Confessions of a Wino

What a great sporting weekend.  The English winning at cricket (handsomely defeating India), and promptly, but not all that convincingly, despatching the USA at rugby in the World Cup.  Even the hapless Steve McClaren had his moment in the sun sending the Israeli football team packing having thrice, without reply, rubbed their noses in the excrement of their sloppy defence.

But the résultat du jour was on Friday.  The French were humbled by Argentina in the opening game of the Rugby Union World Cup - a triumph of gritty Malbec over refined claret?  So in my own personal campaign to cheer up the old wine nation I nipped down to a British supermarket (Tesco) and bought some French produce – a can o’ wine to be precise.

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Just time for a quick review of a very funky little Albanian owned place in London’s West end.  Hidden behind Wyndham’s Theatre on an alley opposite famous fish resto, J Sheekey, it is a wine focussed place with a short but interesting and not over expensive wine list.  It also has a decent looking bistro menu.  We stopped for a quick glass on the way to buy show tickets.

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Taking a bus from Banús, Paul managed to work out that we needed to get off after 11 stops.  “This looks very like the centre of Marbella!” I shouted as we passed the 5th bus stop.  Paul made us stay on board and was awarded the title of “knob of the holiday” when we finally alighted in the slums, some 2.5 kms past the centre.

On reflection though, I always say if you want to experience the true culture of a place, go into the back streets where the locals live.  We found Bar Parquesol on the Avenida Navel Una first – very “local”.  The owner of the tabac/newsagent across the street was cheerily drinking his profits at the bar.  Overheard voices were unsurprisingly Spanish and I imagined the word mañana being the most common in use.  We had a couple of beers then decided to move on to the more touristy part of the port.

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I had hoped to celebrate my 100th post with a large glass of optimism, but sadly I am completely sober, in every sense of the word.  The chances of winning the British lottery are 1 in 14 million.  Conversely the chances of having a miscarriage, according to our doctor, are a much more slender 1 in 4.

Isn’t it strange how some people turn to alcohol at such times as this, like solace can be found in the dregs of an empty Jeroboam?  I associate drinking wine with good times and at various (fortunately occasional) low points in my life have stopped drinking completely.

At the age of 43, I had already given up hope of fatherhood.  We had not been specifically “trying” for a baby but, in fairness, neither were there any artificial barriers to prevent such an event.  So when Freda announced she was pregnant, firstly I laughed, and then I wondered aloud which wine it was that had suddenly boosted my sperm count.  Then I realised she was serious.

We know enough people who have suffered the misfortune of losing a pregnancy.  We knew that the biggest risk is in the first 12 weeks, so we chose not to tell anyone until the first midwife appointment.  We missed the target by the slimmest of margins – just one day.  This could be seen as having reached the semi-final to get beaten 5-0, but in a way it is much better than having won the cup, only to have it taken away for a rules infringement.

Freda has spent a little time in hospital sorting out the aftermath, and this has gone excellently.  Physically, she is 100% back to normal – no damage done.  Emotional scars may take slightly longer to heal but we are both quite reflective in reaction to events both good and bad.  Life goes on for those of us fortunate enough to be in good health.

By the way, you may be interested to know that I write many of my posts in advance.  Often I’ll write three or four on a Sunday and publish them over the coming week or two.  I always keep a couple in stock “in case of emergency”.  So expect normal service to be resumed very soon.

More on Puerto Banús, and this was an afternoon sojourn to the Salduba Pub, right on the Port entrance.

The house wines we tried were a 2006 Rosé – BACH Vina Extrisima.  Quite pleasant if basic.  Timid flavours of strawberries and ice cream.

The next was a red wine:  BACH Crianza 2002.  Bloody awful. with strong flavours of napalm, vinegar and strawberries.

Both were house wines but the rest of the list was uninspirational.  Go to the Salduba by all means, but I’d stick to beer.

Salduba Pub, Muelle de la Ribera, 29660.  Puerto Banús (Málaga).  T: +34 952 811 092

Well the English football season is back and what better way to celebrate Man City’s stunning victory over West Ham, than with an English wine review? 

This wine was made from a grape variety about as well known as most of the Man City first team.  For those not in England, Sven-Göran Eriksson has been on a buying spree across the globe bringing in players from Bulgaria, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Bosnia & Herzegovina.  Names like Elano, Bianchi, Geovanni, Garrido, Fernandes, and Schonburger.  Oh no, hang on, that last one was the name of the grape used to make this Three Choirs Stone Brook 2005.

 

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At my local sandwich shop I have been lunching on fruit, sandwiches, and crisps (hey if you’re American I mean chips, ok?).  I am not particularly loyal to any brand of crisps so I was tempted by an offer from Seabrooks which suggested that by collecting 8 packets I could send off to claim a pint sized mug.

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I am so impressed with WordPress – it is the platform for both my blogs.  But I may have stepped over the line in my loyal devotion, because I am the new, and proud, owner of a WordPress T-Shirt.

I now have two real concerns about wearing it.

1. The only people who will recognise the logo will be geeks, and I will look like one myself.  Do I have to stop shaving?  Should I start wearing sandals (and socks)?  What do I do if I get approached and asked an awkward question?
2. As a Manchester City fan, the colour red (Man United) is anathema to me.  What if people think I am a Man United supporting geek?  Come on guys, can we please have a blue T-Shirt next????

Have you checked out the Wine Life Today website?

I found it recently and thought it was a great idea.  If you have ever heard of Digg, you are probably a bit techie.  Nonetheless, I’ll press on.  Digg is a news aggregation and bookmarking website that allows users to vote for (Digg) the best stories and these get promoted onto the front page so they get a better chance of being read by busy folk.  But Digg is really aimed at geeks so if you look for softer categories like wine and food for example, you will not find them.  So someone had the great idea of a Digg for wine and decided to call it Wine Life Today, only instead of Digging, you Toast the news item.

Now there are two other differences between Digg and Wine Life Today.

1.  Digg is well used and Wine Life Today is not – the most toasted post I could find only had 10 supporters.  The top Digg article had 41,619 – hmmmm.

2.  Digg has a good algorithm and WLT is totally rubbish.  It looks like any post of any age will make it onto the front page with only 4 Toasts.  Today there is a post three days old with 5 toasts that is above a three day old post with ten toasts.

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Dr Thaksin sent me a text message (at his expense) with a personal invite to meet him in Albert Square after the Man City game against Valencia.

Man City invites a European team over at the start of every season for the “Thomas Cook” trophy.  Some would say that this is the only chance we get to watch any European football and I have sympathy with that view.  Valencia were the opponents on this occasion.

City lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, a welcome change to the dire 4-5-1 inspired home performances of last season that resulted in only 10 goals all season.  However, even as pre-season friendlies go, this turned out to be amongst the most non-eventful.

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