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>

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.

Product Survey

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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)

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)

Bathroom Work Starts

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


Bathroom before and after Monday

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

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

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.



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.

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

Street Life (Battersea Bridge Signs)

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


Apparently the orginal brass version got stolen so many times this wooden replacement had to be installed.


A bit of ironic, self-referential, post-modern graffiti.

Molly returns from Bristol

"It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?" *


Molly Wing Repair



Molly Boot (US:Trunk) Repair



Molly and Friends at Charles Ware

Well not exactly but she does have servo-assisted brakes, she can now run on unleaded petrol and she does have normal indicator lights. Loads of other internal improvements *plus* metal instead of rust under the paint!

* Elwood: The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Mother-in-Law Visits

It has been a quiet couple of weeks with not much of blogworthy note as we have had Mary's mum, May, down from Scotland while Mary's sister Sandra and family were on holiday. So mostly we have been leaving work promptly to go home for an early supper and a evening in watching the box. Weekends were a bit busier in order to keep May entertained.

The first weekend we went over to Ian and Sarah's for a family gathering to celebrate nephew Tom's 18th birthday. Sunday Mary and I took May down to Farnham for lunch with my mum and dad.

The next weekend we took May to a matinee of "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Savoy. Musicals are not normally our first choice but May likes them and, as musicals go, this was good. Most of the tunes are instantly recognisable and it introduced me to a piece of history and culture I was ignorant of. See Wikipedia on Shtetl.

This weekend just gone we whizzed down to Bristol to collect Molly and drive her back to London. In the evening we had old friends from Glasgow for dinner. Geraldine and Alisdair were down for a funeral on Friday and came over to stay with us Saturday. We had a very enjoyable dinner party, I faded at one o'clock but Mary and Geraldine were chatting till gone 2. I must pop round to the neighbours and apologise in case our late night music disturbed them.

Sunday it was all off to Heathrow for their return to Scotland. For us it was a relaxing meal and an early night.

Pizza Oven Door

Italy still has a strong tradition of small local craftsmen; not everything is made in big factories. While we were round at Carole and Mino's we spotted a new wrought iron table base. We needed one as well so asked where they bought it. The answer was a local blacksmith. Perhaps he could make a door for our pizza oven as well?

The following Wednesday Mino guided us to a basement workshop down a back street where we met the man and, with Mino's help, discussed our requirements. The *following* afternoon we went back and collected a made-to-order table base and oven door. How is that for service!


Pizza Oven Door

It is a beautifully made door: solid, fits perfectly, opens smoothly, has a little spy hole to check on the inside, chunky rivets and little brass knobs. I am so pleased with it.

Water Delivery for Trullo Azzurro

Shortly after our arrival I walked over the stone cover of the cistern and got a very hollow sounding echo. With guests arriving imminently that was cause for concern.

We got Daniele, the architect, to introduce us to the water man. Well actually he introduced us to the water man's Mum who lives in the nearest hamlet just 1km away and who gave us her son's phone number. He was able to come round that evening and dump a tankful of water down our "pozzo" (well).



When the house is fully occupied we will need about one of these a week. Fortunately the tankerful only costs 20 Euro a pop so that is not too bad.

In this photo you can also see the recent plantings and the new irrigation system. That should keep the plants alive until our next visit.

Meeting the Italian Neighbours (2)

Walking over to visit Carole and Mino we took a shortcut off-road down some dirt tracks. We passed a couple sitting out in their yard drinking a glass of wine and called out a cheery "Buon giorno" to which the reply was "Must be English!" I suspect my panama hat was the giveaway, plus Mary's tall blondeness.

To cut a long story short it turned out that Chris(tine) and John are in the process of retiring to Italy. On the way back we stopped, introduced ourselves and drank their wine. Subsequently we had each other over for dinner and we went out for a meal together on our last night in Italy. 


Chris and John dine with us at Trullo Azzurro

Chris is a fluent Italian speaker courtesy of her Italian mother. We got on famously as they are really friendly and (dare I say it) pleased to have English speaking neighbours. Between them and Carole and Mino I feel we are starting to find our way in to the local community.

Meeting the Italian Neighbours (1)

Carole and Mino Maggi live just 2.5 km away in the local village of Trito. They run a lovely holiday complex of trulli called "Truddhi" (apparently the local dialect word for Trulli).

Carole is Welsh and met and married local boy Mino 30 years ago. They returned to Italy and have been there ever since. They are charming and friendly and said we could use their pool. We very gratefully accepted given the recent heatwave.

They also run a cookery school and do demonstration dinners. Mary and I are going on the course in September to learn how to cook real Italian, local style.

While we were out there with Bill, Andrea and Elaine they put on a demonstration dinner for their guests and us. Many of their guests were actually family so it was a very sociable evening. We arrived at 6 o'clock and watched while Mino and his sister Zia prepared and cooked the entire meal from scratch. We finally ate at 9 by which time we were ready for the food!

I was watching with great interest how Zia used the pizza oven hoping to pick up tips on how to use ours. More on the oven later...

How to find GPS coordinates from Google Maps

How to extract the decimal coordinates of a location using Google maps for use in your GPS.

1. Find your location.
   Go to http://maps.google.co.uk/ search on your destination and zoom in.


2. Centre on the location.
   Right mouse on the exact spot and choose "Center map here"


3. Click on "Link to this Page".
   This will display a URL something like: "http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=buckingham+palace&ie=UTF8&ll=51.500795,-0.142264&spn=0.003166,0.007231&z=17&iwloc=addr&om=1"


4. Extract the coordinates.
   Embedded in the URL you will see "ll=" (that is double L for Lima). Immediately following that are the coordinates, in this example 51.500795,-0.142264. The first is N (S if negative) the second is E (W if negative).

If you want to convert these coordinates to degrees, minutes and seconds you can use The Federal Communications Commission converter at:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html

If life gives you cherries...

...make cherry jam.


Market Stall


One of the fun features of any foreign land is the visit to the market. We are midway between Cisternino, market day Monday, and Locorotondo, market day Friday. So we have done a lot of wandering around the markets admiring the local fresh produce and the ludicrously cheap clothing and housewares.


Mary at a Market Stall

One old boy was selling cherries and it was the end of the day. We asked for mezzo kilo (just over a pound weight) but he kept piling them in the bag despite our cries of "basta!" (enough!). We ended up with 2 kilo (4½ pound) for 5 Euro.


Cherries before triage and stoning

What to do? We couldn't eat that many. So Mary consulted her Italian cook books and found "ciliegie sotto spirito" (cherries in alcohol) and I googled a cherry jam recipe in the internet cafe.

First step was to separate into eating, cooking and chucking. The alcoholic recipe was easy. Buy neat alcohol in the supermarket (not something you can do in the UK, maybe use gin or vodka instead), bung in some cinnamon stick, a couple of cloves and a spoonful of sugar then cover with alcohol.


Cherries under alcohol

The jam was not so successful because I chucked the sugar in then read the recipe which said boil the fruit first *then* add the sugar. I removed as much as I could and proceeded as instructed but I ended up with something more like cherries in syrup than jam. Still it was very tasty spread on toast so I'm happy.

Roasting our visitors

The first half of this trip has been full of visitors.

On the Tuesday 19 June, Jim - a work colleague - arrived with his wife Debby and their three youngest daugthers. He is American of Sicilian ancestry and so took the opportunity while working in the UK to get the family over, visit Rome and then drive down to get the ferry over to Sicily. As this was while we where in Puglia I said "Come stay with us" and so he did!

They stayed overnight and left on Wednesday morning the same day as Bill (pictured here buying melons in the local market) arrived for a week. Then on Friday two girl friends of Mary's, Andrea and Elaine, joined us for a very long weekend.

It has been a heatwave round here. Bari reached 47 C (117 F), the hottest since records began. Fortunately up in the hills we peaked at a mere 40 C (104 F)

Everybody left on Wednesday 27 June so now we have ten days to relax on our own.