Lay My Hat

Have my first repeat guests coming next week.

They had ten days of non-stop sunshine in January....whatever are they going to get this time?

This is no consolation, Tavi, but I'm relieved to hear that you're getting it too down there We have our first trans-Atlantic guests arriving on Sunday, and I can't help thinking it seems like a long way to come to be blustered by wind and showers every day ....

Lovely here now for the last couple of days:), well, at least no rain.

i struggled today with 3 machine loads of wet linen... no sun, pouring rain all morning, dry afternoon, but NO sun - except for 2 hours from... 7 pm! and indoors, i had already 2 machine loads of my own 'stuff' trying to get dried from yesterday, which i'd left in a pile on the floor for a couple of days before being able to wash (out of sight!), since completely booked, and guest's linen always a priority

i do not have a dryer... no room for it.

when i started my B&B june 2009, never ever dreamed to have to struggle with this weather connected 'problem'! but okay...

my german guests (2) just settled in... 'fruehstueck um neun?' "JAAAAA bitte!"

I have had at least 20 loads of washing to do every weekend for the last 5 weeks. My house looks like a Chinese laundry with sheets and towels hung from every available door. I have a tumble drier but never use it (too expensive for the volume and makes bed linen far to difficult to dry).
Not a great month. Tavi, if your guests are coming from the UK, surely it can't be any worse for them in Portugal??

yep, it seems it's all over Europe (those poor people in the South of England) and a few showers won't kill 'em

yes, lv, they're coming from UK, and last email said "looking forward to it whatever the weather"...but still, the sun is the main attraction down here!!!

...and as for the washing - I've managed to get a few loads done with some wind and sunshine (if I time it right between the showers and hail!) so not as bad as some of you further north...or across the pond!

ah! LV, your place must look a bit like mine then my problem is: most doors i MIGHT use, are guestroom doors... bathroom doors... a toilet door, blocking my front door... a kitchen door, blocking the entrance from the garden... my OWN bedroom door, using it, making me hear every single sound coming from the first floor (guestroom plus guest bathroom)where i try to sleep myself... still have at the moment, SIX wet bathtowels hanging over a chair in the kitchen... the 'facility room' full of linen to be ironed tomorrow... plus wet bed sheets on the door, of course!!!

thank god i chose for bathrobes (very fluffy!) that dry overnight, cheapest i could get when i started...

tavi, we here at LMH share everything!!! hail is not expected here (i believe...) but we had a pretty impressive thunderstorm here early this morning, and our train system got at a halt for several hours, locally. our guests, however, upon arrival expect a freshly made bed, a clean and properly heated room, a host(ess) who just had a hair salon 2 hr treatment, including a 'nail job', and can find everything on the internet in the neighbourhood, of which the dear guest cannot even describe what looking for ('ehmmm, italian food? do they cater thai food here, or can you order sushi for us...?')

cripes! Poor you lot.

You make me feel better already.

And towels are really difficult - do you find they start to smell strange if you can't get them dry fast?

i don't but my eldest son does. 'AH! you left them too long in the machine.' no i didn't. it took a full night to get them dry. 'but mom, in our appartment, everything dries overnight!' yes dear. you live in france (paris). you have only sheets and stuff for two people to take care of once a week or so, and you have a tumble dryer you sometimes choose not to use, i wish i had the luxury of that choice.

their first baby is due end of june

aha! then their laundry demands will be going up!

by far! though in these modern times, not as much as when i had mine, with 3 1/2 years in between, cotton nappies to wash and iron, a husband with a degree in mathematics not having any idea how to use a washing machine - and ironing 'was slave labour'. really...? that gave me a good reason to stop ironing his weekly load of white 'professor shirts'.

his mother had already refused to iron when he was a student, so he bought these very cheap 'non iron' things, purely nylon... but having that habit very popular then to smoke a pipe... most shirts were full of holes!!! (I couldn't care less)

sleep well, all of you. i still have to think were to put these 6 wet bath towels for the night.

Yesterday, the sun finally returned here after weeks of heavy rain. Our mighty Dordogne and Vezere rivers are swollen to bursting point. However, with a bit of welcome sunshine, life is quickly returning to normal. As the flood water started to flow across the road in a local town, the visitors donned shorts and t-shirts and waiters hurdled the rapidly encroaching waters to keep the show on the road.

All things must pass!

Goodness. Having just read about others' experiences and heard how wet the UK is as well methinks I've been moaning for nothing. We've had a couple of days of heavy rain, sure, but it's the constant gusts (in an area which just doesn't see wind), frequent 6 minute showers and cold temperatures that have been getting me down.

Consider me silenced. (The sun's shining in a clear blue sky today anyway )

still grey, windy and showery here today