Confessions of a Wino

What has this got to do with wine?  You may recall I was kindly invited to see the Foo Fighters by one of the stadium sponsors, so I did manage to grab a few glasses but I am afraid I didn’t take any notice of the bottles.

So, for those of you who are Foo fans out there I thought I might post a few pics and vids.  Those of you more into classical music and sip of Chablis could move to the next post while I indulge myself in a small diversion.

(more…)

Quick shout out for the Giants who beat the Dolphins 13-10 yesterday, in the first ever NFL game played outside North America.  As you might expect, I was at Wembley, and sampling the beer and food (the wine available looked very ropey indeed).

Whilst at the counter, the guy in front (American) was asking the server what note he had in his hand.  “£20” replied the server and (trying to be helpful) “that’s about $40 at the current exchange rate”.  The American guy did not think that particularly helpful as his brain computed that he had just paid $7 for a beer.

(more…)

Nothing to do with wine, this post.  Just thought I’d record the fact that I won two tickets in a raffle at Co-op Bank (one of our customers) for two tickets to the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final.  The first at Wembley for several years.

Turns out the prize was kindly donated by one of my former employers, Tieto Enator, so thanks to them!

(more…)

Jeff and I were in London for the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.  Those of you not from Perpignan, Australia or the north of England will not understand Rugby League so let’s move on.  In any case RL was not the only sporting occasion of interest that day.

August Bank Holiday weekend in the UK and Chelsea FC (lucky home win against Portsmouth – David “Calamity” James to thank) knocks the glorious Man City (unlucky defeat away at the Arse) off the top spot of the English Premier League.  So we thought we better nip down to Chelsea and see what all the fuss was about.

(more…)

I was invited to Live Earth.  What a dilemma.  All tickets cost £55.  I went free.  Should I make a charitable donation to some worthy cause?  Which cause exactly?  I mean this was not a charity event, it was about awareness, man.  Quite a hippy concept really, but played out in the hard commercial word of the new millennium.  Some of the messages from the various entertainers who participated were more genuine than others but I have to admit to laughing.  It’s not very rock and roll having some pop idol jumping on stage and telling us all not to leave our TVs on standby, before launching into some familiar guitar riff.

There were also doubts about the CO2 created by the event itself.  I travelled public transport all the way, only to see the Black Eyed Peas being helicoptered in to Wembley for Al Gore’s denouement.

All in all though, a fantastic day out.  It’s not often you get to see such a high class line up.  Here’s the pictures:

Firstly my (somewhat feeble) attempt at a panoramic view of Wembley.

(more…)

I was asked by one of the sponsors of “new” Wembley “do you want to come and see Muse?”  My total dumbfounded silence made them re-phrase the question – “I’ve got a box at Wembley to see some band you’ve never heard of, do you want to come?”  “YES PLEEEEEEEASE!”

OK so I am too old to have heard of Muse – you can laugh but at least I remember Led Zeppelin – I still have most of their albums (on vinyl of course) and I saw Spinal Tap at Live Earth – rock on!

I thought you might be interested in the pics.

Muse?  Imagine the bastard son of Radiohead and Suede and (if you are a Gen Xer like me) you will see what I mean.

(more…)