Dateline 8th July 2024

Good morning, I hope you are well, and you had a great weekend. Hands up all of you who got caught in the rain, humm just as I thought, all of us, it was almost unavoidable, two weeks ago we had three days of summer last week Autum started and it is continuing, another rubbish summer like last year.

Congratulations to our new Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, I am sure he will enjoy his first 100 hundred days in office, his honeymoon, he will have a relatively easy time, the new Parliament has been called to meet tomorrow Tuesday 9th July 2024 when the business will be the election of the Speaker and MPs will be sworn. The State Opening of Parliament and the King's Speech will follow on Wednesday 17 July 2024 then the new Parliament will break up for the summer. The summer recess begins on Thursday, July 22, and it lasts for more than six weeks. During this time, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords will be on break. They will resume their sessions on Monday, 6th September. In hindsight Rishi should have called the election in October so he could have enjoyed the summer recess in Checkers. Perhaps, he had had enough of all the aggravation.

No sooner had the news outlet spent hours and hours and hours going over the same stuff to do with the General Election then the French went to the Polls over a very contentious subject stopping the Nation Rally from gaining power and again the news outlet are going on and on and on about it.  

Did you see the new reels of Hurricane Beryl hitting Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands Thursday, another of Mother Nature’s awesome demonstration of her power, Hurricane Beryl bought hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surge and damaging waves, thankfully it seems there was no loss of life due to the Hurricane itself.

Great story from NASA, a team of scientists and astronaut candidates lived in a simulated Mars environment here on earth, they were all locked up for a year together to see if they could cope with each other simulating time on Mars. The experiment seems to have worked, no one screamed “let me out “and no one turned into a murderer, tick, job done let’s go and explore Mars

It’s soap box time

Today is the 276th day of the war in Gaza and the 276th day that Israeli babies, toddles, children, teens, women, men and seniors have been held hostage in the Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza. Netanyahu has not had much success bringing the hostages home since the 100 hostages were set free earlier this year. It seems that Hamas is finally on the ropes and has agreed to ceasefire conditions.  

Off the soap box now

Congratulations to the England Football team who have yet again scrapped though to the EURO semifinals by beating Switzerland on penalties. I saw a great what’s app announcing that Gareth Southgate has been appointed Minister of Luck in the new Labour government

Well done Lewis Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for the 9th time although it has been a while since he won a Grand Prix.

Ell done to Emma Raducanu, she finally seems to have found her winning Wimbledon mojo regardless of the fact that she has been knocked out of Wimbledon, need to give her a break she is still only 21 years old.  

LOVE this story French rider Julien Bernard was fined £175 by the International Cycling Union after he stopped to kiss his wife during the time-trial seventh stage of the Tour de France.

Fifteen minutes into Friday’s time trial, held in Burgundy, Bernard paused to kiss his wife and young son who were standing in the road among a group of family and friends. The UCI said in a statement that Bernard’s behaviour had been inappropriate and damaged the image of the sport. And David J Marks said “come on UCI lighten up a bit” he is a French man and he loves his wife and son and was very hoppy to demonstrate that fact to the world. More guys should show how much they love their partners or spouse (dreadful word spouse!)

Finally, we just must wish Sir Andy Murray a good and more important a healthy retirement, he really has pushed his broken body to the limit. It’s a shame how his career ended I think he wanted a fairy tale ending playing doubles tennis with his brother, but hey Andy its called life as John Lennon said “life happens when you a busy making other plans”.

The Monday morning e mail is going into recess as well, but only for the next two weeks, I will be in Rome meeting with our preferred DMC in Italy then I will spend a week in Sorrento.  

That dear reader that is about it from a David point of view for this week at least.

MM and Company news update

France

Pascal, Enrica, Melanie and the team at NACARA DMC France have told us that Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has announced the opening of its newest hotel, Dolce by Wyndham Versailles – Domaine du Montcel. Located on the outskirts of Paris in Domaine du Montcel Park, the 178 room resort sits on an estate in the heart of the Bièvre Valley. The property is just minutes from the Palace of Versailles and offers easy access to both Paris and Paris-Orly Airport, both of which are just 30 minutes by train. It is also a short walk from the Jouy-en-Josas train station

Originally built as the residence of France’s Oberkampf-Mallet family in the late 1700s, the resort has been fully renovated to preserve its historic buildings, monuments and gardens.

The hotel has extensive grounds 34 acres, the hotel has a spa with a steam room, sauna, and a snow cave. Also on property is Restaurant La Toile, built around an open kitchen concept, ideal for events and set in the historic wing of the château; Bar Le Cèdre, complete with a terrace overlooking the gardens; a conference centre with 18 meeting rooms; and the 5,920-square-foot Baccarat ballroom.

Austria

Martin Evelyn and the team at e+o DMC Austria have told us that Vienna has been awarded the world's #MostLiveableCity for the third year in a row by the Economist Intelligence: EIU This accolade underscores the city's outstanding quality of life, making it an ideal hub for meetings and events. Vienna's infrastructure is designed to support large-scale events, with state-of-the-art venues, excellent transportation links, and a vibrant cultural scene. The city offers everything needed for successful and memorable events, from exceptional safety and stability to world-renowned hospitality. Celebrate with us and explore why hashtag#Vienna should be your next event destination! ✨🎉

You are now totally up to date; you now know as much as I do, wishing you an outstanding week ahead, might even be a bit brighter and sunnier by Friday well we live in hope I guess.