Recycling our lives

After another few weeks in London with Debrah, I flew back to Carcassonne today ahead of the Easter weekend. Debrah is following in a couple of days for a well deserved break from her job and her office.

The last few months have involved an enormous amount of soul-searching by us both as we determined to solve our 'living in different countries' conundrum. It hasn't been easy but decisions have been made and our lives are about to change which is all very exciting - but more of that another time.

Back here in Carcassonne and excitement is measured in different degrees from life-changing decisions. The programme for the Summer music festival has been announced and we have new recycling bins on the corner of the street - oh, and apparently sushi has arrived somewhere in town.

This year the music festival starts earlier than normal, in mid June, and goes on well into August which I think is a good move. It used to be crammed into three weeks of July with concerts every night, which was too intense. There will be the usual mix of classical, dance, theatre and contemporary French and International music - the highlights of which are Bob Dylan, Carmen, Jamiroquai, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mika, Ballet Bejart, Motorhead, The Cranberries, Saoud Massa, Simple Minds and Roberto Alagna. Something for everybody there I think. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.

Now then - waste collection - not a topic to set the pulses racing, I know, but actually it has always been a bit of an issue here in the Bastide, the very heart of Carcassonne. Because the streets are so narrow and because most of the building are split up into apartments, it is impossible for everyone to have their own dustbin - so there are bins at every junction and there are collections three times a day, every single day of the year, which is most impressive.

The problem though was that everything went in the same bins and therefore recycling just didn't happen. There are bins/collection points for glass, paper and cardboard and plastics at different points throughout the town but human nature being what it is, they weren't used as well as they should have been.

Now at least we have a recycling bin and general waste bin on every corner if not in every home. Sure, it isn't perfect and still requires everyone to do their own waste separation but so does every recycling system that exists anywhere in the world. I was encouraged by my first trip to the bins - it very much looked as if everyone was playing their part - good for them.

As for the sushi, well I need to do a bit more exploring and research to find out exactly where and what has arrived - it remains to be seen whether Carcassonne is yet ready for such a bold move but I hope so - if the quality is good it will be a welcome addition to our culinary options.

Time for a change

I'm back in London and, more importantly, with Debrah. We have much to sort out and it's just very difficult to do it when we are sat in different countries.

Debrah has been offered a fantastic opportunity with the design agency that she has been working with for the past couple of years - an opportunity that is too good to turn down - so naturally she hasn't.

However, it means that she will have much less flexibility and, therefore, will not be able to fly out to France every weekend. It was too much for her to continue doing so anyway - so this is a natural extension of a process of change that was already in motion.

If we are to see each other at all then I need to spend a lot more time in the UK which means that we need to completely change the way that we run the business in France - it will have to be a lot less hands-on from my side, so that is what we are now putting in place for the foreseeable future.

I have already arranged for local friends and contacts to manage the suites when I'm not there over the course of these two weeks - if anyone wants to come at short notice - so things are already moving along.

It had to change anyway. We have been frustrated in our attempts to expand the business and it doesn't generate enough for the two of us as it stands - so we need to look at it another way and this has helped focus us on how we are going to do that.