Highly enjoyable weekend, in all ways but one. Friday evening, JeB and the Soggy Doctor are due to arrive late on, mobile phone beeps: text message saying they won't make it till Saturday morning. Turns out to be a complicated story involved a late connecting flight, forgotten passport and needlessly checked-in luggage, none of which on their own would have been a problem, but in combination proved fatal. Seems J&S, BA and flights to Lyon are not a happy mix. Heureusement, they catch the early flight the next morning and are here by ten-thirty, to be whisked straight from the airport to the wine fair.
Four hours of tasting and purchasing later, we arrive back at the flat loaded with 14 cases of wine, nearly half for the annual Meribel ski trip, I hasten to add. There my mood is darkened by events in a far-off stadium, but recovers during the course of a characteristically convivial evening. Canard à la JeB et tarte tatin washed down by a couple of the afternoon's purchases.
The gastronomic weekend continues on Sunday with a stroll through the park to a chocolate festival, which needless to say, includes a stall selling chocolate wine. The Chocoholic amazingly resists making any purchases. Stroll back in lovely autumn sunshine, belying the floods elsewhere in the region, admiring the animals in the zoo en route.
Guests safely deposited at the airport, we just about manage to summon up the energy to trek out to Stade Gerland where OL manage a competent victory to stay 4 points clear at the top. Torrential rain during the game threatens to drench us, but stops in time for the trip home.
And this morning, needless to say again, la bienheureuse is in Germany again while I attempt to stick to a self-imposed deadline to finish roman numéro trois by the time we jet off to tropical waters in two weeks. Hmm, better get down to it...
