Colavecchia Primitivo Bottling

Three years ago our neighbours introduced us to the Colavecchia Primitivo - excellent everyday drinking wine at a ludicrously cheap €1.10 per litre. We bottled that first batch using old bottles and recycled corks pushed in by hand. I decided that we should bottle using fresh corks and a bottling widget but it has taken a couple of years to get round to doing that.


Colavecchia Primitivo - Buying 10 litres

While we were out in Puglia this Easter we took our friends Tim and Sarah and Elizabeth over to the cantina armed with two 5 litre plastic demijohns and bought their *cough* top-of-the-range primitivo.


Colavecchia Primitivo - Inspecting the bottle (Photo by Elizabeth Buie)

Back at Trullo Azzurro I co-opted Tim to assist in the bottling process.


Colavecchia Primitivo - Using the corking machine (Photo by Elizabeth Buie)


Colavecchia Primitivo - One down, twelve to go (Photo by Elizabeth Buie)

Mind you I'm not sure we needed to bottle all 10 litres because we had drunk half of it by the time we went home. The rest will be awaiting us on our next visit.

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

JJ Grey and Marcus Bonfanti at the O2 Academy Islington

London, England - 12-May-2011

Were it not for the joys of the interweb and the iPhone we would have missed this gig.

Some while back my friend Rosemary, who I met through the blogosphere, stayed with us and sent me a JJ Grey CD as a thank you. In return, for her birthday, we sent her a Marcus Bonfanti CD. We had come across Marcus as a support act when we went to see the legendary John Mayall.


Marcus Bonfanti

Rosemary had posted a link to the JJ Grey tour info on the Wednesday but after we had gone to bed. By chance I decided to check Facebook on the iPhone before I leapt out of bed and discovered that both these acts were on that very evening! Otherwise I might have cycled to work and Mary gone to her Italian conversation class.

As it was we had a rapid change of plans and went off to the O2 Academy, Islington for the gig.



JJ Grey and Mofro

Both acts were excellent - to quote Mary "Awesome!" What I was also impressed with was the venue itself. Very small, nay intimate, like a large pub room. That meant you could get right up close to the band, just feet away. It would be hard to imagine a greater contrast to the O2 Arena at the complete other end of the spectrum.

A great evening that really got us hankering to go back to New Orleans for the Jazz Fest. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Georgian Chiffonier

We have been looking for a stylish antique for the breakfast room for a couple of years now to replace the Homebase pine sideboard and a butchers block that had served as our work surfaces - well when I say "we"...

A regular Sunday activity has been a stroll to Criterion Auctions of London armed with tape measure to look for likely candidates. Many unsuitable items have vied for our bids but we resisted until the right one came along.

Rather than let this one slip away Mary went down on the Monday evening and bid in person. We got it for just under the guide price on the second bid, pipping an absentee bid and no in-room competition.


Georgian Chiffonier (with Peaches and Blue)

The next evening I went down in the car with the roof racks that have repaid their cost many times over and brought our trophy back.

Now it is the happy home for the kettle, cat food and serving dishes.

Sanding the floors and painting the hall

We are now in week six of a major redecoration with the end, at last, in sight.

SWMBO decided that the downstairs floors needed sanding. That means the living room, dining room, breakfast room and hallway - in other words the entire downstairs apart from the kitchen and shower room.


Boxes on the bed

So we had to clear the decks - everything had to be moved upstairs or to the garage - while they sanded. Dust everywhere!


Front hall - work in progress


Dining room - work in progress

Then Mary had her contract extended so we could afford to have the hall painted as well. However that is about a third of the house as it takes in the kitchen and breakfast room, stairs and upstairs landing. More sanding, more dust.


Hallway from the breakfast room

Thankfully the lads are nearly done and we have started to reassemble our life. The breakfast room is done; the living room is mostly reconstituted but we are waiting till the post-decoration spring-clean before unboxing the CD's. The dining room will be last when they clear out their equipment.

Then we will have to host some dinner parties to show off our wonder walls and shiny floors.

In praise of the 87 bus

London, England - 12-March-2011

We love the 87 bus; it leaves from just outside our house and goes all the way to Aldwych (Map of the route, PDF).

We use it regularly to get in to the West End on a Saturday, getting off at Charing Cross and walking up into Covent Garden and theatre-land. Even better we use the N87 to get home afterwards. Why spend £25 to get home in a black cab when you can snooze on the bus for £1.30.


Wandsworth - East Hill

I love to be in the front, right seat upstairs - it is the only place to be on a double-decker - from there you get the best views. From the 87 you get to see some of the great tourist sights of London.


Houses of Parliament


Big Ben

From Parliament Square you go up Whitehall, past the Cenotaph, Downing Street and the Horse guards on sentry duty in full ceremonial uniform.


Nelson's Column

Visitors to the UK spend a lot of money to get here and see these and we get them all for less than two of your English pounds. Result!

Commuting from Wandsworth Town

London, England - 28/30-March-2011

This is why I prefer to commute by bike when I can. Living in Zone 2 is great for getting home late at night but the commute to work in the morning is not as much fun.

The 07:40 is generally the last train you can be sure of getting on but not this Monday. From 07:47 onwards you are often have to let one or two trains go before you can squeeze on.


Wandsworth Town rail station 07:40 on 28-March-2011

The Thameside path is a different matter - no crowds here - and the river's ever changing moods. One day gray with the tide out, another day sunny and the tide is high (cue song).


Thameside path 07:40 on 30-March-2011

Maybe I should take a series of photos from the same spot to illustrate - no matter - the point is that it is quicker to cycle to work than take the train (seriously), cheaper than the gym (saves me money) and you are there in the moment - no slug-like dozing on the train but all senses alert for the traffic around you - that wakes you up for the day!

Edinburgh - Scotland vs Italy

Edinburgh, Scotland - 19/20-March-2011

We went up to Edinburgh for a short city break based around the six nations Scotland vs Italy match.

Flying up on Saturday morning we had no time to do anything but dump our bags at the hotel and head straight for Murrayfield for pint of Guinness.



The atmosphere at rugby matches is always welcoming and the crowd friendly. Many of them take the opportunity to dress up in fancy dress - we've seen all sorts: Hawaiian grass skirts, nuns, school girls, Ali G, vikings and Smurfs...


Rugby supporters dressed as Smurfs

What I liked was that both squads got an honour guard of a pipe band to escort their team buses round the stadium.


Bagpipes welcome Italian squad

We needed lunch so wandered round the various fast food stalls seeing what was on offer. I just had to go for this particularly Scottish healthy and nutritious offering.


Deep fried haggis and chips

The evening meal, I am glad to say, was much more sophisticated - Cucina at the Hotel Missoni. As you might guess from the name an Italian restaurant and high quality it was too. The sommelier was particularly accommodating. Our red wine had the faintest hint of cork taint at that borderline level where it is hard to decide whether it is returnable. After a discussion the sommelier tasted and opened a new bottle. Marginally better and the other side of the borderline.


Edinburgh castle

Sunday we did the castle - took the free half hour tour to get a basic orientation then spent another hour and a half wandering round.

To recover from a hard morning's touristing we had lunch at Monteith's in The High Street. The Top Table deal was a free glass of wine which they very kindly swapped for a glass of prosecco (as we were going to order more wine anyway). Excellent food, service and value, I would happily go back there again.


Sparkling aperitif

Then home for a quiet evening.

Trullo Azzurro - opening up 2011

Locorotondo, Italy - 25/27-March-2011.

Our usual flying visit to open up for the start of the season. We took Friday afternoon off and flew RuinAir out of Stansted. Straight to T-A for a late cupboard supper of pasta, sauce in a jar and a bottle of red wine.

The next morning an early dash to Trito village stores for bread, butter and milk. After breakfast a trip to Conforama to look for extra sun loungers and a few other bits and bobs including buying ingredients for lunch.


Lunch al fresco

After lunch was when we dragged all the beds and mattresses out into the courtyard, turning every hour, to toast them in the wonderful spring sunshine and drive off the winter damp.

While that was happening I neatly folded the olive nets into the crates - they had been hastily stuffed indoors after our last visit to harvest the olives.

In the evening we popped into Cisternino for aperative and free wifi in Bar Fod.



Then back to T-A for a relaxing evening in: fine food, fine wine and an early night. Bliss!

Sunday morning there was only time for a quick tidy up but I did plant half a packet of rocket (arugula). Hopefully when we are out there in a month's time for Easter we might have some fresh picked salad available to eat.

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

Weekend in Scotland - March 2011

Last weekend was spent in Irvine doing DIY for the MIL. Not that I begrudge it at all. She is Mary's mum after all *and* she has been very generous to us in not spending the children's inheritance but passing it on. Also it takes some of the load off the SIL who does an awful lot for May, being so much nearer.


Bathroom mirror

Saturday's task was drilling holes in tiles for the bathroom mirror - always a nerve-wracking task. Went smoothly I'm glad to say as did the towel ring and loo roll holder.


French drain

Sunday's task was creating a French drain along the edge of the lawn. The troughs were killing off the grass and made it difficult to lawnmower up to the edge. Some black plastic, six bags of gravel and a couple of hours hopping about like a frog fixed that.

All in all a good deed kind of a weekend well spent.

Timeshare in Ambleside, the Lake District

After several enjoyable walks at Christmas Mary decided we should do more walking.

Back in 2009 we had an excellent weekend of walking with Bob and Lynn based out of Ambleside in the lake district.

Mary's uncle Ronald and wife Avril have owned a week in the Quaysiders timeshare apartment in Ambleside for many years. They grew to love the area so much they eventually moved down to Kendal.


Lake Windermere Ambleside

So Mary got to hankering after one of those timeshare apartments.

At Mary's instigation Ronald sent us details of some weeks that were for sale and the prices were very reasonable. Less than our normal monthly credit card bill in fact!

To cut a long story short we went up to Kendal to spend the weekend with Ronald and Avril. The main purpose of the visit was to have a confirmatory inspection of the timeshare apartment before signing on dotted line.


Quayside Timeshare Ambleside

We have purchased the Christmas week of unit 16. It cost a little more than some of the others but it is worth lots of points in the trading schemes that enable you to swap for other timeshares. So when we get bored of Christmas in the lakes or just want a change we can swap for a couple of weeks in the sun and still have points left over.

It doesn't really count as a major addition to our property portfolio as it is only 1/52nd of a property.

A meal is more than just fuel for the body

It is an opportunity to share and chat and enjoy.

This last week has seen us give the M&M corporate mission "To eat, drink and have a good time" a thorough workout:

• Last Friday we met up with brother Ian and his partner Sarah for an excellent meal at our favorite italian restaurant - Enoteca Turi. Although I&S got married last September they have been together for a number of years and I am so used to saying "partner" I find it hard to switch to "wife" or "sister-in-law".
• Saturday we hosted Bron and Maggie for a Chateau Leoville dinner party. We had a bottle of 1982 Leoville-Poyferre and B&M a bottle of Leoville-Barton also 1982. So we had "compare and contrast" opportunity with two fine, mature clarets. And some excellent food to go with.
  
  Leoville-Barton 1982, Leoville-Poyferre 1982
  
• Sunday we cooked a traditional roast for our Danish house guests, who had arrived on the Monday, to give them a taste of traditional English cooking.
• Monday Mary went out for a team meal from work.
• Tuesday we gave our Danes a taste of traditional Scottish food with a Burns Supper. Unfortunately they were not convinced so it will be refried haggis for us at some point.
  
  Google Doodle Burns Night 2011
  
• Wednesday was Mary's birthday so we went to the wonderfully kitsch, Grade 2 listed Criterion Restaurant for a pre-theatre meal. That was followed by The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman at the inappropriately named Comedy Theatre - an excellent but intense play.
• Thursday we had the night off.
• Friday was meeting up in Glasgow with "the girls" - Mary's friends from Uni. We had an excellent meal at Guy's Restaurant in Candleriggs and a real good blether. We also treated ourselves to a stay in the refurbished Grand Central Hotel just a short stagger from the restaurant.
• Saturday no meal of note *but* we did meet up with fellow blogger and close neighbour of May's - Lynnette "Life with the Lusks" and husband Tommy for a coffee in Irvine. Always good to meet a cyber-chum in real life.
  
  Lynette and Tommy Lusk
  Lynette's blog post on our meeting: Saturday Coffee Time
• Sunday we plan a nice meal in - something we try to do every Sunday evening. A little quiet time together.

Home but not alone (3)

You are never alone with a "To Do" list.

While Mary went off to Grayshott Spa for a weekend of pampering and power walks I was home alone with the cats.

The "to do" list, to be fair, was self inflicted - there were a number of things needing to be done including "watch DVDs": Friday night was "Escape from New York" and Saturday night was "Millers Crossing". Other items included:

• tip run (garden rubbish)
• charity run (Mary's clear out of the wardrobe prompted by the immanent arrival of Danish house guests)
• grooming the cats (a never-ending task)
• various DIY tasks now consigned to the memory bin of history

Sunday I went down to visit Mum and Dad for lunch from were it was only 25 minutes to get down to Greyshott to collect the heavily exfoliated Mary and chauffeur her home.

Onassis @ the Novello Theatre

We went to see the last night of Onassis by Martin Sherman and starring Robert Lindsay at the Novello Theatre. The plan was a matinee with our friend Andrea aka Mary's Andrea (*) followed by a meal in Covent Garden.

Andrea was ill and unable to attend but we decided to go anyway. The box office didn't do refunds - like many other theaters once they have your money the ticket is your problem. Mary couldn't be bothered to loiter outside like a ticket tout so offered it - for free - to a surprised lady in the box office queue.

The play was good, much better than I was expecting from the Telegraph review.

We did cancelled our restaurant booking for three. Instead we had a couple of cocktails in the bar at Christopher's Grill. Then off home on the 87 bus for a meal at home.

* Andrea A is Mary's Andrea, Andrea L is my Andrea and Andrea P is our Andrea.

Christmas 2010 - The Usual Suspects in Polperro

The Usual Suspects

This year we reconvened "The Usual Suspects" for Christmas redux. For most of a decade (the 90's) the same core crowd would rent a holiday home for a week of eating and drinking. Then children intervened and we dispersed for another decade (the 00's) of smaller scale gatherings.

The children are now at an age that we decided to reinstate the team outing. This time the venue was Landaviddy Manor in Cornwall. The pattern was much as previously: each couple cooked one meal apiece, we ate out or leftovers for the others, lots of country walks and beer in real pubs.


Polperro Harbour

Wed 22-Dec-10: travel down to Devon and Mary did a simple pasta meal.

Thu 23-Dec-10: a quiet day awaiting the last couple, Bob & Lynn, to join us. John & Andrea did the meal - well Andrea really.

Fri 24-Dec-10: after breakfast a walk along the Southwest Coast Path to Looe - a 9 mile round trip - with pub lunch at The Ship Inn. Evening meal at Couches restaurant in Polperro.


Southwest Coastal Path

Sat 25-Dec-10: full cooked breakfast and presents followed by a coast path walk to a landmark - 5 mile round trip. Back for birthday cake and more presents for Julian, my godson, who was born on Christmas day.

Kate & Ian presided over traditional turkey evening meal. We have always gone for black tie for the meal. Makes it a bit more special and give the girls a chance to flaunt their party frocks.


Christmas meal

Sun 26-Dec-10: A full team outing walk to the Jubilee Inn at Pelynt - 7 mile round trip - although some caught the bus back for the sake of the children. Bob & Lynn did venison for supper.

Mon 27-Dec-10: Walk to Polruan - 12 mile round trip - with pub lunch in The Russel Inn. Ate leftovers.

Tue 28-Dec-10: Too wet for a long walk so we simply walked down into Polperro for a beer at The Blue Peter. Last night for some of us. Mary did a Thai meal.


Southwest Coastal Path 2

Beautiful scenery, good beer, excellent company, fantastic meals and wonderful wine. What more could you ask for in a Christmas break?

Full set of pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmclellan/sets/72157625707730544/

Movember 2010 update

Thanks to all my friends and sponsors who enabled me to hit the £400 mark.
http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1088126/



It was on the 4th of November Mary said "Why don't you grow a moustache for Movember?" OK but the next morning I forgot and shaved as usual. After the shaky start the rest was easy - send out a begging emails and taking Mary's cakes into work.

In the UK in 2008 there were 12,047 female deaths from breast cancer BUT there were 10,168 male deaths from prostate cancer. [Source: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/mortality/]

Prostate cancer deserves more awareness, more research, more money!

Christmas Daffodil at Angelus 2010

London, England. Saturday, 18-December-2010.

Tidying up and filing I came across the menu from the M&M Enterprises work Christmas party from back in 2010 which I did not blog at the time. So this is the most extreme retro-blog post yet.

Angelus is a post-La Gavroche venue founded by Thierry Tomasin, the sommelier from La Gavroche.

He gave us an introduction to the restaurant and explained the nature of the style and ambience he was aiming for: quality cooking, of course, but with an informal brasserie style and a relaxed convivial atmosphere (I paraphrase from memory).

Then his chef appeared and gave us a run down on the menu explaining his approach to the dishes, the sourcing of the ingredients and the rationale for his choices. I cannot remember who explained the wines but they were all interesting choices.

Image courtesy of  Angelus

The food was wonderful and wine pairings all worked really well. Like all Daff meals it went on until the restaurant ushered us out in time for the evening sittings. Another superb M&M works Christmas party.

MENU
Champagne Angel'us - Brut NV
Home smoked chicken, ham hock and foie gras terrine, spiced prune puree, toasted sourdough bread
Rose - Chene Bleu VoP du Vaucluse -2009
****
Veloute of Jerusalem artichoke, cep tortellini, white truffle oil
La Guita - Manzanilla Rainera Perez Marin
****
Seared stone bass, potato beignet,
braised leeks and lemon verbena
Domaine Coste - Viognier Grenache 2008
****
Roast breast of pheasant, wild mushrooms,
braised red cabbage, black pudding spatzle
Allegria Tribu d'A 2008
Coteaux du Languedoc
****
Port poached pear, crushed amoretti biscuit,
truffle mascarpone ice cream
Les Vignerons de Maury "Solera" 1928
Cask 886 NV
****
Selection of cheese
Coffee and petits fours

Wine Society Dining Club 244th dinner

A Burgundian dinner with a couple of German outliers. The deal with the WSDC is that they lay down WS wines then drink them on such occasions as these some years later. So generally "not available in the shops".


Wine Society Dining Club 244th dinner

Lincoln' Inn is an extraordinary place. A hidden oasis in the middle of London it looks like an Oxbridge college dropped into the centre of town. And The Old Hall looks like a college dining room.


Wine Society Dining Club 244th dinner

As we don't know the other members we chat to strangers in the pre-dinner drinks and get pot luck on the seating plan. We were fortunate in being placed opposite Ray Bowden and his wife Gill. Ray was for many years chairman of the wine society and a most charming dinner companion.


Wine Society Dining Club 244th dinner

My favourite wine of the evening was the Beaune Marconnets as it was of the assembled company by a show of hands. Second favourite was the Gevrey-Chamberttin.

A most enjoyable evening and a reminder of why we should go to more of these events.

Olive Harvest Puglia 2010

We had planned to harvest our olives two weeks ago but it was a late harvest due to the weather this year. So we just had to come back again to harvest our olives and help our neighbours harvest theirs. 


Raking olives from the tree

Low tech harvesting - spread nets either side of the tree and rake the olives off the branches with small claw-like rakes. Then herd the olives together by lifting the net edges and empty into crates. 

There was also some daredevil ladder-work to harvest the higher branches. 


Our harvest - 84 kilo from eight trees

Olives are a bit like apples - crops alternate in size: one year good; the next year less good. Last year the yield was about 30 kg; this year a bumper 84 kg. 

The minimum pressing quantity at the local cooperative is 100kg so we tipped ours in with neighbour Mino's. He has many more trees and a bunch of his wife's relatives to help with the harvest. His yield was nearly one and a half tons!


Modern version of the traditional cold press

We paid a little more on the pressing fee to have ours cold-pressed - better for the flavour. The olives are milled to a mud-like brown, gritty paste then spread on circular mats. These are then stacked and pressed under considerable pressure. Each batch is done separately so we know we and Mino get back our own oil. 


Our very own organic, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil 

The end result is a beautiful green oil. Fresh off the press it is slightly acrid and, like wine, needs to mature a little.  We will let it stand for a month, also to let any fine particles settle, before using. Looking forward to that :-)

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

Everyday differences in Puglia: Cocomero

The cocomero is a Puglian speciality - it looks like a melon but tastes like a sweet-ish cucumber. Certainly the locals treat as a savoury and serve it as a starter salad vegetable or a side dish with a main course.


Cocomero 01 - Whole


Cocomero 02 - Halved


Cocomero 03 - Sliced

Next Wandle Trust cleanup: Sunday 14th November 2010

Next Wandle Trust cleanup: Sunday 14th November 2010
Foster's Way, Earlsfield, SW18

Hello Everyone
 
This month we are going to tackle a stretch of the Wandle 50m or so downstream from where we got in at our August cleanup, so between the Lydden Road bridge and the Foster's Way bridge in Earlsfield.  Well-served by public transport (overground train to Earlsfield station and on the 44 and 270 bus routes), there are also plenty of railings to which you can chain bicycles and there's space to park too.
 
Click here to see where we'll be meeting. 
 
What to expect
Please arrive in time for our Health and Safety briefing at 11am.  If you arrive later than that, don't worry, you'll be asked to read the briefing and sign in to confirm your understanding of the guidelines, and agreement to adhere to them.  For the benefit of those of you who are new, we work in several groups, some people in the water pulling out rubbish, some wheeling or carrying the rubbish to the dump site and others litter picking along the banks/trail. 
 
We'll break for tea/coffee and cake provided by us at about 1pm and carry on afterwards until about 3pm. As we are in the borough of Wandsworth, Terry and his truck will come and collect the rubbish at the end of the cleanup, so we'd be grateful if some of you could stay behind and help load up.
 
As always, we're extremely grateful to Joanna, Michael, and the Wandsworth Waste Management Team for their support in picking up all the rubbish.
 
What to wear/ What to bring
We supply a number of pairs of chest waders, but if you do have your own, please bring them.  We also provide gloves and litter pickers.  Tough boots, trainers or Wellingtons are recommended for anyone who wants to work on the banks.   Everyone should wear old clothes that they don't mind getting dirty, and it may also be worth bringing a change of clothes, in case your waders spring a leak!  You may want to bring a picnic lunch too.
 
At this month's event....
This year's Christmas cards, designed by Trustee Jane Porter and printed locally, will be on sale -  a pack of 8 costs £10.00 so please remember to bring your hard earned cash!  All profits will go directly to help the work of the Wandle Trust.
 
See you on Sunday week.
Erica
  
Erica Evans
Cleanup Co-Ordinator
The Wandle Trust

The Wandle Trust | PO Box 56545 | London | SW18 9DY | UK

Previous cleanups I have been to:
Cleaning the Wandle July 2009
Cleaning the Wandle August 2009

Wedding anniversary weekend 2010

Saturday was our seventeenth wedding anniversary and we planned a triple-purpose weekend in Italy with our friends Bob and Lynn: harvest our olives, pack up Trullo Azzurro for the winter and, of course, celebrate seventeen years.

As it turned out the advice from the neighbours was wait two weeks before the olives were ripe for the picking. So we booked another set of flights for two weekend's time and went for Plan B - eating and drinking.

Friday night we went straight from the airport to our neighbours Chris and John who very kindly provided a late supper and thence to bed.

Saturday we did the tourist thing inspired by Bob and Lynn who had done their research. We went over the border into Basilicata to visit the fascinating city of Matera.



That evening we went to our favourite posh restaurant - Osteria Sant'Anna for their antipasti della casa and assorted secondi followed by an entirely unnecessary dolce and vin santo.

Sunday was a visit to La Rotonda Da Rosa, Torre Canne for a three hour lunch.

After that a short drive to Torre Guaceto nature reserve for a long (two hour) walk along the coast only to discover some ********* had broken into the car and stolen Mary's handbag and our supper. Yes, they were locked away in the boot.

No passports or credit cards lost but we will have to replace the locks just to be on the safe side. And we did Groundhog day shopping in the supermarket to replace the contents on the M&S cool bag for a supper at home.

Monday was some preemptive bagging up of linens followed by a leisurely trip to the airport for lunch.

And then we went straight from Stansted to central London for supper in The Cork and Bottle Wine Bar followed by John Mayall at the Leicester Square Theatre. Excellent concert from a legend with a fine support act from Marcus Bonfanti.

That is why I go to work for a rest!