All posts by roger

Swirl, Sniff and Taste

Entertainment, ,

I bought the DVDs for the first two series of Oz Clarke and James May’s Great Wine Adventure and watched them pretty much back to back. As a result I am now something more of a wine expert than I was before. I know now that you need to swirl it first to look at the colour. Then sniff it to get a hint of the grape variety and the underlying flavours infused into the grape from the surrounding soils and vegetation. Then of course taste it and then start making comments about body, notes, hints an nuances. Afterall that you spit it out – although I have to say I am usually tempted to swallow it and enjoy it to the full.

With this newly found experience I attended a wine tasting evening held at Smith’s of Smithfield (owned by that chef John Torode – the one on Masterchef who shouts at all the contestants when talking in a normal voice should suffice). Of course the reality is that there is much more to wine tasting than simply swirling sniffing and tasting. It takes years to build an appreciation for the wines and how they are put together. So I don’t really know much about wine tasting – but I do know what I like.

James May wanted to find a Californian wine that represented the best of what the new world had to offer for less than a tenner.

He revealed his choice – a Zinfandel called Ravenswood Lodi.

Imagine how surprised I was. This is actually my favourite reasonably priced wine – so I don’t know whether that is a good or a bad coincidence! “This wine is soft, round, spicy and jammy with voluptuous overtones of plums and blueberries, this wine lives large — and irresistible — in the here and now” (that’s what the marketing blurb says).

What do I think? I just think it tastes fantastic.

A Game of Ping-Pong between Scotland and Ireland

Fitness and Yoga

I have never really been a fan of either Rugby or Football. It’s mainly a physical thing. I associate both sports with pain.

When I was a child being forced to wear short pants to school, break time was fraught with danger. Footballs would suddenly appear out of nowhere and smash agonisingly into cold bare flesh. You could always tell who had been “footballed” by the nasty red welts glowing angrily on pasty white legs.

The very first time I ever played Rugby I broke my arm in 2 places. It is the games teacher’s fault. He explained the rules in too simple a manner.

“When you get the ball,” he said, nicely wrapped up in his warm tracksuit and scarf whilst we were freezing in our shirt and shorts. “Run like mad for the other end of the field and don’t let anyone stop you.”

This sounded easy. Even I could do that! So as soon as I caught the first ball that was passed to me I did as instructed. I started sprinting for the opposite end of the field. The only thing standing between me and scoring my first ever try, in my first ever game, was a kid called Tanner. Built like a tank and already possessing of the thirst for violence that people who grow up to become Rugby players obviously relish, Tanner lunged for me. I tried to dart around him – but he effortlessly lifted me off the ground and smashed me down into the floor and took the ball away from me.

The plaster of Paris had to stay on for six weeks. This immediate holiday after my first introduction to the sport gave me plenty of time to develop a dislike for the game that I have never over come.

I also dislike the whole multi-million pound business empire ego trip that Football has turned into and its resulting mega stars, WAGery and high profile arrests after binge drinking all nighters. At least Rugby is a little more refined and not the constant red top fodder that Football has become.

So I went to see Scotland versus Ireland at Murrayfield (it was corporate hospitality rather than a renaissance). Not having been a fan of Rugby I have no real benchmark upon which to judge the quality of the match. My companions assured me that this was a really crap match. I agree especially as at one point I thought I was watching a game of ping-pong ball given the amount of tedious kicking backwards and forwards there had been.

The saving grace was that on the occasions that Scotland scored they played music and the crowd sang along – “I WOULD WALK FIVE HUNDRED MILES AND I WOULD WALK FIVE HUNDRED MORE!” This was very funny, especially as Ireland was not given the same courtesy.

FlyBe to the Moon

Through My Mobile Camera Lens

FlyBe to the moon

Let me sing among those stars

Let me see what spring is like

On jupiter and mars………………

Nanny says you can’t drink your Wine

The Crazy World in which we Live

The Scottish Parliament’s latest silly season idea is to set a minimum price for alcohol in a move which they think will discourage binge drinking and loutish behaviour.

Can I start by saying that I do believe that we have a problem in Scotland – particularly with the amount of underage drinking that goes on and the resultant violence and damage that it causes.

However I believe that their ill thoughout proposals, like many other legislative proposals that come from Holyrood or Westminster these days, seem designed to “nanny, bully and tax” the innocent majority whilst not solving the problem or targeting the guilty minority. I have never been a binge drinker, I have never been drunk and dis-orderly, I have never assaulted anyone or wrecked someone elses property whilst under the influence of alcohol. That said I do enjoy a few glasses of wine at the weekend. The proposed legislation targets people like me rather than those who run rampage on our streets.

Proposing new legislation as they have done generates headlines and creates the impression that the Government is doing something. But as always the desire to generate headlines through new legislation obsures the fact that they do not use the existing legislation which is perfectly adequate for tackling the issues. Talking about new legislation hides the fact that we cannot properly police the existing laws let alone any new ones.

We do not need new laws. The Government need to have the guts to force the police to enact the existing laws. If the police say they are too mired in red tape to do that then remove the red tape. Force the police to prosecute those who buy alcohol under age and those that sell it to people who are under age. Close down a Tesco or close down a Pub or two. That would soon send a message that they meant business with the existing laws. If people are drunk and committing acts of violence or property damage – again arrest and charge them under existing laws.

The problem with the headline grabbing new legislation is that theywill fail to enact that in reality but will have succeeded in nannying, bullying and taxing people like me – the innocent majority.

Beyond the question of alcohol to the UK in general – it seems to me that there is an increasing desire to “nanny, bully and tax” both from Westminster and Holyrood. I have decided that I can no longer sit back and stay silent at the constant attack on our hard earned income and our civil liberties. I intend to become much more vocal on this subject and others that concern me. Government is always saying that it “listens” to what the people are saying. I see little evidence of being listened to at the moment – but in future you will find my voice to be louder.