JetPlane

A beautifully written book, that follows an unlikely hero from lonely misfit, to part of a close-knit Newfoundland community. The frontier atmosphere and culture of Newfoundland come across strongly. The language is beautiful and the narrative style includes short statements that are often startling in their bluntness. By the end of this book I’d fallen for all of the characters.

“The Shipping News” (Annie Proulx)

Felt like hiring a silly movie tonight, so finally got a copy of Another Gay Movie. Yes, it’s very silly, a gay version of Amercian Pie. Nancy Sinatra sang the theme tune, which is really fun and catchy, she also has a lovely voice.

Michael met me after work for a quick pint at the Green Dragon, which is half way on the cycle home from work. The weather has been great and it was a lovely sunny evening for sitting in the garden by the river, with a pint of Ale Fresco, summerish ale watching the eights zip past. The bumps start tomorrow.

Fascinating reading the exploits of the Caesars, particularly when the stories have been spiced up with a bit of fictional adaptation. I went back afterwards to have a quick flick through Suetonius (the Twelve Caesars) and Graves has actually followed the outline of Suetonius well (mind you it was Graves that made the translation of the Twelve Caesars that I have).

“I, Claudius (Penguin Classics)” (Robert Graves)

Left work just after 5 and found that I had a blow-out on my bike tire. GGGrr. It’s always on the days that I’m keen to be somewhere else. Shoved a new patch on and I made it to the Riverbank Club by 5.50, where Michael was waiting with a packet of Indonesian Crackers and a bottle of cheap red wine from Aldi. Had a quick swim to cool off and a laze in the sun, drinking wine with Michael and Liz. Left about 7, still a lovely warm evening and still sunny outside, even now.

Lovely day today so we went along to Newnham Riverbank Club for a picnic. All the members have been adopted by a two ducks and there was speculation about the gender, which the web hasn’t been able to resolve.

The river was 58F and okay for a lovely swim past Dead Man’s Corner. After all the rain the swim upstream was really slow compared with the downstream rush. Stayed till about four, drinking a bottle of our favourite rosé from Waitrose.

Firebird Legend Merlot Rosé 2007 Vulcaneshti, Moldova

Made from 95% Merlot and 5% Pinot Noir at the AurVin winery under the watchful eye of Angela Muir MW. The Merlot is particularly good for Rosé style wines, with deep colour and vivacious raspberry fruit.

Michael made some lovely marinated lamb chaps for BBQing in the evening, so spent a really good long part of the day in the sun.