Thursday, October 11, 2007

Friday, September 28, 2007: Cookery School Day 6

Day 6 started with a trip to the market in Locorotondo.
market

We then met a local butcher who is Mino's business partner followed by an introduction to some neighbours back at Truddhi. They are vinifying Mino's grapes; a considerably less high-tech operation than the Cantina or Rivera!

butcher press

Then it was another afternoon of lessons in preparation for the final evening's meal:

langoustine flan

As it was the last day of the course, at the end of the meal we were presented with our certificates.

mark's certificate mary's certificate

A fuller set of Day 6 photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157602269035549/

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Thursday, September 27, 2007: Cookery School Day 5

Day 5 started with a trip to the winery Rivera one of the best producers in Puglia and one of Mary's favourites. The winemaker there confirmed that is was a superb vintage; the grapes were indeed looking very healthy.

rivera-grapes rivera-tanks rivera-casks rivera-tasting

The tour was followed by a tasting and a trip to Casteldelmonte a world heritage site. After that there was no class so we had the rest of the day off.

We went to Otranto to look at the cathedral and then supper at our usual haunt - Centro Storico in Locorotondo.

castel-del-monte harbour

A fuller set of Day 5 photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157602268888317/

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Wednesday, September 26, 2007: Cookery School Day 4

Day 4 started with a trip to a local pasta factory then back to Truddhi to make the real thing.

pasta-factory real-pasta-1 real-pasta-2 real-pasta-3

Filled pasta was not on the original syllabus as it is not typical of southern Italian cuisine but Mino kindly went off course to enable us have a go.

Mary, Mark, Zia and Mino
Mary, Mark, Zia and Mino

We also learnt how to open mussels for a stuffed mussel dish.

three-courses

A fuller set of Day 4 photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157602268602759/

Monday, October 08, 2007

Tuesday, September 25, 2007: Cookery School Day 3

Day 3 started with two field trips:

First stop the Cantina Del Locorotondo cooperative where the hot August meant the small farmers were already bringing in their grapes. The manager showing us round reckoned that the quality of grapes was the best he had seen in 23 years working there. An early frost kept the number of bunches down, the lack of rain kept the diseases away and the sunshine pushed the ripeness way up. So a brilliant vintage is in the offing.

 grapes-arrive cantina-sociale
[Hover for title, click for larger version]

Second stop Il Frantolio, another cooperative this time of olive growers (often the same small farmers). We learned that you should only ever use extra virgin olive oil. Anything else is oil chemically extracted from the kernels and only of use in things like tinned fish. Do not buy anything other than Extra Virgin!

olive-mill olive-tasting

The afternoon and evening were back to Truddhi to cook and eat amongst other dishes: roast peppers with capers and olives, stuffed aubergines and ricotta tart.

Truddhi Cookery School
Mary at work!

three-courses

A fuller set of Day 3 photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157602241902733/

Sunday, October 07, 2007

BBR Dinner: The Great Wines of Italy, Tuscany vs Piedmont

More eating and drinking...

Lots of top notch wines. I wish I could remember more of the fascinating info from the chat by Chris Pollington, the man knows his stuff.

All I can remember is the Tuscans use the Sangiovese grape and eat beans, the Piedmontese use Nebbiolo and eat rice. The staff would keep topping up my glass and I did not say no often enough. I was struggling to keep my eyes open by the end. Oh dear :-(

Aperitivo
2006 Gavi di Gavi, Cru La Maddelena, Roberto Sarotto, Piedmont
Bresaola con Rucola e Parmigiano
(Shaved bresaola with wild rocket & parmesan)
2005 Chianti Classico, 'Rubiolo', Gagliole, Castellina-in-Chianti, Tuscany
Un' selezione di funghi di bosco
(A tasting of Italian mushrooms & funghi)
2001 Barbaresco, Cru Vigna Erte, Cigliuti, Neive, Piedmont
Abbachio a la Romana con polenta e pomodorini secchi
(Roast lamb with rosemary, polenta & cotifit tomatoes)
1994 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Ugolaia, Lisini, Tuscany
2000 Barolo, Cru Monprivato, Giuseppe Mascarello, Castiglione Falletto, Piedmont
Formaggio
(cheese) Pecorino
2004 IGT Colli della Toscana Centrale, Pecchia, Gagliole, Castellina-in-Chianti, Tuscany
Torta di mele con gelato di Mascarpone
(Apple tarte fine with Mascarpone ice cream)
2005 Moscato d'Asti, Bass Tuba, Bava, Piedmont
Berrys' selected coffee & chocolate

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Monday, September 24, 2007: Cookery School Day 2

Mino returns and Day 2 sets the pattern for the rest of the week: a excursion in the morning, lunch, class from 4 till 7:30, dinner at 8 for whoever was about. Usually us two, Carole and Mino, their friend Mair from Wales, Zia, and a couple of paying guests from the Truddhi holiday apartments where the lessons are held.

Truddhi Cookery School
Truddhi Cookery School

We visited a diary where they made mozzerella, all by hand from local milk. What amazed me was that all the mozzarella, even the little ones are all knotted by hand - you couldn't make it up!

knotting-mozzarella orecchietti stuffed-rabbit bread-butter-pudding
[Hover for title, click for larger version]

Then we made fava bean and chicory, orecchietti, stuffed rabbit and Mino's version of bread and butter pudding. This day we mostly watched and helped a little. As the week progressed we got more and more hands-on which was better. Partly at our insistence and partly (I am guessing) that Mino realised we were able cooks.

A fuller set of Day 2 photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157602209424622/

Friday, October 05, 2007

Sunday, September 23, 2007: Cookery School Starts

Sunday was the start of the cookery school. Mino was in Wales at a food expo promoting Puglian food so we had Sunday lunch at his sister Zia's house. She fired up the pizza oven and we did a number of flour based dishes: focaccia, orecchietti, something else and then a tiedda (hotpot) of chicken and potatoes.

Zia and a forno a legno (wood burning oven)

It was all conducted in Italian as Zia has very little English which was good fun. Then we sat down with her family for Sunday lunch - it was a privilege to be invited into her home and family.

Zia and Mino also appeared on the BBC series "Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape" in the same Puglian episode as Rosa:

Zia, Rick Stein and Mino Maggi *

This was where the rest of the course was held. More tomorrow...

* Buy the book from Amazon

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Saturday, September 22, 2007: Trullo Azzurro Guest Book

We were reluctant to offer Trullo Azzurro for rent until we had the boiler fixed (see "A new boiler for Trullo Azzurro").

When we did open it up for booking via http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/ we were pleasantly surprised to get five bookings (plus one via a colleague). Plus we already have a booking for next year!

One couple were there when we arrived and raved about the place. After they left we read the guest book and it brought home to me the impact the place has on first time visitors. We have got so used to it we forget what an impression it makes. The comments were uniformly glowing. A couple of our guests kindly let us quote from their emails:

"Thank you, we had a wonderful time. We all had a wonderful holiday in a beautiful part of Italy, in a beautiful house. Our teenage girls loved it especially the historic sites (doing GCSE history this year)." Deborah & Roger - Aug 2007.

"Just a quick email to say we had a fantastic time at the trullo. The house was extremely well appointed and to a very high standard - there was nothing else we could have needed. We were nearly seduced into making an offer to the farmer who owns the trullo farm at the top of your hill we loved it so much!" Eleanor & Rick - Sep 2007

Most satisfactory :-)

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Friday, September 21, 2007: Lunch at Rosa's

We like to get down to our favourite beach side restaurant every trip if we can: La Rotonda Da Rosa down between Savelletri and Torre Canne. Friday it had to be, as weekends are too busy and the next week we were on the cookery course. Rosa is a real character with a cackle of a laugh and greets us like long lost cousins.

At Rosa's with Andrea and Elaine in June 2007

She is now famous having appeared on the BBC series "Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape". Apparently last week a coach-load of Brits turned up and had their photo's taken with her and hunted autographs. This came as a surprise as she hadn't seen the programme. Mary had the thoughtfulness to get me to burn an extra DVD to give Rosa as a 'regalo' (present). Here is a screen grab with her in:

Rosa cooks ricci (sea urchin) with pasta for Rick Stein *

Weird to see someone you know on the telly!

* From Episode 3 - Buy the book from Amazon

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Birthday cake 2007

We flew out to Italy on my birthday (55 if you really want to know). My mother had given me this cake on the Sunday before we left. Very delicious but not enough time to eat it all so my colleagues at work rallied round and helped polish it off.

chocolate cake

We went out for a birthday meal in "U'curdunn", the best restaurant in the locality along with (Italian) neighbours Chris and John and a couple of their friends

What was even better was that we have discovered a local taxi firm i.e. Francesco, so I was able to drink as well as eat :-)

Monday, October 01, 2007

Loire Wine Tasting at Charteris Wine Society

Another fine wine tasting at the Charteris Wine Society excellently chosen by Charles and co-presented by Jeremy. In fact, I would say, their best yet. A good wine tasting has a theme and structure, this had several:

  • Firstly of course the river. A tour upstream and then back down showing the river's wide range of grapes and styles.
  • Secondly the "dinner party" sequence: dry 'aperitif' white, full 'food' white, light red, full bodied red, sweet white (but no room for the sweet red).
  • Thirdly several wines were in pairs to allow a compare-and-contrast learning.
  • Fourthly all bar one readily available from the same merchant (The Wine Society) thus showing the Society to advantage.
The wines - grape variety:
  • Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine, Le Clos du Château L'Oiselinière, 2002 (Chéreau-Carré) - muscadet
  • Savennières, L'Enclos, 2004 (Eric Morgat) - chenin blanc
  • Coteaux du Giennois, Domaine de Villargeau, 2006 (Marc Thibault) - sauvignon blanc
  • Pouilly-Fumé, Château de Tracy, 2004 - sauvignon blanc
  • Sancerre Rosé, Domaine Serge Laloue, 2006 - pinot noir
  • Côte Roannaise, Vieilles Vignes, 2006 (Sérol) - gamay
  • St Nicolas de Bourgueil, Les Rouillères, 2005 (Frédéric Mabileau) - cabernet franc
  • Chinon, Domain du Raifault, "Le Villy", Cuvee Prestige, 1995 - cabernet franc
  • Coteaux de la Loire, Moelleux, Vieille Sève, 2004 (Alain Boré) - chenin blanc
  • Vouvray, Clos du Bourg, Moelleux, 1989 (Huet) - chenin blanc

And what did I learn?

  • The Loire produces an extraordinary range of wines.
  • The Gamay grape used to be one of my favorites. Moulin a Vent was one of the wines that moved me into red. But now it has dropped off my radar as a wine of choice.
  • Rose wine I have always said goes well with Salad Nicoise and Seafood paella. Now I will add Sushi to the list (after I have given it a try). And this rose is a particularly girlie pink colour.
  • My tastes are predictable. Mary wrote on her list "Mark will like this" against the St Nicolas de Bourgueil. How right she was - jammy and full of fruit.
  • In the sweetie shoot-out the less obvious but better wine did win. The Coteaux de la Loire was sweet and enjoyable but the Vouvray, Clos du Bourg, Moelleux was a far subtler and more complex wine. Quality will out, in the end.

Previously:

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Back from Italy

Apologies to my regular readers. The temporary hiatus in posting is because we have been in Italy for 9 days on a cookery school with Mino Maggi (see "Meeting Italian Neighbours (1)"). I will be retro-blogging loads of foodie pictures this week to catch up.

In the meantime, a traveller's tale (or two in fact):

Our flight from Bari to Rome was delayed by 25 minutes and we only had a 50 minute connection, including passport control. As we landed and entered Terminal A we were met by an Alitalia rep holding up a card.

He popped us onto one of those "old granny with stick" buggies with six other passengers and went careering off to Terminal C like a Formula 1 driver. Met us again the other side of passport control to get us to the gate. Great fun!

Then when we landed at Heathrow we walked up to the luggage carousel and out of the chute popped our bags where normally we expect a 30-40 minute wait: result!!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Marc Bolan a Celebration

This Sunday saw the 30th anniversary of the death of Marc Bolan, my teenage idol. It brought fans from all around the globe to visit the tree, attend a ceremony at Golders Green Crematorium and go to Klub Xtreme which hosts an event every 16th September.

This year there was also a concert at Shepherds Bush Empire fronted by tribute band T.Rextasy with a number of guest appearances (reviewed in The Times).

For me it was also an opportunity to meet many cyber-friends from a a mailing list on Yahoo called Tilldawn (also http://tilldawn.net/). I knew many of them by their posts and it is great to meet them in the flesh and put a face to the name.

One of them is a Jorgen, a postman from Sweden who I first met at a similar event ten years ago. It was good to be able to offer him a bed for the night, save him the cost of a hotel and act as host for his visit. I will be posting load of photos to Flickr later...


UPDATE

Tillers outside Klub Xtreme (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwj5aFW0yNs

Klub Xtreme 16-Sep-07 (photos)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157602078491475/

Born to Boogie DVD launch April 2005 (photos)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157602067819450/

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Food and Wine from the Sicily Region

at Enoteca Turi. This is a wonderful Puglian restaurant just down the road in Putney where we have eaten a couple of times previously.

This event was originally scheduled for Tuesday 11th September 2007. We tried to get in but it was fully booked and also it clashed with the Plant of The Grapes Rioja tasting. Because it was so popular Pam and Giuseppe decided to run a second event the following evening (last night).

Menu
Stuzzichini
Arancini di riso
Sardine beccafico
Primo sale with pacchino tomatoes
Mosciame di tonno
Barbazzale Inzolia IGT 2005 Cotta Nera

Layers of aubergine with mozzarella and caciocavallo
Fatagione IGT 2003 Cotta Nera

Cuscusu Trapanese
Red mullet, gunnard and monkfish soup with saffron couscous
Chardonnay IGT 2005 Planeta

Rabbit Stimpirata
Braised rabbit off the bone with onion, celery, olive, pine nuts and raisins
Calderara Sottana Etna Rosso DOC 2004 Tenuta delle Terre Nere
Rosso del Conte 2003 Tasca d'Almerita

Cassata Siciliana with lemon sorbet
Passito di Pantelleria DOC 2004 Solidea

Coffee

The food was excellent as was the company. We had a most enjoyable chat to complete strangers, Jo and Robin, and Liz and Jim. But then you would expect people who go to such events to be of a sociable disposition.

Giuseppe had done his homework and gave an introduction to Sicilian political and gastronomic history and again before each course told us a little more about the specific dish and wine. They have done six of these wine and food dinners. With 20 regions in Italy they are planning plenty more events - where do we sign?

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Marques de Murrieta at Planet of the Grapes

Another tasting at Planet of the Grapes last night, this time Rioja.

Almost the same crew as last time: David, Bron, Paul and this time Mary was able to make it. Frans the Bodega's Export Director gave us a good insight into the estate, its history and the wines.

  • Pazo Barrantes, Albarino D.O. Rias Baixas 2005 @ £13.50
  • Blanco Reserva "Capellania" 2002 @ £12.50
  • Tinto Reserva 2002 @ £.50
  • Tinto Reserva 2001 @ £14.50
  • Tinto Gran Reserva Special Release (Magnum) 1980 @ £115
  • Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 1998 @ £33
  • Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Historic Release 1978 @ £80
  • Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Historic Release 1968 price N/A
  • Dalmau 2001 @ £50

It was fascinating to do a vertical tasting for a change and going back so far with wines not available in the shops. As often I was in a minority regards which were the better wines. Mary reckons it is not because of any deficiency in my palate rather that it is my personal preference for jammy flavours.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Street Life (Art Is My Hustle)

Seen outside the London Graphic Centre in Shelton Street, Covent Garden.

graffiti: Art Is My Hustle
Graffiti: Art Is My Hustle

I saw this and thought it was a colourful piece of street art but a quick Google reveals that it may actually be a cunning piece of advertising (via http://artismyhustle.com/) for T.Magic World.

What I cannot work out is whether this is, as it appears, an young innovative artist or some mega-corporation sneaky viral marketing thingy. Whatever they seem like colourful designer T-shirts so I thought I'd give him a link.

Monday, September 10, 2007

The Police Twickenham Sunday 09 September 2007


The Police_IMG_6826
Originally uploaded by golden/skans
Well that is handy. Someone has blogged the set list and Flicker'd a whole set of photos.

I am sure a whole slew of reviews will follow from fans all over. My two penn'th is that the bass was cranked up as you might expect when the front man plays bass guitar; it made my chest vibrate is was so intense.

It as a fine concert with a mixture of greatest hits and tracks I did not recognise but I guess that is my lack of familiarity with their complete oeuvre. Three men without any backing musicians can make a lot of music.

The only downside was the time it took to get home. The queues to get into the station and onto the trains meant it took an hour and three quarters to get home. I shall look at alternatives next time.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Bathroom Update (4)

Almost done! Andy came yesterday and fitted the second mirror door plus fixed one of the lights. We had our first bath yesterday and first shower this morning. All seems to be working just fine and dandy.

bathroom before bathroom with shelving and tiles
Bathroom before and after

Note the curve of the bath. That allowed us to move the bath to the wall side and hang the door the other way without bashing the corner. Having to buy a bath with a corner missing just about trebled the cost of the unit!

Previously: Bathroom Update (3), (2), (1), (0)

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

YMCA by Christopher - Puppeteer Extraordinaire

You know how certain songs are inextricably linked with particular memories. Whenever I hear YMCA by Village People I am reminded of a time when I was working in Basel, Switzerland and Mary came over for the weekend instead of me going home.

We stayed with our friends John&Andrea who were living over there and Saturday night went out for a meal over the border in France. It was a wonderful meal and as Andrea was the designated driver I do believe we drank her share of the wine.

On the way home to keep Andrea awake and alert we wound down the windows, wound up the stereo and performed a spirited rendition of this song complete with the full Y.M.C.A arm gestures. Andrea did keep one hand one the wheel though I am glad to say.

And here is another version, just t-o-o funny, watch and laugh :-)



URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNoIkuqwoCc

Thanks to Bob Carlsen for drawing this gem to my attention.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Fried Peppers with Garlic, Capers and Vinegar

This is one of Mary's favorite recipes so it has become one of my signature dishes. I make it regularly especially when in Italy (see "Our first dinner party"). It is excellent with barbecued chicken.

It is also, like Panzanella, a fine example of a "Traffic Light Meal". For the benefit of Americans 800gm is four bell peppers (I aim for two red, two yellow, never green - the capers do that).

Fried Peppers with Garlic, Capers and Vinegar

Fried Peppers with Garlic, Capers and Vinegar
from one of Carluccio's recipe books.

Serves 4-6

800 g (1 ¾ lb) whole red and yellow bell peppers
4 cloves garlic
1 tbs salted capers (alternatively capers in vinegar)
4 tbs olive oil
2 tbs wine vinegar
salt

Cut the peppers into strips. Slice the garlic and put the capers to soak in a bowl of water. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the strips of pepper. The oil should be quite hot. Stir while frying the peppers: their skins should begin to scorch at the edges. Then add the slices of garlic and the capers, drained and dried before being added. While these ingredients are sizzling, add the vinegar and salt, stir well and let the vinegar evaporate for a minute. Serve immediately if you like, but an excellent dish cold.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Roy and Sue's Silver Wedding

Last night it was off to Brasted Village hall to celebrate the Silver wedding anniversary of longstanding colleague and friend Roy and his wife Sue.

Roy and Sue cut the cake

As they are keen Scottish Country Dancers the evening's entertainment was a dance with a caller to herd us newbies about. I never learnt this stuff at school and have only been called upon to trip the light fantastic twice before: at Geraldine and Alisdair's wedding and Ros' 50th.

I did not want to resemble a pinball ricocheting around the dance floor so got a couple of hours coaching from Anne on the basics. It must have helped because I only sat out two dances and was pretty sweaty by the end of the evening.

Mark scottish country dancing

You can see selected photos of "Roy and Sue's silver wedding on Flickr" [new window]

Friday, August 31, 2007

Maps Satellite and Digital

Like many people when Google Earth first came out I immediately looked for my house. In London I could clearly see the magnolia tree in the front garden, next door's car parked round the corner and even the road markings on the street outside our house. Amazing!

Next I went to look at the Hovel-in-the-Hills and what a disappointment. The photo seems to have been taken with a box brownie strapped directly to the satellite. Way up high and fuzzy with no detail, certainly not enough to even make out any individual buildings.

But recently they have uploaded some much more detailed pictures and suddenly we can see our house even if we cannot make out any details. The white patches to the West and South are the two fields created the year before last by the rock muncher.


View Larger Map

But beware the digital map version. It show gaps where there are roads and shows roads where there are bramble filled paths between two stone walls. Jim's Sat Nav sent him into the middle of a nearby cement works!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Maps Ancient and Modern

Ever since we took ownership of the Hovel-in-the-Hills™ we have been looking for decent scale maps of the local area.

The "Istituto Geografico Militare" http://www.igmi.org/ promised 1:25,000 (4 cm to 1 km or 2½ inches to 1 mile) but when we investigated they turned out to be discontinued. So instead we went for the 1:50,000. We are near an edge and so ordered two; one arrived and the other was out of print. And the level of detail is nothing like as clear as the Ordnance Survey maps. Pretty useless but we framed it and put it on the wall anyway.

Conversely the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 series are readily available in all good bookshops, specialist leisure shops and online from their website. In fact the OS go all the way to 1:1250 for business purposes and also do historical maps. For Wandsworth they even do an 1866 map at a quite extraordinary 1:1,056, that is 5 feet to the statute mile! Which I bought.

You can see every outbuilding, drinking fountain, fence and field boundary, even the garden paths are marked in the bigger houses. Our house is there - both the original building and the later rear extension. So we now know that extension is at least 1866 and the main house, obviously, older than that.

Now all I need to do is get back down to the library and that 1851 survey to get a positive fix on our property. Easier to do now I can match the census house numbers to the buildings on the map.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Bathroom Update (3)

Friday the bath arrived and the plaster starts to dry out. Monday the shelving unit was installed over the cistern. Tuesday the tiler started work on the walls.

bathroom with bath bathroom with shelving and tiles
Bathroom with bath, shelving and tiles

Even though they are moving along it is good that we have a shower and a second loo downstairs otherwise it would be off to work via the gym for a shower.

Previously: Bathroom Update (2), (1), (0)

Monday, August 27, 2007

Putting on The Ritz

In the UK when you go self-employed it is more tax-efficient to be a limited company. When I left CSC back in 1999 the company name "M&M Enterprises Ltd" was already taken so I had to be "M&M Enterprises (Consulting) Limited".

Earlier this year "M&M Enterprises Ltd" was dissolved freeing up the name and the possibility to rename our company back to what we had originally wanted. To do this we had to pass a special resolution at a general meeting of the directors (i.e. Me and Mary).

It is, of course, important that refreshments are available at a board meeting so we held it at The Ritz, in the restaurant. And very fine six-course refreshments, with a different wine to match each course, they were too <G>

Friday, August 24, 2007

It's Only Rock'n'Roll But I Like It

Went to see The Rolling Stones at the O2 last night and it was absolutely *expletive*deleted* brilliant!! Nearly 2 hours of non-stop greatest hits starting with Honky Tonk Women and ending with Brown Sugar by way of, amongst others, Paint It Black, Midnight Rambler, It's Only rock and Roll, and a stonking version of Sympathy for the Devil (whoo, whoo!).

We were at the far end of the arena directly facing the stage. Thank goodness for the large screen behind the stage, it showed Mick's every last gyration. I just hope I have his energy when I am 64, heck I wish I had that much now :-(

Even with the big screen I preferred to watch the small figure on the stage. To me it makes more (emotional) sense to focus on the real flesh and blood presence otherwise I might as well watch a DVD.

Then half way through the set a surprise. The whole centre section of the stage rolled out across the arena floor with the band on it till they were right up our end of the arena where they played a few numbers before wheeling back again. An excellent view of the band <cheesy grin>.

As an O2 subscriber I got access to the O2 lounge before (and after if we wished) and to the Blueroom during which was handy as the queues for the public bars were huge. The staff, the "O2 Angels", are well trained or well recruited - all very friendly and helpful (and young and pretty). Even ignoring the ego-stroking "exclusive" marketing appeal it did add positively to the whole experience.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

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[_] Dictatorship
[_] Corrupt
[_] Primitive / Tribal

11. How did you pay for your Lockheed Martin product?
[_] Deficit spending
[_] Cash
[_] Suitcases of cocaine
[_] Oil revenues
[_] Personal check
[_] Credit card
[_] Ransom money
[_] Traveler's check

12. Your occupation:
[_] Homemaker
[_] Sales / marketing
[_] Revolutionary
[_] Clerical
[_] Mercenary
[_] Tyrant
[_] Middle management
[_] Eccentric billionaire
[_] Defense Minister / General
[_] Retired
[_] Student
[_] Government Intern

13. To help us understand our customers' lifestyles, please indicate the interests and activities in which you and your spouse enjoy participating on a regular basis:
[_] Golf
[_] Boating / sailing
[_] Sabotage
[_] Running / jogging
[_] Propaganda / disinformation
[_] Destabilization / overthrow
[_] Default on loans
[_] Gardening
[_] Crafts
[_] Black market / smuggling
[_] Collectibles / collections
[_] Watching sports on TV
[_] Wines
[_] Interrogation / torture
[_] Household pets
[_] Crushing rebellions
[_] Espionage / reconnaissance
[_] Fashion clothing
[_] Border disputes
[_] Mutually Assured Destruction

Thank you for taking the time to fill out this questionnaire. Your answers will be used in market studies that will help Lockheed Martin serve you better in the future - as well as allowing you to receive mailings and special offers from other companies, governments, extremist groups, and mysterious consortia.

Comments or suggestions about our fighter planes? Please write to:

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Marketing Department
3601 NE Loop 820 # 150
Fort Worth
TX 76137
USA

Bathroom Update (2)

The shower plumbing is complete and the cistern for the loo* is there. The walls are all re-plastered as are most of the holes in the ceiling where the old lights were. Yesterday a pallet load of tiles arrived for the floor and walls. But still no bath!

* Checking with my American colleague on the next desk perhaps I should translate this as: "the water reservoir for the toilet"

Previously: Bathroom Update (1), (0)

Monday, August 20, 2007

Social Double Header

Middlesex Sevens and a Barbecue.

Sometimes on a Monday morning I joke that I come into work for rest. It feels a bit like that after this weekend.

Saturday was The Middlesex Sevens - an all day rugby knockout tournament at Twickenham complete with a picnic in the car park or "Tailgate party" as Americans would call it. It was the usual suspects of Bob&Lynn and Tim&Sarah. We had two spare tickets and persuaded Andrea and Christine to join us with the promise of a display of muscular thighs (on the pitch of course). Unfortunately T&S were unable to make it because of a blocked drain and flooded basement of the smelly variety.

The rugby was of variable quality as was the weather. It was all a bit gray and damp but not as damp as two years ago ["Middlesex Sevens in the Rain"]. We had even packed a gazebo but this year they changed the regulations and we discovered that only umbrellas were allowed in the car park. Still the rain mostly held off. Andrea and Bob&Lynn came back to stay with us.

Sunday we had a barbecue and invited people come and help us drink up our surplus stock of ready-for-drinking Burgundy. Given the forecast was not brilliant we bought a second gazebo from Argos. Our three guests, Bob, Lynn and Andrea, were stars and helped set up the gazebos, wash up the picnic glasses and generally get ready for the crowds. And crowds there were.

We reckon we had 44 guests - twice the number of last year's event -and they made a big dent in the '98 Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru from Bernard Morey and the 2000 Volnay from Nicolas Potel. To go with the ice creams we had a Sauternes '01 Cuvee D'Exception - rumoured to be declassified wine from "one of the greatest Châteaux in Bordeaux".

It seems to have been a most successful and enjoyable event but, as is often the case for the hosts, Mary and I were so busy rushing around seeing to everybody that we had no time to chat to our guests. However they made up for it by talking to each other.

Bathroom Update (1)

The lads are cracking on. Andy brought in a couple of electricians on Wednesday so we now have new ceiling lights: a couple of blue ones over the bath and five white ones across the rest of the ceiling. They are operated by a twin dimmer switch and all laid out in a neat diagonal pattern. Plus various other switches and boxes of unkown function, probably for the extractor fan and fuses and such like.

The plumbing also moves forward. The pipework for the basin is now plastered over and some new pipework has appeared where the shower will go. Now all we need is a bath. It was supposed to be delivered last Wednesday. Apparently it is in the country but not yet with the shop (Colourwash).

Previously: Bathroom Update (0)

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Bathroom Work Starts

Having agreed the design for the new bathroom in Wandsworth we commissioned the work and Andy started on Monday:

bathroom before work starts bathroom after one day
Bathroom before and after Monday

Of course it has to be "Demolition Derby" first!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Uptown Top Rankin'...

... Inna me khaki suit and ting *

The mental jukebox has been playing this song since I wore my brown suit on Tuesday for an evening out with Pete&Amanada. We went to Rhodes W1 (the restaurant not the brasserie) for an extravagant meal:

  • Amuse bouche (smoked eel croquettes, potatoe and truffle puree in puff pastry, crab in mayonnaise on avocado, foie grois on a wafer with onion compote)
  • Suckling pig ravioli
  • Salt Roast Pigeon
  • Chocolate millefeuille

Champagne to start, bottle of white, bottle of red and dessert wine by the glass. I had to have 2 because a) they are only 100cl and b) I wasn't sure which of two would go best with my dessert so I had them both.

Superb quality with a price tag to match. But it was a bit like when we went to Gordon Ramsey's - you don't go to a restaurant run by a world class chef and expect a cheap meal. You go there to enjoy supreme gastronomic delights and to heck with the price tag.

* Uptown Top Rankin' by Althea & Donna

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

A New Boiler for Trullo Azzurro

Sunday morning, despite the late night, our alarm went off at the normal weekday time. We were off to Italy for another 24-hour visit to check out the new boiler. For the last 18 months we have had an intermittent Error Code 2 and cold showers. Ignazio, the heating engineer, had installed filters, changed parts, flushed out the system - all to no avail. In the end he and Daniele agreed to rip the bl**dy thing out and install a simpler boiler.

With our first real paying punters arriving this weekend we needed to reassure ourselves that this one would really work. Cold showers are not good for word-of-mouth recommendations! As it turned out this new boiler does appear to function. It is a lot simpler, no remote, wireless controller but a good old-fashioned knob that you turn.

We met up with our new neighbours, Chris&John, and went out to try a new (to us) restaurant that they had been recommended: Il Cucco in Corso Umberto I, Cisternino. It is also an enoteca (wine shop). We had an excellent meal; the antipasti were many and varied, there must have been well over 20 different starters! Then the main courses were slightly unusual: roast beef with lampascioni, and pork fillet with a zucchini flower sauce. And of course a good selection of wine; we are gradually introducing Chris&John to the local specialities.

Lamia side view showing stairs to roof

Finally an view of the Lamia I have not posted before. Standing on the roof of the pizza oven this is a view showing the stairs to the roof and, hiding behind the leaves, you can just see the boiler room door.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Prince - The Artist Formerly Known as Squiggle

But it was Saturday night, I guess that makes it all right *

We went to see the purple one at The O2 on Saturday and I was most impressed both by the concert and the venue. No point in writing a review - there are plenty out there [Google "prince at the o2 review"]. Suffice to say it was very good and my ears were still ringing the next morning.

The venue is pretty amazing especially compared to the last concert we went to (Genesis at Twickenham). No concrete behemoth here, it is all very slick with a massive foyer, no queues and plenty of catering. As my first visit to the place, I think they have done an excellent job converting the dome.

One of the highlights was a conversation with a couple of lasses from "oop north". We guessed they were fans by the matching symbols on their right shoulder blades. We had a chat and one said "It's my husband's fiftieth today. He said, 'I don't want a big fuss'. So we said 'right ho, we're off to see Prince in London'. He's sat at home on his own with our son." Oh how we laughed!

* Little Red Corvette from 1999 by Prince

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Street Life (Battersea Bridge Signs)

My cycle route takes me past Battersea Bridge which is adorned with two notices, one official, the other not.

all troops must break step when marching over this bridge
Apparently the orginal brass version got stolen so many times this wooden replacement had to be installed.

do not paint over this graffiti
A bit of ironic, self-referential, post-modern graffiti.