Vinosafe walk-in wine cellar, storage for 1,000 bottles

And the first item to go on eBay following the move is the wine cellar. 

Edit: deleted expired eBay link. 

Tomorrow three pieces of furniture go to the local auction house. At the weekend boxes of books will go to Oxfam and a big box of cat blankets and bowls will go to the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. It felt strange but calming to be scrubbing the litter trays so they could go to a good home.

This is the vinosafe in varying stages of dismantling ready for the move:

End of two eras

Yesterday was big day for us.

We are happy to say that we finally exchanged contracts on Avon Cottage yesterday and the sale will complete on Friday. We had a great 13 years there and feel like we are passing a piece of history over to a new set of caretakers in a better state than we got it. From talking to Karen and Andrew, our buyers, we are sure that they will take as much care of it as we did.

We are sad to say that Cleo passed away yesterday. The problem with her tooth at the end of January proved to be an aggressive form of cancer and the vet warned that she did not have long left. We watched her very carefully and yesterday we knew that the time had come to take her to the vet, while she was still purring. She was almost 17 years old and we are very grateful to have had her for so long.


Cleo at eight weeks / Cleo as an adult

Both Mark and I are relieved that the stress of the last few weeks is over, Cleo is not suffering and it now feels like a new start in Fairfield Street.

Avon Cottage Empty ...

... but Wandsworth house full!

"Well the move seemed to go smoothly" he said, looking at the chaos around him.


Breakfast room full of packing boxes


Dining room full of packing boxes


Living room full of packing boxes

It took the movers four and a half hours to pack up the cottage. The 17 metre van was full, we literally could not get another item in. And it is now all in our Wandsworth home!

We cannot move; we have two complete sets of *everything*. The bedrooms upstairs are just as bad. It will take a while to digest this lot. A few trips to the local auction house and municipal dump will help. And expect to see quite a few items appearing on eBay, we have already sold a washing machine and a day bed. There will be more to follow...

Oh, yes, and we had a lovely meal at The Food Room and fell exhausted out of the taxi and into bed.

Moving house tomorrow

And as you might expect the run up to tomorrow's house move has been hectic. Mary's Mum, May, flew down from Scotland on Thursday for a "farewell tour" of the cottage. We drove down Thursday night (with Cleo) and worked from home Friday so we would be ready early Saturday to continue the clearing out.

Primary target was the garage: boxing up the last dozen cases of wine, dismantling the VinoSafe, clearing out the accumulated unwanted possessions (or junk as Mary calls it) and doing tip runs to dump the rejects.

Saturday we went to Plummer's Restaurant with Bob&Lynne and Mike&Lynn. Mike deserves an serious award for good neighbourliness. When he and Lynn lived next door he fed the cats, took in the post, checked for intruders when the alarm went off and generally kept an eye on the place while we worked in various locations or countries Monday to Friday.

Even after they moved (about 10 miles away) Mike still used to do all that for little return apart from our heartfelt thanks and the occasional bottle of duty free malt. We have no way to thank him enough for what he has done over the years but we did offer him (and family of course) a free holiday in Italy.

Sunday was a family gathering: Mum&Dad and Ian&Sarah came down, partly house-cooling and partly because Sarah had never seen the cottage. After they left it was more tidying and sorting till it was time for our supper, traditional Sunday roast pork. Monday Mary stayed down at the cottage with May and Cleo while I drove back up to London for two days work. Back down tonight and the furniture van arrives at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning.

We shall have deserved our Valentine's meal out by the time tomorrow night arrives.

Wines of Australia at Planet of the Grapes

Last week four of us "lads" from work went to a wine tasting at Planet of the Grapes. A small but select crowd were present, a dozen all told including Matt and Marc from POTG and Chris the presenter. As Chris was a wine maker and the group was small we were able to have more of a conversation than a presentation which made for an interesting and informative evening.

The Tasmanian sparkling is a method champagnoise wine to rival the French. The Reisling too was very much in an old world style and the Virgilius Viognier stood out amongst the whites. Unfortunately it is too long now for me to recall a ranking amongst the reds.

Mary joined us at the end, after her Italian class had finished, and got to taste the reds left over from the "no shows". We all chatted some more, polished off what was left of the meats and cheeses, then got a black cab back to Wandsworth for a supernumery glass of red.

The Wines of Australia with Chris Unger

 • Jansz 2001 - Tasmanian sparkling (GBP 16.50)
 • Mesh - Eden Valley Reisling 2006 (GBP 14.50)
 • Yalumba - The Virgilius Viognier Eden Valley 2004 (GBP 22.50)
 • Brokenwood - ILR Semillon Hunter Valley 2001 (17.50)
 • The Menzies Coonawarra Cabernet 2002 (GBP 22.50)
 • Vasse Flix 'Heytesbury' Cabernet Margaret River 2002 (GBP 33.50)
 • Yalumba Hand Picked Shiraz / Viognier Barossa (GBP 17.00)
 • Langton's Yalumba The Octavius (GBP ???)
 • Yalumba Dessert Muscat NV (GBP 9.50)

House Clearance

Did you know you can get sixteen and a half cases of wine in a BMW 330Ci Sport? That's 198 bottles with no room for passengers! Mind you it doesn't do much for the handling and acceleration. I was breaking gently well in advance of junctions and roundabouts (US: circles).

When we met our buyers two weekends ago ["Avon Cottage Under Offer"] the talk was of completion by Easter, last weekend this turned into "third week of Feb" and by last Tuesday it was Friday 16th. O-o-oh ****, that's less than three weeks away. We still had to clear the house, dump the rubbish, move the wine, ship the furniture, spring clean the place and complete the actual sale.

So we brought the skip hire forward and this weekend, while Mary was in Scotland, I was down the cottage in my blue overalls filling the skip. I thought 3.5 cubic metres (4.5 cubic yards) would see us through the next two weekends. But no. By 11:30 the thing was full.

The rest of the day was spent clearing Jabba the Shed, disassembling the shelving in the loft and casing up the wine from the Vinosafe. The VSP 214 holds a thousand bottles and that means quite a few round trips.

Sunday was preparing the Wandsworth house for the furniture onslaught. Moving furniture from room to room so we can free up the back bedroom as a temporary furniture depository. The 16.5 cases are all safely in the cellar but boy are my back muscles aching today.

Amy's View

Last night we went to see Amy's View at the Garrick. Stall tickets were GBP 45 but Top Table were doing a deal. Two course meal at the Palm Court Brasserie and stall tickets for GBP 35. So you get a free meal, get to see the incomparable Felicity Kendall in an excellent production and still have a tenner change. As the Americans say "Go figure".

Cleo's teeth

Poor old Cleo had some teeth out yesterday. Thank goodness she goes in regularly for blood tests for her thyroid levels. Since her last visit she had taken to dribbling a bit and recently got a bit smelly. It never occurred to me it was bad breath indicating dental problems.

I took her in yesterday expecting a five minute visit to take a blood sample and walked out minus cat having signed a waiver form for an operation. A worrying few hours passed until the vet called at 1pm; a general anaesthetic always has some risk and for a 16 year cat that has to be a concern.



Fortunately she is a robust old girl and came through it and recovered well from the anaethetic. After discussion with the vet, Emma, we decided to leave her in overnight and collect her this morning. So now she is back home with a heap of antibiotics and pain relief. Now we await the results of the biopsy to find out whether it was a nasty infection or something worse.

Trulli Before and After (2)

More before and after pictures [click on images for larger version].

Back of the Lamia
 

The Cones from the Lamia Roof
 

Pizza Oven
 

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

Yesterday was Mary's birthday and we were able to get a table at the original Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Royal Hospital Road. They only open the booking for each day exactly two months in advance. That Sunday the phone was constantly engaged all day or out of order. When I got though on the Monday morning the only table for four they had left was lunch at 12 noon. So we both booked the day off and Mary booked a hairdressing appointment with Fiona at Hebe's in William IV Street.

Having watch various episodes of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and The F-Word and read the restaurant's rave reviews I was greatly anticipating this meal and it did not disappoint.

We went with usual suspects Pete&Amanda. I was the first to arrive to discover that we were the very first table of the day and the Maitre D' was still doing the team huddle. Ear-wigging I was impressed by the level of knowledge of each party's special dietary requirements and that the waiters were expected to know and remember when the time came. But then that is what you expect of world class service. Little things like they know which person in which seat ordered what when they bring them out, no need to ask "who's having the lamb?"

When we were seated our waiter asked who was the host and, owning it was I, gave me the priced menu so as as to not constrain the others' choice. As it happens we all went for the "Menu Prestige" - seven course which allows the chef to show (off) what he can do. They then volunteered substitutes so we could taste even more by stealing off each other's plates (which permission of course, a fork in the back of the hand hurts). The menu went like this; simplified as each dish seemed to have a minimum of five or six name-worthy ingredients so imagine they all read "X with A, B, C and a veloute of D".

Amuse Bouche - tortelli with saffron and ginger sauce
****
Foie Gras with Sauternes Jelly OR Chicken Terrine
****
Scallops OR Lobster ravioli
****
Halibut OR Turbot
****
Fillet of Beef OR Lamb
****
Cheese OR Pre-Desert
****
Desert
****
Second Desert
****
Coffee and Truffles

Every dish was small but perfectly formed - immaculately presented - a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. Doubtless all from the freshest and finest ingredients. And of course wine with each course: R de Ruinart NV; St Peray (a white Rhone), a half of Condrieu, a Ribero Del Duro (spanish red) and a sweet French desert wine.

I chose the pre-desert, and when Mary didn't want one of her deserts had two Second Deserts. As it was Mary's birthday they brought us an extra souffle to share in lieu of a cake and right at the end a scoop of Mango Sorbet with a single candle for Mary but she declined the offer of a quick chorus of "Happy Birthday" sung sotto voce.

An interesting comparison to eat in two different Michelin Three Star restaurants within such a short time window [Daffodil Dining Club at Le Gavroche (2006)]. The service here was just as silkily smooth and efficient and, we agreed, more friendly. Our waiter(s) seemed less formal than La Gavroche and ready to chat about the food, the cheese and react to our banter with a smile. Plus they all managed that, so hard to do, balancing act between hovering intrusively and not being there when needed.

The entire leisurely meal lasted four and a half hours but the table was ours for the session and we never felt rushed. They actually managed to get two sets of covers on the next table but that was the only one. I do not think Mary's would allow me to mention the final bill (US: check) but it was an obscene amount of money half of which was on the wine. However if you want to celebrate a birthday in style in one of the best restaurants in the world this is the place.

Trulli Before and After (1)

Having, finally, finished the work on the trulli we went through the photo archive and dug out some before pictures so we could show you the difference [click on images for larger version].

Cones viewed from the garden
 

Inside of the Lamia from the door towards kitchen and bathroom
 

Inside of the Lamia looking back towards the door
 

Wandsworth Chainsaw Massacre

We got off lightly in Thursday's winds. One tree down and it was one we had wanted to remove as it was three quarters dead. Ours fell sideways and landed on the garages at the bottom of the garden. I was able to wrestle it back into the garden as it was only 8 in (23 cm) diameter. Next door's was three or four times that size and took out a lamppost in the street, they were lucky it fell sideways as well.



Nature has saved us the cost of a tree surgeon but it did leave us with the problem of disposal. As luck would have it we were going down to the cottage this week end to start the rubbish clear our - better to chuck it that move it - and so I brought the chainsaw up to London. Boys', big-cheesey-grin, kind of work.



The logs will go to Bob&Lynn next time we go down to the cottage.

Wallace and Grommit watched from the safety of the shrubbery.

CSC Alumni meet in the Crusting Pipe

Thursday, January 18, 2007.

Another CSC alumni gathering. Like last time in the congenial surroundings of The Crusting Pipe in Covent Garden.

Much the usual band of suspects, again: there was me, Tony Korn, Simon Hargrave, John Warren, David Pelta, John Patient, Carolyn MacDowell, Tony Hazel, Roy Thompson, Barry Wilton and Anne Carter. Apologies from David Martin and Paul Toledo (not yet on the mailing list). A good turnout - thanks chaps.

I learnt from the last time and got my food order in early, I just can't take drinking on an empty stomach like I could in my youth. I remember in my mid twenties when I worked at Coopers & Lybrand (as they were then) how a crowd of us went drinking regularly after work. I always used to tip the lemon from the previous Gin and Tonic into the next so I knew how many I'd had by counting the slices. At least in those days many city pubs shut early (sometimes as early as 7:30pm) which probably saved our livers.

By the end of last night transport demands has whittled the crowd down to a hard core half dozen all of whom worked for Inforem which was subsequently acquired by CSC. We got all nostalgic for those glory days and it set me thinking.

When I look at the friends I have made and kept in contact with they come mostly from specific groups. For example I am not in touch with friends from school, nor college, nor my first two jobs. But I am from my time at BIS Applied Systems and my time at Inforem. Something about working with a set of similarly educated, trained and dedicated professionals. We were good at what we did (I think I can say that), we enjoyed it and worked hard at it. There was a real sense of camaraderie and that is why we are still in touch.

That reminds me I must given the BIS crowd a call...

Also, in a piece of brazen and shameless self-promotion, I promised a link to our holiday home - now available for rent. http://www.trulli-puglia.com/ (no longer active).

Previous gatherings:

• No really it's networking not drinking!
• CSC alumni meet in All-Bar-One

Avon Cottage Under Offer

We have accepted an offer on the Cottage so, subject to survey and contract, we will be selling and moving on after 13 happy years there.



We went down to the cottage on Saturday to meet the purchasers and it was a most satisfactory meeting. Moving house is not just a financial transaction, it is an important emotional transaction as well, especially with a house of such history and character as the cottage.

Andrew and Karen were charming and understand the need to care for old things; they are Morris Minor owners as well. Is is good to feel that it is going to sympathetic new care-takers for that is how we consider ourselves.

Now we need to set the wheels in motion for all that moving will entail. High on the agenda is what to do with all our furniture. The house is Wandsworth is fully equipped and now we have a three bedroomed house to merge into it! Some stuff we will include in the purchase price like short wardrobes that fit in the low-ceilinged bedrooms, some we will try and find good homes for and the local auction house will be taking much of our overflow.

Suitable for Vegetarians

I have friend, let's call her - say - Danielle Byrne, who is a vegetarian. On flights her veggie meal is usually accompanied by some kind of tisane or herbal infusion. Her reaction is along the lines of "What is this? Bring me red wine!" Just because one might be vegetarian that does not mean one is also TT.

Last night I was finishing off a bottle of 2004 Saint Joseph when my attention wandered to the back label. There I spotted a large "V" and the legend "Suitable for Vegetarians". Phew. that's a relief then!

As if any dead animals went into the making of wine, honestly what an egregious bit of labelling. See also [Full of Fruit Goodness]

ICE: In Case of Emergency

Chatting to JohnP over lunch I mentioned ICE and since he had not heard of it I thought many others might not have either. Very simple idea:

In your mobile phone book include an entry with the name ICE and the number of someone you would want to be contacted in case of emergency e.g. when the paramedic scrapes you off the road after an RTA.

The original idea came from a Cambridge paramedic [full story / further tips]. I have two programmed into my phone: "ICE Mary" and "ICE Parents".

Health and Beauty

We had a good last day for May and Duncan's visit on Tuesday. We took them to Simpson's in the Strand for dinner and then saw Porgy and Bess at the Savoy - an excellent production.

Wednesday we dropped them off at Heathrow and headed straight to Grayshott Spa for four days of detox and relaxing. My project decided on the cost-saving idea of making all contractors take a mandatory three week break: good for them but not for us. So we decided to make use of the enforced down time and take some time out.

The Health part consists of not eating so much and only drinking a glass of wine a night instead of a bottle a night. Mary has gone completely dry for a few days. Though when I say dry that is not counting the gallons of water; it may be good for you but it don't 'alf make you pee a lot.

Also we are getting up at 7:15 every morning for the pre-breakfast power walk through some lovely NT countryside which will make the Monday morning alarm less of a shock.

Not sure how much it is doing for my "beauty" but is is very pleasant to have various massages and scrubs and being forced to lie about doing Su Doku and crosswords. Do I really have to go back to work Monday?

Happy New Year 2007

A Happy New Year to all my readers.

We had a pretty good NYE. Six of us went to Albannach on Trafalgar Square for a gala dinner with ring side view of the revellers outside. The food and wine was excellent as were the band, apart from we were sat next to them and had to ask to be moved to enable conversation to resume.


Me and Mary's mum, May

The restaurant showed the fireworks on a big screen and they looked pretty darned spectacular.

We got a taxi in OK but the return journey was a little more problematical. After booking we discovered that most of north of the river was due to be closed to traffic. No problem: get the tube to Waterloo and get the taxi to pick us up there.

Unfortunately the crowds were such that the police were restricting access to Charing Cross Station. We had a chat with the constable on the barrier and explained that we had not one but two registered disabled with us. They let us through and, as luck would have it, a Waterloo East train was due in about 5 minutes.

Then the taxi driver phoned to say that he could only get as close as Lambeth Bridge and could we get there. No chance with May's conditions! When we got to Waterloo there was only one train showing, leaving for Wandsworth Town in 10 minutes - another result!

So we got home about 2:15 am. A little later than intended but May coped incredibly well under the circumstances. Next time we will arrange something closer to home. That is if we are not in South Africa for Christmas as we hope; we are planning a trip there for this time 2007/8.

Live Long and Prosper :-)

Street Life (Graffiti)

Mary and I took a stroll down to the river for a Thames-side walk and came across this graffiti.


Not Banksy but someone, presumeably "Focus", very much in that black and white, stencilled style.

Christmas wines

Having some time at home over the Christmas period gave Mary a chance to sort out the cellar. We had cases and cases of wine still its cardboard boxes. But no more! And all of this to make it easier to dig out some fine wines for Christmas; modesty prevents me from naming names and vintages.



We had my Mum and Dad over for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and had a fine old time. As always with them the meal is the entertainment with much chat and banter. Christmas Day we had goose at 5 o'clock and then we did succumb to "couch potato syndrome" and watched a DVD of the first 'Pirates of the Carribean' with Johnny Depp.