Weeknotes #32: vineyards, wine with a view

Week commencing Monday, 28 August 2023

View from the hotel restaurant at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking.
Denbies Vineyard, Dorking

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 5/7. (66%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 0/4. Total steps: 58,802

Life

  • Holiday Monday train to Dorking for Denbies Vineyard Restaurant Food & Wine Matching Experience. Beautiful views with perfect food and wine matching.
  • Would you Adam & Eve it? I met up with an ex-boss and JB for beers and Bone Daddies. Hiccups after food spoiled the evening. Debate later in the week about having visited Bone Daddies before or not. Pork Chilli Broth is recommended. Adam & Eve? A reference to the pub we met in.
  • Train strike: walked to Curzon Wimbledon to see Barbie as National Cinema day got me a £3 ticket. I wasn’t wowed as the plot is too clearly signalled and there are some strange set pieces. What on earth is that office-based chase scene about? Barbieland is impressively brought to life. I am not as bought into Ken as a lot of people seem to be. Sorry Ryan. Are those abs real? We know the tan isn’t.
  • Then a walk from Wimbledon to Streatham via the M&S Cafe at the Collier’s Wood branch: not really up to M&S standards.
  • Dinner with friends at the Streatham Kitchen: Prawns & Spanish Chorizo and Aubergine and Halloumi Burger were both delicious. Recommended. Too much wine consumed and, for some reason, I stayed up drinking tea when we got back.
  • Sunday, train to Shropshire with an early start because yesterday’s train strike messes up the next day too. Not helped by yesterday’s wine and late night tea consumption. Tried hard to stay awake on the train north (succeeded). Carriage much emptier than suggested when I booked a seat.
  • End the week like I started it: wine and beautiful views. Lunch at Hencote Vineyard with panoramic vista overlooking Shrewsbury and the Shropshire Hills in glorious sunshine. My choices of, to start, chalk stream trout tartare and, main, crispy Gloucester old spot pork belly were delicious but Dad’s Pim Hill Farm wholemeal flour crumpet (36-month aged parmesan custard, ricotta stuffed tempura courgette flower, piperade & poached Legbar egg) was the most unusual. Glad I made the trip.

Media

  • It was podcast week for me, starting with The High Performance Podcast: Emily Maitlis: How I Approached THAT Prince Andrew Interview. Interesting insight into how the big interviews have elements of careful planning and luck.
  • James O’Brien’s Podcast, Full Disclosure with Mark Gatiss
  • Another journalism interview on The News Agents: David Dimbleby was an enjoyable discussion about the state of TV political journalism; mourning the loss of the long-form political interview.
  • Reading, not listening: has the rain put the fire out at Burning Man?

Archive

To save the links getting lost in the future I checked the Internet Archive to see what they had saved for the posts linked here. If the source above no longer works, these should.