If it's Saturday it must be Italy

This weekend was the shortest possible trip to Italy to see the work-in-progress at the Hovel in the Hills ™. We flew 7:15 am Saturday morning and back 11:30 am Sunday morning. Since we didn't fancy getting up at 4:00 am to drive up an icy M11 we decided to take the Stansted Express and treat ourselves to an on-airport hotel stay Friday night, the Radisson SAS is only five minutes stroll from the terminal.

I was most impressed. The hotel is smart and the Tapas Restaurant was excellent. Given a captive audience and a good percentage of business travellers it is easy for a hotel restaurant to get complacent, not so here. The food was well cooked, the prices reasonable and the Spanish waitress friendly and attentive. Much better that our local Tapas round the corner in Old York Road.

In Italy, Daniele and the workmen have made a start: creating a second driveway for the upper half of the property and digging a trench round the pizza oven and the lamia. This will help with drainage of the water that flows down the hill and so keep the house dry.


View of new drive and drainage ditch round pizza oven and side of lamia(taken from the roof of the lamia).

The train has wings

The reason for the delay on posting about the wine dinner was that I was in Zurich Tuesday and Wednesday. Leaving the office I could tell the people who don't do much business travel. They said things like "Have a good time" and "Enjoy yourself" as if it was some kind of holiday. They do not realise it is just commuting like they do every day, except the train has wings.

It really is not as glamorous as they think. As seasoned business travellers know it is mostly airport, taxi, office, hotel, taxi, airport. I spent Monday evening and Wednesday evening sitting in airports and airplanes instead of relaxing at home with Mary and the cat - not much of a trade :-(

People ask how I keep my weight under control with all this eating in hotel restaurants. The answer is easy: twice a week I eat airline food.

The Heart of Italy Dinner

Last week was a bit of a wine week what with Valentine's Night where we spent more on wine than food as usual, seeing the recommendable film Sideways and then on Saturday another Berry Bros and Rudd dinner - Heart of Italy - with Pete&Amanda. Held at BBR's premises in St James Street the menu was as follows:

2002 Verdicchio Classico Superiore Castelli di Jesi, Vegneti di Musone - Marche

Welcome from Chris Maybin, Marketing Manager

2000 Chianti Classico, Villa di Geggiano - Tuscany

Mixed antipasti

2001 Mirum, Verdicchio Marche Bianco, Fattoria la Monacesca - Marche

Seafood Penne in a Saffron Broth

1999 Vino Nobile do Montepulciano Riserva dei Mandorli, Massimo Romeo - Tuscany
1997 Brunello do Montalcino, Riserva Casisano Colombaio - Tuscany

Arista (Roasted Loin of Pork with Rosemary and Garlic), Canenellini Beans (selection of fresh seasonal vegetables)

2001 Visions of J. Fattoria le Terrazze - Marche

Selection of classic pecorino cheeses with mostarda

Tiramisu

Berrys' selected coffee and dinner mints

Another fine evening. For me the star of the evening was the 2001 Mirum, Verdicchio and so Mary ordered a case - good move!

Living with my wife

As promised in Breaking the Fourth Wall and alluded to in Table for Two? a bit of background on the fact that I now live with my Wife!

For the last ten+ years we have been like the couple in the weather vane. Always one in, one out and never at the same time. When we first moved to Avon Cottage I commuted to Farnborough and Mary rented a spare room from a friend in London coming home at weekends.

After three months she decided to relocate, after all we were not long married. We would drive to Farnborough where I would throw her out at the train station and she would complete her commute by public transport. After three months of that CSC sent me to Histon, north of Cambridge, for fifteen months and the tables were turned.

And so it has gone for the last decade until January this year (2005). For the first time in all that time we now co-habit seven days a week. This has given rise to a certain amount of cynical humour from our friends but, notwithstanding the adjustments that always need to be made when lives change, I consider it a "Good Thing" * after all I did marry the woman!

* 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England by W.C. Sellar, R.J. Yeatman (ISBN: 0413772705)

Table for two?

Top marks to Chez Bruce for not cashing in on Valentine's day. We were in the upstairs room where they had resisted the temptation to squeeze in an extra table. With only five couples it was possible to have a relaxed meal without overhearing whatever romantic chit-chat was going on at the next table. Also they had on a full menu, not some limited choice Valentine's Special. And very tasty it was too.

It was nice to be in the same country at the same time for Valentine's Day. Unlike the caller on Sunday's Classic FM phone-in who, after 20 years of marriage, was having to spend his first Valentine's apart from his wife. For goodness sake are they joined at the hip? We normally only have that luxury if it falls on a weekend as it did last year.

Mary was in Dublin so I went over for the weekend and we went to Ely Wine Bar and Cafe, Mary's favourite "100+ wines by the glass" wine bar. When I rang to book the conversation (and surely it could only happen in Ireland) went like this:

Me: "Do you have any availability for Valentine's night?"
Ely's: "Yes, what time would you like?"
Me: "Excellent! Could you do 8 o'clock?"
Ely's: "Certainly, sir, and how many would that be for?"

That was the weekend that was

Only one post last week doesn't mean nothing happening, quite the reverse. A busy week work-wise with two days delivering training in Zurich. The only reason I posted at all was the delayed LX340 on the way home Wednesday evening. That gave me time to use the free cyber corner in the Executive lounge.

The weekend was busy too with the usual giddy round of shopping and domestic chores - this weekend: clear outs. The spare bedroom-cum-study is now a lot tidier, the draw under the bed with all the holiday stuff is a lot emptier and the storage crates in the loft are fewer than they were.

On the up side spring is on the way. The narcissi, snowdrops and primuli are in bloom and the daffodils are starting to shoot. The light at the end of the Winter tunnel is in sight. Mary re-did the window boxes so we will have lots of jolly flowers in spring to brighten the front of the cottage.

Not-so-Super Bowl

I am sure it is a fine sporting event but the time difference means it is broadcast in the wee small hours here in the UK as I discovered Sunday night, or should that be Monday morning?

The lads upstairs were having a sports night in with, I suspect, more than a few beers. Although our flat and theirs share the same layout the usage is different with their living room being above our bedroom, thus I could hear their chat late into the night. So I put in my earplugs (Virgin Atlantic blue ones but I prefer the BA trad tubular yellow kind) and turned over trying to ignore it.

However I could not ignore the blast of Status Quo at china duck rattling volumes at 3:30 am. Ok, I thought, they are pissed and have poor judgment as a result. One track and I would have let it pass but they boogied on so at track four I upped and dressed to go knock on their door. You hear such "neighbours-from-hell" tales that I was concerned to deal with this in a non-confrontational way so that no offence and retaliation / escalation should occur.

My opening gambit was "Excellent choice of music <pause and shrug> but not so sure about the timing..." The guy apologised and turned the music down, but not off. At least it was enough to allow me to sleep but I was not at my sparkiest all day Monday.

Breaking the fourth wall

Saturday was not only Mary's biggest birthday party but also the one year blogiversary of Gullible's Travels. Average Posts Per Week 3; Posts Written 124; Words Written 16,003.

I was tempted to do a retrospective like all my our friends' Christmas newsletters. You know the thing, "Jasper has just passed his grade 8 maracas and been accepted for the RPO, Daphne is into horses and going through a bit of a Goth phase". Then email it to the Williams, the Thynnes, the Bennells and the Wallaces :-)

This week has been too busy, as the absence of a Wednesday post attests, so a full retrospective will have to wait. It has been a year of endings and beginnings. Several sad passings and the trauma of Mum's near misses. On the other hand Mary and I are now living together (an entry yet to be blogged) and the Trulli saga truly begins with the future life that portends.

* Fourth wall

Mary's birthday three times

Now that went more according to plan...

Friday night was a quiet night in with Geraldine and Alisdair who were staying with us for the week end. Saturday lunchtime it was off to Heathrow to collect Mary's sister, Sandra, and brother-in-law, George plus their friends, Willy and Isabel.

Saturday afternoon it was an "At Home" to the Scottish contingent as they polished off four bottles of champagne. Then dispersal in preparation for the evening. Included in that was warning the credit card company to expect a very large restaurant bill. The man at Amex, when Mary mentioned the amount, wittily concluded with "I hope you get pudding with that".

Saturday evening was dinner for 51 pax at Al Ponte. Those that got there earlier got the '88 Krug (en magnum), the laggards got an alternative as we only had three of the former. Service was a bit too leisurely with antipasto, pasta, main course at 11:00 (!) and desserts about midnight by which time a number had left for their last trains.

Boy can our friends drink and talk! The chatter was deafening as people mingled and chatted and circulated much to the bemusement of the staff as they tried to deliver food to the appropriate peripatetic diners.

We staggered out about 2am and back for one last nightcap with G&A then a dreamless sleep - well not so much sleep more like coma!

Pass the aspirin again.

Mary's birthday twice

Well that didn't go quite as planned...

Yesterday was Mary's actual fiftieth birthday. Plan A had been a romantic candlelit supper for two at a Michelin One Starred restaurant (Putney Bridge Restaurant). I had even arranged for Interflora to deliver a bouquet direct to the restaurant for a surprise.

What happened instead was Mary went to the physio Tuesday evening for some treatment on her bulging disc. Instead of helping, it made matters much worse. On the birthday morning she could hardly stand for the pain. I had to help her hobble from the bathroom back to the bedroom where she lay for the rest of the day in no small pain and discomfort.

So we had to cancel the booking and go for dining at home. Mary had only just been able to get up by 5 o'clock when I got home early. Instead supper was the best that M&S could provide: scallops on rocket and fillet steak with seasonal veg. Plus of course a glass of champagne and a bottle of Terre Dom Pepe (our local Locorontondo wine).

Mary's birthday once

The weekend was literally a flying visit to Scotland. We flew for free courtesy of Mary's BMI frequent flyer points and stayed in the Hilton for free courtesy of my Hilton Honors frequent snorer points.

The occasion was a pre-birthday celebration meal with the older generation of the Galashan clan and friends who will not be down to London for this coming weekend. We had an excellent evening at The Pipers' Tryst Hotel at The National Piping Centre. Traditional Scottish meal with live music (fiddle and flute). I would recommend it for an enjoyable night out with friends.

No really it's networking not drinking!

Another CSC alumni meeting. This time in the far more congenial surroundings of The Crusting Pipe in Covent Garden.

Much the usual band of suspects: there was me, Tony Korn, Simon Hargrave, Chris Howard, John Warren, David Pelta, John Patient, Rob Heyfron, Carolyn MacDowell, Tony Czarnecki, Tony Hazel and Anne Carter. Apologies from David Martin and Anthony Bodle. A good turnout - thanks chaps.

We drank, we nibbled, we talked.

Several peeled off about 8:30 lured by the siren call of South West Trains. Mary joined us after an intensive handbag hunt in the Wild West End and came in clutching her Louis Vuitton trophy. Then we stragglers (M&M, CM, DAP, SH and TH) dined in the restaurant part (perfectly acceptable food) and staggered wandered off about 11:00.

Blog meeting 2

Went to another Blog Meet yesterday. Unlike the previous Blog meet this had 10 pax rather than the previous 4 which made for a livelier meeting. They seemed mostly normal but then I would say that wouldn't I; I was there too! Not, as my wife suspects, all techno-geeks but a cross section of normal people. Some ate, all drank, all talked.

Compared to last time I drank less, went home earlier, woke up feeling more alert. Although that may also be thanks to Cleo not scrabbling on the laminate flooring at 2:30, 4:40 and 5:25 like the night before.

Ghost cats

It was strange to go back to an empty Avon Cottage and not be greeted by a feline welcoming committee. I am so used to Oscar trotting up to the door to say hello. He did not so much demand attention but more invited it by his desire to be in the company of humans.



Several times in my mind I would see him trotting over to say hello or catch a glimpse of something in the corner of my eye and turn to see not Oscar but a pair of discarded jeans on the floor. The house is emptier without him, I do miss him and it still hardly seems real.

Original post The saddest news about Oscar

Inner city shopping

How different it is here in "The Great Wen" compared to our local Waitrose in Ringwood.

Firstly the very obvious (multiple) security guards at the door which says something about the level of shop-lifting that goes on. Oh the charms of inner city demographics!

Secondly the pattern of shopping. Not the weekly household trolley shop but the lunchtime basket shop for a sandwich and tonight's tea. That and the density of daytime population means queues of 60-70 in the Covent Garden M&S!

At first I thought "S*d this for a game of soldiers" and was about to return my selections to the shelves but then realised they have the single-queue / multiple-server arrangement. With 16 tills that queue rattled through in under 5 minutes and I was back out into the street clutching dinner for two.

Have you ever had a ride in a light blue car?

...Have you ever had to push push push push?

The mental jukebox has been on auto-repeat the last week or so with
Car Trouble from Dirk Wears White Sox by Adam Ant. Yesterday I twigged why.

The lifts in this office block had been breaking down regularly during December. With only two lifts operational at any one time and 12 floors to service the wait intervals drove many to the stairs. I got into the habit of using the stairs as being quicker and getting some exercise. The doors from the stairwell into the lift lobbies are labelled "Push" and without realising it have been subliminally triggering the mental play button - push push push.

Meetings in Puglia

It was a quick trip down to Puglia this weekend flying Ryan Air Friday evening out of STN down to BDS. First to meet with Pietro at the offices of Gruppo Damico and collect the actual top copy of the deeds to the Hovel-in-the-Hills. Then, after lunch, down to the property to meet with Daniele, our architect to discuss and finalise a number of options re the plans:


Mainly that we did not want a separate kitchen in the Trulli half. Instead to have it as a living room with sofa bed and turn the living / dining room into a kitchen / dining room.

A most successful visit apart from the late Sunday return flight. It went to schedule but getting home at 1:30 am is too late when you have to get up and go to work the next day. That Lottery ticket is just not working!

Ge'in it laldy

Every visit to Scotland adds to my repertoire of useful words and phrases for conversing with the natives locals. This time it was "Ge'in it laldy"

Watching TV on New Year's Eve the presenter described Nicola Benedetti's performance at the opening of the new Scottish Parliament buildings as "Ge'in it laldy". The humourous juxtaposition of high art and low vernacular made Mary laugh and me furrow my brow.

According to First Foot it means: "...to do anything with great gusto or to get laid in to someone big style whether physically or verbally."

Chad - wot no bananas

Following on from my previous post Wot no hangover I did a quick google for images of chad. I got lots of blokes called Chad and some maps of the sub-Saharan country but none of the WWII character. So here he is:

"WOT NO BANANAS?!"

A quiet Hogmanay

Probably the quietest on record.

The start of our Scottish sojourn was delayed when we were 2 minutes late at BOH for Ryan Air's strictly enforced 40 minute check-in cut off. What could we do but smile sweetly, pay out two lots of GBP 45 adjustment fee and vow to return 23 hours later.

New Year's Eve was the one year anniversary of Mary's father's death so an inappropriate time for celebration more for quiet reflection. We were there to keep Mary's mum May company with frequent cups of tea and biscuits plus running her to the shops and such like.

On the morning of the 31st we went to the crematorium for Mary and May to lay some freesias on the stone that marked Bill's ashes. The rest of the day was spent quietly at home. May went to bed early but Mary and I stayed up for the Bells. There can be only one toast on such an occasion "Absent Friends".