It’s taken me ages to get round to posting much about the lads’ trip at the end of June 07. You remember I left you while we were eating lunch on the first day. Well a man of my stature (weight that is) needs to eat at least twice a day so the evening found us at Vila do Grove, just behind the Hotel Andalusia Plaza.
I was invited to Live Earth. What a dilemma. All tickets cost £55. I went free. Should I make a charitable donation to some worthy cause? Which cause exactly? I mean this was not a charity event, it was about awareness, man. Quite a hippy concept really, but played out in the hard commercial word of the new millennium. Some of the messages from the various entertainers who participated were more genuine than others but I have to admit to laughing. It’s not very rock and roll having some pop idol jumping on stage and telling us all not to leave our TVs on standby, before launching into some familiar guitar riff.
There were also doubts about the CO2 created by the event itself. I travelled public transport all the way, only to see the Black Eyed Peas being helicoptered in to Wembley for Al Gore’s denouement.
All in all though, a fantastic day out. It’s not often you get to see such a high class line up. Here’s the pictures:
Firstly my (somewhat feeble) attempt at a panoramic view of Wembley.
I was asked by one of the sponsors of “new” Wembley “do you want to come and see Muse?” My total dumbfounded silence made them re-phrase the question – “I’ve got a box at Wembley to see some band you’ve never heard of, do you want to come?” “YES PLEEEEEEEASE!”
OK so I am too old to have heard of Muse – you can laugh but at least I remember Led Zeppelin – I still have most of their albums (on vinyl of course) and I saw Spinal Tap at Live Earth – rock on!
I thought you might be interested in the pics.
Muse? Imagine the bastard son of Radiohead and Suede and (if you are a Gen Xer like me) you will see what I mean.
I did once manage to get some sort of degree from Leeds University Business School which is not exactly the Ivy League. Still it stood me in good stead for being comprehensible – occasionally. Sadly this was not true when I visited The Ivy with the wife.
Being in the West End we opened with a quick glass at the Cork & Bottle on Cranbourn Street and swiftly moved on to the surprisingly quiet location next to the St Martin’s Theatre where The Mousetrap has been playing since 1436:
A lads’ weekend in Puerto Banus (or Port Banus as I call it) and we needed some lunch. We stayed at the H10 Andalucia Plaza (best breakfast in the whole of Spain). Still, it was our first day and we hadn’t had any breakfast so we ambled in the direction of the port, and we decided to sample a nice “friendly” looking bar: Café Los Amigos.
Is Channel M the future? As I sat in my living room in Leeds I pondered the segmentation going on in the digital TV market. I have a foot either side of the Pennines so frequently flick to Channel M to find out what is going on in Manchester. I could equally be living in Spain and watching the aptly named Living in Spain channel, or enjoying a glass of plonk whilst watching Wine TV. However, as a Man City fan there is fat chance you will find me subscribing to MUTV (no hyperlink – I don’t want to promote that channel).
So it seems that whatever your interest, you can find a TV channel to suit. So why not specialised wine dealers, I thought. My next business plan may be to open a wine shop that specialises in unfashionable Bordeaux wines.
La Réserve du Grand Plantier 1990 is a Côtes de Bourg wine that I have never heard of, so this is not a good start to my business idea.
Me and my Chairman finished a meeting in the City and decided to go for a quick beer………which turned into erm, two bottles of wine.
The reason being that we stumbled upon Clause on Lovat Lane off Eastcheap EC3.
This bar must think it is Christmas every day. Between 5pm and 7pm they have a happy happy happy hour where all wines (except house) are half price! So we “invested” in an Errazuriz Sauvignon Blanc, Chile 2005 at £17.50 (or rather £8.75). It would have been rude not to have ordered some nibbles to go with it, so we didn’t.
Then after a second bottle we ordered the bill and, including service, it was less than 20 quid – what in London? In the City? At a posh bar? “Yaw ‘avin a larf” my chirpy cab driver said to me on the way back to Kings Cross.
Oh the wine? Er yes, it was full of rich fruits and –  oh who cares – it was very very very drinkable and at that price I suggest you get down to Clause the very next time that the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the, well er, 17 to be precise . . . . .
Clause. 1 Lovat Lane, off Eastcheap, London EC3R 8DT. +44 (0) 207 283 6191.  info@clause-bar.co.uk. www.clause-bar.co.uk.
My visit to the Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall was so inspirational I had to find a wine link so I could write about it in my Confessions.
Fortunately there were lots of reasons including this fabulous set of sculptures by Tim Shaw.
So I hear that Sven is in the running for my beleaguered team Manchester City. As if crisis following crisis following crisis is not enough, we are trying to tempt the heel enhanced weather girl lover to manage our sorry club.
It’s not that I dislike Eriksson for footballing reasons, it’s just that the reasons he would want to join would only be financial. He is a clever man and despite all the moanings, he was one of the most successful England managers and that followed a highly successful club career.
Just popped out to the local…..sort of.
Monday night is not the best night out ever in Manchester. Even Cloud 23 is half shut and cordoned off. Worse still, the bit cordoned off is the bit where you can do a jig and a reel on a glass “porthole” looking straight down 23 floors to Deansgate…if you dare (and I did, but only after a cocktail).
Stumble It!
