Happy New Year

This is really a postcard masquerading as a post, or something like that. So no labels, little wisdom and no wine, yet!

2017 is coming to an end and tomorrow will be a New Year, full of promises, resolutions, food and drink - for those who can, at least. Yet the same old problems will still be there, temporarily forgotten or, better still, ignored.

There is one resolution worth making, other than the one about looking after yourself sufficiently well that you'll be around - hopefully - for at least another year: Let's try and make our world, the one we will leave to our children and their children and so on and so on, a better place in whatever small way we can. Be kinder to our planet by reducing how much we abuse it, guys, cut down on the plastic and other pollutants in whichever small way you can.

Here's to a 2018 full of health, happiness, peace and prosperity for us, our planet and everyone/everything on it! See you next year...

Winter wanderings

Winter is here as far as my little corner of the world (England...) can easily attest - nature is closing down, trees are now nearly bare (remember me moaning about leaves everywhere?) and it is cold on a regular basis. Over the next two or three months - nature does not keep to a strict notion of season - we will witness more cold, maybe snow, bare trees and nature going back into its shell, before it emerges reticently as Spring appears on the scene.

For now it's all winter, though, with short days and dark evenings, rain and muddy ground. All this was brought home to me a couple of days before Christmas when I went walking with a couple of friends in Petworth Park, through gorgeous undulating countryside which makes you marvel at the beauty of nature until you learn that the Park was landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. Capability Brown was the master of recreating nature, improving it, creating perfection for the delectation of his patrons and the admiration of their guests; he was brilliant at his work.

We parked my friends' car in the remote car park and walked across this, by now entirely natural, landscape heading for Petworth House and the small, beautiful town of Petworth, aiming to stretch our legs and burn off some of the accumulated calories of the previous day and a bit - I'd been staying with my friends, it is the festive season and they are generous hosts! Quite a long, but pleasant, walk only made slightly awkward by the soft, muddy ground which slowed us down and reminded me why I hate cross country running in winter. The scenery was majestic, with long vistas, beautiful trees and herds of deer gamboling about and, in late December, very wintery. Hills, glades, lakes, all perfectly placed and the house (Petworth House) appearing surprisingly close once we skirted around yet another tree-topped hill.

Petworth House is large, grand, impressive but not to my taste - I found it monolithic and lacking in elegance. On a dull winter's day it looked heavy and unloved, though not uncomfortable in its park. Perhaps it's just me or perhaps that is the price we pay for preserving these houses as a cross between a private house and a museum, relics from another era. I love English country houses with a passion but could not warm to Petworth House, despite its grandeur and the sheer beauty of the setting at the edge of Petworth, and of its Park. Still, I'm glad it has been saved when so many other country houses, some more beautiful than others, disappeared in the 20th century, evolutionary victims of a changing world.

We wandered happily around Petworth, which is a beautiful genteel town full of lovely old buildings, antique shops and boutiques. After a light lunch - a toasted sandwich and coffee for me, if you don't mind - we headed back to the car through the gorgeous if muddy Petworth Park, burning more calories along the way and working up an appetite for our evening meal, booked in a pub local to C and B's home.

But that's another story.

How to be a good driver (Part One)

Straight off I have to admit that the title is slightly misleading, as I am not about to expound on driving skills, car control etc. This post is more about how to be a good car driver in terms of behaviour and in contrast to being a bad one and is more concerned with normal everyday actions and minimising risk rather than the ability to drive a motor vehicle to its limit, safely.
As explained previously an individual motorcar forms part of a complex system and must be driven in accordance with the norms and needs of that system almost all the time. Granted, a motorcar can also be a supreme instrument of fun but, with our roads now overcrowded with vehicles, this is not often realistically possible to explore. Most of the time we need to follow the rules and fit in to the system around us to ensure the safety of all concerned.
A good driver needs to be responsible above all, alert, in control and always thinking how their behaviour behind the wheel affects others around them. So they must:
1. Check carefully (but quickly) before changing direction and indicate appropriately.
2. Never drink or take anything (recreational drugs, medicine etc.) that may affect their control of the vehicle and then drive.
3. Respect other road users - the bigger ones pose a danger to you and the smaller ones are in danger from you!
4. Be courteous - but not silly - with allowing others to pull out, merge in, change direction.
5. Be extremely careful with the speed of your vehicle relative to the prevailing conditions irrespective of official speed limits.
6. Be extremely careful with the speed of your vehicle in built-up areas, where vulnerable pedestrians and children can suddenly appear.
And that's just for starters, because a good driver also must heed his/her responsibility towards the environment and:
1. Never leave the vehicle idling for long unnecessarily.
2. When driving in town never fill up the tank with fuel, but take on, say, a quarter tank at a time or as appropriate. In the stop/start city traffic dragging the weight of a full fuel tank drastically increases fuel consumption.
3. Avoid making unnecessary journeys.
4. Never throw rubbish out of a car window, ever.
5. Do not use the horn without good reason and certainly not to alert your friends or family that you are waiting; call or ring the bell instead.
6. Avoid aggressive driving, especially in town, as it promotes wear and tear on your vehicle and utilises more fuel unnecessarily.
7. Try to maintain your vehicle adequately - not only will this be safer for you and those around you, but in all likelihood you will consume less fuel and pollute less.

Motor vehicles can be beautiful, enchanting and also intensely practical, making life not only easier but more enjoyable. They needn't be dangerous or filthy. You, dear reader, need to do your bit so that your prized possession, old or new, large or small (a Fiat 500, say?), is a force for the good in our world. Go on, improve your game.

I'll be back on the subject in the not too distant future, maybe writing nice things about you...!

In Vino Veritas

The ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans believed that wine unlocks our tongue and allows the truth to escape, where otherwise it would remain hidden from view, unsaid. But is it always true? Is everything we say when we have had a bit (too much) to drink the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Or does alcohol sometimes unlock another side to us, one that allows us to be aggressive, rude and nasty because we are not in control? Do we really mean everything we say in quite the way we say it?

It is, of course, almost impossible to tell without being able to conduct fair and controlled scientific experiments on the subject, something that is exceedingly difficult if not downright impossible. So we have to take a case-by-case view, as we are all different, and reach conclusions on an individual basis. So if certain statements keep recurring when someone is under the influence, that may be a sign that they are troubling him/her but for various reasons he/she is unable or unwilling to express them under normal circumstances; that, though, is as far as one may honestly go.

I have known people who under normal conditions would not hurt a fly, yet become belligerent after a few glasses of wine, aggressive and argumentative. Yet I have seen others do exactly the opposite and shed their aggression and become relaxed, mild and meek as baby lambs, a big smile adorning their face. In the days when people still stupidly drank and then drove - yes, I also have done it a long, long time ago - some would start behaving like Lewis Hamilton while others would drive so slowly and carefully that they were stopped for driving too slowly. Why the difference? Are we wired differently? I'm afraid I don't know the answer...

What I do know is this: there is always a bit of truth in these statements, however small, and should be taken into account, if warily. Just like drunken declarations of undying love and devotion may have disappeared in the cold light of a sober day, to be replaced by an acknowledgement that a degree of desire bolstered by alcohol was at work, so snarled abuse may look stupid to the sober abuser but the reason for expressing it may lurk in the background.

Vino - wine to you and me - is a wonderful, life-enhancing thing and, used wisely, can make our days richer, full of taste and harmony; food is almost always enhanced by a good wine, and sometimes transformed. Wine's taste and texture, infinitely variable, transform mealtimes into joyous experiences. Please do not allow the alcohol side of the equation to take over - the buzz with drinking wine should not be about the alcohol, or not about the alcohol alone.

The truth in wine is the joy it can bring to our lives. The words, the anger, love, hate, passion come from within us to a lesser or greater extent and we use wine as an excuse to loosen our tongues... avoid, please! 'In wine, pleasure, in sobriety, truth' should be our motto.

Alas sometimes it isn't.

Ageism

In my youth I am sure that I regarded people above the age of forty as old and above the age of sixty as ancient, though I am not aware of ever having had those thoughts. What I never doubted, even in my most rebellious days - and there were lots of those - was that older people knew lots of things that neither I nor others of my age did. It seemed obvious to me that age conferred wisdom on some people, though not necessarily in a 'cause and effect' sense, as obvious as the fact that they could not understand me or others of my age.

Today older people are shunned rather than respected or revered in a strange, inexplicable change of public attitude. Wherever you look around you youth is promoted as the magic ingredient in business, politics or anything, with people above forty regarded as dinosaurs of a kind with no role to play and little contribution to make. I find this outrageously stupid, incredibly offensive and a colossal waste for our society, throwing away a ready reservoir of knowledge and experience in order to celebrate the new.

Don't get me wrong: there are many things, especially involving the development of new technology, where youth has distinct advantages over experience. In most other aspects of life, though, knowledge and in-depth understanding trump (ha-ha) youth and energy without a shadow of a doubt. So why are we ignoring this ready resource, deriding age and moving the bar constantly towards ever younger people?

Yet in a completely contradictory fashion we insist that childhood extends to 18 for many activities, including sex, but that somehow one can grow and mature so quickly that by one's mid-twenties it is possible to comprehend almost everything in depth. Even more bizarre is the idea that one should be mature enough to vote in elections for a country's leadership at 16, but not mature enough to order an alcoholic drink at a pub. Are we confused or what?

You may well say that it suits me to complain about ageism now that I am aged myself, and in some ways you may be right. I have only become aware of how widespread ageism is now that I am looking for employment; previously, while running my own business I was blissfully unaware of it and, indeed, unwilling to acknowledge such a ludicrous thing. This is not to say that I did not recognise and accept the changes that age brings in mind and body, especially as I up to recently worked in the health and fitness industry, but not all these are bad, not all are negative. Yes the body is slower - and slower to recover from exertion, overindulgence or injury - but the mind is, if anything, more capable, better equipped, with more to draw on and, dare I say it, more astute. Age makes one more cynical usually, but also more pragmatic and, therefore, more able to make decisions based on actuality and not perception.

Life is how it is - are you totally fed up of hearing me repeat this again and again? - not how we may want it to be, more's the pity. Society is now prejudiced against older people and there is very little we can do about it, as it is never expressed directly - such discrimination would be, of course, against the law - but is covert and subtle. Instead, at least on the job search front, the weasel words appear: many excellent candidates, others better qualified, more closely matching our criteria, in this instance... perhaps in the future... etc. etc. It is not possible for a candidate to discuss this in any productive or meaningful way, alas, so there is no way to get to the bottom of things. And, before you mention it, I only apply to positions that match my experience and background, not ones that require skills in things I know nothing about (and do not care enough to learn). Furthermore, my polemic today is based not only on my experiences, though it is certainly inspired by them; I see and talk to many others who have similar experiences in varying circumstances.

Prejudice is a massive subject. If we are honest with ourselves we all carry some, in one way or another, with ageism just one of many, -ism or other. It is, however, one I feel is extremely detrimental to our society as it leaves a massive pool of knowledge untapped when it could be put to good use (no, not just me, dumdum!) . It needn't be seen as age vs. youth, rather as age complementing youth, advising, supporting, guiding. On this I will endeavour to bore you in the not too distant future!

The Blame Game

The easiest game in the world, especially when based on unsubstantiated claims, is to blame someone else for everything/anything that comes to mind; I'm sure we have all done this at some point in our lives, most of mainly in childhood. Whilst childhood shenanigans are annoying they do not generally constitute tragedies, merely irritations, whereas the Blame Game played by supposedly responsible adults - as I suppose people like politicians (but all of us, really) should be viewed...- is shocking, painful and can lead to human tragedy and death.

Yet all around us supposedly rational people are refusing to shoulder their share of responsibility and blame for events that are occurring on their watch, instead choosing to blame others; sometime the blame comes with familiar sinister overtones heard before, much like the Nazi propaganda blamed the Jews and their 'interests' for Germany's problems between the two world wars. It is extremely convenient to find a scapegoat when holding a mirror up is too painful, thus making others suffer even as we evade our duty, and reality.

Britain is, surprisingly, having a bit of a moment presently: many people are blaming immigrants, immigration and the EU for all sorts of problems, real and imagined, while ignoring any benefits to the UK of EU immigration. I say surprisingly because Britain, despite ever-present isolationist tendencies, has always been a bastion of free thought and speech, a safe haven for threatened people the world over and respectfully accepting of those that respect her. And, yes, before you say it, it is also the same Britain that once created an empire and at times brutally suppressed the freedoms of some (most?) of its subjects - the one does not negate the other, despite the obvious contradiction. It seems like a form of schizophrenia, I agree, that at the moment has parts of British society expressing a strange selective xenophobia in the effort to pin all sorts of problems on these external 'enemies' of the moment.

Britain is not alone in this, we are at it all over the world. Here are a few other examples:

1. The Donald (he of the gorgeous, or did I mean gargoyle, hairstyle... enough said) blames America's problems on 'bad dudes', Mexican nogoodniks, muslims or anyone else he can think of, but not the laxity of US laws, lack of investment in domestic industry over the last forty or so years in pursuit of short-term profit elsewhere or the over-indulgence of American society after WW2.
2. Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman who not that long ago practically had the status of a saint in the eyes of the Western world seems to suggest that the Rohingya people, a muslim minority in her country, are more or less voluntarily making themselves victims purely by existing, and so deserve all they get.
3. The inimitable Islamic State (or whatever they currently call themselves or we call them) who blame anybody but their monstrous selves for the killing and destruction they unleash on the world under their faux religious banner.
4. The kindly Mr. Erdogan, President of Turkey, who is prepared to accuse and blame everybody and anybody who disagrees with his view of the present, the past and his modus operandi. It appears that  he is allowed to hit out at anyone and anything he considers hostile but all others not with him are criminals should they even think of opposing him, never mind hit back.
5. The frankly ridiculous attempts by the Greek people and government(s) to blame everybody else for a failed 'economic miracle' based on illusion, political conjuring and theft, and one that they were keenly claiming only a decade or so ago as a sign of superiority to northern Europeans addicted to working and lacking the spirit and wisdom to enjoy life.

Problems can only be faced, understood and attempts made at solving them if we acknowledge their existence and truly understand their root causes. No, this isn't easy on a personal basis - how many are really honest with ourselves? - and probably even more difficult on a collective basis. But life itself, it must be understood, isn't easy nor was it meant to be; for most it represents a series of challenges and pain interspersed with short bursts of happiness and pleasure. The modern idea that we should all be living in a constant state of nirvana is something dreamed up by glossy magazine columnists and is far removed from reality, or any possibility of reality.

If truth be told, we all of us need to grow up, take responsibility for our actions at all levels and push our leaders and politicians to do the same. We may find this difficult, but future generations may inherit a better world for us giving up playing the stupid, destructive blame game.

Oh, and Donald, there are bad dudes everywhere - why, in some circles people who behave dishonourably in business are considered bad dudes even if they are stinking (the right word, for sure) rich.

My kinda place

If you don't like food and wine, taste and texture in food, restaurants and wine bars where food/wine are king then stop reading now; this piece is all about one of my favourite places in the Universe, perfect for my taste in almost every respect. The fact that it is owned by a friend who is now struggling to survive - and may not for much longer...- makes me go back whenever I can.

This is not a cheap place, nor is it the sort of place that does 'art-on-a-plate' cooking. The food here is sophisticated country northern Italian cooking, with a touch of the Mediterranean lightness and a superb wine list that hides (still, despite the economic conditions) loads of little gems, now mainly from less well-known areas at superb prices - I hesitate to call them cheap, as any bottle costing over £40 cannot by definition be called cheap, but bargains is certainly what they are in wine terms. The restaurant is called Sale Pepe, based in Athens, Greece, in a narrow street halfway up Lycabettus hill on the upper reaches of the affluent district of Kolonaki.

Sale Pepe is hard to get to on foot, as the hill is quite steep, and by car as parking is scarce; there is hardly any passing trade. In the years past it did a good trade and boasted by far the best wine list in Athens, probably in all of Greece, with amazing wines from all over the world, plenty of which were matured for a decent period, thus making them extremely attractive to drink. The owner is a wine enthusiast, knowledgeable, open to new vinous experiences and with a wine collection that was good, very good. In fact, while the food has always been good - and, sometimes, great - wine has always been the main attraction of the restaurant, and still is.

If you like trendy, vibrant places, where the fashionable crowd make appearances on a regular basis, you are not going to be pleased by Sale Pepe Athens - their branch in Mykonos may be a different proposition, but I do no know as I have never been, not being a fan of that beautiful but overdeveloped island - and what it has to offer. The restaurant in Athens instantly transports you back to northern Italy in its simple elegance, its love of food and wine served in proper crockery, glasses and cutlery to complement the experience, and is definitely not a temple to fashion, thankfully, either in the food or the customers. You come here to drink a decent wine or two first, and complement it with decent food second; if you do not drink wine Sale Pepe may seem overpriced and be hard to appreciate fully.

The owner (Ivan Ottaviani, yes, a real Italian from Emilia-Romagna) is fanatical about buying good raw materials, keeping the cooking authentic, if slightly rustic. This was not always the case here, as in the boom years he was able to pursue a more adventurous culinary route; eight years of a deadening recession has put paid to that. The food is not unambitious, though, and is full of taste, simple or complex depending on the dish, with textures to match. You will very rarely have a disappointing meal here, for Ivan is a good, professional host who knows his stuff in and out of the kitchen. Alas the style of his business does not seem popular at the moment as it can never be cheap cheap...

The wine list is, still, just spectacular, though, and very well cellared so that you can go back in time without fear: I had a superb bottle of 1990 La Corte from Castello di Querceto in Chianti, a delightful wine from a small single vineyard made from 100% Sangiovese, the local (Tuscan) red grape. Only gently starting to fade, full of colour with a rich nose of ripe red fruit and a complex, soft palate surprisingly still full of taste to beautifully complement the food (pasta with meat sauce). This is the sort of magical treat that you can still find on the Sale Pepe wine list!

The same list has younger wines for those of you who like their wines to be full of youthful vigour and as a sacrificial move - my taste is for older wines, reds especially - I tried a Chianti Classico Riserva 2012 from the same property, Castello di Querceto. This is mainly Sangiovese (90%+) topped up by local varieties Cannaiolo, Colorino, Mammolo and Ciliegiolo, the precise mixture depending on the vintage. To me this was classic decent young Chianti, slightly sour black cherry fruit with tannins now starting to soften a little bit, medium weight and crying out for food. Opening up in the glass it was a decent glass of Chianti, but less exciting than the older La Corte though perhaps it will acquire more complexity as it ages.

Any visit with Ivan is incomplete without a glass - or, on occasion, six - of grappa that is always interesting and often unusual; this time was no exception, as he produced a bottle of aged Berta grappa, Elisi, which was seductively soft but full of taste, and the perfect way to end a good Italian meal, with or without an espresso.

I love this little place and all it has to offer to the good denizens of Athens and to Athenian gastronomy, and Ivan is a good friend whom I am always pleased to see and share a glass of wine with. For my old man's taste, Sale Pepe represents a kind of perfection that is rapidly becoming extinct and this is something that I resent, as its sort is replaced by brash, loud places with indifferent food and ordinary wines. It will probably soon join the long list of extinct Athenian eateries - some of these were gorgeous and, like Sale Pepe, part of my preferred list of places to eat. When that day comes I shall be very sorry, very sorry indeed!

Bright Lights, Big City, Acute Desperation

Large urban centres are magnets for people and have been throughout the ages, accompanied by all sorts of myths - streets paved with old etc. etc. - which, in turn, attract even more people to them. Not everyone who arrives finds his way, his (or hers) personal goldmine or even a way to survive. Big cities can be cruel and cold in more ways than the temperature, so not every flower can bloom, and survive to bloom again.

London - my beloved London, as you well know dear reader - is just such a place; extraordinarily beautiful in many ways, civilised and cultured, alive and interesting, full of things to do for those who can afford it. Last night, returning from an overseas trip and trying to get home by public transport, I was reminded of the other side, of those fellow Londoners, fellow human beings, who are struggling to survive. They are not all victims of reckless choices, substance abuse or a dissolute lifestyle leading to destruction, though obviously many can be and are. Some are simply people who have found themselves unable to stay afloat in the big city and are forced to try and survive in any way they can and, in the absence of a home, sleep wherever they can. This was made very clear to me in the last twenty four hours...

Last night my stupid flight was slightly late coming in to Gatwick airport so that there were no more trains into Victoria from there, forcing me to take a slow train to St. Pancras International and make my way westwards by bus from there. Last night was not particularly cold, though there was a chilly breeze blowing; this is not a problem if you are dressed appropriately and are not spending a long time out of doors, but it is not conducive to a comfortable night's sleep a fresco. Sitting in one of the bus stops, huddled against the plexiglass side panel and trying to rest, was a neatly dressed lady of middle years, with a couple of small travel bags of her belongings, trying to stay warm by moving continuously. She appeared to be neither drunk nor drugged, just alone and very cold indeed.

You may not realise that I am also technically homeless, but with a room over my head thanks to the kindness, generosity and willingness of my friends and family; technically I am only one step away from sleeping on the streets myself, and this makes me especially sensitive to the plight of those forced to be there. So here I am after midnight, following a flight of nearly four hours, a train journey to the wrong place for my needs, trying to figure out the bus routes home, cold, annoyed and cursing my ill fortune in getting home late... yet sharing a bus stop with someone who had nowhere to go, no warm bed to sleep in, no security, nothing. Realisation made me rapidly ashamed of my annoyance, I became deeply conscious of my personal good fortune and at the same time felt helpless, completely so, not being able to provide any comfort to another human being in distress, zilch, zippo!

Next time you visit a megalopolis, one of our earth's giant cities, look beyond the bright lights, the lovely buildings, the good restaurants, the shops full of attractive merchandise, bars and more. Adore these cities - I do London - but do not think of them as perfect and blemishless. Listen to the songs that mention emptiness, hopelessness, desperation and homelessness - Streets of London is one, Baker Street another, both about London, but there are many more - and look around you, recognise the pain coexisting with the day-to-day activities and the frivolity. And, casting suspicions and small thoughts to one side, please help in any way you can: give to a charity, buy the Big Issue, donate some item (maybe something you no longer need, but help somehow make the life of others who are less fortunate a bit better, however marginally.

You'll even feel better about yourself, I promise you.