Xwords

Just finished the Paul and sent it off in the fax;
believe the spoiler was 3 down.

As someone once said, oats are for horses and Scotspersons!

Could be wrong but we will see.

The dirty digger can drink his heart out

I am reliably informed by esteemed colleague Memex 1.1 that Flann O’Brien's Research Bureau had solved the problem of tinternet and journalism before it was even invented. Smart boy wanted as it were!

I do not remember the column or if I do a surfeit of Trink has done its work. However, I too believe that we are onto something here.

But why stop at journos, who are notoriously undiscerning when it comes to booze.

I think we could develop a niche market with Trink in the book trade all we need for the future is the electronic version.

Just think about it:-
Homage to Catalonia:- fumes of La Rioja or Penedes wafting from every page of the electronic Trink and to fund it, there, the offer of a lifetime, locked into your Kindle or Sony E-reader.
Buy your own vineyard!
Invest in the future of Tempranillio!

The House of Bernada Alba:-
Wafts of mothballs, and lavender.
However, cunningly, underneath these overtones the brazen, saline sensuality of Manzanilla, the bargainbasement enjoyment of Montilla-Moriles.

At a tangent:-
Once upon a long time ago in a far distant land, La Rioja, I remember standing around in a garage with a guy known to all but himself as Garbanzo. He proffered the potable result of his vinicultural endeavours out of large green plastic containers. Un be fucking lieve able. It was white, it came from La Rioja but it would never pass the test, it would never be certified but, Jesus, you could drink it till the cows came home.

Why I get up in the morning

A daily dose, seven days a week, from 6 am BST

Feel the coffee, smell the zeitgeist!

And now for those who do not tweet; Roland, ma man, give me some skin?

Latest offering:-

Just finished all 5 of POTUS's beach reads. Loved Tom Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded", his take on Martha's Vineyard.

Foxy, very Foxy.

Quality and Symmetry

So herself claims that her Aunty Jenny won second prize in a competition for embroidery when her work was presented the wrong way round.

Sad, undoubtedly true, and a testament to the quality of the work of people who had better things to do and did them!

I did enjoy the visit to the undercrypt of the PoW.
There are some very good people in the world.
Happy birthday!
I hope you enjoyed the trip to Paris.

My thoughts go up

Three meetings to complete work, for the summer at least. I feel my steps light as a feather.
A bacon sarnie, last night's edition of the Wire, some cooking and a relaxing evening. Bliss.
My mobile vibrates just outside our local village 'Hub'. I pull over as no one rings me on the mobile. I am Johnny No Mates Mobile.

Heigh ho! Family emergency involving carers, ambulence persons district nurses and frantic phoning. I collect the survival kit and head for the hills. I joke later in the car that if I have my survival kit, an apple, a pork pie, a crossword and a book I can survive all but a direct nuclear hit.

Bookism!

I've just finished Rick Gekowski's - Tolkein's Gown. Most of the last three chapters I read under the shade of a tree in the vicinity of Wicken Fen. We spent the morning going round the main part of the Fen, which was a bit flat in terms of flora and fauna at this time of year. However, we did have clear sight of a Painted Lady.


After lunch I thought I would find a pleasant bolt hole under the tree and read, undisturbed!
Indeed, I did and enjoyed it. My companions returned with tales of watching kingfishers fish.
Maybe life is a mixture of joys experienced and joys to come!

I am convinced that Rick Gekowski is a real person, he trades in books, he has a catalogue,
he has pictures of himself on the web, etc, etc. What if he were a fiction of someone's imagination?

Retable

So; I thought it would be good to go back and take a picture at Thornham Parva church.
Even though as a lad I had been steeped in the trappings of holy mother church I was not conscious of the word retable until my late forties. A trip to Burgos and its churches produced more retables than you could shake a stick at. In fact they probably had retables in the bawdy houses but, of course, we didn't check. Anyway here is a poor snap of the one at Thornham, very famous.

In the church we were able to look on the Retable and ponder.

Making our way through the churchyard we stumbled across the last resting place of Sir Bas and Lady Joan Spence.

Being creatures of little sensitivity and lowly station we pitched up on the only bench in the churchyard amongst the departed and had our picnic. The heat of the day and the food caused some of our stout party to lie back and enjoy the sun. Those of us on the bench promised to cover with the vicar, if he appeared, and say that they were only getting in some pre-burial practice.

We had a good walk and if you are interested you could trace our steps here!