Cheers! Some parts of this brave new world I’m starting to warm to...
ANOTHER week, another step along the way back home. Huzzah. Heading back to the world we used to know so well and love so much.
Pubs, cafes, gigs and nights out with friends all back on the menu. Sigh. Back to the world of sanity. Where masks, social distancing and getting lectures from government officials about when, where, whom and how we are allowed to hug are consigned to their rightful place. The back of a very big, very dark cupboard. Hopefully never to be seen again.
Though, strangely, that does remind me of the tins of paint I keep on putting in the cupboard under the stairs. The ones that never seem to be there when I go to look for them a couple of years later. When the walls need retouching and the manufacturer has decided to stop making paint of that particular shade. Hmm. Most odd. Most frustrating, too. But I digress.
Point is, to be fair, these last few weeks and months haven’t all been as crazy as a bag of badtempered badgers with bed hair. There are some parts of this, less than brave, new world I’m starting to warm towards. The wine, for instance. It’s amazing. Locally grown, locally made and tastier than a teacup full of tastebuds. Mmm. Delicious. Let’s just hope it travels well.
Now. If you’re wondering what on earth I’m wittering on about, I don’t blame you. It confused me as well, to begin with. So allow me to explain. All makes perfect sense in the end. Hopefully.
This week, taking advantage of the latest lifting of rules and regs, Mrs Cullimore and I took a trip away. Went off in a brand new direction, or rather, a brand new direction for us. Went east, to the far east. Or rather, as far east as you can go without stepping on a plane, a boat or taking a test. Long story short, we went to Kent, the garden of England. Very nice it was too.
For a start, there was the weather. It was scorchio, most of the time.
While all our friends and family back home in Bristol put up with sogginess and rain in abundance, we bathed in oodles of sunshine and cloudless blue skies, bright enough to make your head spin.
Not sure if that sort of thing happens all the time over there, but for a few precious days, it did. Was worth the price of admission alone, all by itself. Admittedly, one of the first things we had to do was waltz to the nearest chemists and buy a big bottle of suncream. Which was a bit unexpected.
Of course, when the sun insists on spending all day blazing down like liquid gold, there is only one decent and honest way to respond. By opening a bottle of something cool and refreshing to celebrate. Which is when I had a bit of a brainwave. You see, the shop next door to the suncream shop sold a rather splendid range of booze.
So without further ado, I went in and had a look around. Which is when the brainwave struck. I remembered that as well as being the garden of England, Kent is also home to a large and handsome collection of vineyards. Making gallons of wine good enough to make a Frenchman blush.
The kindly soul on duty behind the counter pointed me towards local wines and I filled my boots. Metaphorically speaking. In reality, I just filled a small basket with bottles. But you get the idea, I’m sure. It was then merely a matter of heading back to our pied a terre, placing a couple of the purchases on ice and enjoying them responsibly. Whatever that means. Main thing is, they were fantastic. Top notch. Good enough to make a wine snob wonder why they ever bother drinking anything else.
Trouble is, as every traveller knows, there are lots of wines out there in the world that taste great on holiday, but don’t taste so good when you get them back home. Which meant we had to work extra hard to drink our way through as much as possible while we were away.
Having said that, good news is that I was careful to buy extra bottles, so I could bring some home and see if they make the journey with their toptastic taste intact.
Even better news is that there are a couple of vineyards closer to home. Just down the road from Bristol, in fact. Looks like I need to get busy and buy myself some locally grown and locally made wine. Mmm. The future’s bright, the future’s local!
Hope you and yours are safe, well and happy.
Until next time, all the best.
Stan