For once it wasn’t me in a scrape nor me stuck in the bath!  One of the housekeeping staff came up to reception earlier in the week to report that somebody had said they were stuck in their bath so Joyce despatched Jackie to investigate.  Joyce had two reasons for sending Jackie, she was previously employed in a care home so is highly trained at lifting people and she has just started doing duty management shifts.

Jackie went down to the room, saw a do not disturb sign but had no option but to knock and enter, calling out that she was the receptionist.  When she got around to the bathroom she knocked on the door and the gentleman came out just in his boxers.  He was a little surprised to say the least but was able to reassure Jackie that neither he not his wife was stuck so Jackie was able to beat a retreat (swiftly!)

I was reminded to write about this because Jackie has just spoken to him again at reception - he was asking if she managed to find out where the stuck person was.  I appeared at the end of this conversation but Jackie was still very red.  At least he is now able to see the funny side of this but I am sure we will all tease Jackie mercilessly until the next incident involving somebody else.

Last week I had the great privilege to be taken on a visit to the Champagne region of Northern France by Carlsberg and Moet Hennessey.  The trip was for as many of our hotel managers who could go so the five of us from the southern hotels leapt at the chance.

We flew from Exeter Airport (another first) to Paris where we met up with Kevin from Moet, then a quick transfer to Reims and our hotel.  We managed to find a restaurant that was willing to stay open for us and we managed a great steak at around 11.30pm to start the trip off.  I must admit that after a long day travelling Jason and I preferred to start dinner with a local beer but it wasn’t long before Kevin started to explore his way around the champagnes on the list and we tried a couple later on with dinner.

This really set the tone for the next two days - breakfast was the only meal that we didn’t have champagne with!  Monday morning took us to Krug, this is a much smaller and more traditional champagne house, very much haute couture as our guide told us.  We tried a two of their wines which were lovely and were top of my list for the trip.

Lunch was at a local brasserie, excellent food in a simple way in a relaxed atmosphere, all the staff were good fun but also knew their stuff.  Pink champagne with lunch today!

The afternoon visit was to Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, this is a much larger operation than Krug and to continue the clothing analogy crossing between haute couture and pret a porter and very much at the top end of the ready to wear market.  The real highlight of this visit was meeting up with one of the senior winemakers and tasting the still, young wines that go to make up the blend.  I knew it was a skillful job before I went but now I underestand just how specialised it is:  the grapes form the different parcels of vineyards are vinified separately by location and grape type.  Tasting these wines unmatured was a real eyeopener as to their different characteristics and role in the end result.  Each year the starting off wines are different but the end result has to end up the same - allowing for blending with some reserve wine and then maturing for a few years in the bottles.  These guys tase 20 wines a day, 4 days a week for 3 months to get the balance right.

Dinner that night was a formal dinner with Veuve Clicquot at one of their houses near Epernay - a stunning evening in a real old wine makers chateau with all the French style you would expect.  We had different champagnes with the different courses, starting with the Grande Dame and canapes.  The menu planning happens in reverse with these dinners.  Normally the chef will right the menu and then the the sommelier will choose the wines.  Here the wines are chosen and then a menu written to go with them!  The last wine, a demi sec, was decanted.  This may seem a rather odd thing to do with a fizzy white wine but there are two reasons for this: it is done in honour of the Grande Dame herself as in the early days of champagne making all wines had to be decanted because they hadn’t worked out the remuage / degorgement technique then to remove the sediment and also to remove some of the fizz - after having had a lovely dinner with champagne at every course it is a good idea to get rid of some of the bubbles…..

We had a bit of a break on the Tuesday morning with the opportunity to have a look at Reims Cathedral.  This is a stunning building - it is where all but 2 of the French kings were crowned and it really looks and feels that grand.  Andrea managed to find a specialist chocolate shop and bakers too - not only spot it on the way up to the cathedral but find it again on the way back!

Another lovely lunch at La Table Kobus in Epernay - a choice of menus including one with chocolate in every course.  As the phrase goes “it had to be done” so I had a duck terrine with knobs of chocolate in, bream dusted with cocoa before being pan fried then a 72% chocolate creme brulee to finish.  We tried some Pol Roger to start with then moved on to some still wines just for a change.

That afternoon took us to Moet & Chandon, by far the biggest of the houses where we had anither amusing and informative tour, learning different things as we went.  The amazing fact from here was that in their cellars they have well over 3 million bottles of wine!

After this it was the trip back to the airport and the flight back home and an overnight at The Grand, far too late to start driving back to Cornwall then.  Going back to work the next day was a bit of a let down but I suppose if you were drinking champagne all the time it might lose some of it’s appeal!

A big thank you goes to Kevin from Moet for all his hospitality and also to David and Phil from Carlsberg for organising the event and looking after us on the way.  Looking forward to the next trip!!

One piece of good news that I was greeted with on my return from holiday was that Kristin has been succesful in getting her “unlimited leave to remain” in the UK.  She has been with us for a number of years now (with a couple of breaks) and has had to apply a couple of times previously for visa / work permit extensions.

Two years ago Kristin was able to apply for a two year extension and in this she was very well supported by many of our regular guests as well as our local MP and other people in the community.  Once this period was up she had to apply for her permanent leave to stay, part of this was her citizenship test which was quite challenging - I learned quite a lot while helping her revice - and then a full application with all the supporting statements.  This was quite a challenging and worrying time for Kristin and Mark but thankfully it came back positive and they can stay.

It really is good for us to see the system working well and somebody who wants to stay and is making a contribution to the local and national economies is allowed to.  We all look forward to seeing them here for a lot longer.

Not old in terms of age though!  This evening Sian, who was one of our senior receptionists until she could resist the call of The Valleys no more, brought her mum in for dinner as a Mothering Sunday treat.  It was really good to catch up with Sian and her mum, I’ve hardly seen either of them since Sian left and most of the team here haven’t seen a lot of her either.  Many of them chat regularly on facebook and MSN but it’s not the same as meeting face to face.

They had some exciting news too as Sian’s brother Andrew became a dad again today - a little brother for Rhys.  Andrew and Rosie had been told they were going to have a little girl but out popped a boy!  No news on names yet but with strong Welsh connections in the family and being born on the 1st of March my money’s on “David” being in the mix somewhere.

After Sian and Joy had finished dinner they called at Reception for a brief chat and stayed for quite a while - Joy only dragging Sian off when her phone kept telling her it was out of battery, quite essential when they want to catch up on the family news.

Sian and Damien are now settled in Cwmbran, Sian working for acompany that makes promotional sweets.  If any of you remember Sian and want to pass on any messages (apart from orders for sweets) do please let me know.