour up the west coast of France - oh well - I'm not complaining because they were good company, brought me a lovely bottle of wine, have promised to send me a bottle of the Absinthe they make back in California, wrote some lovely words in our visitors book and also promised to do the same on tripadvisor - I really couldn't ask for more.

I finally got the car going again - I had to walk up to the motor spares shop on Allee d'Iena for a new fuse for the charger and then wait for a couple of hours for the battery to charge. I was mobile again by mid-afternoon.

After a trip to the supermarket for essential supplies, I ventured into 'New Baby' and 'Baby 9' out of town stores to look for a cot. It must be 18 years since I was in a baby store - so it was all slightly wierd. The strange thing is that nothing seems to have changed - everything still looked the same (blue and pink!), except for the odd French design element.

Being a bit tired and a little bit overpowered by the shop assistants very fast explanations about the key differences of the different cots on offer, I failed to make any sort of decision and, am ashamed to say, I will need to go back again tomorrow with Debrah to come to a purchase conclusion. Meanwhile, I am assured that Pippa is very happy in her nest on the mezzanine of the studio. Bless.

It's all relative

What was to be a fairly relaxed but busyish day, working through various administrative and domestic chores before cooking dinner for my American guests, turned out to be slightly rushed and a bit fraught because of welcome but unexpected guests and a car that wouldn't start.

The text and phonecall with my new Australian guests this morning really concentrated the mind - their room wasn't ready and they had a six month old baby with them.

All year we have been meaning to get a cot of some sort - and strangely enough this coming weekend we have a couple booked who are bringing their infant child and so the purchase of a cot had become an imminent occurence before today's events.

So having said to Denis this morning that he didn't need to move his car, I now needed him to do just that - not to worry, I thought, I'll go to the market first and get the provisions for dinner and then I'll sort the room out - and sure enough, by the time I had finished that, Denis had come back from lunch and moved his car.

I just had enough time to pop out before the new guests were likely to arrive - how wrong I was. I bought a new battery for the Audi at the beginning of the year and since then I haven't had a problem with getting the car going - until today - battery flat - car not going anywhere. To add insult to injury, when I hooked it up to the charger there was no response - so it seems that the charger might need a new fuse or it's broken.

There was a certain irony to all this - the only place to buy a new charger, or a fuse for a charger or a new battery or, indeed, a travel cot is in the industrial and commercial zones (out of town stores). To reach said destinations a car is the ideal mode of transport. You see my predicament.

Added to that was the worst day of weather for about four months - no wonder the Aussies had abandoned their cycling week and sought refuge here.

So with the mattress from the fold-up bed and some sheets and blankets we made a little snug for young Pippa who was as good as gold as the rest of us tucked into a four course dinner this evening.

The conversation was amusing and diverse and as ever with Americans and Australians we ended up discussing roots and ancestry - Anna was proud to be directly descended from one of the first convicts exported to Australia which put her on a par with a descendant of the first settlers who landed in America on the 'Mayflower' - according to Lance from California. In the end we all agreed that we all had some element of Irish ancestry, which was a bit sad to admit - the Irish can't have populated the whole world surely? - we even wondered if Barack O'Bama had any Irish blood.

Ellie was born in Swaziland from parents who worked for the UN and so is American by default, as she didn't see the place until she was five years old, but African by birth and has an African middle name - aren't people's lives fascinating?

If we go back far enough, I guess we are all related.

Helpless

As always seems to happen when I go to London, I don't get around to putting anything on my blog. There was plenty to write about - just a bit slack on my part - sorry about that.

At least the weather here in Carcassonne last Wednesday prepared me - rain and wind and a distinct nip in the air. To be fair though, the weather in London wasn't that bad with spells of glorious sunshine either side of the torrential rain!

Actually, I felt much more relaxed this trip than I had done for many of my visits over the past two years - partly that was because I wasn't going back under pressure of work for a London job and partly because I was just going back to see Debrah and sort out some of our home administration that has been neglected over the last six months or so.

I spent all Thursday working on financial stuff relating to London and to Debrah's business and thinking about our second year here and the general economic outlook - then my head started to hurt from the immensity of it all and I had to sit down and watch the two football matches being shown on channel 5 in the evening.

That's not really true, because I didn't stop thinking about our business future and our financial future - in fact I think about it all the time. I was thinking about it so much on Sunday when we went to the West End that not only did I have to carefully balance my spending in relation to my debt position but I also had to manage my desire to kick-start the British economy and therefore prevent the seemingly inevitable spiral into recession.

So I bought a T-shirt for £8, thus spending within my means whilst also fueling the consumer boom needed to get us all back on track.

To be honest, Debrah did a far better job than me with her clothes purchases but also highlighted a sizeist issue according to country of origin of retailer. So in Zara, fabulously stylish Spanish clothes retailer, all the sizes seem to be at least three sizes too small from what you expect them to be, whereas in Banana Republic, newly opened cool American brand, on the old Dickens and Jones site, the small appears to be a large and an XL would appear to be a fifteen burger and twenty three coca-colas a day hulk who sits in front of the telly all day - shame on her.

A strange thing happened over the weekend, we had two new enquiries. Could this mean that people are in fact getting their confidence back and considering going away again or are they just thinking 'what the f***, it's so miserable here, let's go away'! Either way, it's encouraging.

Which brings me back to current guests. I had a bit of a rush today after getting back to Carcassonne, as I only had a couple of hours between (slightly late arrival) and new guests turning up. Thankfully, it all passed by seamlessly as it always does at 42 rvh and my new guests are lovely, grateful and very interesting Americans (he distills alcohol and she writes for travel books) - totally on brand!

Despite being back here in Carcassonne with guests to serve and more to come at the weekend, my mind is 100% in London where Debrah has a big toothache problem and and an even bigger dentist phobia - the poor love.

I feel really helpless here when she needs me there.

Pre-London shit

My impending trip to London has caused a couple of problems, one of them my own doing and one of them a result of people depending on me being here.

Lesa looks after a holiday let property for an American couple and last week asked me to handle a 'meet and greet' this Friday and check-out a week later because she has gone off to Australia for three weeks to see her folks. I agreed, because I expected to be here, and then Debrah and I got talking over the weekend, and my clients next week pushed back their arrival by two days, and it made complete sense for me to go to London this week. I have to admit that somebody else's client check-in completely slipped my mind in the intensity of discussions with Debrah about what needed to be done in London and how we are to resolve our living apart dilemma - understandable in the circumstances, I think, but embarrassing nonetheless.

So it is that I have to show Lesa's holiday stand-in, Christian, what is what tomorrow morning and send explaining emails to both owner and client with profuse apologies.

Then, this morning, Brigitte rang my bell to drop off the garage keys for Denis and tell me that the electrician was coming on Friday morning to sort out the outside light problem, fully expecting me to be here to deal with it as she is at work that day.

"Merde", she said, when I told her I had to go to London, thus confirming Debrah's view that for a sophisticated Parisienne she has quite a filthy mouth (see previous blog re 'con') For all her 'allo Peeteer' charm and fluttering eyelids when she wants something, I know where my priorities lie and they are in London this Friday.

We do however need the lights fixed and so I suggested that maybe Christine, who runs the beauty salon below, could give the electrician access to the fusebox, which actually is all that is needed. "Ah, bonne ideé", was the enlightened and non-blasphemous reply to my suggestion. Voila.

This evening I was just getting over the disappointment of finding out that there would be no showing of Champions League football on TF1 when Pierre shouted from the street that a game of boules was imminent and that I really should join them immediately at the grandly named Boulodrome at the top of the hill, conveniently located across the road from the Makhila bar.

So I left my dinner cooking slowly in the oven and went up the road to lose heavily at boules to Bob, who was in inspired form with his balls - and that probably hasn't happened very often. Naturally, we partook of some wine, courtesy of Bob, and Jos and Cathy bought some baguette and saucisse and camembert for an impropmtu picnic.

It's the taking part, apparently. My own boules and much practice will soon be in evidence, I'm sure, if my forced jollity on losing badly is to be sustained. I am English and, therefore, will be a gracious loser, but it doesn't mean I like the experience. Oh dear, I feel a new obsession coming on !

Imagine my frustration when I got back home to find that in the eight Champions League games this evening, 36 goals were scored including 5 by Arsenal, 3 by Man Utd and 5 by Lyon, who I would undoubtedly have been watching if there had been a game on French TV.

'Merde', is all I can say to that.

Dilemma

As this year has progressed and weekends have come and gone, a Monday when Debrah returns to the UK has become harder and harder for us both to deal with. We spent a good deal of this weekend talking about how to solve the problem of weekdays apart from each other without coming to any concrete solution.

I don't think that Debrah is ready to come and live full time in France - she enjoys London and her work (sometimes). She is scared that she will be cut-off from what is new and exciting because that is such an important part of her job. We also have Christian to settle somewhere in his new college life and an apartment whose value is dropping like a stone in common with everybody elses.

Likewise, I would have to start again from scratch if I moved back to London and all that we have achieved here at 42rvh would be lost - and after such a good first year too.

What a dilemma.

So it was that, yet again, I dropped Debrah at the airport in warm sunshine. She arrived in London, where it was raining and cold and the trains were running very slowly and consequently felt very depressed about the whole thing. I came back to an empty apartment here and no amount of sunshine made me feel any less alone again.

So, current guests check out tomorrow morning and then we have a break for 7 days until the next ones - so I am going to London on Wednesday, obviously to see Debrah and also to catch up on jobs and paperwork over there. Whatever needs doing here (and there is always plenty) can wait for once.

Wine, women, sun and sausages

I collected new guests from the airport last Thursday and then more guests and Debrah on Friday - roof down in the glorious Autumn sunshine that has since lasted all weekend - a perfect Languedoc Autumn weekend in fact.

Not only did the sun shine but the wine flowed. The 3rd 'Fête du Vin' kicked off on Thursday evening with a good dose of rock/dance music and local wine producers and restaurants teamed up together to bring, well, wine and food to the crowds gathered in the square, followed by a bangin' street party with DJ outside 'Le Conti' club on the rue Aigle D'or (Golden Eagle Street) just behind the main square. Much wine was consumed and many inhibitions shed, not by me of course - I'm far too sensible, but Lesa was dancing on a table in true uninhibited Aussie style and Brigitte was just dancing, with anyone and everyone, male and female - "I am a leetle bit drunk", she confided. 'Bien sûr', Madame La Presidente.

Chris had finished the work on Denis' apartment late on Monday night just before he left to go and shoot some wild animals in the USA. I hadn't had a chance to go in and clear up and so we went up on Friday afternoon because Denis' cousin was coming out the following day for the weekend. There was quite a bit of clearing up to do, which I expected, but I was disappointed to find one skirting board unpainted and one bathroom shelf without mastic - the result of Chris leaving it all until the last minute and running out of time. I shall have to explain to Denis when he comes out next Sunday.

Debrah and I went back into the fray of the Fête early on Friday evening and ate some deliciously sweet oysters and sampled more of the wines on offer before returning to chat to our new guests over canapes and cocktails. Bizzarely, both sets of guests come from Suffolk and live about 20 miles apart from each other - a couple of weeks ago it was Americans and Australians, this week all very close to home.

The Saturday market was a bit disjointed, what with all the wine tents and the music stage, but all the more fun for it too, with bandas playing their unique style of French brass band jollyness (not quite in time and not always the same tune but very evocative of a French town en fête). The lovely Autumn sunshine and the music and the wine seemed to bring out the warmth in everyone - it really couldn't have been a better advert for a weekend away in Carcassonne and I wish I could capture it's essence somehow to use in our own marketing and on our website.

Instead of my usual Saturday rendez-vous at Saillan, Debrah and I went out for a little drive up into the Minervois. I know I am over-playing the mellow Autumnness theme a bit, but it couldn't have been more perfect - there was virtually no breeze, the sun shone with deceptive warmth out of an azure sky, there was virtually nobody else on the road, the vines and trees were a patchwork of beautiful shades of yellow and red and brown and orange, there was the occasional whiff of woodsmoke in the air and the distinctive 'caw' of birds of prey circling above us in search of a kill.

We were on a mission to find, what Debrah had assumed, was an abandoned farm that we had passed about two months earlier on a previous drive through the area, because she wanted to take some photographs of the old iron gates. We found the farm and it's new owner, who, very kindly, not only let Debrah wander around taking photos but also showed her the old stables with the old horse names still above each stall and told us about the chateau next to the farm which was being renovated and was up for sale. Whilst Debrah was off doing her designer thing, he told me he was waiting for the local hunt to arrive for lunch - he had a fire going and everything ready for some serious butchery. He told me that last week the hunt had taken 8 wild boars and that they made sausages and stews and grills from the catch. I am actually quite sorry they didn't turn up whilst I was there - they might well have asked us to join them if their hospitality was anything like as lovely as his.

Saturday evening was a guest dinner and a bit of last minute stress about food because we were doing something untried and so timing was all a bit of guesswork. I'm the first to admit that I don't like 'winging it' when paying guests are involved and I would always like to be ready ahead of time and have everything totally planned and under control, whereas Debrah is much more a last minute sort of person, or even "I'll do it tomorrow", which of course wouldn't be any good for clients waiting for their dinner. There was a small falling out and a few harsh/cross words and a bit of a rush but as ever what was put in front of our guests was both delicious and beautiful and this morning both couples thanked us for a lovely dinner and very entertaining evening.

So we missed the last night of the Fête, but not to worry because today was the second day of the 'Ronde de Malepere', a two day wine festival in the wine region of that name to the south and west of Carcassonne, which this year was held in the village of Alairac. At the airport last week they had been handing out invitations including a voucher for a free glass (usually €5) which then entitled one to free tasting at all the producer stands. One hour and ten producers later we were a bit confused by the tastes and aromas we had sampled and desperately needed the plate of 'saucisse and frites' that we found at the grill run by local ladies, who fussed around us cleaning the table and bringing us bread and mustard and telling us about the duck fat that the chips were cooked in - bless them for their lovely hospitality.

We sat under the plane trees and sobered up with the protein and carbs before stroking the noses of the two horses that were tethered just outside and then heading back to Carca for an airport run and new guest check-in and an afternoon lie down.

We had forgotten that we were having sausage and potatoes for supper as well - but that didn't stop us wolfing them down too - sometimes it's just right.

Come on England

It's a rare night with no guests this evening and so I have been lording it in the studio suite watching the big telly.

Sadly I had to content myself with watching Belgium v Spain and then Portugal v Albania on a TV channel called Direct 8. Belarus v England would have been too much to hope for, especially since the Irish mafia at Setanta have taken over the rights to the away matches. We all hate Setanta, which I am sure wasn't in their business strategy when they decided to bid for the England games.

My support, though hidden. obviously helped and England did the business again with Rooney scoring twice - hurrah, hurrah.

It was another fabulous Autumn day here - not that I saw much of it. After breakfast I took the departing guests to the airport, then cleared out their room and got stuck into the ironing left over from the weekend guests. I resisted the lure of the square for lunch because we had so much good food here - and I so hate to throw stuff away.

This afternoon, I have to admit, I succumbed to an afternoon nap. Debrah has been slowly passing on to me the benefits of a little lie down - it has taken a long time for me to come round to it but I am now a fervent fan of a short afternoon siesta. I never really had the opportunity when I worked full time in London but now it makes complete sense - after a late night dinner and clearing up and an early breakfast and airport drop-off, a siesta is the perfect battery recharger.

It did get in the way of my plans for a beef casserole this evening - by the time I got around to getting it sorted it was far too late to be eaten tonight - not to worry, because it will be all the better tomorrow or even on Friday when Debrah returns.

As I passed through the square late this afternoon it was a hive of activity ahead of the 'Festival du Vin' which starts tomorrow evening. I missed the event last year so I am really looking forward to what is on offer this week as well as the music and the general party atmosphere in the town - my new guests couldn't have picked a better weekend to visit. Salut.

Looking Ahead

Today seemed to disappear in a blur without me knowing why or how - suddenly it was time to start prepping dinner for the guests and the day had gone.

But what a day - not a cloud in the sky and the temperature in the upper twenties - a perfect Autumn day in the Languedoc - which meant that I meandered about the market for maybe longer than I would have done normally and lingered for a coffee and watched the world go by for a bit and was then persuaded (not with any great difficulty) to return for lunch at Bar Felix.

It was the sort of day and the sort of lunch that was just going to be me but ended up being me and Richard and Janet and then Gary and Tom and Cathy and then Susan and then Patrick and another Tom, fresh off the Shannon flight. It was civilised and relaxed and lazy - we all lingered about an hour longer than we had intended, partly because it seemed to take that long to get the bill and pay it!

I wasn't looking forward to the dinner with guests this evening. I think that I am coming to the end of my season and I need a break from it too - so in a way, I am happy that we don't have any November bookings at the moment. I am feeling like it has been a long summer slog of entertaining and I think I will welcome a couple of weeks without it before we get to Christmas and New Year.

As ever though I gave my all for my guests this evening and they seem to have had a lovely stay here and enjoyed dinner tonight - hurrah for that. After dinner they wandered out to have a look at the Cité illuminated by it's lights and also, tonight, by a very bright and beautiful full moon. How sweet.

Looking ahead, our new website went live today and it looks fantastic - well done Debrah for another piece of inspired creative magic. The new site features more information and more fabulous photography and next years prices - hopefully everyone will have recovered from the banking/recession crisis soon and start booking up next years dates. Fingers crossed.

Problem solving

Debrah and Mel have returned to London and once again I am on my own here in France, well, except for the guests in the Apartment suite and Chris popping in for coffee as he finishes off the final bits of work in Denis' apartment upstairs.

Chris flies to the UK tomorrow and then on to the USA, so tonight is his last chance to finish the work and give back the keys to me - I know I will have to go up there and clear up and remove the tools and materials after he has gone - great, another cleaning job to do. This last minute rush could have been avoided, but that's Chris for you - the mastic will look fabulous when it's finally done though!

Ironically, given our falling out earlier in the year over the unnecessary removal of my internet connection, Chris will have to come and print out his flight information from this very computer because an electrician has clumsily disconnected the broadband in his apartment - I shouldn't laugh or feel smug about it, but I can't help it.

I forgot to mention that I can finally see what I am typing and reading - Debrah picked up some reading glasses for me at Boots at Stansted airport on her way over here and they are a revelation - and all for the extremely reasonable sum of £25. I have known for a couple of years that my eyesight was getting worse for close up stuff and especially in poor light - not any more - but I'm still getting used to having glasses on my nose.

With a heavy heart I took Debrah and Mel up to the airport this afternoon for their flight home and then who should I bump into but Gary, who was waiting for his nephew off the same flight that Debrah was due to leave on - so naturally I offered them a lift back to town and popped in to see Des too, as I hadn't seen him for well over a month. No change there really, except that Gary's fortune is now going to be made as a novelist rather than as an artist - always seeking the glory solution that boy - he just needs to get a job.

So there we are - it was a momentous day in the world of banking and the refurbishment of Denis' apartment has finally been completed - all of which is a massive relief - but whilst the macro and micro issues have been, hopefully, resolved, Debrah and I are spending another evening apart from each other - and for the moment we are no closer to finding a solution to that problem.

Wherefore art thou?

It has been a real pleasure having Mel here for the weekend - drinking partner, sous-chef, dishwasher and town excitement for a couple of days. Thank you enormously for all your help.

One thing that constantly puzzles and worries Debrah and me is why Mel is still single, considering that she is so lovely, and to that end Debrah has spent quite a bit of time today on Mel's 'dating direct' website vetting prospective candidates and sending out emails on her behalf - a veritable 'Cyrano de Bergerac' situation. As I type this they are monitoring responses with an inevitable mix of astonishment, hilarity, fear and potential possibility.

"I bet he's got a pierced knob", was just one of the many remarks I have been listening too this evening.

Whatever happens, Mel, don't lower your standards - there is someone just for you right around the corner.

Yesterday, Debrah went into one of her mad cooking Saturdays - pickled vegetables, fig jam, plum jam, chicken liver paté and poached pears were produced in an intense four hours of kitchen frenzy.

The paté and pears were consumed over a very entertaining dinner with our guests last night, where we discussed the success of current policing policy in the UK and whether the jury system needs to be amended for certain cases - heavy stuff indeed but actually extremely interesting to get their point of view on our legal system and, maybe surprising to some, they were on the whole totally in favour of and supportive of our whole judicial process.

They all left today and a new couple arrived and it rained a bit and was cloudy and windy and generally not very pleasant to go outside - so we stayed in and didn't visit the rice and apple fete at Aigues-Vives, which was a shame, but I don't think anybody really minded that much.

New girl in town

My early week guests departed on Wednesday and Thursday and a group of four arrived on Thursday morning, thankfully on separate flights, although two of them were on the late running Stansted flight that brought Debrah, and our very good friend Mel, here for the weekend. It was a bit of a squash in the car but we made it back safe and sound.

Mel's arrival has caused a bit of a stir in the local community. During canapés and cocktails with the new guests (who are all policemen and women!), Mel was the first to make an appearance and was assumed to be my wife until Debrah made her grand entrance ten minutes later, which caused some mildly amusing confusion.

Later last night, we wandered up to the Makhila, where Mel was greeted with enthusiasm by the usual crowd - in fact, their reaction to her was slightly astonishing to behold. David went very quiet before making his excuses and departing early to polish his boules, Bob was like an excited puppy dog who couldn't finish one sentence before starting the next, Chris had had a shower and a shave and Pierre went into full on 'Pepe le Peu / aah, cheri' mode whilst telling her about his two donkeys in the Ariege with soft noses whilst simultaneously stroking Mels nose with his forefinger. Blimey! - talk about causing a stir.

As a result we agreed to meet up this evening to play boules, but not before we had enjoyed a varied and lovely day in the Autumn sunshine. We went shopping in Les Halles for our supper and then clothes shopping for Mel (Debrah considers herself to be Mel's personal shopper) and then lunch at Felix in the square before some more shopping, back home for a short nap, some domestic work on the ironing board, trying out a couple of new cocktail mixes and finally our pre-arranged boules match.

I have been trying to meet up with the guys for a game of boules for some time and tonight I finally managed it. David had made some pasties (how very British) and others had bought some wine and sandwiches which we all consumed under the lights at the Boulodrome whilst we played two games well into the evening - and a lot of fun it was too, with everyone producing the odd brilliant shot amongst the fairly average play.

Meanwhile, the race to open the Irish bars continues at a hot pace. It looks like the old Irish bar will get there first, but Patrick and his team won't be far behind with the new bar, to be called The Celt, despite losing Chris and Declan to the USA next week. Personally I just wish they would both hurry up so that we can get some big screen TV sport watching back in town.

Missing my wife

I have just finished another client dinner, loaded the dishwasher and washed up the stuff that wouldn't fit - all except the glasses that is.

I was feeling a bit lonely this morning and really missing Debrah not being here - I couldn't get myself going on anything despite having a million things that I could do. I went to the market for the stuff for tonight's dinner and then mooched about a bit before finally shaking off the lethargy - in fact I suddenly went into overdrive.

Not sure where the energy or drive appeared from but I made a rapid supermarket trip and finished the email listing of previous enquirees and then went into baketastic cooking mode interspersed with an hours ironing and finally dinner preparation for this evening - phew!

So there is now a lemon cake and some biscuits for guests and me to nibble on and most of the ironing is up to date and the mailing list is ready for the relaunch of the website and the current guests have gone to bed replete after supper.

The supermarket trip was a bit disappointing though - the annual 'Foire des Vins' or wine fair had been taking place at Leclerc and they had some excellent wines on offer at excellent prices. Debrah and I tried some a couple of weeks ago and earmarked the ones that we would like to have again and again. Sadly, when I visited today the whole promotion was over and virtually all the wines that we had earmarked had sold out - bugger - oh well, there will always be next year and the wine festival is just around the corner next week - I don't suppose that we will go without the water of life.

I had emails this morning from both Amy and Isabel - amazing immediate responses to my email last evening - both are settled into their university years at Lancaster and Leicester - and with Christian now into his first week at Ravensbourne Art College, we have quite the grown up family. Good luck to them all on their first steps towards the scariness and responsibility that is adulthood and don't you dare mess up.

Lights out

It's been a day of many odd jobs, some of them successful, some of them not.

The outside lights in the courtyard and the archway have both failed at the same time, plunging the whole place into pitch black at night time, the only light being a faint glimmer from the doorbell.

For the last three weeks the lights have been on all day, even though we have had bright sunlight, which made me think that the sensor had failed - now that I have checked the circuit and the fuse and the connections, which all seem fine, a failed sensor seems to be the only logical conclusion. I think we need a new one.

My studio guests also reported that the remote control for the dvd player wasn't working. I changed the batteries to no effect - so we need a new one of those too.

Based on the (dubious) belief that these things come along in threes, I am hoping beyond hope that the third isn't something really expensive!

I did manage to get through half the ironing mountain and my guests have been extremely undemanding and both had relatively late breakfasts, allowing me to catch up on some sleep - another early night tonight I think.

With only 10 days to go before he disappears off to the USA, Chris has finally realised that he needs to finish the work in Denis' apartment - so this evening we dashed up to Tridome for a couple of final bits (cupboard door hinges and varnish for the worktops). We had a bonus with '10% off' vouchers courtesy of an English language newsletter called 'The Eleven' - that being the number of the Aude Department where I live.

I don't know how much money I have spent in Tridome over the last three years but it is well into the thousands - 10% off all that lot would have been very useful indeed - as it is we saved a massive three euros and sixty one centimes - well, every bit helps.

Talking of the French departments, I bet you can't name the ten departments beginning with the letter A that come before this one - one of them is only a one letter change - answers tomorrow or whenever I remember.

Bloggate

I seem to have caused a bit of a rumpus following my blog after last weekends birthday bash for Anna.

I used a comment that was made to me in private - I know, blatant plagiarism - and it appears that some people may have taken offence - well, that seems to be the implication but I haven't spoken with or heard from anybody directly so this is all rather second hand knowledge. Anna and Debrah have had a bit of a heated falling out and have now hopefully made up again - lordy.

That's the thing about writing a blog though - you hope people are going to read it and, ironically, more people seem to have read it this week than ever before. I put it out there so I have to expect that not everyone is going to agree with everything I write and there is of course a certain amount of exaggeration of situations or events for, hopefully, humourous effect.

So, lets get two things straight, with no exaggeration or attempted humour involved at all. Firstly, as I said at the beginning of the week, it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend with a great mix of people, all of whose company I enjoyed. Secondly, I never meant to cause any offence and apologise to anyone who feels at all offended in any way whatsoever.

Hopefully, that is the end of the crisis, without the need for resignations, court cases or 'Hello' photo-shoots.

Meanwhile it has been one unbelievably busy full-on working weekend here with guests out on Friday and Saturday and new guests in on both days and both leaving today and two new sets of guests arriving. I have the most impressive washing and ironing mountain ever!

The weekend guests all arrived from the UK - two Australians came in on the plane from London and two Americans on the plane from Liverpool - to stay with an Englishman living in France. "Doesn't anyone live in their own country anymore", quipped one - well, apparently not.

There was an architect working on top class hotels and restaurants in London and a marketing man in charge of business partnerships for Liverpool FC - all of which meant that we talked about food and design and sport all night, over dinner and a wine tasting, which couldn't have been better to be honest.

You might ask "what does an American know about football?" - but he doesn't need to as long as he knows about marketing and business partnerships which he clearly does and I now know someone who can get hold of Liverpool tickets which I think is called a 'football result'.

I also know that a top top chef is opening a new restaurant but I don't know where because I wasn't told but I do know who but I'm not going to say because this blog seems to get me into enough trouble as it is - blumen hell!

Local trouble

I received a letter yesterday, by registered post, from M Sire, the owner of the vacant space on the ground floor where I temporarily dumped a load a debris during my renovation, demanding that I relocate the water supply to my apartments.

My water supply runs through this space of his and not in a particularly well thought out way - but then so does everybody elses water supply and indeed electricity supply too. As far as I can see they were all installed at the same time and all well before I bought my apartments.

I had a chat with Bridgitte about it and asked her opinion - she phoned the notaire that had handled my sale and was pointed in the direction of the rules and regulations governing the building which is now in her hands as Madame La Presidente. It turns out that all pipework not inside the proprietors own flat is the responsibility of the managing agents, i.e us as proprietors jointly.

That is good news - M Sire is the only proprietor that owes money and he now has to face all the owners rather than just try to bully me separately. It will be interesting to see if he turns up at the next meeting, which is imminent, to pursue his case.

I'd actually be very happy to see the pipe re-sited because M Sire has stated his intention to sell - mind you he wants €20,000 for an uninhabitable space with no bathroom or kitchen - he is clearly bonkers. Bridgitte referred to him as 'con', which my dictionary translates as bloody stupid but I am sure that it must have a much more colourful translation from the way that the phrase was delivered - I can certainly think of plenty of different words to use .

So the matter will go on the next agenda and Bridgitte will draft a reply to him and we will see what happens after that.

In the meantime, my Irish guests left to be replaced by London Aussies on a two day break without their kids - which means that I am all Aussied out in both suites - cripes mate. The new guests apparently hitch-hiked through here some 15 years ago and have vague memories of it all - isn't that sweet.

I have a bit of a weekend from hell actually - after a room change today and then another tomorrow, I have a double changeover on Sunday - which means a lot of cleaning, washing, ironing and airport drop-offs and pick-ups - not to mention dinner on Saturday evening. I don't normally accept one night bookings, but with Debrah in London this weekend on account of an early Monday departure on a photo-shoot trip to Turkey, and a dinner to do on Saturday night for the Aussies, I figured that I may as well fill the vacant night.

It should keep me out of trouble anyway.

Forward Planning

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.