Fellow Wine Lovers,
Whilst we wait for Wayne to finish his Reverse Warrior Pose and I calmly rise from my Salutation Seal, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support and sponsorship you showered on us for the London Marathon. We are truly grateful and can happily report that we both made it round, we both got a medal which must mean we won something, and we both waddled into work on Monday afternoon at 3pm, having ‘worked from home’ in the morning, without the aid of sticks or zimmers. Wayne was back on his bike yesterday, I went for a swim last night, both of our wineglasses were filled to the brim on Sunday night, so life has now returned to as close to normal as it ever gets.
For the stat minded amongst you, Wayne completed it in 4.27, I did it in 4.40, we raised over £3,000 for The Children’s Trust and each expended over 5000 calories. According to my watch I ran 28 miles which would imply I was weaving around a bit and I stood in a queue for the loo just before Tower Bridge for 7 minutes. There you go, you wanted stats.
When I say life has returned to normal, I lie a little. Shop life in Arthur Road is never normal in school holidays, even less so in the week before the 4 day weekend, so I fully expect to see a mountain of ‘I am out of the office until Tuesday 22nd April’ messages in response to this email.
For those of you who are still around, here is everything you need to know for the coming weekend.
OPENING HOURS
We are open today (Thursday) until 8pm as usual.
Tomorrow being Good Friday, we are only open from 11am until 3pm to cover the lunchtime quaffing.
Saturday we’ll be here beaming with bonhomie from 10am until 6pm.
Sunday and Monday we will be closed whilst we embark on a Marathon (or should it be Snickers) of chocolate consumption followed up by a spot of DIY with perhaps a splash of car-washing. Living the dream my friends, living the dream.
WINE SCHOOL – Wednesday 23rd April – Wednesday 4th June
So, don’t tell all the folks who are out of office, but we still have a few seats at the table for our next wine course which starts next Wednesday. It will change your life, your confidence when confronted with winelists will be boosted and, as recent participants have testified, it will change your Wednesday evenings and perhaps your Thursday mornings too!
TIME & LEISURE
It’s that time again when we beg for your votes. We are still awaiting the complete details and once we know we’ll let you know and hopefully you will vote for us again!
TASTING THIS WEEKEND
Just because they’re all on hols that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy ourselves. I lied earlier when I said I would be filling up with chocolate on Sunday because in fact I hate the stuff. What I love however is The Chocolate Block 2012 made by Boekenhoutskloof (£22.99). 70% Syrah, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Grenache, 6% Cinsault, 1% Viognier. I repeat: 70% Syrah, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Grenache, 6% Cinsault, 1% Viognier. That’s one hell of a wine – it will be rubbish with chocolate but do come and help us decide what it would be great with. Oh, and if you opt to buy six, we can definitely make it worth your while!
We’ll also taste a white and since we seem to be in a South Africa mood, let’s try the Reyneke Organic White 2012 (£13.89). A blend of 40% Chenin Blanc, 35% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Chardonnay (don’t worry, I won’t repeat them this time) we were really quite taken with it when we tried it a month or so back. We were looking for something red from Austria and ended up buying this as well – a win double, as Wayne would say.
GOOD LUCK, BABY
A couple of our very good, if recently lapsed, customers are due to give birth over the weekend – hope everything goes well, you know who you are. The prospect of labour probably makes my 7 minute loo queue on Sunday seem like a stroll in the park!
So, your to do list: swing by tomorrow or Saturday, taste some fine wines and sign up for Wine School.
Done.
Happy Easter y’all,