1624 days ago
After a picnic lunch with the family: the 30th lap, only 15 to go…this is from the far edge of the second river field, a marshy area where the shocking wildlife diversity will be revealed tomorrow.
1626 days ago
To think that poltroons in London pay vast sums for commercially produced elderflower drinks. As you can see below, here at the Welsh Hovel, the production line is in full swing.
2144 days ago
The house is now on the market as we prepare for a move up to the Grim North. We already have five viewings lined up for Saturday so keep your fingers crossed. Ahead of that day I have been working hard at clearing out six years of accumulated junk in the garage. There have been one or two rather good finds. There was a package marked fragile.
2604 days ago
You may know John Teeling from a host of small AIM stocks like Botswana Diamonds (BOD). But his real passion as been his whiskey businesses. I should say that my friend and comrade in veterans rugby is a non drinker. The Teeling distillery in Dublin is just two years old and is actually managed by John's two sons but the old man takes a massive fatherly interest. I recorded a bearcast in the offices there on Friday but also had a tour of what is a working distillery. You can too and if you are in Dublin I'd recommed it big time. I sould declare that Jon did not try to bribe me with any free samples. But it is never too late and he has my address..
2763 days ago
I arrived at the Greek Hovel at 9 AM sharp for the delayed day two of the frigana poisoning. I parked outside the gates. I could not be bothered to open them, close them and almost certainly have to open and close them again when my comrade in Labour, Nicho the Communist turned up. For I had a feeling that once again he would not. Yesterday it was God's fault...
2765 days ago
As he had promised my friend Nicho the Communist returned to the Kourounis taverna after half an hour and so shortly before eleven, two hours after we planned, we were ready to start poisoning the frigana, the ghastly snake hiding thorn bushes, that blight the Greek Hovel. Shall we go in my car I asked?
2932 days ago
You are meant to make your Christmas puddings six weeks before Christmas to allow them to age and mature and so, leaving it to the last possible moment I have now just done that. The recipe is from a cookbook from the Queen of Irish cooking the amazing Darina Allen although she says that it is from her mother in law Myrtle, the founder of Ballymaloe. I think that Myrtle is still with us though she must be 92 by now and I am lucky enough to have visited the famed cooking school near Cork several times.
3613 days ago
On my first night at the Greek Hovel I wandered into town to watch the World Cup Final. As you may remember I was the only person present supporting the Krauts against the Argies and this drew particular disapproval from one man wearing the heavy moustache one would associate with a Maniot warrior of old. That man was Nicho.
By the end of the summer we were firm friends. He speaks English and is the life and soul of the Kourounis tavern run by the lovely Eleni. The young men call him Papou (grandfather) but respect him as a chap who can drink them under the table, happily do a Greek dance – after half a bottle of whisky – but also be deadly serious.
As the only English speaker bar Eleni he is a conduit for me to wider world. His main job is with an organic food form headquartered in Athens. But he can work remotely and one imagines that business is not exactly booming and so he has plenty of time for more important things such as growing olives.
You will remember that an olive tree is viewed as a being like a beautiful woman who must be treasured and cared for. And Nicho owns a 500 year old specimen which in Kambos terms is like saying that you have Cheryl Cole waiting for you at home lying in a state of undress on your bed.
The Mani
3633 days ago
I am starting to feel quite ill and am looking forward to getting back to Bristol and heading off to bed with two cats as hot water bottles and a stiff whiskey. That is not a typo, emember my genetic origins. Ahead of that today's podcast exposed Paul Farrely MP (Lab) as a useless POS, puts the Tories on the spot on AIM regulation and covers Naibu, Daniel Stewart and the new Daniel Stewart (ZAI), Hargreves Services and Quindell. I also look at tech stocks to short: Blur, Wandisco, Mopowered and Outsourcery
