Sad news

St Bertrand
Yesterday's weather: Sunny, coolish. Perfect for chalet building

We woke up this morning to the sad news of Pavarotti's death from pancreatic cancer. Although he was already a huge (in more ways than one) success on the operatic circuit, he should be credited with popularising classical music amongst a new generation and a new audience of soccer lovers because of his getting together with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras to sing at the World Cup Finals in 1990 in Italy. Although my personal favourite is Domingo, Pav's rendition of 'E lucevan le stelle' from Tosca always had me reaching for my Kleenex. I'm sure there will be many tributes and concerts in his memory over the coming days.

The chalet is coming along nicely. We have put in place the floor, walls and roof beams. Today we will be putting the roof on and covering it, and putting up the veranda. Must push on, there's a hammer with my name on it somewhere in the garden!