Another trip, another bottle

Guess what? My dad is due back from Italy on Saturday and you know what that means - hopefully another grappa for my collection. I think he is beginning to suspect that it is not him that I am happy to see. It's the way I say "yeah, yeah, where's my grappa!".

I will, of course, file a full report on these pages as I endeavour to return to more regular postings. A mix of illness and work have kept me away. Surely neither will get in the way so much again.

Back on track

It's been a while since I felt inspired to pen something for the Diaries. However, last night I was back in action with a bottle of Bocchino Gran Moscato on the table and boy did it feel good. Mysteriously, it also cleared up the nasty cold I have been suffering for about a week. Lemsip Sinus - who needs it?

It was a small outing, just me and my uncle, but we talked plenty of rubbish about football before I turned my attentions to a nearby table. Two Manchester United fans were spouting forth about how Celtic would get on in their league. To be fair, one reckoned they would be a top six team easily, the other said midtable. Midtable? I spluttered. Behind Bolton? Behind mighty Reading or some such?

I was also lucky enough to get deep in conversation with an American woman of some kind of Italian extraction who had never drunk grappa and had no idea whereabouts in Italy her Italian grandfather came from. What a joy to be able to spout forth about my favourite drink to somebody who had not heard all my patter before! Needless to say by the end of the evening she was looking round for an emergency exit. But still, it felt good to hold court on one of my specialist subjects.