Things I like about you

You are beautiful
You are funny
You are always there when I need you(well nearly always)
I have known you for thirty years and you are still interesting
You cook well
You are supportive when I cook!
You are caring
You always look for the best in people
You like holidays and so do I and the house can look after itself because we can't afford to
You give me space when I need it and are so forgiving-well apart from when you are really pissed off but that is not often
You like Tolstoy
You love jazz and Mahler

And a million other things that will come to me

The things we write

I wrote an email 2 days ago.
The beauty of email is that it is so easy, so fast and delivered at the press of a button.
The trouble with email is that it is so easy, so fast and delivered at the press of a button.
Maybe I had drunk a little too much or maybe I was tired, stupid- I don't know but the fact of the matter is I pressed send as soon as I had written it and it was gone.
I have not had a reply so I don't know how it was received and I certainly regretted sending it all day yesterday.
I like snail mail. It gives you time to change your mind between the last full stop and the mailbox.

Recent Books

A Year in the Merde
This is a funny book in places as the author gives a fictional description of a first year in Paris. It made me laugh in places but having just read cooking with Fernet Branca this did not come close. I left the book not really knowing whether he liked the French and it would have been good if it was clear on this. I also got fed up with the female conquests. Can't help feeling the author was trying to achieve in print what may not have been forthcoming in real life. Rating 4/10

Stasiland
This was a fascinating book. I had to keep reminding myself that this was not a novel but based on true stories from East Germany and the effect on lives of the Berlin Wall. It is very well written and extremely moving in places. I would recommend it highly. Rating 8/10

Migraine

This is painful. I cannot look at the screen for the pain in the left side of my head, I cannot concentrate on anything and as this is now 36 hours since it started I am fairly low. Surely in this technogical age we can find a cure for this.

Emlyn Hughes

BBC SPORT | Football | Football great Emlyn Hughes dies

I was never a Liverpool supporter but Emlyn Hughes, like John Peel was part of my growing up. He is part of my memories of youth, of moments shared with my brother, of tensions lived through final score and Match of the Day. Thankfully sweet memories live on but with a death become more remote somehow.

The View

The View is a restaurant at Whitsand Bay in Cornwall.
It has fantastic views(hence the name!!) over the Cornish coast toward Rame Head.
The food is great or it was today although the service is not for those in a hurry.
For those interested in things culinary I had Cornish cod-although I am not sure how you confirm the origins of a cod-served on a bed of crushed new potatoes and green beans followed by a rather good apple and calvados tart. All this washed down with a good sauvignon from Chile and followed by a snooze. Life is good.

Fernet Branca

This stuff is something else. Thick dark and with a taste somewhere between mouthwash and cold tea, it has the kick of a proverbial mule and that something else that will make me go back for more!

Bjork

I have now listened to Bjorks new album-Medulla- about half a dozen times and it is fast becoming one of my favourites.
On first listening it left me cold but it definitely repays perseverance.
It should also be listened to alone so that it can seep into your soul like a marinade.
If you get the chance listen to it and give it time.