From your sports correspondent

Yesterday morning we had a full blown lie-in and didn't get up until 09.30. Excellent. We're now entering a 'quiet period' with no visitors on the horizon so we'll have a bit of a chance to pamper ourselves. We even decided not to go to Sommieres market and meet the previous night's crowd again. We needed a break from all the partying.

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What a good match last night. Wales were playing Fiji (pop 850,000) in a sun soaked St Etienne, in the Rugby World Cup. In the normal course of events you would expect Wales to conquer but Fiji played out of their skins, right to the last minute, and pulled off an exciting win. Probably the best rugby match I've ever seen.

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Autumn is here. It was cold and miserable yesterday, rained heavily all last night (increased the pool level by 6 inches), and it was raining and miserable this morning. The one bright note was that Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix and looks good for his rookie World Championship. What a good effort.