Fellow Wine Lovers,
Nomophobia. No-Mobile-Phone-Phobia. Apparently not officially a phobia but a normal anxiety – nomophoanxiety just doesn’t have the same ring to it (geddit!) –was a concept introduced into our lives earlier this week.
The tennis fortnight brings many joys to our days, as touched upon last week, but the most recent string to our bow is our role as a mobile phone charging centre. It would seem that overuse of apps and cameras whilst taking selfies on Mount Murray, results in severe battery drainage. However, fear not, help is at hand. Under the rules of modern etiquette it is now apparently accepted practice to walk into any local wine shop and request 20 minutes use of an electrical socket to charge your phone. You back up this request with an assertion that you’ll ‘buy the whole shop’ as way of thanks and then seal the deal with a request to use the loo.
Twenty minutes later, with the phone charged and the realisation that all money has already been spent at the tennis, our happy travellers exit the shop empty handed but happy that their lifeline still has charge. Have a nice day and thanks for using us!
Then there’s the slightly different, but equally strange, request from one couple who asked to borrow our phone to call a friend, again because their own phone was chargeless. A strange request, given that the younger of the two proceeded to get her, seemingly fully functioning, phone out of her bag in order to read out the relevant number to the elder, whilst she was dialling. The fact that there is a payphone directly outside the shop is neither here nor there. Cheapskates.
So, nomophobia, a new one on us but an affliction I suspect we’ll become more aware of as years go by. To properly put the icing on the cake though, I was talking about these events to a friend who doesn’t live in London and thus mostly communicates by beacon and pigeon and she led me to this story:
“I witnessed something tonight that I never imagined I would see in a Broadway theatre,” Chris York wrote on Facebook.
“I saw an audience member climb onto the stage right before the show and plug his cell phone into a (fake) electrical outlet on the set. ON. THE. SET. The crew had to stop the preshow music, remove the cell-phone, and make an announcement as to why you can’t do that. Has theatre etiquette – heck, common sense – really fallen that far??”
Bonkers. The full article appears here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33295211
Witte pottekes
And my learning didn’t stop there. Wine School wrapped up this week with a bang and a pop as we finished with the Champagne & Sparkling wine. Many people come on Wine School to learn about wine, which makes sense. However, I don’t think anyone had quite banked on the extra things we learnt from Wayne on Wednesday evening… when asked how much Flemish he knew he regaled us with phrase for ‘two beers please’, ‘eleven beers please’, a couple of others I cannot remember and then, as a final flourish, erupted with the phrase witte pottekes before collapsing giggling. We had no clue what filthy language he had just used and pushed him for a translation…
I’ll give you his translation at the end but suffice to say, you learn a lot about wine at wine school and sometimes you learn a lot about Wayne too!
Next course starts Wednesday 16th September at 8pm for 6 consecutive weeks. £150 per person, Flemish lessons gratis.
Around the spittoon…
Ages ago, February in fact, we tasted a wine that we thought would be spot on for summer drinking. February has now passed, summer is here and appropriate drinking needs to be addressed.
Step in Siefried Wurzer 2014 – £13.99. Now, this wine comes from New Zealand but in fact Würzer is a scarcely planted white variety developed in Alzey, Germany, in 1932 by crossing Gewürztraminer with Müller-Thurgau. Since the beginning of the 90’s it has experienced a steady decline in plantings to the extent that apparently now less than 70 acres (30ha) remain in its homeland. It can be herbaceous, floral, citrus, have apple notes or even tropical and stonefruits. It’s delicious and fun – who knew?
The red is less exotic but no less fun – Aromo Winemaker’s Selection Pinot Noir 2011 – £10.99. This chap hails from Chile’s Bio-Bio Valley where top-notch Pinot Noir has been appearing for a while, it’s cool climate really benefitting the grapes. However the secret is not fully out yet, so they are still good value. Lovely strawberry aromas, a touch of spice and some caramel notes into the fresh finish. Very summery.
Lost in translation…
I know, I’m sorry for that header. Anyway it transpires that Wayne wasn’t referring to nefarious or smutty activities when he said witte pottekes but just really enjoyed the onomatoepaeic sounds it made. Translation into English is little white pots and he knows how to ask for two or eleven of them – I suggest you all ask him when you come into the shop over the weekend!
That’s it for now, tennis, cricket, cycling, all continue apace and all are great to watch with a glass in hand – Enjoy!