Picture the scene.
You're walking along the seafront, somewhere abroad, perhaps southern Spain.
The sun is just setting over the clear blue sea.
Yachts are bobbling lightly as the gentle sea waves ripple their way up to the soft, fine, golden sands.
The promenade is lined with palaces of gastronomic delight. The subtle waft of varying, fresh Mediterranean cuisine filling the air.
The chink of glass upon glass as the multitudinous evening repasts are toasted with a nice Rioja or perhaps a chilled Sangria.
Lovers look into each others eyes maybe blushing slightly and lowering their eyes as a compliment is made.
Olive skinned children sit quietly and enjoy the flavours of the food unconcerned by the colour or texture of the morsels they load into their smiling mouths.
Soft music also fills the air, perhaps something local, maybe a guy playing a guitar while a girl dances an alluring and exotic Flamenco.
Can it get any better than this? Really !!!
Oh yes because you can experience the "GREAT British Seaside"............
You're walking along the seafront, somewhere in the UK, perhaps Great Yarmouth.
The sun is barely visible as in sinks it's way behind the dark, thundery clouds and into the cold, Greenish/Brown and uncompromising North Sea.
Oil Tankers meander their way across the horizon being battered by the harsh, frantic waves that pound upon the stoney, dog s**t covered, cigarette butt, fly-tipped sand.
The promenade is festooned with outlets offering various deep fried objects and the air is filled with wafts of hot boiling cooking oil, vinegar and the odd waft of fresh horse s**t direct from the back ends of the knackeryard nags that drag poorly maintained carriages up and down so that poorly maintained people don't have to walk to the next doughnut emporium.
The chink of tin upon concrete as the next can of cheap, super strength lager or cider topples out the overfilled bin.
Lovers, when not shouting at each other, can only look into one of each other eyes as the other two are pointing in completely opposite directions.
Pasty skinned children wail as they shovel in copious amounts of hydrogenated fat into their already far to obese bodies and of course when ordering they we're explicit in making sure that nothing green accompanied their feast.
Cheesey Euro pop is being banged out of the grotty looking, shellsuit populated amusement arcades where you actually only find amusement in the elaborate exteriors that try to convince the great unwashed that they have somehow been magically tele-ported to Las Vegas (Caesers Palace my arse)
So there you go, only one winner there for me.......UK all the way :-)
With that in mind here is my recipe of the day.
1. Get some stuff! usually Fish but basically anything will work from Sausages to Chicken to Shoes and perhaps Books !!!
2. Cover it in batter and deep fry it until it's really crisp around the edges and soggy in the middle (Sogginess may not apply to books, particularly hard backs). Keep warm under bright halogen lamps (TIP - it's best to use oil that been constantly used for about 2 weeks without being changed)
3. Chips - Nothing else will do....Naturally these must have been deep fried.
4. Pile deep fried item number two into a polystyrene container and top with deep fried item number one.
5. Cover liberally with salt which was sourced from at least 4,000 miles from the very seafront you are on and drown in cheap malt vinegar.
6. ..............ENJOY.
7. Die young.
Saturday 31 July 2010
Thursday 29 July 2010
Finally a Wifi connection
Hey all,
Apologies for the lack of blog this week. I'm actually on holiday in Norfolk near Great Yarmouth. It's been a strain and the weather has been pretty bad but worst of all nowhere has internet access! Honestly it's like being on the 80's all over again.
Food however has been pretty good with one exception. BBQ on the first day. There are 4 of us here and 2 of them are kids (7 year olds) so naturally I made 6 burgers of varying spiciness, 4 Beef Steaks, 4 Pork Steaks, 6 Cumberland Sausages, 4 Chicken Kebabs, Tomato Salad and of course the obligatory Potato Salad.....Needless to say 3 days later and there is still some left in the fridge.
Last night I made Britain's favourite home made caravan holiday park tucker Spaghetti Bolognaise. As passé as it is I still love a good old Spag Bol and I make it differently each time, which I suppose it's how it should be, after all the "Bolognaise" as it's referred to on these shores is actually known as "Ragu" in Italy and each region or even family has it's own version......but you all knew that right?
The let down on the food front however has been the take away curry we got on Tuesday. I was really craving one so headed off to the local village Tandoori and it was pretty poor. The sauces we're OK but the one chicken dish had about half a breasts worth of meat in it and the lamb dish had about two chops worth, they were more soup than curry.
That disappointment was soon in the past because after eating we went to a neighbouring holiday park to catch the talent competition and the cabaret...wooooooo
What a giggle that was !! The talent show was funny, it was all little kiddies so that made it bearable viewing. The winner was a little girl who got up on her own and sung a sing, I couldn't hear a word she sung but she was only about 4 or 5 and it was very brave of her to get up there.
Before that was the cabaret which was this group of young teenage kiddies who were collectively a singing and dancing troupe. The sound people completely buggered up the music meaning that there was loads of feedback and afterwards we were told that they'd been playing the backing music at the wrong speed so it was all out of key...Oops.
Heading back tomorrow via Ely to see my family there so should be out and about if anybody fancies a drink in town later on.
Anyway.......moving on I think it's all about Sven in the Park on 14th August. 12hr set (5pm - 5am) only slight problem is that it's in Livorno, Italy. Still I'll get some prices together and let people know if they happen to be interested in a little roadtrip.
Mind you I'm also wanting to head to Ibiza at the beginning of September too so could be an idea to save a bit of cash.
So that's about it, pretty much everything covered. Catch you laters.
Apologies for the lack of blog this week. I'm actually on holiday in Norfolk near Great Yarmouth. It's been a strain and the weather has been pretty bad but worst of all nowhere has internet access! Honestly it's like being on the 80's all over again.
Food however has been pretty good with one exception. BBQ on the first day. There are 4 of us here and 2 of them are kids (7 year olds) so naturally I made 6 burgers of varying spiciness, 4 Beef Steaks, 4 Pork Steaks, 6 Cumberland Sausages, 4 Chicken Kebabs, Tomato Salad and of course the obligatory Potato Salad.....Needless to say 3 days later and there is still some left in the fridge.
Last night I made Britain's favourite home made caravan holiday park tucker Spaghetti Bolognaise. As passé as it is I still love a good old Spag Bol and I make it differently each time, which I suppose it's how it should be, after all the "Bolognaise" as it's referred to on these shores is actually known as "Ragu" in Italy and each region or even family has it's own version......but you all knew that right?
The let down on the food front however has been the take away curry we got on Tuesday. I was really craving one so headed off to the local village Tandoori and it was pretty poor. The sauces we're OK but the one chicken dish had about half a breasts worth of meat in it and the lamb dish had about two chops worth, they were more soup than curry.
That disappointment was soon in the past because after eating we went to a neighbouring holiday park to catch the talent competition and the cabaret...wooooooo
What a giggle that was !! The talent show was funny, it was all little kiddies so that made it bearable viewing. The winner was a little girl who got up on her own and sung a sing, I couldn't hear a word she sung but she was only about 4 or 5 and it was very brave of her to get up there.
Before that was the cabaret which was this group of young teenage kiddies who were collectively a singing and dancing troupe. The sound people completely buggered up the music meaning that there was loads of feedback and afterwards we were told that they'd been playing the backing music at the wrong speed so it was all out of key...Oops.
Heading back tomorrow via Ely to see my family there so should be out and about if anybody fancies a drink in town later on.
Anyway.......moving on I think it's all about Sven in the Park on 14th August. 12hr set (5pm - 5am) only slight problem is that it's in Livorno, Italy. Still I'll get some prices together and let people know if they happen to be interested in a little roadtrip.
Mind you I'm also wanting to head to Ibiza at the beginning of September too so could be an idea to save a bit of cash.
So that's about it, pretty much everything covered. Catch you laters.
Friday 23 July 2010
Another weekend has begun.....
Well it's everybodies favourite day of the week. Glorious Friday :-)
Today I shall mostly working but looking forward to this evening when I'll be helping out my fellow DJ cohort Keith Newman down at Mango in Reading. After last weekend perhaps it might be a good idea to pace it out a bit rather than get a bit too wobbly a bit too early. Still very good times and I'm actually fooling myself if I think tonight will be anything different.
This time however we will be inside giving the main room some serious old school classic house party vibes. should imagine that'll kick off at about 10:30pm but the garden is open from 9pm and it'll be free entry up until 10pm.
Before that however I think I shall go and have some rather lovely and tasty tucker over at the London Street Brassierre. Been a few times now and it really is right up there with the best Reading and the surrounding area has to offer.
The Chef de Patron Paul Clerehugh was one of the judges at the final of the cooking competition that I took part in and his comments about my dish after the event backstage we're just so inspiring. I was always acutely aware that I could cook a bit but what he said really made me realise that their was something inside of me, a talent I suppose, that need to get out hence why we're more actively seeking pub/restaurant opportunities than ever before.
After the final Paul wrote me a voucher entitling me to a meal for two at his restaurant for whenever I wanted to use it, and we did. It was completely VIP, champagne on arrival, whatever drinks we wanted throughout the meal and all the food we could eat. It was brilliant and such a fantastic and completely unexpected gesture.
Whenever I go to a restaurant I really try to have something different from the previous visit but I already know what I'm having tonight for a starter and that's the diver caught Scallops with Cauliflower Purée, simply amazing! I could eat that dish everyday for the rest of my life and never bore of it.
While in Ibiza a couple of weeks ago we (Carley & I) introduced Emily and Grandad to Aioli which you may know as the Garlic Mayonnaise stuff you get delivered with bread to your table at virtually all Spanish restaurants.
Well they both absolutely loved it. When you consider that at the time Emily was just 6 and Grandad would turn his nose up at the mere mention of the word Garlic this was some revelation. Emily asked if we could get it at home which of course you can from most supermarkets but thats the processed stuff and nowhere near as good. So you can imagine my surprise when I got home after a rubbish day stuck in traffic to find lashing and lashings of Aioli handmade my Carley & Emily. Let me tell you it was beautiful too, easily as good if not better than any I've had in Spain. So massive thumbs up to the girls. I'll get the recipe and have it posted on my facebook page very soon.
Following up the Aioli was a traditional Spaghetti Carbonara which again was perfectly executed by Carley and such a great comfort dish, so much so that I was asleep on the sofa within minutes of finishing it. I think it came from a Hairy Bikers recipe but I'll have to ask Carley and then if I can find a link to their site I'll stick that up too.
Only a couple of days to go and then we're off to Norfolk for some seaside shinanighans......can't wait to dip my toes in the cool, greeny brown waters of the North Sea.
Mind you one of my absolute favourite chefs Galton Blackiston has a Michelin starred hotel and restaurant up that way................hmmmmmmmm
Today I shall mostly working but looking forward to this evening when I'll be helping out my fellow DJ cohort Keith Newman down at Mango in Reading. After last weekend perhaps it might be a good idea to pace it out a bit rather than get a bit too wobbly a bit too early. Still very good times and I'm actually fooling myself if I think tonight will be anything different.
This time however we will be inside giving the main room some serious old school classic house party vibes. should imagine that'll kick off at about 10:30pm but the garden is open from 9pm and it'll be free entry up until 10pm.
Before that however I think I shall go and have some rather lovely and tasty tucker over at the London Street Brassierre. Been a few times now and it really is right up there with the best Reading and the surrounding area has to offer.
The Chef de Patron Paul Clerehugh was one of the judges at the final of the cooking competition that I took part in and his comments about my dish after the event backstage we're just so inspiring. I was always acutely aware that I could cook a bit but what he said really made me realise that their was something inside of me, a talent I suppose, that need to get out hence why we're more actively seeking pub/restaurant opportunities than ever before.
After the final Paul wrote me a voucher entitling me to a meal for two at his restaurant for whenever I wanted to use it, and we did. It was completely VIP, champagne on arrival, whatever drinks we wanted throughout the meal and all the food we could eat. It was brilliant and such a fantastic and completely unexpected gesture.
Whenever I go to a restaurant I really try to have something different from the previous visit but I already know what I'm having tonight for a starter and that's the diver caught Scallops with Cauliflower Purée, simply amazing! I could eat that dish everyday for the rest of my life and never bore of it.
While in Ibiza a couple of weeks ago we (Carley & I) introduced Emily and Grandad to Aioli which you may know as the Garlic Mayonnaise stuff you get delivered with bread to your table at virtually all Spanish restaurants.
Well they both absolutely loved it. When you consider that at the time Emily was just 6 and Grandad would turn his nose up at the mere mention of the word Garlic this was some revelation. Emily asked if we could get it at home which of course you can from most supermarkets but thats the processed stuff and nowhere near as good. So you can imagine my surprise when I got home after a rubbish day stuck in traffic to find lashing and lashings of Aioli handmade my Carley & Emily. Let me tell you it was beautiful too, easily as good if not better than any I've had in Spain. So massive thumbs up to the girls. I'll get the recipe and have it posted on my facebook page very soon.
Following up the Aioli was a traditional Spaghetti Carbonara which again was perfectly executed by Carley and such a great comfort dish, so much so that I was asleep on the sofa within minutes of finishing it. I think it came from a Hairy Bikers recipe but I'll have to ask Carley and then if I can find a link to their site I'll stick that up too.
Only a couple of days to go and then we're off to Norfolk for some seaside shinanighans......can't wait to dip my toes in the cool, greeny brown waters of the North Sea.
Mind you one of my absolute favourite chefs Galton Blackiston has a Michelin starred hotel and restaurant up that way................hmmmmmmmm
Thursday 22 July 2010
Banking....
Due to me losing my bank card this morning I had to visit my branch to transfer some funds to another account. While I was standing outside with my cup of tea waiting for it to open along with several other people it occurred to me that it would be far more beneficial to the bank and it's customers if the opened earlier, when people weren't at work !!
I mean how hard could that be to implement? You could have a half the people who normally work there start at 7am and finish at 3pm then the rest 9am to 5pm that way the busier lunchtimes would be covered by the same amount of staff and customers would not have to take time off work because they could do their banking bits before going.
Just thinking from the staff side it must be better for them too. If you rotated it so that each team did a week of early starts followed by a week of late starts or even let them sort it out between themselves then they'd be able to make time to do things they might not normally be able to do like pick the kids up from school, get to the high street shops before they shut, get a haircut...the list is endless.
For the bank it'd mean less people having to do their banking at the weekends so lower staffing requirements and of not that at least it'll ease the pressure on the current workforce and be a boost for morale.
I have no problem at all with the people who work in my bank (Santander) they were positively excellent, very helpful and made things very easy for me being a relative bank counter novice but I'd much rather have got there at 7am and not had to then rush into work.
Unless there is somekind of strict legislation that restricts banks opening hours then I might very well just forward this to all high street banks and see what they say.
I mean how hard could that be to implement? You could have a half the people who normally work there start at 7am and finish at 3pm then the rest 9am to 5pm that way the busier lunchtimes would be covered by the same amount of staff and customers would not have to take time off work because they could do their banking bits before going.
Just thinking from the staff side it must be better for them too. If you rotated it so that each team did a week of early starts followed by a week of late starts or even let them sort it out between themselves then they'd be able to make time to do things they might not normally be able to do like pick the kids up from school, get to the high street shops before they shut, get a haircut...the list is endless.
For the bank it'd mean less people having to do their banking at the weekends so lower staffing requirements and of not that at least it'll ease the pressure on the current workforce and be a boost for morale.
I have no problem at all with the people who work in my bank (Santander) they were positively excellent, very helpful and made things very easy for me being a relative bank counter novice but I'd much rather have got there at 7am and not had to then rush into work.
Unless there is somekind of strict legislation that restricts banks opening hours then I might very well just forward this to all high street banks and see what they say.
Wednesday 21 July 2010
Rat a tat tat
......Went the door at 7:15 this morning.
Well not so much "Rat a tat tat" as " Bang a Dang a Lang"...Jeez that man had some knock on him.
It was one of those knowing door knocks only confirmed when I poked my head out the bedroom window and saw the clipboard.
Nope not double glazing and certainly not any kind of religious visitor this was Baliff pure and simple.
So loud was the knock that little'un jumped and fell out of bed, good job they are bouncy at that age (Mind you she's being a right little whatnot this morning, I'd have been sent to my Nannas by now for some serious telling off)
Anyway all to do with a previous tenant which of course I knew it would be because we get loads of brown envelopes through the door with other peoples names on. Apparently this one was for unpaid parking tickets in Hammersmith, not that I needed to know this but I'm sure the guy who came round really doesn't get the chance to talk to too many people inside, or even outside of work for that matter so I humoured him and I'm counting it as my good deed for the day.
Anyway back to the pub daydreaming and so far I've come up with a couple of menu ideas that I think might work but I need to study it more. I know what I want to do but I cannot see a mixture of traditional pub grub and sophisticated classic French/Italian/Spanish cuisine going down well.
Whatever happens it'll all be homemade making use of fresh, seasonal produce from as many local producers as I can find. I'm even gonna put up signs near the local allotments to tell those who have them that our doors are always open to them and their produce.
Imagine that. Sitting in the restaurant and being able to see the person who grew the Leeks and Potatoes that made the very soup your are having. Thinking of having a farmers market in the car park too providing it's big enough.
Right well my ramblings are over for now, best get to work. If I think of anymore drivel today I shall post it right away.
Well not so much "Rat a tat tat" as " Bang a Dang a Lang"...Jeez that man had some knock on him.
It was one of those knowing door knocks only confirmed when I poked my head out the bedroom window and saw the clipboard.
Nope not double glazing and certainly not any kind of religious visitor this was Baliff pure and simple.
So loud was the knock that little'un jumped and fell out of bed, good job they are bouncy at that age (Mind you she's being a right little whatnot this morning, I'd have been sent to my Nannas by now for some serious telling off)
Anyway all to do with a previous tenant which of course I knew it would be because we get loads of brown envelopes through the door with other peoples names on. Apparently this one was for unpaid parking tickets in Hammersmith, not that I needed to know this but I'm sure the guy who came round really doesn't get the chance to talk to too many people inside, or even outside of work for that matter so I humoured him and I'm counting it as my good deed for the day.
Anyway back to the pub daydreaming and so far I've come up with a couple of menu ideas that I think might work but I need to study it more. I know what I want to do but I cannot see a mixture of traditional pub grub and sophisticated classic French/Italian/Spanish cuisine going down well.
Whatever happens it'll all be homemade making use of fresh, seasonal produce from as many local producers as I can find. I'm even gonna put up signs near the local allotments to tell those who have them that our doors are always open to them and their produce.
Imagine that. Sitting in the restaurant and being able to see the person who grew the Leeks and Potatoes that made the very soup your are having. Thinking of having a farmers market in the car park too providing it's big enough.
Right well my ramblings are over for now, best get to work. If I think of anymore drivel today I shall post it right away.
Tuesday 20 July 2010
Offers
So I have offers on the table from both the previous tenants and the Pubco involved in the pub that we want to show an interest in.
Both options are inviting but there is so much to consider. Thankfully there are some free resources out there to get you on the right track.
This one is particulally helpful as it's been created by people who have been there and either failed, telling you why or succeeded again telling you how.
Of course each business should be taken on it's own merits and what might work for one may not work for another but far better it is to heed the advice than it is to go in feet first only to end up bankrupt, jobless and homeless.
It also depends on how we really want to view this opportunity. Are we intending to stay here for quite a while, building up a good trade and basing our future on it? Or should we use it as a learning curve to see if we can adapt to life in the licensed trade, a stepping stone to bigger things.
I think I'm leaning towards the latter but then we have a 7 year old so would the thought of potential upheaval for her be too much for her to cope with? Seeing that big school beckons next term and from what I remember this is when her lasting lifetime friendships will probably be formed.
Lots of people quite rightly warning of the pitfalls of signing up with a Pubco which of course shows caring for our future but also getting tremendous encouragement from not only friends but from many of the pub regulars who think it'd be the best thing to happen for it, even given our intention (should we get it) to completely change the emphasis from a currently completely wet trade to a predominantly food trade.
Even changing that trading ethos has it's challenges. Firstly the overheads will be much higher which will have to be taken into account when going over the figures. Extra staff will be required. Kitchen equipment will need to be blast cleaned and serviced not forgetting all the extra table and table furniture that will be required.
How do you respectfully and politely tell people that a suitable standard of dress must be adhered to at all times? i.e. no dirty or dusty work clothes shaking debris into lovingly prepared homecooked meals. This would instantly outcast the majority of the previous regulars whom lets be honest ain't gonna be too happy about it.
Previous regulars can actually have a very damaging effect on the new business plans, especially as it was previously a drinkers pub. Yes it's very nice to have regulars but at a Pubco run establishment the profit margin is very low on beers so relying on these customers is not going to be a great business move considering the changes we want to make.
They can also feel like their local actually belongs to them rather than anybody else and that they have some devine right to choose the path that the business takes which is of course wrong.
I think this sums up how a relationship between tenant/landlord and customer should be - You should should be friendly with all your best customers but none of your customers should be your best friends.
Now the only other thing I can thing of at the moment is what I'm going to have on the menu......
Answer below please :-)
Both options are inviting but there is so much to consider. Thankfully there are some free resources out there to get you on the right track.
This one is particulally helpful as it's been created by people who have been there and either failed, telling you why or succeeded again telling you how.
Of course each business should be taken on it's own merits and what might work for one may not work for another but far better it is to heed the advice than it is to go in feet first only to end up bankrupt, jobless and homeless.
It also depends on how we really want to view this opportunity. Are we intending to stay here for quite a while, building up a good trade and basing our future on it? Or should we use it as a learning curve to see if we can adapt to life in the licensed trade, a stepping stone to bigger things.
I think I'm leaning towards the latter but then we have a 7 year old so would the thought of potential upheaval for her be too much for her to cope with? Seeing that big school beckons next term and from what I remember this is when her lasting lifetime friendships will probably be formed.
Lots of people quite rightly warning of the pitfalls of signing up with a Pubco which of course shows caring for our future but also getting tremendous encouragement from not only friends but from many of the pub regulars who think it'd be the best thing to happen for it, even given our intention (should we get it) to completely change the emphasis from a currently completely wet trade to a predominantly food trade.
Even changing that trading ethos has it's challenges. Firstly the overheads will be much higher which will have to be taken into account when going over the figures. Extra staff will be required. Kitchen equipment will need to be blast cleaned and serviced not forgetting all the extra table and table furniture that will be required.
How do you respectfully and politely tell people that a suitable standard of dress must be adhered to at all times? i.e. no dirty or dusty work clothes shaking debris into lovingly prepared homecooked meals. This would instantly outcast the majority of the previous regulars whom lets be honest ain't gonna be too happy about it.
Previous regulars can actually have a very damaging effect on the new business plans, especially as it was previously a drinkers pub. Yes it's very nice to have regulars but at a Pubco run establishment the profit margin is very low on beers so relying on these customers is not going to be a great business move considering the changes we want to make.
They can also feel like their local actually belongs to them rather than anybody else and that they have some devine right to choose the path that the business takes which is of course wrong.
I think this sums up how a relationship between tenant/landlord and customer should be - You should should be friendly with all your best customers but none of your customers should be your best friends.
Now the only other thing I can thing of at the moment is what I'm going to have on the menu......
Answer below please :-)
Monday 19 July 2010
Monday Monday....So good to me
Well apart from waking up and having to cancel my bank card it's been good.
The schools have broken up for end of term which of course means no maniacal women on the road in their ridiculously big 4x4's, (which was an absolutely necessary purchase after the birth of baby Horatio) doing their make-up and texting their therapists.
I mean how can a 43 year old first time mother possibly cope with with the lack of room provided by a BMW convertible, plus the fact that all the other ladies at the tennis club have them.
I'm joking of course, I really do love it when I almost get run off the road by a perma-tanned, pink terry towling clad psycho in a Range Rover sport trying to avoid a puddle, it's a hoot.
I just don't get this "Chelsea Tractor" thing. I mean my mum did perfectly OK with the 3 of us and a metallic blue MK II Ford Cortina with the black vinyl roof !! Oh actually the blue one was a MK III, the bright yellow one was the MK II.
Also I didn't see one "Baby on Board" dangly sign or the even wackier "Princess on Board" or perhaps even the stupendously amusing "Little Angel on Board" variety. What are they all about anyway?
Are we to assume that the average driver wakes up one morning and thinks "Ooooh it's a lovely day, had a great weekend too. What shall I do today?........I know I'll go out for a drive in my car and purposely crash into the back of someone.......Oh best not crash into that car as they have a baby on board, I'll have to choose one without one of those very informative dangly things."
I'd like to see other ones done in the same design. Things like "Chav in Training on board" or "Potential Thug on Board"....I think you get my drift :-)
So I'm grateful for school holidays that I didn't come across any of this and that makes me happy.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTT.....I've just found out that schools don't infact break up until Thursday.............I'm a plum. I apologise for my previous rant although I'm not going to delete it because I think it's mildly amusing.
Well still it was a nice traffic free journey......... (DOH)
In other news my upcoming weekend plans have been scuppered by the closure of my local pub (RIP - Sad times) however I have already tendered my interest in taking it over and becoming a Restaurateur and Publican but to be honest the brewery that actually owns the pub (Enterprise Inns) are notoriously difficult to work with and because of the tied lease there is no real incentive to make a healthy business out of it.
I'd need them to allow me to at least earn what I do now to make it worthwhile and I cannot see that happening especially after reading that one of their pubs had a turnover of £500,000 and the tenants got a return on that of £15,000 !!! Absolutely outrageous profiteering. Not sure a village pub in a suburb of Reading is going to be able to make a turnover of £1m+ in a year.
Making people buy stock at over 60% more than other wholesalers and then increasing rents when profits are made is just completely unreasonable and cannot be an effective business model.
Seems to me and probably many others that the people running these business models have absolutely no interest in preserving the tradition that is the great British pub.
They are probably more interested in getting the places bulldozed and ready to be replaced by very expensive and incredibly mediocre blocks of flats that can then be sold to people without enough money to repay their mortgages.
Have a great day readers :-)
The schools have broken up for end of term which of course means no maniacal women on the road in their ridiculously big 4x4's, (which was an absolutely necessary purchase after the birth of baby Horatio) doing their make-up and texting their therapists.
I mean how can a 43 year old first time mother possibly cope with with the lack of room provided by a BMW convertible, plus the fact that all the other ladies at the tennis club have them.
I'm joking of course, I really do love it when I almost get run off the road by a perma-tanned, pink terry towling clad psycho in a Range Rover sport trying to avoid a puddle, it's a hoot.
I just don't get this "Chelsea Tractor" thing. I mean my mum did perfectly OK with the 3 of us and a metallic blue MK II Ford Cortina with the black vinyl roof !! Oh actually the blue one was a MK III, the bright yellow one was the MK II.
Also I didn't see one "Baby on Board" dangly sign or the even wackier "Princess on Board" or perhaps even the stupendously amusing "Little Angel on Board" variety. What are they all about anyway?
Are we to assume that the average driver wakes up one morning and thinks "Ooooh it's a lovely day, had a great weekend too. What shall I do today?........I know I'll go out for a drive in my car and purposely crash into the back of someone.......Oh best not crash into that car as they have a baby on board, I'll have to choose one without one of those very informative dangly things."
I'd like to see other ones done in the same design. Things like "Chav in Training on board" or "Potential Thug on Board"....I think you get my drift :-)
So I'm grateful for school holidays that I didn't come across any of this and that makes me happy.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTT.....I've just found out that schools don't infact break up until Thursday.............I'm a plum. I apologise for my previous rant although I'm not going to delete it because I think it's mildly amusing.
Well still it was a nice traffic free journey......... (DOH)
In other news my upcoming weekend plans have been scuppered by the closure of my local pub (RIP - Sad times) however I have already tendered my interest in taking it over and becoming a Restaurateur and Publican but to be honest the brewery that actually owns the pub (Enterprise Inns) are notoriously difficult to work with and because of the tied lease there is no real incentive to make a healthy business out of it.
I'd need them to allow me to at least earn what I do now to make it worthwhile and I cannot see that happening especially after reading that one of their pubs had a turnover of £500,000 and the tenants got a return on that of £15,000 !!! Absolutely outrageous profiteering. Not sure a village pub in a suburb of Reading is going to be able to make a turnover of £1m+ in a year.
Making people buy stock at over 60% more than other wholesalers and then increasing rents when profits are made is just completely unreasonable and cannot be an effective business model.
Seems to me and probably many others that the people running these business models have absolutely no interest in preserving the tradition that is the great British pub.
They are probably more interested in getting the places bulldozed and ready to be replaced by very expensive and incredibly mediocre blocks of flats that can then be sold to people without enough money to repay their mortgages.
Have a great day readers :-)
Sunday 18 July 2010
Recipe Challenge
OK I didn't quite make my engagement yesterday evening.....infact I didn't make it out at all !! Delayed hangovers are horrid things. Unreserved apologies to James Winfield for not making it :-(
Anyway it's given me a bit of time this morning to post up a recipe request on the discussion board on my Facebook page.
The request came from my good friend Amy who is not only an expectant mother but who also has an Iron deficiency.
Now I'm certainly not a doctor and would of course recommend consulting with your GP before taking any other advice of medical conditions.
Whilst researching this I found out so much about the subject so perhaps I might do some more Iron rich recipes.
There is also space on the discussion board to add your own recipe requests so feel free to do so. I'll attempt to answer each an every request I receive as well as anything else you want to ask for that matter.
I wish you all a wonderful Sunday.
Anyway it's given me a bit of time this morning to post up a recipe request on the discussion board on my Facebook page.
The request came from my good friend Amy who is not only an expectant mother but who also has an Iron deficiency.
Now I'm certainly not a doctor and would of course recommend consulting with your GP before taking any other advice of medical conditions.
Whilst researching this I found out so much about the subject so perhaps I might do some more Iron rich recipes.
There is also space on the discussion board to add your own recipe requests so feel free to do so. I'll attempt to answer each an every request I receive as well as anything else you want to ask for that matter.
I wish you all a wonderful Sunday.
Saturday 17 July 2010
Saturday it is
I'm pretty sure my social media executive said to me once that blogging can be dangerous especially when you do it after a night out and you're still a little bit drunk.
Next update - Monday :-)
By the way it's funny how spellchecker on blogspot doesn't recognise the word "Blogging".
Next update - Monday :-)
By the way it's funny how spellchecker on blogspot doesn't recognise the word "Blogging".
Friday 16 July 2010
The Weekend is upon us.
So it is to be sure to be sure.
Well had a great nights sleep last night which can only be a good thing because it's gonna be a crazy one today.
Proper work will be busy enough but also I have to prepare for a long night of DJ'ing and....................we'll call it "Socialising"
(Mix Bar, Reading 7pm til 8pm then Mango, Reading 9pm til 1am on the terrace.....back to back with my extra special guest and good chum all the way back from Thailand Mr Keith Newman.........if anybody is interested
Not really going to have any kind of break in between so might as well just crack on.
Must mention about an ex work colleague who after reading the blog went and ordered and brand spanking new Audi A4 with fully on Wavy LEDs, good work Sean :-)
Audi if you happen to be reading this I'll take commission in the form of a long weekends use of an R8 without LEDs please and if you could give the drivers seat a good steam clean before handing it over that'd be great.
Little one was funny yesterday. We're off to Great Yarmouth at the end of the month and unbeknown to her we'd arranged with our friends that their girl could come with us too. Apparently when told there were tears of happiness and "This is the best birthday ever" was blurted out.....bless her.
Great news too for the Vreeman family over in L.A. and their adoption proceedings. On their way back now from Ethiopia with the new family member. This young girl can not only now look forward to much better life but will also be spending it with a great and wonderful new family. Truly fantastic and an inspiration for us all.
Back to German efficiency. I'm hoping that this will again prove to be head and shoulders about all others as I ordered another Party Animals, Ibiza T-Shirt from Cocoonclub in Frankfurt (the most perfect club I've ever been too......German of course, well done Papa Sven) just two days ago in the hope that it might arrive today.....We'll see.
Oh blast, have to bugger off to Pinewood studios now which wasn't expected and will set me back an hour or so.
Toodle pip :-)....for now.
Well had a great nights sleep last night which can only be a good thing because it's gonna be a crazy one today.
Proper work will be busy enough but also I have to prepare for a long night of DJ'ing and....................we'll call it "Socialising"
(Mix Bar, Reading 7pm til 8pm then Mango, Reading 9pm til 1am on the terrace.....back to back with my extra special guest and good chum all the way back from Thailand Mr Keith Newman.........if anybody is interested
Not really going to have any kind of break in between so might as well just crack on.
Must mention about an ex work colleague who after reading the blog went and ordered and brand spanking new Audi A4 with fully on Wavy LEDs, good work Sean :-)
Audi if you happen to be reading this I'll take commission in the form of a long weekends use of an R8 without LEDs please and if you could give the drivers seat a good steam clean before handing it over that'd be great.
Little one was funny yesterday. We're off to Great Yarmouth at the end of the month and unbeknown to her we'd arranged with our friends that their girl could come with us too. Apparently when told there were tears of happiness and "This is the best birthday ever" was blurted out.....bless her.
Great news too for the Vreeman family over in L.A. and their adoption proceedings. On their way back now from Ethiopia with the new family member. This young girl can not only now look forward to much better life but will also be spending it with a great and wonderful new family. Truly fantastic and an inspiration for us all.
Back to German efficiency. I'm hoping that this will again prove to be head and shoulders about all others as I ordered another Party Animals, Ibiza T-Shirt from Cocoonclub in Frankfurt (the most perfect club I've ever been too......German of course, well done Papa Sven) just two days ago in the hope that it might arrive today.....We'll see.
Oh blast, have to bugger off to Pinewood studios now which wasn't expected and will set me back an hour or so.
Toodle pip :-)....for now.
Thursday 15 July 2010
7 Today and a quick recipe for Y'all
Our little Emily was 7 today which although smashing has rendered me completely knackered.
Not sure if "Our" Emily is the right thing to say but I'm certainly not comfortable with the stepdad tag! Why are there no good alternative names for this situation?
I guess it doesn't matter at all because I'm just so happy and thrilled to bits that she's part of my life, even when she is a little pickle but I'm expecting far worse in the next 10/15 years !!!
Midnight it was before she finally settled down, no doubt excited about her birthday and all the presents.
Anyway we were up too late for her to even open all of them so she's having to save it until she gets back from school which is something I would never have been able to do, they'd be wrapping paper everywhere.
Moving on........
I had an interesting request on Twitter yesterday. A friend challenged me to tweet a recipe in 140 characters or less (Twitter Tweets are limited to this you see) so after some thought I did it so for you non-twittererererererers out there here it is.....
Actually before that I'll give a little bit of info about it.
The dish itself is a peasant dish which originates in the Italian region of Abruzzo which is north of Rome and probably more renowned for it's Montepulciano wine which itself is one of my favourite tipples and naturally goes well with this very simple dish.
I first came across it when I was living in Rome staying at the marvellous Massimo D'Azeglio hotel on via Cavour. In the hotel they have this fantastically opulent restaurant where I dined virtually every night. You can easily do this here as the menu changes daily depending on what is at the market in the morning.
Of course when you eat in Rome you eat well! Four courses is the norm - Antipasti, Pasta, Meat or Fish and Dessert. Played absolute havoc with my waistline (and I've never really recovered) the only break from it was when I came back to the UK every now and again and virtually fasted.
So eating this way made me kind of look out for dishes that wouldn't leave me too full up for the next course but at the same time satisfying and that's how I stumbled upon this little gem, which is now firmly rooted as my favourite pasta dish and it's one I urge you all to try.
I've not worked it out but even using the best dried pasta and best extra virgin olive oil you can find I'd guess that it'll still come out at less than 50p (0.60€/$0.76 US/$0.87 AUD) per portion.
Anyway here it is in it's Twitter form -
Olive Oil into pan on medium heat. Add chopped Garlic & Chilli Flakes, warm through. Cook Spaghetti al Dente then coat in oil and serve.
Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil and Chilli or as the Italians would say Spaghetti alla Aglio, Olio é Peperoncino.
Anymore challenges out there? Perhaps you've only got a few things in the cupboard and want something to make out of them or any funny food combinations you've tried?
Not sure if "Our" Emily is the right thing to say but I'm certainly not comfortable with the stepdad tag! Why are there no good alternative names for this situation?
I guess it doesn't matter at all because I'm just so happy and thrilled to bits that she's part of my life, even when she is a little pickle but I'm expecting far worse in the next 10/15 years !!!
Midnight it was before she finally settled down, no doubt excited about her birthday and all the presents.
Anyway we were up too late for her to even open all of them so she's having to save it until she gets back from school which is something I would never have been able to do, they'd be wrapping paper everywhere.
Moving on........
I had an interesting request on Twitter yesterday. A friend challenged me to tweet a recipe in 140 characters or less (Twitter Tweets are limited to this you see) so after some thought I did it so for you non-twittererererererers out there here it is.....
Actually before that I'll give a little bit of info about it.
The dish itself is a peasant dish which originates in the Italian region of Abruzzo which is north of Rome and probably more renowned for it's Montepulciano wine which itself is one of my favourite tipples and naturally goes well with this very simple dish.
I first came across it when I was living in Rome staying at the marvellous Massimo D'Azeglio hotel on via Cavour. In the hotel they have this fantastically opulent restaurant where I dined virtually every night. You can easily do this here as the menu changes daily depending on what is at the market in the morning.
Of course when you eat in Rome you eat well! Four courses is the norm - Antipasti, Pasta, Meat or Fish and Dessert. Played absolute havoc with my waistline (and I've never really recovered) the only break from it was when I came back to the UK every now and again and virtually fasted.
So eating this way made me kind of look out for dishes that wouldn't leave me too full up for the next course but at the same time satisfying and that's how I stumbled upon this little gem, which is now firmly rooted as my favourite pasta dish and it's one I urge you all to try.
I've not worked it out but even using the best dried pasta and best extra virgin olive oil you can find I'd guess that it'll still come out at less than 50p (0.60€/$0.76 US/$0.87 AUD) per portion.
Anyway here it is in it's Twitter form -
Olive Oil into pan on medium heat. Add chopped Garlic & Chilli Flakes, warm through. Cook Spaghetti al Dente then coat in oil and serve.
Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil and Chilli or as the Italians would say Spaghetti alla Aglio, Olio é Peperoncino.
Anymore challenges out there? Perhaps you've only got a few things in the cupboard and want something to make out of them or any funny food combinations you've tried?
Wednesday 14 July 2010
Last nights TV
How good was it last night to see two fantastic new series start of two fantastic shows?
First up "That Mitchell and Webb look"
Second but by no means second in order of preference "Shooting Stars" My favourite TV show for many many years and still it has me in stitches every single time....It's just crazy crazy quiz show.
Ulrika's still got that look about her albeit slightly weathered if that's not too crueller thing to say, it's not mean't to be horrible, she's still a honey and Angelos in for George Dawes is inspired.
Follow that up with a repeat of the ever watchable "Miranda" I really hope those chaps and chapettes commission another series of this.
Swap over to BBC 4 and it was a double bill of "Family Guy" followed by a double bill of "The Mighty Boosh"
Could only manage a bit of Family Guy, it was the one where they take off Jackass, very funny.
It's nights like these that make paying the TV license worthwhile.
First up "That Mitchell and Webb look"
Second but by no means second in order of preference "Shooting Stars" My favourite TV show for many many years and still it has me in stitches every single time....It's just crazy crazy quiz show.
Ulrika's still got that look about her albeit slightly weathered if that's not too crueller thing to say, it's not mean't to be horrible, she's still a honey and Angelos in for George Dawes is inspired.
Follow that up with a repeat of the ever watchable "Miranda" I really hope those chaps and chapettes commission another series of this.
Swap over to BBC 4 and it was a double bill of "Family Guy" followed by a double bill of "The Mighty Boosh"
Could only manage a bit of Family Guy, it was the one where they take off Jackass, very funny.
It's nights like these that make paying the TV license worthwhile.
German Cars
OK I think it's obvious from my previous posts that I admire virtually anything German.
If something is German it is generally good. Be that mechanical, sporting, musical, hygenic, etc etc.
So why is it that I don't particularly like German cars?
I mean I realise that they are exceptionally well made and designed to their nearest points of perfection but I just don't get excited about them and I cannot explain why.
That is true for most of the manufacturers you can think of. Mercedes, Porsche, BMW et al.
However there is one particular manufacturer of undoubtedly fine auto mobiles that I simply cannot stand at the moment...............Audi !!
Not the old Audi's I mean the new ones and why is that you ask?
Those horrible, rediculous, pretentious LEDs that underline the headlights. The rest of the cars designs are completely adorable.
Why the hell are the LEDs there? They do nothing useful, they just serve the purpose of tell the person infront of them looking back in their rear view mirror that soon they will have some middle aged Top Gear presenter wannabe/Estate Agent/Travelling Salesman (delete as applicable) driving far too close to their rear bumper.
I'm guessing that they are being marketed as some kind of daytime safety feature designed to make people more aware of your presence on the road but even that doesn't make sense at all.
Maybe ones on the rear lights I can understand but on the headlights ?!?!? Why does the person in front of you need to see your any more clearly than the fact that they have a great big car in there rear view mirror?
OK so even if the LEDs were infact useful and even if using them did have the remotest effect of car safety why the hell would you then change the design of them from straight to wavy?
I'm guessing the people that buy these used to be the same people who used to own de-badged BMW 316's or company Ford Mondeo's and drive along in the hottest day of summer with their foglights on.
(Disclaimer - To all drives of Audi's which have these LEDs and do not turn them on this next bit does not apply)
My advice to anybody feeling the need to pull over and let one of these self obsessed morons overtake you during rush hour on the A4 through Slough (for instance) is to wind up your window because eventually when they have to stop directly alongside of you having got only 4 metres further in their journey a waft of stale semen will come right at you directly from the pubis of this person.
But other than that I think they are OK :-)
If something is German it is generally good. Be that mechanical, sporting, musical, hygenic, etc etc.
So why is it that I don't particularly like German cars?
I mean I realise that they are exceptionally well made and designed to their nearest points of perfection but I just don't get excited about them and I cannot explain why.
That is true for most of the manufacturers you can think of. Mercedes, Porsche, BMW et al.
However there is one particular manufacturer of undoubtedly fine auto mobiles that I simply cannot stand at the moment...............Audi !!
Not the old Audi's I mean the new ones and why is that you ask?
Those horrible, rediculous, pretentious LEDs that underline the headlights. The rest of the cars designs are completely adorable.
Why the hell are the LEDs there? They do nothing useful, they just serve the purpose of tell the person infront of them looking back in their rear view mirror that soon they will have some middle aged Top Gear presenter wannabe/Estate Agent/Travelling Salesman (delete as applicable) driving far too close to their rear bumper.
I'm guessing that they are being marketed as some kind of daytime safety feature designed to make people more aware of your presence on the road but even that doesn't make sense at all.
Maybe ones on the rear lights I can understand but on the headlights ?!?!? Why does the person in front of you need to see your any more clearly than the fact that they have a great big car in there rear view mirror?
OK so even if the LEDs were infact useful and even if using them did have the remotest effect of car safety why the hell would you then change the design of them from straight to wavy?
I'm guessing the people that buy these used to be the same people who used to own de-badged BMW 316's or company Ford Mondeo's and drive along in the hottest day of summer with their foglights on.
(Disclaimer - To all drives of Audi's which have these LEDs and do not turn them on this next bit does not apply)
My advice to anybody feeling the need to pull over and let one of these self obsessed morons overtake you during rush hour on the A4 through Slough (for instance) is to wind up your window because eventually when they have to stop directly alongside of you having got only 4 metres further in their journey a waft of stale semen will come right at you directly from the pubis of this person.
But other than that I think they are OK :-)
Tuesday 13 July 2010
Bedtime Reading
I'm really struggling this morning to find something to ramble on needlessly about. Was going to describe how bloomin brilliant it was so see Cocoon recordings had linked directly to my last blog on Facebook......How good is that ?!?
Was going to add the super groovy picture that is on Carley's phone of yours truly at CITP wearing the same shirt as Sven but I forgot the camera :-(
So I've decided on the subject of bedtime reading.
Last night after watching that fantastic program that Griff Rhys Jones did on ITV 4 about New York I thought that seeing as I'd been yawning all day I'd grab myself a book and nip up to bed for some serious relaxing.
So I'd got to about 5 pages in and was totally enthralled. You know when you have a really good book and just the fact that you're going to be turning the page soon gets you really excited because you want so desperately to read the next bit?
Well anyway I was feeling very much like this.
I'm assuming now that you just want to know what book it was that I was reading?
Was it a tale of adventure? Pages upon pages of wonderous tales from exotic corners of our globes...............ERM................No.
Was it an epic romance? Unbridled love and passion that would tweak the heart strings of even the most brutal of men and make women swathe in a sea of eroticism, heart racing at the thought that one day this could all be a reality..............ERM............Not Exactly.
Oh how about a fast pace espionage saga? One man on a quest to find out the truth behind suspected government lies, ducking between the shadows of night, he'll stop at nothing to find and expose the truth that will ultimately save the whole of the human race...............WEEEELLLLLLLL.......ERM......No.
OK what was it?
It was the Good Housekeeping Institute's revised Cookbook......OH Yeah - Rock'n'Roll
Not an ounce of adventure, not a knob of romance, not even as much as 200g of espionage mixed with Vanilla sugar and Chantilly Cream. However I do know now how to save a Hollandaise sauce should it curdle and surely thats enough to give anybody sweet dreams?
Was going to add the super groovy picture that is on Carley's phone of yours truly at CITP wearing the same shirt as Sven but I forgot the camera :-(
So I've decided on the subject of bedtime reading.
Last night after watching that fantastic program that Griff Rhys Jones did on ITV 4 about New York I thought that seeing as I'd been yawning all day I'd grab myself a book and nip up to bed for some serious relaxing.
So I'd got to about 5 pages in and was totally enthralled. You know when you have a really good book and just the fact that you're going to be turning the page soon gets you really excited because you want so desperately to read the next bit?
Well anyway I was feeling very much like this.
I'm assuming now that you just want to know what book it was that I was reading?
Was it a tale of adventure? Pages upon pages of wonderous tales from exotic corners of our globes...............ERM................No.
Was it an epic romance? Unbridled love and passion that would tweak the heart strings of even the most brutal of men and make women swathe in a sea of eroticism, heart racing at the thought that one day this could all be a reality..............ERM............Not Exactly.
Oh how about a fast pace espionage saga? One man on a quest to find out the truth behind suspected government lies, ducking between the shadows of night, he'll stop at nothing to find and expose the truth that will ultimately save the whole of the human race...............WEEEELLLLLLLL.......ERM......No.
OK what was it?
It was the Good Housekeeping Institute's revised Cookbook......OH Yeah - Rock'n'Roll
Not an ounce of adventure, not a knob of romance, not even as much as 200g of espionage mixed with Vanilla sugar and Chantilly Cream. However I do know now how to save a Hollandaise sauce should it curdle and surely thats enough to give anybody sweet dreams?
Monday 12 July 2010
Festivals, Friends & Fun
Lovely weekend..........thats about it..Bye.
No seriously what a wonderful weekend I've just had. Everything was just right. The car journey, the festival, the music, the weather and of course the company.
The festival (Cocoon in the Park) was even better than I thought it would be. Of course I expected great music and to a certain extent I also expected good weather as this was predicted by my own personal weather station Mr Winfield but what I didn't quite expect is the utter Germaness of it.
Firstly tickets via SMS or Email as a barcode which is scanned at the gate ensuring prompt entry and very little queues. OK the barcode scanner wasn't too clever at picking up the image off my phone and probably was the same for many others but still potentially very efficient......very German.
Secondly whenever I got to these things I sometimes think that the DJ's just don't get enough time to create a vibe for their sets so therefore it's all very crammed up and probably not as good as they could be. Here it's 11 hours, 4 DJ's & 1 Stage. Good long sets which the DJ could use to his full advantage...........very thoughtful, very selfless......very German.
Thirdly the sound system.......WOW....Full Funktion One throughout, clear rumbling bass, crisp and sharp high frequency and a perfectly balanced mid-range mean't that wherever you stood you could hear it perfectly. Such a fantastic achievement at an outdoor event.....very high-tech...........very German.
Fourthly what is it that you need other than music and people at a festival? Bar, Food, Loos, Security and First Aid I reckon. What did they have? 4 Bars (one bottles only and one just for WKD's) Girls Loo's, Boys Loo's, Van selling Pork Rolls, St Johns Ambulance and some pleasant Security presence. No merchandising to be seen, no hippies selling herbal highs, no dodgy looking fairground being run by dodgy looking people and no bloody Bungey rope......Very Simple, Very Minimal............Very German.
Fifthly, and I suspect most importantly were the people that went. Of course all of my friends who attended and their associates are wonderful anyway but as a collective mass I think the whole crowd were amazing. I'm guessing it has to do with the second point I made. Each and every person who went to this event went because they knew what to expect and they weren't let down.
Because there wasn't 8 tents and an outdoor arena playing 9 different genres of music with 150 DJ's clambering for some space on the bill it made the whole thing less confusing. There was no "When's so-and-so on and in what arena?" or "If we go here first and catch Doodah we can then swing by tent 6 for 15 minutes and catch a bit of Wingwang before popping over to the outdoor stage for a touch of Pingpong".
Nope there was none of that it was just "Grab some beers, Stay right here, enjoy the day and get right on it".......very regimented, very well-ordered..........very German.
I won't go into the DJ's and their sets too much at all because words really cannot describe the different energies that individually they brought to the day, plus if you haven't seen them yourselves they I'm not sure you'd understand so probably best that you get involved next year and join us for what I'm certain will now be an annual pilgrimage.
Adam Sheldon - Great warm up, set the day up perfectly.
Loco Dice - Why weren't you at Amnesia last Monday instead of Carl Craig ?!?!
Ricardo Villalobos - Crazy, Wierd and I've still not worked out what the hell he was doing but brilliant and the perfect foil for Sven.
Sven Vath - GOD !!
To say that there are people in the world who either don't like Sven Vath or people who do like Sven Vath is completely wrong.
It should be there are people who haven't seen Sven Vath and people that have because once you seen him performing once he'll have you hooked.
Footnote for quote of the day
"Some people just cannot seem to pace themselves" - James Winfield (10th July 2010......about 4pm)
No seriously what a wonderful weekend I've just had. Everything was just right. The car journey, the festival, the music, the weather and of course the company.
The festival (Cocoon in the Park) was even better than I thought it would be. Of course I expected great music and to a certain extent I also expected good weather as this was predicted by my own personal weather station Mr Winfield but what I didn't quite expect is the utter Germaness of it.
Firstly tickets via SMS or Email as a barcode which is scanned at the gate ensuring prompt entry and very little queues. OK the barcode scanner wasn't too clever at picking up the image off my phone and probably was the same for many others but still potentially very efficient......very German.
Secondly whenever I got to these things I sometimes think that the DJ's just don't get enough time to create a vibe for their sets so therefore it's all very crammed up and probably not as good as they could be. Here it's 11 hours, 4 DJ's & 1 Stage. Good long sets which the DJ could use to his full advantage...........very thoughtful, very selfless......very German.
Thirdly the sound system.......WOW....Full Funktion One throughout, clear rumbling bass, crisp and sharp high frequency and a perfectly balanced mid-range mean't that wherever you stood you could hear it perfectly. Such a fantastic achievement at an outdoor event.....very high-tech...........very German.
Fourthly what is it that you need other than music and people at a festival? Bar, Food, Loos, Security and First Aid I reckon. What did they have? 4 Bars (one bottles only and one just for WKD's) Girls Loo's, Boys Loo's, Van selling Pork Rolls, St Johns Ambulance and some pleasant Security presence. No merchandising to be seen, no hippies selling herbal highs, no dodgy looking fairground being run by dodgy looking people and no bloody Bungey rope......Very Simple, Very Minimal............Very German.
Fifthly, and I suspect most importantly were the people that went. Of course all of my friends who attended and their associates are wonderful anyway but as a collective mass I think the whole crowd were amazing. I'm guessing it has to do with the second point I made. Each and every person who went to this event went because they knew what to expect and they weren't let down.
Because there wasn't 8 tents and an outdoor arena playing 9 different genres of music with 150 DJ's clambering for some space on the bill it made the whole thing less confusing. There was no "When's so-and-so on and in what arena?" or "If we go here first and catch Doodah we can then swing by tent 6 for 15 minutes and catch a bit of Wingwang before popping over to the outdoor stage for a touch of Pingpong".
Nope there was none of that it was just "Grab some beers, Stay right here, enjoy the day and get right on it".......very regimented, very well-ordered..........very German.
I won't go into the DJ's and their sets too much at all because words really cannot describe the different energies that individually they brought to the day, plus if you haven't seen them yourselves they I'm not sure you'd understand so probably best that you get involved next year and join us for what I'm certain will now be an annual pilgrimage.
Adam Sheldon - Great warm up, set the day up perfectly.
Loco Dice - Why weren't you at Amnesia last Monday instead of Carl Craig ?!?!
Ricardo Villalobos - Crazy, Wierd and I've still not worked out what the hell he was doing but brilliant and the perfect foil for Sven.
Sven Vath - GOD !!
To say that there are people in the world who either don't like Sven Vath or people who do like Sven Vath is completely wrong.
It should be there are people who haven't seen Sven Vath and people that have because once you seen him performing once he'll have you hooked.
Footnote for quote of the day
"Some people just cannot seem to pace themselves" - James Winfield (10th July 2010......about 4pm)
Friday 9 July 2010
Up Early
So I woke up at 5:45am and couldn't get back to sleep so I figured that seeing as I had to go and pick up a hire car before getting to work that I'd just leave earlier than I'd originally intended and grab myself some breakfast on the way.
I did consider walking the 4 miles it was to the Europcar, Reading HQ but as it is going to be a long day, with a full days work then the 3:21hrs drive to Leeds I thought I'd slum it and jump on the number 6 Bus service from Reading station.
Anyway breakfast was my first concerns and as much as I wanted to pop into Malmaisson for it I thought I'd because keep true to how I started the day and cheapen it a little by heading to McDonalds.
Now I know what many of you might think about McDonalds and I'll probably agree with you about the post 10:30am menu but for me you can't really beat a Sausage & Egg muffin with a couple of Hash Browns and a coffee. Personally the highlight of this trans fat filled feast are the Hash Browns, definitely in my top 5 of potato forms, not quite in the same league as Potato Croquettes though but that's a whole different blog.
Anyway if any of you know what Friar Street in Reading is like then you'll understand how much fun it can actually be just sitting there and enjoying/cringing/grimacing (delete as applicable) it can be.
Highlight of this morning was some old girl sat on here own, obviously a bit mental bless her and obviously lacking in personal hygiene, which would explain why the was nobody sat with about 15 feet of her. Now don't get me wrong I'm not one of these people that think people should be locked away just because they are a bit crackers or anything like that, quite the contrary especially when they are as harmless as this lady was.
So there I was merrily tucking into my meal when all of a sudden I hear "Emily Heskey isn't that bad you know" then a pause for about 2 minutes "At least he was trying" another pause "Yeah yeah yeah talk about Beckham all you like but he won't play for England again".
Well this went on for the whole time I was there and apart from the opening two statements there wasn't a thing the batty old fruitcake said that I didn't disagree with. She spoke more sense (OK completely to herself) than Hansen & Dixon combined and I couldn't help but think it would have been so much nicer to have her on the BBC during the world cup than those two herberts.
Next stop was to get on the bus. Having researched the route and the stop at which I needed to get on at I found it easy to locate the said bus however these days it seems there are just a few fares which was news to me having not been on a bus for quite a while, infact the last bus I got on was about 3 years ago and that was in Ibiza!! I remember getting on, saying where you were going and the driver telling you how much it was.
Now I'm quite OK with the thought of public transport, if it's run correctly, efficiently and punctually but that's just not the case and believe that's because it's seen as the transport mode for the less affluent therefore the people running it seem to expect that a mediocre service will be fully accepted and unfortunately they are correct. The whole basis of a current culture seems to be built on the acceptance of mediocrity. Gone are the days of only wanting the best, now we live in a world where just good enough is good enough.
So my biggest bugbear about public transport, buses in particular, are the people they employ to drive these things. They all seem to have this air of arrogance about them as if they are in such a prestige position that they can look down their noses through their NHS specs at anybody who dare set foot upon their fine vessel.
This was compounded as (bringing you back to my previous comment about the new ticket pricing) I tried to purchase my ticket. The conversation was thus -
Me - I need to go to the industrial area down the Basingstoke road.
Him - It's just one fare mate.
Me - Oh OK, and how much is that?
Him - Written on the side of the bus innit.
Me - I'm sorry I didn't notice can you just tell me how much it is?
Him - Tut! One Paaaaaaaaand Seventy
Well then I go to hand him the cash...
Him - Daaaaaan't give it to me, put it in the trofffffff
I grit my teeth, go and sit down and make sure I have the Tom Tom app on the iPhone turned on so I know where to get off, rest of the journey quite pleasant. Still, reflecting on that situation this bloke has gotten satisfaction out of trying to gain the upper ground on one of his paying passengers. How should the conversation gone?
Me - I need to go to the industrial area down the Basingstoke road.
Him - No problem that'll be one pound seventy. If you could just pop it in the trough to your left I'll give you a ticket.
Me - Thankyou.
Him - No problem (Smile)
How hard could that have been? I'd have been sat there thinking "Ah what a nice fella" instead of "Haha Mate, You drive a f**king bus, give yourself a break"
I did consider walking the 4 miles it was to the Europcar, Reading HQ but as it is going to be a long day, with a full days work then the 3:21hrs drive to Leeds I thought I'd slum it and jump on the number 6 Bus service from Reading station.
Anyway breakfast was my first concerns and as much as I wanted to pop into Malmaisson for it I thought I'd because keep true to how I started the day and cheapen it a little by heading to McDonalds.
Now I know what many of you might think about McDonalds and I'll probably agree with you about the post 10:30am menu but for me you can't really beat a Sausage & Egg muffin with a couple of Hash Browns and a coffee. Personally the highlight of this trans fat filled feast are the Hash Browns, definitely in my top 5 of potato forms, not quite in the same league as Potato Croquettes though but that's a whole different blog.
Anyway if any of you know what Friar Street in Reading is like then you'll understand how much fun it can actually be just sitting there and enjoying/cringing/grimacing (delete as applicable) it can be.
Highlight of this morning was some old girl sat on here own, obviously a bit mental bless her and obviously lacking in personal hygiene, which would explain why the was nobody sat with about 15 feet of her. Now don't get me wrong I'm not one of these people that think people should be locked away just because they are a bit crackers or anything like that, quite the contrary especially when they are as harmless as this lady was.
So there I was merrily tucking into my meal when all of a sudden I hear "Emily Heskey isn't that bad you know" then a pause for about 2 minutes "At least he was trying" another pause "Yeah yeah yeah talk about Beckham all you like but he won't play for England again".
Well this went on for the whole time I was there and apart from the opening two statements there wasn't a thing the batty old fruitcake said that I didn't disagree with. She spoke more sense (OK completely to herself) than Hansen & Dixon combined and I couldn't help but think it would have been so much nicer to have her on the BBC during the world cup than those two herberts.
Next stop was to get on the bus. Having researched the route and the stop at which I needed to get on at I found it easy to locate the said bus however these days it seems there are just a few fares which was news to me having not been on a bus for quite a while, infact the last bus I got on was about 3 years ago and that was in Ibiza!! I remember getting on, saying where you were going and the driver telling you how much it was.
Now I'm quite OK with the thought of public transport, if it's run correctly, efficiently and punctually but that's just not the case and believe that's because it's seen as the transport mode for the less affluent therefore the people running it seem to expect that a mediocre service will be fully accepted and unfortunately they are correct. The whole basis of a current culture seems to be built on the acceptance of mediocrity. Gone are the days of only wanting the best, now we live in a world where just good enough is good enough.
So my biggest bugbear about public transport, buses in particular, are the people they employ to drive these things. They all seem to have this air of arrogance about them as if they are in such a prestige position that they can look down their noses through their NHS specs at anybody who dare set foot upon their fine vessel.
This was compounded as (bringing you back to my previous comment about the new ticket pricing) I tried to purchase my ticket. The conversation was thus -
Me - I need to go to the industrial area down the Basingstoke road.
Him - It's just one fare mate.
Me - Oh OK, and how much is that?
Him - Written on the side of the bus innit.
Me - I'm sorry I didn't notice can you just tell me how much it is?
Him - Tut! One Paaaaaaaaand Seventy
Well then I go to hand him the cash...
Him - Daaaaaan't give it to me, put it in the trofffffff
I grit my teeth, go and sit down and make sure I have the Tom Tom app on the iPhone turned on so I know where to get off, rest of the journey quite pleasant. Still, reflecting on that situation this bloke has gotten satisfaction out of trying to gain the upper ground on one of his paying passengers. How should the conversation gone?
Me - I need to go to the industrial area down the Basingstoke road.
Him - No problem that'll be one pound seventy. If you could just pop it in the trough to your left I'll give you a ticket.
Me - Thankyou.
Him - No problem (Smile)
How hard could that have been? I'd have been sat there thinking "Ah what a nice fella" instead of "Haha Mate, You drive a f**king bus, give yourself a break"
Thursday 8 July 2010
The 1st Trip and Blog of 2010
Well I've been pondering about what my first ever blog should be about so I've gone for the easy option and chosen to tell the world about my first trip to Ibiza of 2010. OK perhaps a bit of a kop out but nevertheless it was so much different for me this time around being as it was a family holiday rather than a pure partying week.
The initial 3 days were spent at my good friends villa up in Calle Tarrida which is about 10 km round from the port of San Antonio and getting the same sunset view as one would for Café del Mar/Mambo, at night you could still hear the faint murmurs of Karaoke coming from the bars down by the bay, nothing too loud at all, just enough to let you know you were by a resort. Also nothing an MP3 player couldn't soon remedy.
Emily absolutely loved being there, not just because Grandad was there but also because she could swim everyday in the pool and best of all Dean's cat had just had kittens a couple of weeks earlier so she got to play with them and also named them all. (Super, Raspberry, Patch and Smudge...I think)
BBQ's were the choice for food, whole Sea Bass, Handmade Burgers, Chicken, Small Spicy Chorizo and other Sausages that just didn't want to go brown but nevertheless tasted lovely.
Also stopped at Cala D'Hort (which is a bay directly facing the mysterious rock of Es Vedra) for a very nice, fresh Paella. Grandad said it was the best he'd ever had and couldn't get enough of it.
Didn't really do much that side of the island other than the aforementioned, we didn't need to, we had it all there and it was fantastic.
The final 4 days were spent over at Figueretas which is very near to Ibiza town and a much quieter, more family orientated resort than other but with the benefit of begin a stone throw away from the lively Playa Den Bossa.
The apartments we stayed were basic but they had free Aircon which made sleeping much more comfortable than some of the places I've stayed on previous visits.
Our first thing to do after checking in was to jump in the car and head for Bora Bora. We got there at just around 4pm in time for when the party really kicks off and seeing that it was one of my fave party people Mr Alex Miles behind the decks made it all the more special.
Emily & Grandad couldn't quite believe what was going on, people on tables dancing around all smiling and happy having the times of their lives, poor Grandad didn't know where to look !!!
Food over this way was nice too, we found a nice little restaurant just on the hotel doorstep that was really a locals place but they took to us very well and really appreciated it when we joined in with all the noisy chaos during the Spanish world cup game, great fun and also great food.
Carley and I did manage one night out which was at Amnesia for Cocoon which as a musical spectacular was not particularly inspiring. Sure Sven did his best but having to make up for a pretty shocking warm up DJ was always going to be a tough task. Also 45€ a ticket and then having to pay €40 for two vodkas and a can of Red Bull really is becoming far too excessive and I won't be going there again until changes in pricing are implemented.
So I ask myself these questions -
1. Will I go to Ibiza again in 2010? - Yes, probably in September.
2. Would I go with family again? - Absolutely.
3. Do I still love Sven Vath? - Of course, can't wait for Cocoon in the park this very weekend.
4. Will I go to Amnesia again? - No, not for the foreseeable future given my last couple of experiences.
5. Will I hire a car for the duration of the holiday? - No question and it'll be from Moto Luis
6. Was there any point in writing this blog? - I guess we'll find out.
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