Trafalgar

It was the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar yesterday (21st October 1805) I remember as a kid visiting HMS Victory in Portsmouth on a school trip and it making a big impression on me at the time, I made sure that I took my kids to see it when they were old enough (a great day out BTW). In recent years I've also visited the Maritime museum at Greenwich and there they have a painting by JMW Turner of the battle (similar to the one above), it's an impressive piece, well worth a visit if you're ever out that way.

Bostonian Memories

Back in 2022 we took a trip to Boston (USA) we stayed there a couple of days and then toured around New England and even had a day trip up to Montreal in Canada, it was a great holiday. On our second day (July 4th) we saw representatives of the city read out the famous declaration of independence (yawn!) from the old British customs house (note the lion and the unicorn on the top of the building) in the middle of the city, I snapped this picture of the event (above) The speech itself was mildly interesting but like the Bible soon descended into petty parochial nonsense, mainly whining about having to pay tax, much like many right wing politicians do these days in the UK.

Water's back

It's been raining a lot here in the South East of the UK and on my walk today I noticed that my favourite little pond (see above) is starting to fill up with water again! I was worried that it had permanently dried out as it hasn't had water (or life) for many months now due to the drought we've been experiencing over the Summer. Hopefully it's back now and the little critters can return to brighten up my lunchtime strolls!

Sharks

Consumed a couple of weeks ago now, one of my favourite Verdant beers, the rather unusually named "ESNW" (which stands for Even Sharks Need Water", a classic Verdant IPA choc full of Citra and Galaxy hops that I've blogged about several times before. This example came as part of a birthday present from my Son who kindly bought me a subscription to a new Verdant product called "Books and Beers" where every two months you get sent a box with six beers (randomly selected) and a book to read. A novel idea (see what I did there..) 

Maltese Weekend III

 

There's a burgeoning wine scene in Malta, they still import most of their wines from Italy and France but there are a couple of producers on the island that I reckon could compete with mid to upper tier continental offerings. The first is a winery called "Ta' Betta" whose wines regularly score over 90 points (on the Parker scale) We had one of their wines "Philippe Villiers" at our hotel restaurant, it was delicious, a blend of Syrah and Cab Franc, it's a robust red, but has notes of tobacco, chocolate, graphite and green peppers (much like a good Southern Rhone or perhaps Cru Bourgeois from Bordeaux) It's seen some oak, and has very smooth tannins. I was impressed, and compared to the prices of equivalent French or Italian bottles on the same menu it was a steal (half the price), a very well crafted drink.

The other producer that's worthy of mention IMO is Marsovin, probably slightly more industrial in production than Ta' Betta but at the top end very good indeed. We had a bottle of their Chardonnay with an evening meal one night and it was super! Crisp, fruity with good finish and length, would easily outshine many cheaper Burgundies or new world examples at the same price point.

There are also a couple of noteworthy craft beer bars in town (Valletta) I snapped the beer board of one of them "67 Kapitali" which features (mainly) beers from a producer called "Lord Chambray" who are based in Gozo (the other island in the Malta archipelago) and beers from Huskie who are located nearer to Valletta in Qrendi which is just the other side of the airport from the city. The bar isn't limited to local beer though it also has a number of other European offerings including some from the UK including Verdant and Tiny Rebel as well as Spanish and German brews, you could easily spend an evening in here and not try the same beer twice.

There are also 7 Michelin starred restaurants in Malta, including a two star in Valletta (ION Harbour) by Chef Simon Rogan, famous for founding L'Enclume up in the Lake District (Cartmel) we didn't try it but the location and food looks outstanding. I guess that in addition to a few "kiss me quick" pubs in Valletta there's also a decent amount of cash on the Island (it is a tax haven after all!) and those folks love a star or two for dinner!

Eventually it was time for us to leave, we were quite sad to go, we'd had a good time and left feeling like there was much more to this little island to be discovered. As our flight was climbing out of the airport I snapped the picture above, it shows the Grand Harbour and Valletta  gleaming under the Mediterranean sun, goodbye for now, I'm sure we'll return someday.

Strange Loop

New Verdant beer on Saturday evening, a pale ale called "Strange Loop" which is a collaboration between Verdant and Big Scary Monsters. Classic Verdant murk hopped with Eclipse, Mosaic and Nectaron giving masses of ripe tropical fruits, sweet with a touch of dankness, delicious beer! (not sure about the label though?)

Maltese Weekend II

 

One rather macabre attraction of Valletta is a pub called (rather unimaginatively) "The Pub" (see above) it has become a shrine to actor Oliver Reed who, in 1999, while filming the blockbuster "Gladiator" with Russell Crowe stopped here for a drink. Reed (aged 61) who was an infamous alcoholic and hellraiser was apparently "off the booze" at the time but unfortunately for him was goaded into a drinking and arm-wrestling competition with some Royal Navy sailors taking shore leave from their ship (HMS Cumberland) docked in the harbour. 

It didn't go well for Reed, after 8 pints, a dozen shots of rum, half a pint of Whiskey and multiple shots of Cognac he suffered a massive heart attack. His fellow drinkers attempted artificial respiration but he died in the ambulance on the way to hospital. Inside the pub you can purchase a tee shirt marking this self-destructive drinking feat with the various libations listed on the back of it along with the word "Legend", I resisted the urge to buy one. 

Many of the drinking establishments in Valletta have a strong UK influence, several are simply London pubs transplanted to the Mediterranean island. I think this is why the place is so popular with a certain type of "Brit". I mentioned in the previous post that I felt the town had a certain "Benidorm" vibe to it, what I mean by this is you see a lot of places that appeal to the middle aged bald, tattooed, vaping English bloke who will be sporting a ManU football shirt and Adidas trainers. There are plenty of examples of such style icons wandering about and quite a few staggering about later in the evening. I suppose a place like this with guaranteed sunshine, cheap booze, English as the official language and a history that's steeped in British pub culture will be an attractive proposition for those looking for a Sunday Roast in 40 degree heat. I thought this side of the city was less appealing, but don't let that put anyone off the place, wander a little off the beaten track and you will find some real gems, local, authentic and friendly, it just takes a little research.

We booked a food tour for one of our days in Valletta and dutifully assembled with other foodies at 9:30am in the main square in front of the Parliament building. It was a nice little tour, about 4 hours along with cultural and historical sites in between the food stops. We learnt a lot about the city from our really friendly Maltese lady tour guide, she was also a keen home chef and was able to suggest interesting associations between food and culture as we went along, for example the way in which different influences have left their mark on popular island dishes. In the photo above is one of our food offerings on the tour. It's a rabbit terrine, that particular mammal being a very common source of protein in Malta however rabbits aren't native to the place, they were introduced by the Phoenicians back in 750BC as their sailors started to use the island as a strategic maritime hub, their rule lasted until the Romans took over in 218BC they introduced olives, the British introduced (predictably) curry!!

Valletta is surrounded by water, on one side you have the "Grand Harbour" (pictured above) and on the other Marsamxett Harbour, these bodies of waterfrontage were home to the British Mediterranean fleet and suffered terribly during WWII as the island is only 60 miles from Sicily and within easy bombing range of Italian and German planes of the time. Malta was awarded the George Cross by King George VI (see below) in 1942 in recognition of Maltese resilience during the Siege of Malta by Italy and Germany in the early part of the war. Some of the older buildings still bear the scars of shrapnel on their walls and the shadows of concrete gun emplacements and pill boxes are evident everywhere. There are many WWII museums and sites in Valletta, it's probably a mecca for WWII buffs, no doubt Al Murray visits regularly (probably)

Malta is also a source of some rather nice food and wine, industries that have been developing in the last few years and have become something of a upmarket alternative to the "pub" scene already embedded, more about this in part III

Friday Smirk

The boys discussing the various ethical and moral interpretations often applied to the different "holy texts". The amusing thing is that we all know what those Bronze Age story tellers were on about, it's only the passage of time and much vesting of interests that warps the words into "allegory and metaphor"..

Maltese Weekend I

So, last minute thing, we decided to escape to Malta for a long weekend. A country that we'd never been to before but so many people we know have and report good things about that we felt compelled to pay the place a visit. Arriving fairly late after a three hour flight, we headed through a quiet airport and out into the warm evening, then a quick 20 minute taxi to our hotel for a much anticipated couple of nights in Valletta, the capital of the small island state.

We awoke the next day to blue skies and a rather nice 26 degree warmth and headed into the city (our hotel was just outside the medieval city walls) Valletta is an ancient place, situated on an elevated peninsula, it's grid of narrow streets is completely contained within rather impressive ramparts constructed by the Knights of St. John in the 1500s (to protect against Ottoman invasions) It's made almost entirely from a light coloured local limestone, rather like Portland Stone, it looked a gorgeous honey colour under the intense Mediterranean sun. 

Crossing over the "Valletta Ditch" and through the newly crafted city gate (2014) we entered the city proper and walked down the main commercial street (Republic St.) It was busy, very busy, like Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon, progress was slow. As we strolled along we passed many of the "sights" of the city, the bombed out Opera House, St. Johns Cathedral, St. Georges square among others and a couple of things became clear, a) Malta (or Valletta at least) is a very "churchy" place, every other building seemed to have a religious connection, b) it's a very diverse place with lots of cultural influences and c) it has a distinct "Benidorm" vibe, anyway more on this later. We didn't stroll for too long as we had a lunch appointment with some friends who happened to be visiting at the same time as us and so returned to our hotel and hopped into an Uber which I booked to take us to a place called Mdina, the original capital of the island (until 1530), around 25 minutes later we arrived (it's only a small island!)

Mdina (old city) is also surrounded by a huge wall and ditch (those medieval Maltesers were a paranoid bunch!) and is situated on a small hill surrounded by walled fields containing a variety of crops, olives, grapes and fruit trees etc. I snapped a pano of the view from up on the ramparts (see above) it was a lovely spot! Mdina was also a very "churchy" place, clearly the Catholic church had quite a grip on this place at one point, the local (soft) limestone does lend itself to some fabulous Baroque stonework, here's (below) the cathedral in Mdina shining in the sun..

After a nice Mediterranean lunch of seafood and pasta we headed back to Valletta and our hotel to freshen up before heading back into the city for some evening refreshments and a further look around the place. Of course I'd previously researched some of the local craft beer options, there were a couple of small breweries on the island and there were also a couple of craft beer bars in town, we headed to one and settled in for a couple of beers before dinner. I was amazed to find that the bar we went to had a fridge full of cans and bottles from all over Europe, including my all time favourite Cornish brewer Verdant, I snapped up one of their pale ales to kick things off with, they even had the correct glassware (see below)!

After a couple of drinks and some light food options we retired to our hotel bar which was one of those grand dimly lit affairs with lot's of different whiskeys and gins to choose from, we didn't stay long and were soon tucked up in bed ready for our next day of exploration, we had a food tour booked and were looking forward to that, more in part II

Midweek Mirth

Met a few developers like this over the years, dealing (constructively) with criticism is a key part of successful product development. Also, knowing how to deflect and neutralize the criticism of idiots that have power (or money) so that they think you're going to do something (but have no intention to) is key as well.

Good and Bad

Probably the last garden beer of the season (26th September), it's getting cold and wet in the UK at the moment and will soon be dark far too early, still, it was a great year for al fresco eating and drinking probably a record breaking Summer (temperature and lack of rain wise) which is both a good and bad thing at the same time, I wonder what the Winter will bring?

Kernow Memories

Back in May 2025 we had a long weekend in Falmouth, Cornwall with a couple of our friends, the weather was extremely kind and the weekend was a complete scorcher! On one of the days we took the ferry over to St. Mawes which is a little village and harbour across the water from Falmouth (see pano above) it's a gorgeous little place, I remember sitting outside one of the little hotels on the sea front drinking a pint of Verdant beer (my favourite) with my mate chewing the fat and watching the world go by, doesn't get much better than that (see below).

Stupid is as stupid does

Had one of these over the weekend, it's a re-make of a popular Verdant beer from 2023, initially brewed as a Mosaic-forward West Coast IPA but has evolved over a number of re-brews. This version still has Mosaic on the hot-side but a combo of Krush, Nectaron, Chinook and Columbus on the cold side, an interesting selection of hops, old and new school you could say! It's a delicious Westy, grapefruit and tropical bitterness up the ying, yang very nice indeed!

Software Hero

This is Margaret Hamilton and standing next to her is the source code for the flight control software that helped land Apollo 11 (the first men on the moon) Margaret lead the project that created this code, code that performed exceptionally well even though at one critical point the astronauts overloaded it with too many tasks, causing a buttock clenching moment when an error code was displayed about 3 minutes from touchdown! The software handled the scenario in exactly the way that Margaret had previously thought about and programmed it to do, allowing a safe landing.

Sadly, Margaret died last Wednesday, aged 90, but what a hero, she even coined the term "Software Engineering", and in doing so made much more of an impact on the world than most of us have ever have. RIP Margaret and thanks for all that code!

Japanese Hygiene

When on holiday in Asia last month we stayed at a hotel that had Japanese style automated toilets (pictured above) I'd never experienced anything like this before and it was interesting to try it. The appliance had it's own remote and you could control every aspect while "sitting comfortably"! 

I had expected that these devices would just squirt water up your bum, but how wrong I was! "Life-changing" was the adjective we used after mastering these rather embarrassing machines, they do indeed use a water jet but not only is it warm (i.e. body temperature) but you can vary the angle, strength and form of the jet from solid, through oscillating or pulsating to spray! Once cleansed you then hit the "dry" button and a rather pleasing waft of warm air is used to dry the parts that need drying and once finished a fan sucks any "odours" from the bowl leaving everything pristine for the next user.

If I ever move house I'd be seriously temped to get myself one of these "smart loos", they're not cheap but goodness me they will change the way you cr*p for ever!

Memories of South America

We were fortunate enough to travel around a bit in South America last year, visiting Argentina, Chile and Brazil. I think my favourite place of the three was Chile, something about the dramatic framing of the cities by the Andes Mountains and the friendliness of the people (plus great food and wine) not to mention how cheap everything was compared to Europe (and the posher parts of Argentina) Of course we only scratched the surface of that huge continent, I can't wait to get back and tick a few more places off the list!

Friday Smirk

The boys discussing how the winners get to write the history books..

Singapore Rules

Photo snapped on the Singapore metro, no eating or drinking, especially Durian fruits, they make a special note of these! For those who have ever smelt a Durian fruit up close you will understand exactly why. People often cite Singapore as a place with draconian rules, personally I've never come across anything I wanted to do in public there that I couldn't, maybe it's just my age?

Bordeaux Memories

Back in 2007 and to mark the occasion of my 45th birthday we had a long weekend in Bordeaux, St. Emilion to be more precise (see picture above) The trip was organized by an English chap who lived with his French family near Bordeaux and could speak fluent French, he made arrangements to visit the Chateaux I wanted to see and drove us around in his family Volvo. 

We had a great couple of days and I got to visit some of the top producers and try their wines, wines that I'd only ever read about up until then, it was a real education. I often wonder what ever happened to that chap, I wonder if his wine-tour business is still running, he was such a nice bloke and gave us a really great tour for not much money at the time. Many of the wines I tasted on that trip have become our favourites for the many years that followed, every time we open one it transports us back to that place and to that moment in time, it's fascinating how food and drink have the power to do that to us chimps.

Birthday Treats III

 

A delicious pint of Hacker-Pschorr (an official Oktoberfest brewer) slightly more malt forward (hence the darker colour) than most of the Oktoberfest Lagers but all the better for it, moreish and flavoursome, such easy drinking! Consumed over my birthday weekend in the "Lore of the Land" one of my favourite pubs situated in Fitzrovia (and belonging to the film director Guy Richie) ; does great food as well but we only had a quick drink in there as we had a reservation at Nobel Rot over at Lambs Conduit (see previous post!)

Birthday Treats II

 

Continuing on a wine/birthday theme, we had dinner on Saturday evening at a restaurant called "Nobel Rot", (not the first time I'd visited) it's a bistro style joint with an epic wine list (the wine is their thing really) Since it was my birthday I decided to push the boat out a bit and try something from the top shelf. The 97 Ridge Monte Bello was just the job, I'd had plenty of Ridge wines before but this one is their flagship and something I'd only ever read about and 97 was a brilliant vintage in California, you don't see this wine (at this age) much on lists here in the UK, so I just had to bite the bullet and try it!

It didn't disappoint, absolutely alive and kicking after nearly 30 years under cork, massive nose of blackcurrant and pencil lead with hints of chocolate, on the palette it opened out with blueberries, notes of mint and those chalky smooth tannins that seem to reveal layer after layer of deliciousness, very long. A truly fantastic wine, probably one of the most memorable I've ever had (and I've had quite a few good ones!) I'd love to go out and buy a case but unfortunately for me most other wine lovers feel the same and the prices for the Monte Bello are heart stopping these days, hopefully after we win the lottery I'll drink nothing else, then again I hear the 2013 is even better, there's always next year.

Birthday Treats

It was my birthday this weekend and so we decamped to London to celebrate and meet up with the kids. On Friday evening we had a really chilled meal at one of our favourite little wine bar/bistros on Endell Street near Covent Garden, I found this rather splendid Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay from Sandhi on their list and so we drank it with a simple but delicious lamb and bean dish. It was one of those classic cool climate Californian Chardonnays that was fruit filled and really tight, excellent acidity, really "zingy" and fresh, great stuff!

Saturday Smile

The boys discussing the merits of post hoc rationalization, hindsight is truly a wonderful thing!

Friday Smirk

Hide and seek world champion in perpetuity! 

Manhattan Memories

I remember back in 2018 our family took a trip to New York, we spent a week in the city showing our then teenage kids around our old haunts from when I used to work there, and mainstream tourist spots. It was a great trip and the first time I'd been back since 2001 just post 9/11, the changes to downtown were understandably huge. One of the most memorable experiences was visiting the 9/11 museum, I was expecting uber tacky in that classic American way, far too many stars and stripes etc. But how wrong i was, it was really interesting, sober and moving. 

I was lucky that my Son was born that very weekend back in 2001 and although I was scheduled to be in New York on the 11th I was at home incredulously watching on TV like the rest of the world. At the museum in 2018 I snapped a picture of the famous concrete staircase that provided an escape route for the last few souls to make it out from below the trade centre, I used to use that very same staircase on the route from my usual hotel (Marriot World Trade) to our office which was on Wall St., I can only imagine what it must have been like for those caught up in it all, a sombre memory.