Innoculatte, coffee after a hangover

Picture this if you can, great food, grand cru classee St Julien Chateau Talbot 2000, several Montechristo number 2 cigars, seated on a magnificent pillared terrace whilst gazing down across the massive pool right down to the Mediterranean. That was yesterday, Sunday lunch,  this is the kind of lunch I dream of. However, today is Monday, and the morning after.

Our hosts Simon and Sarah Howes apparently do this every week, and I thought I was privileged! Then we were about to leave at around 7pm after the pungent small of burned toast became evident,  when supper was suddenly produced!

I thought I was going to Australia for the first cricket test alone in late November , but it seems possible I will have a playmate, Simon, you have to do this! I depart 22nd November, flights are still relatively cheap, come on the rest of you  guys,  you know you want to.

Several interesting facts emerged from lunch, but I am jiggered if I can remember them all, such is the impact of the onset of altzhiemers, well, that and impact of Chateau Talbot, one of the great wines and one of the great years. I am afraid I do however remember asking Simon to open another bottle as I wanted to be sure of the quality, and the fantastic host that he is, he did! I am hanging my head in shame.

One fact I did remember is that Simon, who buys all his red wine from the same vineyard, St Julien, since 1980 has calculated that he has bought over 12,000 bottles since then and yet they still don’t know who he is and don’t answer his emails!  Only in France.

Recently I was sent this picture by one of my fellow Currencies Direct associates.  I cannot explain it nor condone it.

Sheep surprise

I think the surprise must be how dark her wool is, I can think of no other reason why this should be sent to me with the tag “Sheep Surprise”  If any of my readers have any other suggestion to make, can you please keep it to yourselves. Steve Weston and Alan Monks, I mean you.

I must admit to feeling a little jaded today, hence the lateness of this post and when reaching for the coffee I was reminded by The Washington Post description of taking coffee intravenously when running late; Inoculatte.

This would save actually having to lift the cup…. Work is so hard when you don’t feel like it, I mean I thought I wanted a career as a writer, but it turns out I just want to get paid!  I must commence writing today for my new batch of articles for Cote D’Azur Villas, about the more obscure village of Provence.  Normally I find this subject interesting, particularly if I feel the need to go to these village and sample their wares, such as the local rose, but today I could not face it, that is how bad it is. I am suffering and I know I deserve it

Tomorrow I must be up at the crack of sparrow fart to be in Cap D’ail by 9am for the Mike Lorimer seminar, and it’s just started raining.  Welcome to Monday.