Debrah has gone back to London today and I am following her tomorrow - it has been a traumatic weekend with hospital visits and tears and tooth pain and it needs to be resolved immediately.
It would have been much better if I had been able to go back with Debrah today but there were good reasons for not doing so - a check-in at Maison Juliette that I promised to do, and at short notice, it would have been difficult to find someone else to do it, and a conversation I needed to have with Brigitte about plans for 42rvh. I will find someone else for the check-out and will take Debrah straight to the dental clinic tomorrow evening when I get back to London.
The weekend had started well - we were enjoying some bonus time together after the midweek missed flight and now desperately need to get hold of the second season of the Tudors.
On Friday lunchtime we visited a chic new lunchspot in town - an extension of the excellent delicatessen, La Ferme. It had a fabulous wine tasting/dispensing machine which every home should have and an excellent policy of selling all the wines from the shop at retail price plus €10 which is significantly less than a restaurant mark-up. The food however was a bit pricey, though delicious. It was full last Friday but then they had only just opened the day before - it will be interesting to see how it does and is certainly somewhere to send guests.
Naturally on Saturday we took in the market in the morning and even though we didn't need very much it is always such a pleasure in Autumn sunshine, a welcome relief after the rain all week. There was also a new event in town this weekend - the 'Festival des Saveurs', featuring food and drink artisans from all over the region, cookery demonstrations from the top chefs in town and of course, plenty to sample and taste and indeed buy.
Later that day, we had a visit from a representative of a travel website that would really like to list us - it seems interesting and would open up a new market for us as the site is centred on Spain and has very much a Mediterranean clientele.
It was after this visit that all hell broke loose and Debrah's tooth pain finally got beyond her pain threshold, although there had been signs earlier. It was a combination of finishing the course of antibiotics and no doubt the abcess just getting worse. An evening visit to the emergency unit at the Polyclinique Montreal, the local hospital, was the only way to try and get something a bit stronger to help Debrah sleep and get through the pain until she and I get to London to deal with it.
They were very helpful at the hospital but, because there was no dentist on duty, they wouldn't prescribe any more antibiotics. We could have gone back today but two hospital visits in two days would probably have tipped Debrah over the edge and I needed to get her back to the UK as calmly as possible.
This might all sound a bit extreme but phobias are not easy to understand because they are so unique to the individual - and we all have them, even if we don't admit it or don't yet know it!
All in all, the whole weekend was a bit stressful and very tiring - and I'm not the one with toothache, so I can't begin to think how Debrah feels - hopefully tomorrow we start the process of resolving the whole painful mess.
Showing posts with label toothache. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toothache. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Monday, 27 October 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Is it rubbish or not?
Frustratingly, I seem to find less and less time to sit here in front of my computer and relate my experiences to all and sundry. On the one hand it means that I am busier with clients and the business and on the other it means that I am getting less time to reflect and take it all in - as ever in life, a balance between conflicting pressures is the best course for sanity and peace of mind - so finding the balance is key.
After our fairly relaxed last week, we were a full house again for the weekend - a lovely couple from the north-east of England celebrating their 10th anniversary and a lovely couple of boys from London celebrating nothing at all - or just perhaps that these days they are now free to tour Europe without issue - good for them. Small world that it is, one of the London boys came originally from a small town in the north east just down the road from where the other couple lived - don't you just love co-incidences?
Debrah had her head down all weekend re-designing our website - and also had a loose tooth - which I can assure you isn't a good thing. The last time Debrah had a tooth problem was 15 years ago on our first ever holiday abroad together - a very large painkilling injection in her arse got her home and a general anaesthetic finally sorted out the tooth - much trauma - lots of stress - not looking forward to dealing with that again but sort it we must because it won't go away unless we do - there is, after all, only so much head in the sand you can do.
On Sunday morning we managed to get a little bit of relaxation - well, of a sort - we went to a brocante (car boot sale) at a local village called Cavanac. I actually find these things quite stressful, whereas Debrah finds them quite fun and relaxing. I think I find it a bit embarrassing looking interested at somebody's complete and utter shit, that they are trying to pass onto you for some ridiculous price - with a straight face - no I'm not joking - it's a 1980's original. I'm thinking - it's a video! - no-one in the new century owns a video player.
Despite all that we came home with an armful of somebody else's shit - a music stand and two portfolios of music sheets, a old and rather faded and broken military map of the Languedoc Roussillon region, a table lamp and a box of old curtain fittings and rings.
The table lamp is actually in use on the office desk right now and is casting a fabulous light on my workspace, so I am very grateful for it. I had to buy a new plug for it but having wired it up and plugged it in, I was totally surprised to find that the bulb, that was in the lamp when we bought it, actually worked. He missed a trick there - could have charged us extra for a working light bulb.
It was all change yesterday with both sets of clients leaving and Debrah going back to London and new clients from Australia via the UK - I, and my faithful Audi, made four separate trips to the airport, which I believe is a record for one day.
The Aussies had dinner this evening - just the two of them and me - and a very stimulating and interesting conversation it was - I am very happy when clients are clearly having a lovely time, not just here, but in Carcassonne as a whole because it is a great place to visit.
So to tomorrow - Aussies out and new clients in - the cycle continues.
After our fairly relaxed last week, we were a full house again for the weekend - a lovely couple from the north-east of England celebrating their 10th anniversary and a lovely couple of boys from London celebrating nothing at all - or just perhaps that these days they are now free to tour Europe without issue - good for them. Small world that it is, one of the London boys came originally from a small town in the north east just down the road from where the other couple lived - don't you just love co-incidences?
Debrah had her head down all weekend re-designing our website - and also had a loose tooth - which I can assure you isn't a good thing. The last time Debrah had a tooth problem was 15 years ago on our first ever holiday abroad together - a very large painkilling injection in her arse got her home and a general anaesthetic finally sorted out the tooth - much trauma - lots of stress - not looking forward to dealing with that again but sort it we must because it won't go away unless we do - there is, after all, only so much head in the sand you can do.
On Sunday morning we managed to get a little bit of relaxation - well, of a sort - we went to a brocante (car boot sale) at a local village called Cavanac. I actually find these things quite stressful, whereas Debrah finds them quite fun and relaxing. I think I find it a bit embarrassing looking interested at somebody's complete and utter shit, that they are trying to pass onto you for some ridiculous price - with a straight face - no I'm not joking - it's a 1980's original. I'm thinking - it's a video! - no-one in the new century owns a video player.
Despite all that we came home with an armful of somebody else's shit - a music stand and two portfolios of music sheets, a old and rather faded and broken military map of the Languedoc Roussillon region, a table lamp and a box of old curtain fittings and rings.
The table lamp is actually in use on the office desk right now and is casting a fabulous light on my workspace, so I am very grateful for it. I had to buy a new plug for it but having wired it up and plugged it in, I was totally surprised to find that the bulb, that was in the lamp when we bought it, actually worked. He missed a trick there - could have charged us extra for a working light bulb.
It was all change yesterday with both sets of clients leaving and Debrah going back to London and new clients from Australia via the UK - I, and my faithful Audi, made four separate trips to the airport, which I believe is a record for one day.
The Aussies had dinner this evening - just the two of them and me - and a very stimulating and interesting conversation it was - I am very happy when clients are clearly having a lovely time, not just here, but in Carcassonne as a whole because it is a great place to visit.
So to tomorrow - Aussies out and new clients in - the cycle continues.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
