Drive down to Waitrose in the morning. For some reason, whenever we physically visit the supermarket we spend more than visiting Ocado. And this is despite me sacrificing my 99p gingernuts! In the evening I rustle up some nifty lamb chops with a bottle of Calon-Segur 2006 and then I am so knackered from writing [...]
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In the morning I take Lily & Daisy on their bikes to Stoke Park. We stop for an ice-cream, most of which ends up smudged around their faces, the into the children’s playground where Lily impresses with her athleticism. Is she too young for the 2012 Olympics? She is so agile across the beams that [...]
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I wake up to join the rest of the TWA team for breakfast, although I appear to be the only one succumbing to the delights of eggs over easy at the Marriot (I guess the others are swotting up on TWA scores, just in case we are tested.) I walk to a nearby restaurant for [...]
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Today, we venture into London by train to say sayonara to Linden and Aiko, who are upping sticks to Hong Kong. Of course, a family trip requires considerable logistical planning to avoid stress. It all goes swimmingly well even though I have to sit with a 5- and a 3-year old perched on my lap [...]
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Another day writing. I stop at 4pm to spend some quality time with the Lily and Daisy with a kickabout in the back garden. Lily and Daisy actually have a fine touch with the ball (a Cinderella one, not FIFA approved.) Lily’s volley is coming on nicely and I suspect should could find herself in [...]
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The tastings continue relentlessly: today 50+ German 2009s in the upstairs tasting room of Bordeaux Index. Gareth (Who Are All The Pies) Birchley complains that I did not mention his peerless organization of last week’s Egon Müller tasting, so now that’s out of the way, the Rieslings are generally splendid although the old adage: “You [...]
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Phew, it’s tropical here in Guildford and it’s only May. It seems only yesterday that we were suffering a coda to our Siberian winter. It is difficult to work in the dining room with the sun streaming through the patio windows; the garden enticing me outside to come soak in the rays rather than stare like an automatan [...]
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Hoorah! The London Wine Trade Fair in the Excel exhibition centre, somewhere in the nether reaches of East London. As usual I start by aimlessly wandering around, trying to fathom out how to tackle the plethora of wine regions and producers, even if year by year, they cater for the low-end, high-volume brands hoovered up [...]
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Finish writing a couple of article for eRP on Margaret River. I pop into town to pay myself at Natwest and have to persuade their staff that no, I don’t want to use the automatic paying-in machine and I appreciate human contact, even if I have to queue for the privilege. I spend part of the [...]
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Second attempt to take the sprogs swimming and this time, nothing is going to stop us. Of course, it is incredibly stressful. We file into a “family cubicle” whereby the definition of “family” according to Guildford Spectrum swimming pool seems to be “divorced father with no kids in tow”. Daisy dons her obligatory pink seahorse swimming [...]
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