About a week ago, I got a phone call from one of my colleagues asking me if I knew anything about a certain type of medicine. As a matter of fact, I do, I said. We had a chat about a client’s request and I helped my colleague to prep for a meeting.

A couple of days later, he phoned again. He asked me if I would be able to go to a meeting at the client’s offices with him as an ‘expert’. I agreed thinking their offices are pretty close to my house and I was free that day so I said yes willingly. Then he dropped the bombshell he meant in Lyon…..and on a Friday…….oh no, I thought – that’s going to eat into my weekend again. Then the final straw came – the meeting was to be at 4pm in Lyon – so that really eats into my weekend!

After shouting at my colleague for getting me into this fix, I had an idea – I could book David onto a flight and spend the weekend here in Lyon so it would be warm, sun filled and relaxing, instead of the wet we’ve been having in London. What a gem of an idea.

So, I set about finding a flight and accommodation – all sorted! I then went to look for a Lyon guide book and realised that it’s obviously not a tourist destination because I had to buy one for the whole of France to get Lyon at all. I started to worry because David was saying what if it is the French equivalent of Coventry, Birmingham or Slough (apologies to the residents of those towns but let's face it, they're hardly tourist attractions are they?) Oh please don’t let that be so!!!!

I need not have worried – the town is gorgeous, with the Rhone and the Saone running through it. It’s really rather lovely. To top off the lot, we’ve got a suite in the hotel, which is in a very genteel neighbourhood where we are photographed sat on the sofa in the lounge, while watching TV and drinking a beer. I must say, this turned out much better than I thought it would – it’s a 15 second exposure and we’re hardly blurry at all. Mind you, we did nearly go purple trying not to breathe while it was exposing!

We’ve walked to a restaurant, had a fabulous meal, which we managed totally in French, without resorting to ‘parlez-vous Anglaise?’ Woo hoo!

Strangely, when I left Heathrow this morning, I found myself feeling quite excited, rather than my usual dread, that I normally experience on business trips. Maybe it was because I didn’t have to spend a single night away from my ‘nearest and dearest’ and maybe because I think of France as ‘nearly home’ and certainly a place where I can communicate pretty effectively with the locals. Maybe, there was also a little bit of pleasure at being able to be a bit smug about the Spurs giving Lyon, the French champions for the last three years, a bit of a spanking in the Peace Cup (and yeah, I know it's only a mickey mouse cup but nonetheless, it's still silverware) a couple of weeks ago. I did have to restrain myself from bringing one of my Spurs shirts with me!!!

Last year, I was treading grapes, literally! My shot of two years ago still gives me the hee-be-gee-bees!