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.