A Royal wine for a Royal wedding!

After much deliberation (well about 2.7 seconds actually) I decided that it was necessary to hold our very own street party here in NZ to celebrate the Royal wedding.

Naturally I got in touch with the local council to check that it was o.k. and that I wouldn't be contravening any 'elf 'n safety by-laws passed in 1980's (the decade in which common sense was superseded by self serving idiots who think that mountains of red-tape and bureaucracy make life easier for us all).  However, the council got back in touch with me, and told me that my proposed plans for the party would block a major bus route that goes down our road (a well know cul-de-sac in Palmy).  I told them that the 3.7 million people who had confirmed attendance would be most upset, they didn't care.  The street party was off, so we had to make do with just the two of us and our living room.  Ho-hum.

So, I checked to cellar to see what booze we had in stock, and I came across a rather suitable bottle.

It was rather good.  The Duke and Duchess have already been on the phone to commend my choice of plonk, and also added that they were upset I couldn't attend the function. C'est la vie, maybe next time?

'A wine for everyone' goes from strength to strength.

Here we go with the latest installation of the ever popular Wine sightings. This feature is now 'trending' in 57 countries world wide.

So here she is, the latest and potentially most exciting wine to date.



I am now accepting suggestions on 'who's who?' on the label.

Stand by for another wine sighting, with a theme!

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Location:Hewitts Rd,Linton,New Zealand

A wine for everyone....new sighting!

Spotted on our recent trip to Dunedin.  Sampled as well.

Tasting notes included "...a pungent aroma..."

Bicycle not included.

I'm sure this doesn't happen anywhere else...

... I mean most people go to hunt chocolate eggs, not the producers of the eggs? Still it's awesome, should be applauded, and put quite simply 'I want a go'.




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Location:High St,Dunedin,New Zealand

All the gear....no idea!

With the parents ever increasing exercise regime (72.35 miles completed this month, just to throw that out there), Jocelyn has obviously taken note.

So, this morning when I suggested we might go and get dressed, the answer given was "Daddy, I'm just going for a run first...".  I still wonder where she learn't the art of procrastination....must be her mother.

So, always to encourage exercise I said that I would see her later, and that she should have fun.

"O.K." she said, "but I must get my iPod first..." excellent.

This went on until she was decked out as below....

Heart rate monitor, iPod, headphones, watch...

So with OxBridge of the cards, maybe we should focus on stardom as an international athlete?

The 'Before and After' Shot

We have just spent a lovely weekend with friends at Mairenui, which is a farm-stay in the middle of nowhere (as most places in NZ seem to be).

Mairenui Farm-Stay

The usual crowd, packed the usual things: Beer, Guns (various types), fishing gear and more beer.

As we arrived, 2 of the guys had just returned from a hunt, where John shot his first deer (called Tractor, for obvious reasons). A fine Red Deer, this quickly led to a lot of men-folk standing around the animal, drinking beer and slapping each other on the back. It was then mentioned that a flock (or is it gabble?) or turkey had been sighted. Men rushed for their guns and set off in pursuit of the stupid looking creatures. I had the honour of leading the "Great Turkey Shoot" a greta idea we all thought, or maybe it was the beer talking....? Men, beer, guns...what could possibly go wrong? Well the turkey answered that question.

Before.

A fine shot (or two) of at least 600m dispatched poor Terence, more manly back slapping and more beer. More importantly, more food for the Scott table.

Terence the Turkey 'hanging out' with
Tractor the Deer. Conversation wasn't up to much.

The following morning, with a slightly sore head, and slightly less enthusism to shoot stuff, we went for a walk around the farm, and saw some fairly impressive beasts. Jocelyn was keen to learn how to become 'Hunter / Gatherer' like her Dad, because, quite frankly I am not very good at it.

The next generation

So with a bit of practice, hopefully Jocelyn will be putting the food on the table, instead of me.

The letter 'Me'

Whilst having some quality 'Father-Daughter' I thought we would carry on our work on the alphabet.

We had a good start with the usual letters, I write them down and Jocelyn tells me what they are:

"...D for Daddy...J for Jocelyn...M for Mummy...G for Grandpa..." (sorry Granny you have been ousted).

Then we stepped up a gear..."B for Trixy-B...H for Aunty Harriet...S for Uncle George..." (I have no idea where this came from, but Jocelyn was happy).

Excellent I thought, began to download OxBridge application forms when suddenly a purple crayon was thrust at me.  "Draw Purple Daddy".  O.K. I thought that to stimulate further learning I would write purple, in purple (cunning), the following conversation then occurred:

Jocelyn:  "Whats that?"

Me:  "That's a letter P"

Jocelyn:  "yes it is, whats that one?"

Me:  "that's a U"

Jocelyn:  "yes it is, thats a Me"

Me:  "errr, no, thats the letter U"

Jocelyn:  "yes it is, its the letter Me, its my letter..."

OxBridge forms now in the bin.

Another day at the office...

I have just been up on 'exercise' in Auckland for the past 4 days.  The usual packing list was strictly adhered to.

1.  Fishing kit

2.  Hunting kit

3.  Sunglasses

......

101.  Random Army stuff

Whilst up there we managed to get access onto private land, and found the most amazing fishing spot yet.  After a bit of a scramble ono the rock, you could cast into a 40m deep pool where you could see schools of Snapper cruising around, Stingray and sharks.  Then the fishing began, with Snapper after Snapper being hauled in.  The family will get to eat this month at last.

Simply amazing.

The 'pump tyre'

Now we are returned to an autumnal New Zealand after a great trip back to the U.K the usual post-binge-drink programme must be started.

What better way to do this than by getting on the roads on ones spiffingly fantastic new road bike.

To ensure it was still in tip-top condition I had my little helper take a quick look....

Operating the so called 'pump tyre'

To the tarmac!