Unexpected blessings

One of the best things about running this sort of business is the way things can turn around so unexpectedly. Yesterday was a very quiet Sunday, with not a lot happening and then suddenly we had 2 unexpected events that changed the whole day.

First we had the arrival of unexpected guests - the family Amry. Grandma Marlene from the Philippines, son and daughter born and brought up in Austria but son Rene now living in Venezuela with Colombian wife Claudia and son Diego together with daughter Ditas living and working in Beijing with her Chinese husband Rui (Ray to his western friends and family and born like me on the 20th of September) and daughter Clara plus both families expecting their second child in the next few months. The family had come together for the first time with their new additions to share a holiday and get to know each other better and we were privileged indeed to be part of their adventure. All multi-cultural and multi-lingual and a true example of what is best about our shrinking world - a genuine delight to have as guests. We have made some new friends and have invitations to visit 2 different continents as well as the family home in Vienna.

Our second pleasant surprise came with the addition to our website guestbook of a glowing recommendation left by an unnamed member of our last bus group. What was particularly pleasing was that is was sent on behalf of the WHOLE group, meaning that they must have discussed and agreed to do this on their journey home - a really rewarding result of the efforts we make to ensure our guests have a good time.

We expect a reasonably quiet couple of days now (??) and have plans to finally complete the additional sleeping area for Matt as the next 4 weeks will see us practically 100% occupied and we need his bed! While it would be nice to be able to get the job done uninterrupted we can only hope that any unexpected events measure up to the two from yesterday! Only a week now until the arrival of a good friend of John's, then several family members and 2 days later my best (and much missed) mate Marie Anne. Really some good things to look forward to!