Actually I’m not unemployed as such, but as recession roars I have a lot more free time than I used to. This, when considered beforehand, is often viewed as a blessing and a sought-after opportunity to concentrate and focus on things that normally get neglected in the rush of everyday life. And this, when experienced firsthand, often manifests itself as a kind of formless and aimless feeling of apathy that, having settled in, effectively prevents anything requiring a bit more concentration from taking place.

The mornings have more light now than a while ago, as the springtime shyly looms behind a still-quite-but-not-extremely-distant corner, so I tend to wake up a bit earlier than I’d like to or need to. If I don’t want to get up immediately after having woken up, I must be very careful and not move at all. The Loved One, if she stays at home and would like to sleep a little longer, might get annoyed at my way of repeatedly turning over before actually getting up and the inconsiderate habit of breathing all the time while doing so. The Cat will spot any movement and, sitting down on my pillow right next to my face, stare at me intently until I get very uneasy. The Dog is not allowed in the bed but will immediately take notice if my toes accidentally emerge from within the sheets and will immediately act upon it too, by going boing-boing-boing and whine-whine-whine by the bedside, as well as licking and clawing at my protruding digits. It’s impossible for The Dog to relax or relent until 100% of the human population in our household has gotten out of bed. Shortly after having achieved that The Dog will retire to its’ quarters to have a six-hour nap and will bare its’ teeth and growl ferociously if disturbed in any way.

The decisions regarding what to do with the day have to be made quite soon after the breakfast, otherwise The Apathy rapidly descends and the day is mostly lost. If I plan to go outside it’s best to do so before noon because by late afternoon it might be way too late for such drastic action. If I want to read anything deeper than an article in a magazine it’s best to get down to it immediately because by late afternoon my ability to concentrate will have vaporised and is not restored until after a nights’ sleep. In an ideal world a person cherishes every single day individually. In a real world a person sometimes just can’t make the effort because some days just clearly are of the throwaway quality. I have yet to fully decide on the nature of this particular day but if I want today to be in any way significant I need to stop writing this as soon as possible and get outside. The solar noon has already passed and the 14th hour is at hand. So much for trying to describe a day in a life of a gentleman at leisure.

Off for a walk outside in a crisp pre-Spring weather and after that, The Challenge Of The Day.

THE CHALLENGE OF THE DAY:
To Prepare An Edible Dish Out Of Borlotti Beans. And while I’m at it, I might as well place a challenge for tomorrow too: To Finally Finish The Umberto Eco Novel I’ve Been Reading For The Past Month Or So.

THIS WEEKS’ GLIMPSE INTO VISUAL ARTISTRY:
I buy way too many books, a lot more than I have the time to read. Especially the art books often get bought but then neglected for long periods of time. For example, unopened books on Alphonse Mucha and Edward Burne-Jones have been pointing an accusing metaphorical finger at me from the bookshelf for quite a while now. Books want to get read and books need to get read and books also need to be kept. Sometimes I sell some of my books and sometimes I miss them afterwards. And sometimes I misplace a book and those are the ones I miss most sorely afterwards. Patrick Woodroffe paints the kind of things that bring peace to your heart when you look at them. I bought a book of his works called “Mythopoeikon” when I was a teenager, one of the first books I ever bought, and I’ve always taken good care of it. But not good enough it seems as during the past several years, every time I’ve tried to dig the book up I have failed to find it. This indicates that I won’t be finding it in the future either which makes me a bit sad but not sad enough to try and buy another copy of it because it’s been long out of print and therefore a bit on the expensive side. So I’ve tried to locate mr. Woodroffes’ pictures online, with limited success. His homepage has some images but to find reasonably sized pictures I probably would have to get an actual book. And since that would be another seldom-if-ever read art book in my already crowded shelf I think I’ll settle for the things on his homepage and accept my loss. Hopefully with at least a fracture of the grace of the benign monk shown below.



THIS WEEKS’ BOTTLES OF CHOICE:
Vouvray 'Tête de Cuvée Brut', sparkling wine from Vouvray France. Chenin Blanc is the main variety of grape over there and my experience so far on Chenin Blanc has been the light, inexpensive and unenticing white wines from South Africa. The sparklies from Vouvray area are characterful and stylish by description and I was looking forward to tasting this. Unfortunately the small glass of champagne I had before opening this bottle set an somewhat unjust standard and in comparison this tasted one-dimensional and a bit dank. On the positive side there was a slight hint of sweetness and a reflection of some unidentified fruit, probably peach (the description says apricot so that was quite close I think. If a person is able to tell the difference between the scent of apricot and peach the person probably is an educated expert on prunus whatever or just needs to get out more often). Anyway, fresh and light it was not, in the way of most cavas, and obviously lacked the complexity and uplifting qualities of champagne. And it was a bit overpriced I think so I see no reason to buy it again.

Chevaliers de Malte Sec is another sparkling wine from France. Confusingly it claims to be ”blanc de blancs” on the label which to my understanding means it’s 100% Chardonnay, at least in champagnes. This is 0% Chardonnay but a blend of several to-me-unheard-of grape varities that seem to be mostly used for making cheaper table wines. The taste is sugary, flat and very straightforward. This bottle was opened to light up a Monday dinner of fish and rice heated up in microwave oven so in a way it was quite suitable for the occasion. The Vouvray had bucketfuls of elegance compared to this although the comparison is unfair because this was almost 50% cheaper. If this was the wine of choice of The Knights Of Malta no wonder scenes like this occurred.

Yalumba Y Series Riesling, white wine from Australia. Now this, for a change, was utterly lovely. The best Riesling I’ve had; light, dry and sweetish but still very crisp and fresh. The German ones I’ve tasted, although very good and classy, have still been a bit disappointing to me but this is exactly what I like the most about white wines. Very enjoyable sipped on its’ own well chilled, reminding me of albarino somehow. I failed to notice any aromas of petrol apart from slight ”oiliness” that lingered in the aftertaste. This is also the best match for oriental food I’ve come across so far and left a much better impression than my previous attempts with gewurztraminers and spicy food. The bottle design is very good too so this is a very hard to resist-kind of package.

Los Monteros, red wine from Spain. The bottle looks really enticing too and was probably the main reason I bought this. It also got a favourable review in a wine magazine and I like the Monastrell grape. It’s full-bodied and strong tasting in a typically Spanish way I’d say. The Loved One said it’s smoky and mouth-drying, two terms that I tend to attach to Shiraz mostly. Once again a wine that fulfilled its’ function nicely without special effects or flashy stunts. I would have liked to like this more than I did.