10.29.06
Posted in Wine at 16:48 pm by Guy
Sar and I had a great day yesterday at the London Wine Show. I had seen the show advertised in Decanter Magazine a few weeks ago, but due to other committments, we were not actually going to grace the orgainsers with our presence - then I got a call from the Fishmonger himself, I roped in Roger, and all of a sudden, we had a posse to put a dent in the wine stock in Islington.
As Sar, Rog and I tried to kick off slow, knowing there were 5 hours of winetasting, Dave, Kirk and Nils arrived and went hard from word ‘go’. Dave decided that the wine show was going to be the launch pad for ChateauToby’s wine diaries and told every wine stand that I was a wine columnist and changed the web address on as many exhibitors computers to ‘Week 1 of the Wine Diaries’ as possible!!
There were too many stands to possibly get through in one day, so we ended up passing between stands and generally stopping wherever somethinh caught the eye. We tried to avoid the known brands, and instead focus on country general stands like Portugal, Spain, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa. The girl (I can’t remember her name but one of the others might…………..) at the Spanish stand was particularly long-suffering, as were Kevin and Hayley of SA Wines Online and the chaps at Cybercellar. BTW, whilst discussing Cybercellar, I still don’t like the Meerlust Rubicon, regardless of how much it is talked up. Its supposed to be in the Neil Ellis, Thelema, Kanonkop range, but its not.
We tried to spy out different wines, wines we wouldn’t normally try or buy, expensive wines that we couldn’t normally afford. Rog picked up a couple of interesting Chilean Cabernats, but other than that there wasn’t much cash dropping. That is, until we indulged in some classic Bordeaux. And, we were there for a while, so much so, that Chateau Peyrabon deserves a post all of its own - the wine diaries week 4. Coming soon!
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Posted in General at 15:51 pm by Guy
Friday night, approximately 25 of us celebrated both Jenni and Brett’s birthday - who incidently share the same birthday - at the Medieval Banquet, in St Katherines Docks, Tower Hill. The Medieval Banquet experience is similar to that of Greensleaves at Camelot in Hillcrest, near Durban, SA. Instead of rewriting a blurb, I’ll quote London Vision:
This is a night out with a difference. The evening is held in the cellars of the Ivory House situated in St Katherine’s dock which was built in 1827, and is a stones throw from the Tower of London. King Henry VIII hosts the evening amidst the light of flickering torches and with dancing wenches carrying out your every wish (serving you food!). A traditional four-course English banquet meal is served while you enjoy the entertainment of jousting knights, strolling players, incredible strong man, medieval songs and medieval dancing which the audience can participate in. England’s past comes to life through the evening and you can be forgiven for thinking that you’ve stepped back in time. Unlimited wine and beer are served all night and there is a disco until late.
It was a great night, good to catch up with a lot or people we haven’t seen in a while, and the entertainment was good fun. On the face of it, its not a steal at £35 per person, but that is literally ‘all in’, including a 4-course meal and booze (ale, wine and cider), and the entertainment, so its good value for money.
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10.23.06
Posted in Entertainment at 21:38 pm by Guy
Quick heads up, please don’t fall into the trap - as we did - and go watch The Last Kiss because you dig Scrubs. Scrubs rocks. In contrast, this movie must be the single most depressing film I have ever seen. Ok, thats a lie, there are serious movies like Hotel Rwanda that were pretty sad and depressing, but in terms of less serious/more lighthearted films - the last kiss is the definition of depression. AND there’s no end! Great theme, and there are some funny moments, I will give it that, but I left the cinema wondering whether the sun would actually rise this morning. Then I realised I was in the UK and that the sun isn’t going to rise again until April anyway!!!!!
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Posted in Technology at 21:30 pm by Guy
UPDATE - Gismo buddies, check the comments of the post - any answers?
Bit late, but rather late than never, the second part of the Chateautoby toy story….. and here it is, my brand spanking new Orange SPV C600 smartphone! izzz nice, very nice. I really enjoyed my first SPV experience (C550) so I’d thought I’d take advantage of Orange’s generousity and take up a new C600 for the next 12 months. Read the rest of this entry »
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10.19.06
Posted in General at 22:17 pm by Guy
seems to be a lot on the go at the moment, yes, even for London, and the days are flying by quicker than light is dissappearing from the skyline. The one thing I really enjoy about England is that you get real seasons. Noticeable changes in the weather and light, fauna and flora. Nature working as it has for millions of years - no this is not a post about anything as serious as evolution - if you want serious, go to Wozafriday, where you can contribute to the 38 (at time of writing) comments on tabloids, or SA tourism, or the Department of Home Affairs, or …. I can’t even remember - ah yes, bias and audience targeted reporting. Speaking of which, even if you don’t give a sh1t about the BBC or The Daily Sun, take a read anyway at the comments, some people are hilarious when emotions fly.
Back to Chateatoby…… Although I have been running quite a bit in the past couple of years, it appears as though I am slowly but surely being sucked into Emslies dark world of high energy training - well, the word ‘training’ is relative, and 5 hours drinking at Porterhouse last Thursday evening would suggest there isn’t any serious effort at the moment. Anyway, in my haste, and probably after a couple of extra strength German beers (I still contest that I was not sobre when I agreed - even if I was at the office and it was the middle of the day), I have signed up to give a ‘half-ironman’ a whippping. Sorry, let a ‘half-ironman’ whip me. This is a long term goal, perhaps in the spring next year (we have 2 solid weeks of drinking rum in the sun in the West Indies at the end of April to factor in), but the preparation has commenced. Like, swimming again for the first time in years……… I think my arms are going to fall off. serius.
I used to be pretty good swimmer, so on contemplation of my new adventure, I know that I can cover the necessary distance on foot (21 kms), the bike may be the toughest part for me (80kms) - 26kms up to Leith Hill on Sunday reproved that, but the swimming? Midmar Mile distance? - piece of cake……… maybe in my former life as a dolphin trainer!!! And thankfully the swimming but is first….. goodie. Can’t wait.
In all seriousness though, I’m really llooking forward to giving this a go, I don’t think I have a full iron-man in me, but who knows, if I conquer the half, I may try. On this note, if anyone has done any half-iron mans in Europe in the Spring time that they can recommend please let me know.
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10.15.06
Posted in Travels at 19:37 pm by Guy
My annual company dinner-dance is usually held in May, but with the whole takeover, the weekend was postponed until October. We returned this year to the old haunt of the New Forest and the Passford House Hotel near Brockenhurst. Last year was a forgettable detour to Eastbourne. In comparison however, the Passford House Hotel has always been popular, and offers genuine top class service in an amazing setting in the middle of the New Forest. This was my third visit to the Passford House Hotel on the company tab, and it was another great weekend. Sar and I chose to take up the reduced rate offer and head down on the Friday night to getr full value. Dave and Deanne joined us on the trip down and we enjoyed a good evening in Lymington. On Sat Sar and I set out on the bikes early to take in the best of the New Forest and ended up riding a solid 50km on trails, firebreaks and country roads, and passed through Burley, Bolderwood and Brockenhurst on our adventure. We met Tony and Gayz for lunch and then joined the already festive mob back at the hotel to watch England struggle against Macedonia - at least the Carlsberg was cold. Sat evening was the dinner dance, which was thoroughly enjoyable. Sunday we all enjoyed breakfast, before Sar and I destroyed the opposition on the manicured croquet lawn - although it should be mentioned that Tony displayed some rather odd tactics when in easy range of the win. Tea was served at the hotel, before we took in Christchurch and Ringwood on a roadtrip back to London.
Thankfully there isn’t much evidence of the Sat night activity, but i have uploaded some photo’s here.
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10.11.06
Posted in Technology at 17:09 pm by Guy
Ever been really annoyed ‘holding’ for an operator in the UK, waiting for British Gas, Thames Water, etc, for ages knowing that you’re paying the bill? Or being stung, dialling 0870 or 0871 numbers from your mobile, which don’t come out of your free minutes and cost a fortune? Check out this cool website say no to 0870 which will give you the alternative landline number corresponding to the 0870 or 0871 (amongst others). Dial the alternative number and you’ll be charged at standard rates, or will come out of you ‘free’ mobile minutes!! Sweet.
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Posted in Entertainment at 14:41 pm by Guy
Had another belter of a company weekend in the New Forest this weekend past, and more to follow on that including some less-than-flattering photo’s………. in the meantime though, quick note re the cinema. Went to see The Departed last night and thought it was superb. Martin Scorsese has assembled an unbelievable cast for this including Jack Nicholson, Leonardo LeCaprio, Matt damon, Mark Whalberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, and the rather nice Vera Farmiga. It follows the story of the Irish and orginased crime in Boston. Prepare yourselves for a typical Scorsese finish!
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10.02.06
Posted in General at 13:41 pm by Guy
I watch teh progress of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa closely from within the construction industry, and thus far I hate to say that the reports aren’t very good. More detail later, but I found 2 really interesting articles on IOL today discussing the escalating costs of the infrastructure work nationwide, and the prospect of the Sharks transferring from a 52,000 seater stadium to a 72,000 seater across the road - is it just me, and setting aside all the financial mumbo jumbo in the article, but does something seem inherently STUPID with building a 72,000 seater stadium across the road from a new(ish) 52,000 seater stadium????
UPDATE
DaveM alerted me to the offical link for the development which is well worth checking out
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10.01.06
Posted in General at 11:57 am by Guy
Kam organised tickets to see Dara O’Briain at the New Wimbledon Theatre last night. What a show. I’ve always enjoyed a bit of stand up, but haven’t been to see a live show in ages. O’Briain was absolutely hilarious, mixing up a few routines with ad hoc interaction with the crowd. A word of warning though for anyone going to one of his shows, he doesn’t let people in the front row off easily! This show was the first of the new tour and was the only event in London as Dara O’Briain now heads off to less glamorous venues of Bradford, Yoevil and Grimsby!
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