I had a disturbed night's sleep last night. I kept hearing noises and woke up a few times but then all was quiet - I'm not sure if the noise was real or imaginary. No matter, when it was finally time to get up and the alarm was ringing in my ear, it was the last thing I felt like doing.
I was a bit sluggish for the whole morning. The cloud cover that persisted made the day humid and oppressive which didn't help either. I would have happily sat down and meandered through the day without really doing anything, which we all feel like sometimes, but that wasn't really an option. Three breakfasts, one set of guests leaving, a bit of ironing, some business admin and a supermarket trip took care of the morning.
In case you get the impression that it's all work, work, work well it isn't all the time. After I got back from the supermarket I wandered down to the square and bumped into Patrick and Rafaele, just back from their three week holiday in Thailand. After Rafaele had gone back to work (she is the source of all our town info and gossip because she works for Cherie FM, the local radio station) I mentioned to Patrick that I might go out on my bike and he jumped at the chance to come with me.
I have always cycled on my own here but now realise how much better it is with someone else. It's not rocket science. It's more convivial because you chat all the way, more competitive because neither wants to be the one to turn back first and ultimately more enjoyable.
We had a good 90 minute ride down a lot of routes, lanes and country paths that I hadn't been on before. I had a 'petite chute' when I lost the front wheel off the edge of a narrow track down by the River Aude - slightly bloodied and bruised but no serious or permanent damage. At least I think not but three hours after getting back my left ankle has swollen up a bit and I spent the evening serving dinner trying to disguise the pain and a slight limp which will probably have made it worse. Of course, I could have just twisted it getting up out of my chair. I'm sure it will be fine in the morning.
This evening it was to back to work but the enjoyable sort of work - preparing a dinner for two of my guests. It was a pleasant but quiet evening and they went away happy, I think, to pack their bags for an early departure back to Edinburgh tomorrow.
More happy guests - like the ones who left a few day ago and have left the most wonderful review of 42rvh on www.tripadvisor.com - bless them - it is comments like those that make it all worthwhile and keep you going when you aren't in the mood.
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Training and Exercise
Our friends at VinEcole are registered to teach the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) courses that are one step down from the onerous Master of Wine qualification. Back in December I decided to do the three day intermediate course which they are holding in the first week of February.
It's a proper course complete with an exam at the end that you have to pass to claim any sort of qualification. I thought it would have been very useful for our own wine tastings at 42rvh as well as being something I just really wanted to do because of my interest in the subject.
It was, therefore, with great disappointment and sadness that I phoned Emma at VinEcole this morning to tell them that I wouldn't be able to attend - I just can't justify the cost right now - so it will have to wait until a later date when they run the course again.
One piece of good news is that, as a registered French business owner, I am encouraged to do regular training and can get assistance from the government for any training courses that I attend. As the WSET course qualifies, I will make some enquiries so that I am prepared when I can finally afford to go on the course.
Hopefully, I won't have to wait that long. We are still getting plenty of hits on the website and a steady stream of new bookings is encouraging. In fact I have some guests arriving tomorrow for four nights - not bad for mid-January - I just hope they bring some big jumpers and woolly socks with them. I haven't told them yet that we are mostly going to be eating hot soup.
Talking of hot soup, I found the leftover onion soup from last week in a tub in the freezer and had that for my lunch today - delicious - thank you Debrah.
I also took my bike out for the first time in who knows how long. No, it's not a new years resolution - just something I have been vowing to do again for some time and there seemed like no better time than this afternoon - it was dry and sunny if a little cool.
I did the circuit along the river - down to the road bridge on this side, then across and back along the far side until it brings you out under the Cité, back over the 'pont vieux' (old bridge) and through town to home - about 4 miles in all.
The river was very high as you'd expect at this time of year with all the water coming off the Pyrenees and the riverside path was full of couples walking dogs and groups of ladies out for their afternoon constitutional. Everyone gave me a 'bonjour, in that charmingly polite way that the French speak to strangers doing the same thing - be it walking into the same shop or partaking in afternoon exercise.
I passed the mule and the donkey and the ponies and the llamas and got an extremely close up view of a hawk and a jay and nearly ran over a red squirrel - it's a proper little nature trail down by the river.
I expect I will pay for my exuberance with some aching muscles tomorrow.
It's a proper course complete with an exam at the end that you have to pass to claim any sort of qualification. I thought it would have been very useful for our own wine tastings at 42rvh as well as being something I just really wanted to do because of my interest in the subject.
It was, therefore, with great disappointment and sadness that I phoned Emma at VinEcole this morning to tell them that I wouldn't be able to attend - I just can't justify the cost right now - so it will have to wait until a later date when they run the course again.
One piece of good news is that, as a registered French business owner, I am encouraged to do regular training and can get assistance from the government for any training courses that I attend. As the WSET course qualifies, I will make some enquiries so that I am prepared when I can finally afford to go on the course.
Hopefully, I won't have to wait that long. We are still getting plenty of hits on the website and a steady stream of new bookings is encouraging. In fact I have some guests arriving tomorrow for four nights - not bad for mid-January - I just hope they bring some big jumpers and woolly socks with them. I haven't told them yet that we are mostly going to be eating hot soup.
Talking of hot soup, I found the leftover onion soup from last week in a tub in the freezer and had that for my lunch today - delicious - thank you Debrah.
I also took my bike out for the first time in who knows how long. No, it's not a new years resolution - just something I have been vowing to do again for some time and there seemed like no better time than this afternoon - it was dry and sunny if a little cool.
I did the circuit along the river - down to the road bridge on this side, then across and back along the far side until it brings you out under the Cité, back over the 'pont vieux' (old bridge) and through town to home - about 4 miles in all.
The river was very high as you'd expect at this time of year with all the water coming off the Pyrenees and the riverside path was full of couples walking dogs and groups of ladies out for their afternoon constitutional. Everyone gave me a 'bonjour, in that charmingly polite way that the French speak to strangers doing the same thing - be it walking into the same shop or partaking in afternoon exercise.
I passed the mule and the donkey and the ponies and the llamas and got an extremely close up view of a hawk and a jay and nearly ran over a red squirrel - it's a proper little nature trail down by the river.
I expect I will pay for my exuberance with some aching muscles tomorrow.
Monday, 4 August 2008
Too hot to handle
It's officially quiet in Carcassonne - virtually everyone French has gone to park on an autoroute heading for the beach.
It's also officially damn hot and many an example of a burnt Englishman has been seen trudging around - when will we ever learn about sitting in the Mediterranean sun?
I am very pleased that my English guests, who have been here for a week, don't seem to have had any ill effects from spending each of the last two days out on the bikes all day - the beauty of the canal towpath is that it is both flat and shaded for most of the time. There might be some aching muscles by tomorrow though as they readily admitted they hadn't done much cycling recently!
Sadly they are off in the morning and when I popped in this evening, to check if they needed anything, they were in the middle of packing, which for some reason made me feel rather sad that they were going. I hope to see Phil and Margaret again, but who knows in this business.
It is so hot that I am down to wearing one piece of clothing during the day whilst at home working on my own - in case you haven't worked it out I am referring to my shorts. Of course when I go out or when guests ring the doorbell I will rapidly find my shirt - there are standards to maintain after all.
My first Spanish guests arrived this evening for a three night stay - and a lovely couple of boys they are too. They are following, or rather just beginning, a pattern that is emerging of my first non-english speaking national guests being a touch gay. Pieter and Nico were my first Belgian guests back in April - lovely collection of pastel sweaters.
It was a strange week last week. I was dreadfully distracted by completely losing my temper. Maybe I over-reacted but it didn't do me any good and now that the anger has subsided I can look back at it with a more reasoned thought process. What is clear is that losing one's temper doesn't solve a problem but just makes it worse - that's easy to say now because for three days all I could do was pace about muttering to myself in a slightly deranged way and all through the night too ( I couldn't sleep) - it stopped me getting on with running this place to the point where I was no longer in control but catching up and just getting things done all the time - I think the guests didn't have a clue but internally I was a mess for five days.
You'd think that at my age you would learn to deal with unexpected events and setbacks and take them in your stride - if only that were the case. Anyway - all seems sorted out now, although it isn't because there is a profound sense of being let down on my side and I suspect there are feelings elsewhere being equally masked. Just when you think it's all going well..!
It hasn't helped that Debrah wasn't here for the last week because her presence may have helped to calm me down - it's always the same, the longer we spend together 24 hours a day, the harder it is for us to be apart the immediate following week - so it has proved to be this week. I have felt a bit lonely without Debrah this week and we really need to find a solution to our disparate lives
So it was I found myself going through an old box of CD's that hasn't seen the light of day for several years and spending an afternoon at the ironing board listening and dancing to the clubtastic sounds of Faithless and the mellower but wierder Orb - brought back lots of happy memories, which is a good thing.
We like good things.
It's also officially damn hot and many an example of a burnt Englishman has been seen trudging around - when will we ever learn about sitting in the Mediterranean sun?
I am very pleased that my English guests, who have been here for a week, don't seem to have had any ill effects from spending each of the last two days out on the bikes all day - the beauty of the canal towpath is that it is both flat and shaded for most of the time. There might be some aching muscles by tomorrow though as they readily admitted they hadn't done much cycling recently!
Sadly they are off in the morning and when I popped in this evening, to check if they needed anything, they were in the middle of packing, which for some reason made me feel rather sad that they were going. I hope to see Phil and Margaret again, but who knows in this business.
It is so hot that I am down to wearing one piece of clothing during the day whilst at home working on my own - in case you haven't worked it out I am referring to my shorts. Of course when I go out or when guests ring the doorbell I will rapidly find my shirt - there are standards to maintain after all.
My first Spanish guests arrived this evening for a three night stay - and a lovely couple of boys they are too. They are following, or rather just beginning, a pattern that is emerging of my first non-english speaking national guests being a touch gay. Pieter and Nico were my first Belgian guests back in April - lovely collection of pastel sweaters.
It was a strange week last week. I was dreadfully distracted by completely losing my temper. Maybe I over-reacted but it didn't do me any good and now that the anger has subsided I can look back at it with a more reasoned thought process. What is clear is that losing one's temper doesn't solve a problem but just makes it worse - that's easy to say now because for three days all I could do was pace about muttering to myself in a slightly deranged way and all through the night too ( I couldn't sleep) - it stopped me getting on with running this place to the point where I was no longer in control but catching up and just getting things done all the time - I think the guests didn't have a clue but internally I was a mess for five days.
You'd think that at my age you would learn to deal with unexpected events and setbacks and take them in your stride - if only that were the case. Anyway - all seems sorted out now, although it isn't because there is a profound sense of being let down on my side and I suspect there are feelings elsewhere being equally masked. Just when you think it's all going well..!
It hasn't helped that Debrah wasn't here for the last week because her presence may have helped to calm me down - it's always the same, the longer we spend together 24 hours a day, the harder it is for us to be apart the immediate following week - so it has proved to be this week. I have felt a bit lonely without Debrah this week and we really need to find a solution to our disparate lives
So it was I found myself going through an old box of CD's that hasn't seen the light of day for several years and spending an afternoon at the ironing board listening and dancing to the clubtastic sounds of Faithless and the mellower but wierder Orb - brought back lots of happy memories, which is a good thing.
We like good things.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Expectation
We have had such a run of bookings that I feel slightly disappointed that I haven't taken a booking today. My expectations have been built by the volume of enquiries and some of the very short timescale bookings that have happened over the last week. I don't want to appear greedy, but we've still got some dates in April and May to fill - where are you? - come on, it's fabulous here.
That's what the first few comments in our visitors book say and who am I to argue with a paying guest. Everyone has been very kind with their comments and I aim to keep it that way. My chocolate fondant pudding seems to have come in for particular praise and, according to Debrah, is set to become a bit of an institution at this establishment, which is rather exciting. The spare leftover pudding which has gone a bit fudge-like when it is cold seems to be a real hit when produced on a breakfast tray the morning after.
My current guests have eaten so well over the last couple of days that they decided to take the bikes out for a gentle cycle alongside the Canal du Midi this afternoon - it was, after all, a glorious Spring day of azure blue skies and, with the first signs of new growth on the trees, it must have been extremely beautiful along the towpath - it is at any time of the year. It's so easy just to keep pedaling, forgetting that every metre in one direction has to be done in the opposite direction, into the wind, on the way back - I think they will sleep well tonight, and be doubly determined to go to the gym when they get home, for a couple of weeks at least (judging by my success with post holiday good intentions)
I wish I had been able to get out of the apartment more this week, myself - the weather has been good and I have been feeling a bit frustrated trying to sort some problems. The supplier of our toiletries was supposed to deliver on Monday but phoned to say the address must be wrong because there wasn't a hotel there - well, actually it was the suppliers delivery company who messed up by assuming they were looking for a hotel rather than private apartments. So I have had to stay in, in case they turned up, whilst chasing the German supplier and the French delivery company for a re-delivery date (which was eventually confirmed earlier today as being tomorrow - so I will have to stay in tomorrow as well.
I can't stay in all day though, because I need to take my guests to the airport and collect Debrah off the same flight - hurrah - I have missed her since Saturday and am really looking forward to spending some time with her in France, if only those guests will give us some peace.
That's what the first few comments in our visitors book say and who am I to argue with a paying guest. Everyone has been very kind with their comments and I aim to keep it that way. My chocolate fondant pudding seems to have come in for particular praise and, according to Debrah, is set to become a bit of an institution at this establishment, which is rather exciting. The spare leftover pudding which has gone a bit fudge-like when it is cold seems to be a real hit when produced on a breakfast tray the morning after.
My current guests have eaten so well over the last couple of days that they decided to take the bikes out for a gentle cycle alongside the Canal du Midi this afternoon - it was, after all, a glorious Spring day of azure blue skies and, with the first signs of new growth on the trees, it must have been extremely beautiful along the towpath - it is at any time of the year. It's so easy just to keep pedaling, forgetting that every metre in one direction has to be done in the opposite direction, into the wind, on the way back - I think they will sleep well tonight, and be doubly determined to go to the gym when they get home, for a couple of weeks at least (judging by my success with post holiday good intentions)
I wish I had been able to get out of the apartment more this week, myself - the weather has been good and I have been feeling a bit frustrated trying to sort some problems. The supplier of our toiletries was supposed to deliver on Monday but phoned to say the address must be wrong because there wasn't a hotel there - well, actually it was the suppliers delivery company who messed up by assuming they were looking for a hotel rather than private apartments. So I have had to stay in, in case they turned up, whilst chasing the German supplier and the French delivery company for a re-delivery date (which was eventually confirmed earlier today as being tomorrow - so I will have to stay in tomorrow as well.
I can't stay in all day though, because I need to take my guests to the airport and collect Debrah off the same flight - hurrah - I have missed her since Saturday and am really looking forward to spending some time with her in France, if only those guests will give us some peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
