Back

I ventured back onto the virtual felt for a brief session last night after nearly a month's break. Thankfully it was a profitable return. We've now got the internet up and running in our new place, which should mean I'm able to put a handful of hours in here and there, although there's still a fair boat load of work to be done on the flat.

We've also just got back from a week in France of the edge of the Pyrenees. A friend of ours has a place there which he only uses a few months of the year and was kind enough to let us stay and use his pool, car and other worldly possessions. Yeah, we know how to land on our feet.

We had an excellent time. Mrs. Pink sat by the pool and went very brown and I sat under a parasol trying not to get any more pink!

We took a couple of days and headed up to Bordeaux and splashed out a bit. We stayed at the Chateau Cordellian-Bages, 45 minutes North-West of the city in the Pauillac Appellation. It has a small hectorage of it's own and a two-Michelin Starred restaurant both of which we took advantage of. After having been two the two-starred Le Gavroche in London for our anniversary just before heading out to France, the restaurant at Cordellian-Bages was a little disappointing. The presentation was very over the top, which would have been fine had the food lived up to it: wood-smoked beef fillet arrived in cellophane parcel tied with ribbon at the top with the smoked trapped within. Unfortunately, despite being very tender the beef just tasted of burnt wood. Cacao Sea Bass arrived in the clay parcel in which it had been cooked and was smashed with a hammer at the table. Despite this extravagant display the fish
was a bit dry and tasted of coca power. The chef was clearly a dessert and pastry specialist as the latter courses were exceptional and the overall experience was still very enjoyable. Their own wine was also very good and given the price you'd definitely hope so!

We're back to the real world again now, although we don't go back to work till the end of this week. That gives us a bit of time to work on the flat, although progress is going to be slow until the carpenter has been and fitted wardrobes and other storage. At the moment we're living out of suitcases and unable to unpack almost everything else. Still the kitchen is pretty much done and we fetched Mrs. Pink's Turkish Carpet from her parents loft. It's now adorning the floor in the living room and looks mighty fine.

We're putting up three clocks in the kitchen to represent different time zones. London and Nicosia are obvious choices but there is a certain amount of debate over the third. I'm pushing hard for Vegas!