My last minute booking Spanish guests arrived last evening - she was looking pregnant and tired, he was looking stressed and tired. They appeared to have brought half their 'casa' with them from Barcelona. However, language problems apart, they seem to be very happy with the place.
It hasn't been a great first day for them though - it has rained pretty much non-stop since first thing this morning, which is somewhat annoying as I have cleaned all the windows in all the apartments over the last few days - typical.
My other guests, who arrived on Sunday with a roof-down pick up from the airport, have had a slightly better time of things but even they had to abandon their canalside walk this morning - they retreated back to their suite and cracked open some wine.
I had a wine filled afternoon, myself, down at Vinecole, where Matthew and Emma were hosting a tasting for holiday property owners and presenting their schedule of events for the summer. Finally I managed to be get to chat with Tim Ford, the owner of Domaine Gayda, where the wine school is based - and also to his lovely wife Barbara. It was such a shame that Debrah wasn't here too because I know she would have loved to meet them - but we will try to arrange that soon.
I did dinner for the Sunday arrivals on Sunday evening, which was very enjoyable - because they seemed to really enjoy it and also because I hadn't done a dinner for a few weeks and I enjoyed it too. Asparagus is back as the 'entree' of choice but the rest of the dinner followed the tried and trusted winter route of confit de canard, cheese and hot chocolate fondant.
I am so looking forward to ripe melons and tomatoes - I have had enough of winter food - bring them on.
Showing posts with label spanish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spanish. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
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.
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Soul Diva
Good grief! - it has been a whole week since I last got around to writing a blog - how very slack of me.
It is well into the heart of the summer season now and the last seven days seem to have been a blur of activity. I am chuffed to bits that we are pretty much fully booked for the month - although that means a lot of cleaning and room changing and ironing. Must get help.
The July music festival has started and it definitely feels like holiday season and summer - suddenly everyone has windows open rather than shutters closed and as a result there is a lot more noise on top of the usual street bustle, which itself is louder than normal because of people returning from concerts - you can listen to the neighbours music or what they are watching on TV or just listen to them having an argument and throwing things at each other - sometimes you think there is a big row and then realise it's on the TV!
The Festival kicked off on Saturday with some opera and then on Sunday we went to watch the soul diva herself - Diana Ross. She didn't disappoint at all and still has a fantastic voice that is uniquely hers, sounding just as she has done for 40 years. Of course the gay crowd were out in force to see the array of sequinned frocks and sing along to the classic anthems of the last four decades. I am still humming 'Touch me in the Morning' even now - and I'm not even slightly gay!
Guests have come and gone and the current lot all leave tomorrow, so it's all change once more in the rooms. The lovely Les and Morag have returned three months after their first visit (our first returning visitors) and they have out-concerted us by taking in both Diana Ross and ZZ Top in successive nights - what a contrast! In the other room we have our first honeymooners - last minute decision to get married after being together for 16 years - good luck to them.
I had been moaning a bit recently that the bookings seemed to have dried up and that we still had a lot of gaps in July and August - we had probably gone a week without a booking and paranoia had set in. Well the last few days have seen a flurry of activity for both the Summer months and the Autumn so I am feeling a lot better about things now. In due deference to the power of the internet, I have taken a booking from each of Australia, Ireland, The USA and Spain in the last 48 hours. we have done no marketing in any of those territories yet people still find us thanks to the wonder of the web and the fabulous reviews that guests have left on sites such as 'tripadvisor'.
I'm a bit nervous about the Spanish booking - they will be talking Spanish French which will no doubt be very different from my English French and neither will actually be French as the French know it, but I am sure with a bit of arm waving, pointing, shoulder shrugging and eye rolling we will manage to understand each other - what is there to understand anyway - key, what time do you want breakfast?, goodbye - that should do it.
Adios
It is well into the heart of the summer season now and the last seven days seem to have been a blur of activity. I am chuffed to bits that we are pretty much fully booked for the month - although that means a lot of cleaning and room changing and ironing. Must get help.
The July music festival has started and it definitely feels like holiday season and summer - suddenly everyone has windows open rather than shutters closed and as a result there is a lot more noise on top of the usual street bustle, which itself is louder than normal because of people returning from concerts - you can listen to the neighbours music or what they are watching on TV or just listen to them having an argument and throwing things at each other - sometimes you think there is a big row and then realise it's on the TV!
The Festival kicked off on Saturday with some opera and then on Sunday we went to watch the soul diva herself - Diana Ross. She didn't disappoint at all and still has a fantastic voice that is uniquely hers, sounding just as she has done for 40 years. Of course the gay crowd were out in force to see the array of sequinned frocks and sing along to the classic anthems of the last four decades. I am still humming 'Touch me in the Morning' even now - and I'm not even slightly gay!
Guests have come and gone and the current lot all leave tomorrow, so it's all change once more in the rooms. The lovely Les and Morag have returned three months after their first visit (our first returning visitors) and they have out-concerted us by taking in both Diana Ross and ZZ Top in successive nights - what a contrast! In the other room we have our first honeymooners - last minute decision to get married after being together for 16 years - good luck to them.
I had been moaning a bit recently that the bookings seemed to have dried up and that we still had a lot of gaps in July and August - we had probably gone a week without a booking and paranoia had set in. Well the last few days have seen a flurry of activity for both the Summer months and the Autumn so I am feeling a lot better about things now. In due deference to the power of the internet, I have taken a booking from each of Australia, Ireland, The USA and Spain in the last 48 hours. we have done no marketing in any of those territories yet people still find us thanks to the wonder of the web and the fabulous reviews that guests have left on sites such as 'tripadvisor'.
I'm a bit nervous about the Spanish booking - they will be talking Spanish French which will no doubt be very different from my English French and neither will actually be French as the French know it, but I am sure with a bit of arm waving, pointing, shoulder shrugging and eye rolling we will manage to understand each other - what is there to understand anyway - key, what time do you want breakfast?, goodbye - that should do it.
Adios
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
