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miles 0; Bike Miles 0; Units 26

Yes, dear reader, you read it right - zero miles. There are good reasons for this. Circuits on Monday, then a wine tasting on Tuesday (of which more later). After this, the running week and my general health took a distinctly downward turn. I was so 'cream-crackered' on Wednesday that I just came home and moped a bit (though I should point out  I finished off the Christmas cards as well, so none of these claims of man-flu please!). Thursday was taken up with the team Christmas 'do', which largely killed off any remaining voice that I had (having croaked my way through the day since Wednesday morning). Foolishly I tackled the gym on Friday - a pretty good session, though a few snuffles. Thought I was over it but how wrong I was! I somehow cricked my neck on Friday night - agony! - and woke up on Saturday all snuffles again, and no running today or Sunday. So, instead of being halfway through the Tytherley 20-miler I planned I am writing my blog instead.

With no running to talk about, I think I shall simply wax lyrical a bit about simple pleasures. As for many of you, I am sure, this past month has been a 'credit-card-basher' with Christmas on the way. I find myself having a love-hate relationship with purchases - I am both gadget-lover and materialism-hater at the same time. This inner tension exerts itself most noticeably when we've bought about 3 or 4 presents, and then are searching for 'a few extra bits'. I just come over all anti-materialistic, which of course is totally silly..the inner turmoil of 'Tom and Barbara' vs 'Jerry and Margo' I suppose.

So, this Saturday, it was a delight to remind myself of the simple pleasures of a cup of good coffee, the paper, a beer over lunch, and reflections on optimistic possibilities. Yes, these aren't free, but they are not pricey either! Life cannot be always just these things, but when it is, it's very good! And it helps when the weather is crisp, cold and dry.

Wine this week has to be a reflection on Tuesday's tasting event - 45 business folk in a hotel in Windsor. The selection (all from Majestic) was tailored to the festive feast, to go with salmon, turkey and beef. I was delighted at how well the Soave went down - a bit of a long shot for me, but I figured we've all tried enough New Zealand Sauvignon, so it's great to have something else dry and crisp, and also only 12% so you won't be under the table by mid-day. The Champagne was also very good at £15 - worth snapping up if you don't want to blow the bank this year. The winner, without a doubt, was the tawny port - most had tried a tawny before, but not one as good as this. I suspect there will be 45 households in the Berkshire area not buying Vintage Port but Tawny Port this year..!


Champagne Jacquart Brut NV (£15.00)
Soave Classico, Inama, 2009 (£11.99)
Macon Fuisse Viellies Vignes, Christophe Cordier 2009 (£11.99)
Ch. Grand Laurie Larose, St. Emilion Grand Cru 2006 (£14.99)
Roaring Meg Pinot Noir, Mt. Difficulty, Central Otago 2009 (£13.99)
Crozes-Hermitage, Yann Chave 2008 (£13.99)
Taylor’s 10 year old Tawny Port (£17.99)

And finally, a sorry excuse for this week's video! Also something odd is happening to my videos that I need to look into. However, no time to re-record - it's only 9 seconds, you'll get the point I was trying to make!

Normal service next week I hope.






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