Aside from a severed thumb, our housewarming barbeque went really well. The weather cooperated and we had a beautiful afternoon with clear sunny skies and a temperature of around 22C.

We’d bought loads of food in France the previous weekend. I cooked merguez sausages, burgers, and my famous black-and-pink chicken (I still haven’t quite got the knack of temperature control!), although I massively over-estimated the amount of food that we needed. We’ll be eating leftovers for the next six weeks.

Aude’s brother, Jerome, came down for the weekend. I loaned him a sweatshirt, and the photo op was too priceless to pass up.

It turns out that I’m not the most frequent guest at the hotel. This family of Mallards comes every year to have it’s ducklings. There are nine this year, and we predict they’re about a week away from learning to fly.

I caught them having a walk through the garden. They’re a little shy, so I had to take their photo from a distance. Still, small animals — cute, right?

What a wild, extravagant guy I am. To celebrate my bonus, my shopping spree in France saw me purchase…two tubes of shower gel.

Not exactly a Ferrari, eh?

Women. Never trust them in a store.

Yesterday was bonus day. In order to celebrate, I thought I’d go and buy myself a little something to celebrate (nothing too crazy – think more Ferrara Rocher than Ferrari!)

Off we went to Fenwick’s to have a look around. Except that “we” got sidetracked. So instead of buying something nice for myself to celebrate, Aude has a nice new outfit to wear to her friend’s wedding this summer. And she bought it just in time for the loudspeaker to announce “It’s now six o’clock and Fenwick’s is closed.”

Oh well, we’re off to France today for some shopping. Maybe I’ll find something nice there instead.

It looks like summer is nearly here. I went out yesterday and bought a barbeque grill, which brought a whole new meaning to the words “some assembly required.” I’m guessing that Aude learned a colourful expression or two as I put the grill together. We may complain about having to put together Ikea furniture, but at least the Swedes put some thought into the design of their products. Not so the Chinese, who think that sending 160 unlabelled parts and assembly instructions in Finnish is adequate customer service. Perhaps it’s some sort of Communist joke?

Anyhow, the finished product looks okay. We threw a couple of marinated flank steaks on for lunch with some friends, then did some chicken breasts for a Caesar salad in the evening. It’s nice to have the garden and even nicer to have a barbeque – I’ve been without one for too long. I was beginning to feel like I was losing my masculinity. Nothing says “I’m a man” like industrial-strength tongs and burned meat.

Since we have nice 6’ fences, I decided to let the cats out to explore the garden. It’s the first time they’ve been outside in nine years – so understandably they were a little curious. And spoiled. They refused to leave the concrete, as they didn’t like the feel of the dirt under their paws. Awwww.

For those who asked, Cosi fan Tutte was fantastic. It was an unusual modern staging, with the “backstage” clearly exposed throughout. The music and singers were excellent, and the music itself was played on vintage instruments, which gave the opera a really different feeling.

My only criticism was the subtitles, which were projected onto a small screen at the far left-hand side of the stage. I’ve seen other operas at the Marlowe Theatre with proper sur-titles, but I guess that the equipment must have belonged to the production company rather than the theatre. Disappointing, because it really detracted from an otherwise excellent performance. Still, with our “friends of the Marlowe” card, the tickets were £12.50 each, which has to be some of the cheapest opera around. Fantastic value-for-money, and a really nice evening.

It’s almost summer here, which means that it’s nearly time for the opera season at Glyndebourne. We’ve already secured our tickets to Fidelio, and I should know in the next 24 hours or so whether we’ve secured some tickets to Die Fledermaus as well. I don’t know what we did before eBay!