Cannes...

On Sunday morning we flew out of sunny Luton into sunny Nice. We were off to the Cannes Film Festival again!!

We were picked up at Nice airport in a Mercedes and driven back to our hotel - the Majestic Barriere. This was a different hotel to last year, closer to the red carpet! We arrived around 11:00 and headed onto the private beach area for lunch. It was a completely free event with as much food and drink as you wanted.

We met up with SJ's customer's who'd arrived on an earlier flight and watched the world go by. We headed back to the hotel to get ready as we'd got an appointment with a Harcourt photographer before our premiere. Harcourt is a style of photography pretty much exclusive to France. Click on the link and you'll see what I mean...

After our session we headed for a couple of drinks before making our way over to the Palais des Festivals for our premiere...and what a premiere...we had tickets to the world premiere of Indiand Jones and The Crystal Skull! The crowds were amazing and the amount of photographers!!!! We made our way inside and watched as the celebs came up the red carpet. There were loads there - Goldie Hawn, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Lewis Hamilton, George Lucas, Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett, etc, etc. They were seated just below us in the theatre. The film itself is OK...nothing special though. If it wasn't the fact it was an IJ movie, it would probably flop.

The following day we had a wander round Cannes, picked up some pics, had some lunch and then made our way back to the airport for our flight home...brilliant time had by all!!

North or South?

On Friday we headed back up to Rugeley as we had to drop the dogs off at the kennels for a week. On Sunday we're off to Cannes...yay! We actually come back on Monday night so its a short trip, but on Wednesday I'm in Scotland for 2 days. I thought it best therefore to put the doggies into kennels for the week, picking them up next Friday.

Sales Meeting ...

For the last three days I've been in a Sales Meeting at The Node Conference Centre. It was a little strange without some of the guys in the BU being sold off, but I was glad that I finally got my contract and am officially staying put! I had to sign a dew forms in terms of the legalities but apart from that its now all done. I think the deal will eventually go through next week but I'm definitely staying where I am.

Cannes preparation...

If you've been reading this blog since its inception, you'll remember that last year SJ and I got to go to the Cannes Film Festival. Guess what...we're going again this year!! It's through SJ's work...as long as a customer is taken, she and I can go along as well. Well, we're heading out next Sunday for two days and I can't wait! There is one hitch though...we have to get a new dress...

SAturday was spent on Oxford St trying to get SJ a new dress. It was looking a little desperate for a while but Debenhams came up trumps and in the end there was a choice of two! SJ went for the brighter one in the end and it looked amazing! The rest of the weekend was quiet really - I think we were both a bit tired...

Busy week...

This week has been pretty non-stop - it was Yarmouth & Norwich on Tuesday, Central London on Wednesday, Essex & Camberley on Thursday and Central London again on Friday...busy, busy, busy!

I'm doing a lot of presentations and demonstrations for a new product my company is selling - hopefully this will continue if/when I get my contract sorted out. I've still not had anything official as yet...

On Wednesday night as well, we went back to Venture in Knightsbridge to have a look at the portraits that we'd had taken the week before. They're really good and although we said we weren't going to get any - we did. they should be ready in 4-6 weeks...can't wait!

Back in the saddle...

Well it's been a Bank Holiday Weekend and the weather was great! On Saturday we got the bikes out for the first time this year...what a pallaver! First of all, the tyres were a little flat so I spent about 30 minutes pumping them back up before we went anywhere. We arrived at Punchbowl and had been gone for around 5 minutes before my front tyre was completely flat! I could not believe I had a puncture so spent the next 15 minutes or so, pumping like fury to get this tyre inflated. It didn't help that the pump we were using was knackered and was tiny. In the end I gave up and trudged back to the car park pushing my bike. We took it round to Mammoth Cycles (just round the corner) and they were fantastic, replacing the innertube within 5 minutes. the valve had torn away from the innertube - there was no way that was going to be repaired. We then headed back over the Chase and continued our ride. We started at the German War Cemetry and headed downto Sherbrook Valley and then back up the single track the other side. Not bad considering we hadn't been on the bikes for a few months.

Busy week...

This week has been pretty busy. It was Luton on Monday for a meeting, then Sheffield on Tuesday, London on Wednesday, home on Thursday and driving to Rugeley in the evening. Not a lot has happened although I did manage to lose SJ's umbrella! This was an umbrella she loved and there's a little story in how she bought it...anyway, it was raining so I asked if I could borrow it - yes, as long as I didn't leave it anywhere! Well, of course I did! I know why I did though as I also bought a new laptop bag that day, therefore giving me something else to carry as well as the umbrella. Anyway, suffice to say SJ was not happy about said umbrella...All was not lost though as we managed to procure 2 identical replacements, as well as the customer emailing me to tell me I'd left the brolly with them! We now have 3 identical umbrellas!