When I was in Madrid in the 1980s I ordered Manzanilla. A pot of chamomile tea arrived. I was reminded of this reading an article by Jancis Robinson in the FT Weekend Magazine.
I have never met Charlie Dewhirst but he looks like a nincompoop; a shoo-in to be one of the dimmest members of the Drones Club. However, he has three things going for him …
Came down with a heavy cold while I was staying in France but it’s getting better now. By a stroke of luck I’d slipped the perfect comfort reading into my bag and it much improved the homeward journey.
Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir is, as you know, what The Avengers is called in France. Rather long-winded and goodness knows what it is called in Germany.
I hung around SE Asia in 1989, based in Singapore. Inspired by one of the funniest travel books I have ever read, Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O’Hanlon, I spent a long weekend in Sarawak. It was published only six years previously, in 1983, so not much had changed.
One of the pleasures of being in France is getting to know the region; its flora, fauna and vineyards. No sign of a hoopoe yet but plenty of vineyards.
Today’s post is an homage to Robert O’Byrne, The Irish Aesthete. I had the pleasure of meeting Robert in Ireland last weekend; my sister asked him to a merry dinner.
My fishing book does not mention the tarpon I hooked on the Belize River. It kept jumping out of the water and on one of these leaps I lifted the tip of my rod and the dead weight broke the line. It does mention a catch in Ethiopia.
It’s red pin time again. The Owenduff meanders through peat hags in Co Mayo towards the Atlantic. There are clumps of rhododendrons in blossom along its banks. A few scruffy sheep mooch about. The country looks devoid of any human habitation but on inspection there is a sprinkling of small houses.
So long – I’m going west into a Wi-Fi-free area, taking this gadget with me. Just eight inches and with rugged good looks it will turn me into a barista anywhere there is hot water, if Security don’t think it’s a bomb. We meet again towards the end of next week.