Thursday, September 15. 2011An Exhausting Day - I Don't Know If I Can Keep This UpJohn Linton We moved on today - out of Avon and navigated a meandering route across to the fringes of Worcestershire. Before we left Colerne I was determined to find an antique glass shop located in the middle of nowhere at which in past visits in the long distant past I had bought Annette various items which would be unobtainable in Australia. Getting there was a significant navigation challenge involving driving on some single lane roads covered in tree 'tunnels' that cut off almost all of the little natural light there is in the first place and seems to consist of a series of blind hairpin turns for miles and miles. Sure enough we met a bus that filled not only all of the little available road but touched the hedges on either side of it. So we backed up, and up again and finally managed to squeeze our car in to a 'passing bay' that allowed the bus to get past with out removing our wing mirror or duco. We eventually found the private house (large and very beautiful) with the attached barn converted in to a showroom and the wife of the dealer let us in and allowed us to browse around. We almost bought two rummers to go with the two late 18th century ones I had bought going on for 20 years ago from this strangely located place but in the end decided they weren't a close enough 'match'. We were also attracted to some other pieces but in the end we decided they were not quite for us so we thanked the helpful lady and set out for the Cotswolds where we intended do do the usual tourist Cotswold 'thing' and village hop that beautiful part of England for a day or so just like the millions of tourists who have visited it over the past two centuries. We were in no sort of hurry (just as well considering the long delays we encountered for 'road works' on three occasions) and had lunch in one of the beautiful small towns we encountered. Skipping breakfast (as we have done for the past two days) certainly gives you an appetite for lunch which today consisted of a local meat and vegetable pastie consumed on a bench in the market square - it was delicious. We looked over their 14th century, and huge and beautiful, church (it was the size of a small cathedral) and chatted to the lady church warden for a while. We lazily made our way back to the car admiring the largely 13th and 14th century buildings that comprised this large village buying some local strawberries (2 pounds for the equivalent of two Australian 'punnets') along the way. We ate the strawberries on the way to our hotel and, despite the lateness of the season they were very sweet and melted on your palate. We found our new hotel by using the 'force' as it was located in a place unknown to our sat/nav or our A to Z. However its location could be logically deduced and the final mile or so was signed. Our hotel was excellent, a lovely mid sized English country house dating back the usual many, many hundreds of years and a warm and gracious greeting (although I know it is professionally commercial I still find it charming). We checked in to our room and while Annette did something or other I fell asleep on the four poster bed exhausted by the travails of the day....I did wake up in time for dinner though which was a memorable tasting meal that fresh local produce invariably provides wen prepared by a competent chef. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Wednesday, September 14. 2011Fruitless But Nevertheless EnjoyableJohn Linton We set out today to see if we could discover the other part of the Great Crane Project which is, quite understandably, not publicised anywhere that I could find. No problem, I have a passing geographic knowledge of the Somerset Levels and a reasonable idea of terrain and ground formations so off we went to try our luck. It was a sunny and not so windy day when we woke up so we thought that we would enjoy the Levels themselves and the several nature reserves in the area. As we traveled South and West from our hotel the sun began to disappear and the wind began to rise, slightly but noticeably. By the time we reach the first of the reserves South of Glastonbury it was quite dark with increasing showers of rain. We tracked down the local RSPB volunteer office and were, unsurprisingly, told very politely that no information was available on the location of the cranes 'training location' and were given several recommendations of other good walks in the immediate district. So we took their advice and drove to one of the closer ones and spent a couple of hours meandering around one of the recommended routes without seeing anything very exciting. Perhaps all the birds had already migrated - they had certainly reared their chicks by now and they would have headed of to pastures new. So with the rain getting more ominous (and our total number of bird types seen over two hours amounting to 5) we trudged back to our car and headed home by way of a pub lunch. As usual all you have to do is turn into any B road and lo and behold there is some romantic looking building housing good food, friendly patrons and local ales. This one had a wrecked car on the grass in front of it with the remainder of some large smashed stone pots and what looked like like geraniums in them. On enquiring within the barmaid/owner said it crashed last night with the driver and passenger 'legging it' before they could be accosted. The car was unregistered and uninsured and neither the police nor the local council wanted to have anything to do with it. So we ordered some food (mine turned out to be a gargantuan serving of liver, bacon, mashed potatoes and peas with onion gravy) while Annette continued her decimation of the UK's pig population via yet another ham salad). The food was, again, excellent but the highlight of the stop was having a half pint of the local cider. It was a bright orange colour and tasted of, surprisingly, apples but was very cold and a little effervescent. I have never liked cider but I really enjoyed this. It was quite strong (7%) so I could not have a second because of the driving but it tasted nothing like the commercial cider served in many English pubs (Strongbow) which I have even seen in Australia. Apparently it was made just down the road (this was Somerset after all) and was only sold in barrels (no retail) to 30 or 40 pubs in the immediate surrounds. It was quite delicious. We then headed back to the hotel via some 'land marks' of previous visits over the past 30 or so years. A house we once thought briefly of buying, the swanky country house hotel we took our children to for a four day white Christmas, the first hotel I stayed in, and then went back to many times when I used to manage a UK business for three years and a pub we spent a memorable night in when we were very young. So a 'nothing day' but then it is a holiday.
Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Tuesday, September 13. 2011The British Love Of Their Natural Heritage......John Linton ....always amazes me. We checked out of our hotel after a marvelous English breakfast and drove the 40 or so miles to Slimbridge water bird sanctuary where they hatch and rear Cranes as the first part of the project to bring these 'extinct' (in Britain) birds back to being a part of the English country side (similar to the White Tailed Sea Eagle and Osprey projects I have alluded to before in these ramblings). The Crane project is 'housed' within the vast Slimbridge acreage of (325 hectares) salt marsh and other wetlands at the head of the Severn estuary: http://www.wwt.org.uk/slimbridge Easy to find and easy to navigate once you are there we spent 2 hours or so walking the paths surrounding dozens and dozens species of rare and not so rare seabirds. We eventually saw one of the cranes that were last seen by someone in the UK over 400 years ago until 3 years ago. Depending on your appreciation of the beauty of living creatures, or your appreciation of the miracles of conservation in the third millenium it is a breath taking sight. A bird standing over 110 centimetres tall with a long beak and what I would call a "regal bearing". All told we saw three different cranes while we were at Slimbridge and like the single Sea Eagle we saw late in the day on the extreme southern edge of Mull two years ago and the family of Ospreys we watched for over an hour last year it was a great experience. We chatted with one of Slimbridge's volunteer rangers (the day was still blowing a gale with sporadic freezing showers so we didn't mind taking so much of her time - visitors were few and far between) for about 15 minutes before making a leisurely stroll back to our car. Annette took much pleasure in feeding the myriads of birds with the centre provided grain but picked the wrong birds to 'befriend' in four almost fully grown cygnets (completely light grey but about to go white). She was kind enough to offer one cygnet a small pile of grain and then tried to add the remainder of the bag only to have the cygnet rear back and give her a very loud and long 'hisssss'. No gratitude there. We made our way to our selected hotel for the night (like every British hotel I have encountered you can get 50% or more off their 'rack rates' with only the slightest 'bargaining'). On the way we pulled in to a side road and within a few hundred metres we found yet another delightful looking pub with great food (hot roast beef with sliced gherkins on great bread) for lunch. The hotel was in the middle of its own giant park which in turn was in the middle of nowhere and, as advised by the nice lady who took our booking we used the A-Z to get there rather than the sat/nav which she said just took you through a maze of tiny lanes and got you lost. So we will have a quiet night before attempting tomorrow to find the cranes already released over the past two years somewhere in Somerset. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Monday, September 12. 2011Back In Rural EnglandJohn Linton We belatedly celebrated Catherine's birthday last night at a highly rated London restaurant (Alain Ducasse) and she and her mother chatted up a storm from the time we arrived until the time we said goodbye. I was a delightful dinner and Annette was so pleased to spend time with her 'long lost' daughter of all of six weeks. We got to the restaurant by taking the tube to Hyde Park Gate and then walking up Park Lane.....by a miracle missing the sporadic showers of quite heavy rain. London's tube system remains remarkable for getting to anywhere from anywhere very, very cheaply but last night it was jammed solid with Arsenal fans returning from the Emirates game and people going to Leicester Square and Piccadilly for a night out. The journey was stifling and hot and a mistake - we took a cab back to our hotel. Taking a tube to Heathrow to pick up our rental car became a non-starter after our previous night's experience so we took a taxi from the hotel to the airport pick up point.....carefully selecting the only London cabbie who didn't know where AVIS pick up point was. As he said - "I bin aht to 'eafrow more times than a sparrer 'as fevvers but never seen it guv". So we pressed on and Annette spotted the Avis drop off point sign in enough time for our driver to wrench the cab in a left hand turn from the centre lane and we arrived without further incident. So we completed the formalities in a blink of an eye and were on our way down the M4 within a few minutes of paying off our relieved taxi driver. It was warm and sunny when we left but within 20 or 30 minutes it had turned gray and rained in bursts heavily enough once to slow the traffic from its 70/80/90 mph to around 20 mph for a few minutes. Otherwise UK motorways are a great way to go long distances very quickly and, for the most part, very safely. We had no idea where we were going to spend the night so Annette was juggling three different guide books and developed a 'short list'. We pulled off the motorway at random and equally randomly picked a B road to find a place for a cup of coffee and, as you do in tens of thousands of places in the UK we immediately came upon an old coaching inn called the Pheasant which, of course, was serving the traditional Sunday roast lunch so - what could we do? We had a delightful lunch over which we picked and booked a place to stay within easy driving distance of the wetlands we intend to visit tomorrow. We used sat/nav to get us to the very pretty Cotswold village of Bibury but I could have got there blindfold (metaphorically) as it was only 40 miles from our lunch place and very simple to get to. We checked in to a very nice, and miracle of miracles in a UK hotel (with the standard ivied walls and gables and lead light windows beside a river straight from 'central casting'), a spacious room with every appointment and then explored the beautiful village and its surrounds until the rain returned and put an end to any further out door activities. Our room has a comfortable four poster bed (by no means always the case) and wifi by using BT's openzone UK wide network which is very useful - you get 24 elapsed hours of internet access for a prepayment of ten pounds which will allow me to complete any internet based work for the possible remainder of my trip. No dongle/no download limits (not that I need them). It's now blowing the forecast gale (winds over 80 mph) along with drenching rain so we might go and have a Macallans or two downstairs in one on the lounges in front of a log fire - amazing for a day that started out over 20C and clear skies. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Sunday, September 11. 2011Back To The UK - A Day Of TravelJohn Linton After our amazing day of visits yesterday we finished up our Burgundy visit by dining at the Beaune district's only three star restaurant in a small town called Chagny about a thirty minute drive from our hotel called Maison Lamelois. There is no doubt, in my mind, that it was the best meal I have had in my quite long life to date. Again, less theatrical, but the food defies my ability to describe the flavour and texture combinations and the service was simply perfect and the sommelier, like all we have encountered so far, very happy to match a wine to the main dish from the hundreds of choices without trying to maximise the price of his recommendation. The restaurant itself was a series of small rooms containing three or four tables so ambient noise was low and an intimate atmosphere was maintained - much appreciated by a US 'honeymoon couple' sitting behind us. So, a fitting end to our brief visit to France and a trip I will never forget. Despite feeling like just tumbling in to bed when we returned to the hotel we packed last night and caught the 9 am train from Beaune to Dijon this morning. We negotiated the change over at Dijon locating the platform indicator in the least likely position and arrived in Paris 20 minutes early (not bad on a two hour trip). No problem with the taxi trip between Gare de Lyon and Gare du Nord with only the long wait (exacerbated by the early arrival of the train from Dijon) being an 'inconvenience'. I slept for most of the trip from Paris to St Pancras and my opinion is that the French train system is something we could really do with in Australia. But, I suppose we will never have things that the French take for granted and will remain believing that Australia has the best of everything. We walked off the EuroStar and in to the reception area of our hotel which was the convenience that determined our choice and it is a big bonus. Strangely the hotel's TV has no live soccer on a Saturday afternoon - the all powerful Murdoch empire seems to be denying the British working man access to the national sport. We have a comfortable amount of time to recover from the travel and prepare to take Catherine out to dinner for her birthday and see how London measures up to France in the amazing food stakes. We are going to a London restaurant (obviously) but they have a French chef....it will be an interesting evening after the standards achieved last night. I caught up with my email and was surprised to notice that I hadn't turned the computer on for almost 24 hours - must be something of a record for me. I still can't be bothered to check on telecommunications happenings in Australia or anywhere else for that matter but I did check the rugby, tennis and cricket happenings. Of course I had been texted the AFL result on Friday night and was disappointed that the Swans undeservedly are still playing a part in the finals - they play a really bad version of AFL. Maybe this will turn out to be a better holiday than usual? Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Saturday, September 10. 2011Chassagne And Vosne-RomaneeJohn Linton After our ever later breakfast we started the day with a private tour of Chateau Chanson which is a 250 year old vineyard now owned by Bollinger since 1999. Our guide/host was Jean-Pierre Confuron the current wine maker and vineyard manager who, of course, took us through a range of the wines with amazing knowledge and explanations. We were sorely tempted to buy some of their Clos de Feves but lack of direct shipping made that too problematic. We had a really good time as our host was not only knowledgeable but very amusing and we definitely added to our rapidly expanding, but still minuscule, knowledge of Burgundy and its wines. We went back to Chassagne to have another look at the Puligny/Chassagne villages and the wine slopes but principally to buy a Le Montrachet in addition to the two Montrachets we had bought earlier in the week. We managed to accomplish this without any trouble (by pure luck) and then had time for a leisurely cafe lunch in Puligny. As there was tripe as todays special - what could I do? Annette bans it from ever entering our home so the only time I get to eat it occurs about one every ten years. It was easily the strangest tripe I have ever eaten served 'au naturel' in a vaguely tomatoey broth with a boiled potato and a boiled carrot. The others more sensibly ordered mozarella salads which came with the largest mozzarella any of us had ever seen. We took the time to stop off in Beaune to check on the local prices of some of the wine we were planning to buy in the afternoon having previously checked using the internet. There was an interesting range of prices in three different wine shippers and we left none the wiser and headed off to Romanee Conti. We had a drive through the village itself and stopped to gaze at the DRC buildings and then their hectarage which is the most expensive arable land in the universe - but looked identical to all the different plots surrounding it. We had another hosted tasting by the owner of Rions. It was extremely helpful and she explained a lot about the way DRC operate and how other VR winemakers are able to leverage from their fame and reputation. We then had the 'crowning moment' of our visit to Burgundy at a private tour and tasting at Domain Gros Frere & Soeur hosted by the recently retired 'souer' - an amazing woman in her late 70s/early eighties who not only showed us round the cellars but provided an encyclopaedic hosting of eight red wines from their VR vines that included Vosne-Romanee, Echezeaux, Clos Vougeot, Grands Echezeaux and.........Richebourg!!! Even the first two Haut Cotes tasted better than any Australian wine Annette said she had ever drunk and the grand crus, although far too young to fully appreciate, were out of this world. It took an effort to pour away the remainder of wine in that particular tasting glass but I did so reluctantly. Again they do not ship and, for the first time, did not take any sort of credit cards - cash only. However the price per bottle of their Richebourg was amazingly low so by getting a 'temporary' loan from our guide we bought two bottles which when they arrived came with a 'present' of a bonus bottle of Clos-Vougeot - something that would cost a lot of money in Australia (which we subsequently presented to our guide who said she had never drunk such an expensive wine). So a truly great climax to our Burgundy tour and we will leave tomorrow with many regrets (after our first ever three Michelin star dinner at a nearby village this evening). Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Friday, September 9. 2011Pommard And CortonJohn Linton We had the late start we have been getting used to with breakfast in our room pushed back to 9 am this morning as our first 'tour was not due to start until 10.30 and the driving distance was less than 20 minutes from our hotel. We also had the bonus of an unbroken night's sleep for the first time which was a pleasant surprise. Last night we went to what was probably the best restaurant we have been to since arriving in France - no Michelin stars, none of the George Cinq theatrics - simply sensational tasting and immaculately presented and served food and wine at far less than half Paris prices. A memorable meal. Our morning was spent at Chateau Pommard with its magnificent chateau with its Dali original sculptures (including the one I wanted to buy a reproduction of) and its extensive underground caves. We tasted our way through a range of Pommard premier and grand crus and ended up buying a selection of the ones that really appealed to us for shipping home (including Chambertin). The lady conducting our tour and the subsequent the sampling was, as you would expect, deeply knowledgeable and quite 'fiery' and it took her a while not be offended by my clumsy attempts at humour - which were genuinely intended to be positive and complimentary but my non existent French and atrocious pronunciation and her stilted English obvious presented an uncrossable language barrier. However she eventually thawed out and became almost cocquettish by the time we left - even going so far as presenting me with a complimentary bottle of 2007 grand cru Corton as we left. Perhaps my wallet worked more magic than my humour attempts did. We then were driven in to Beaune to have a look round the town and have lunch. It is a very beautiful small town (around 25,000 people) with most of the remains of its medieval walls and fortifications and no building over 4 stories tall with the majority being pre 20th century ranging back to the 15th century including the amazing hospice we took time out to visit. Obviously, being the centre city of the Burgundian wine district there are wall to wall wine merchants, almost as many restaurants and cafes and cheese shops but, unlike the left bank, almost no/no "tourist outlets'. While I know it's a major wine region it's difficult to get a glass of beer anywhere and even more difficult to get French beer - it was quite a warm day. We had a light lunch at a non-tourist cafe and then set out for Corton. We visited the largest land holder in Corton (Alex Corton) and had a tasting of a range of their wines which were very impressive made even more enjoyable by the young woman who presented the wines and when asked what the best Corton wine was she had ever tasted thought for a moment and said it was hard to choose between the 1937 red grand cru and the 1943 white. However she went on to assure us that while the 2005 is now regarded as the year of the century she said it was now generally considered that 2009 would prove to be even better and while the grapes were still being picked the 2011 would be "a very decent wine". They didn't ship wine (you could buy 'take away') so we thanked her warmly and went to a less famous label 100 or so meters down the road - also in a very beautiful large house but not a 'chateau'....Domaine Comte Senard. At Senard we were greeted by a charming young man who took us to see their vines which grow almost in the centre of Corton and are completely enclosed via a stone wall entitling the appellation addition of 'clos'. We then ran through a range of their 'standard' wines before he brought out three of their grand crus one being a 2000 because he said "you can't really appreciate these wines until they are ten years old. All of them were mind blowingly good and we ended up buying some of both the white and red 2009 because they do ship to Australia. A really enjoyable day. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Thursday, September 8. 2011Puligney MontrachetJohn Linton We woke latish and had breakfast in our room which was very French and very nice (I haven't had a soft boiled egg since I was 'in the nursery) but it was a treat as were the selection of pastries and freshly squeezed orange juice. We would have had it on the little terrace through the, appropriately, French doors that open from our room but was a very cold morning with the imminent threat of rain. We met our tour guide at the appointed time and set off for the short drive to the village of Puligny Montrachet for our planned day of learning about Burgundy and the wines of this special district. Our fount of all knowledge was a charming guy who had spent nine months in the Coonawarra as part of his training who took us around the village and provided a mass of detail, including everything we wanted to know, about the wines of the district and the history of Burgundy as well as pointing out the 20 different districts that carry the Puligney appellation and how their terroir differ and how this affects the tastes of the different classes of wine (Village through Grand Cru). Among the interesting data was the fact that the average number of bottles of Montrachet made in any good year is only 18,000 of which his employer makes around 900 - 5% of the total world supply for the arithmetically challenged. We then went for the obligatory tour of his employer's (Olivier LeFlaive) winery hosted by M Leflaive himself and got some new views of how very high quality wine is made these days. It was interesting enough and I learned how and why this particular winemaker derided the idea that 100% new oak should be used to make gand cru chardonnay - dismissing it as something "Les Americaines have finally learned not to do but that your countrymen still haven't". I am sure some of the more stellar Australian wine writers have also yet to understand that opinion. It was all very interesting. The high lights, if there hadn't been enough already, was undoubtedly the tasting luncheon that 'sprawled over' two plus hours with very informative analyses and descriptions of the wines and really nice 'rustic food' to allow the wine to be tasted 'plain' and accompanied by various food (six different cheeses, smoked salmon, chicken and pate and three different types of bread). In all there were eleven different wines including six premiere crus and two grand crus (Batard Montrachet and Corton Charlegmaine). All but the first 'el cheapie' were really good wines and the grand crus were exceptional. What really surprised me was how inexpensive all the wines were. They ranged from around $45 for a Mersault and and a Puligney Montrachet to $75.00 for a premiere cru version of those wines with the grand crus only a little over $100.00 a bottle. So - very, very inexpensive compared to what we pay in Australia. Of course the Montrachet grand cru was more expensive but at the price of less than $300.00 a bottle - what could I do but buy 0.001% of the world's supply of 2008 (2 bottles in case I've messed up the noughts). So although it was a 'tasting lunch' and we did pour most of every glass away we definitely were quite somnolent on the short trip back to our hotel which we reached at around four in the afternoon. A memorable first day of our visit to Burgundy and I hope between now and 8 pm we can work up enough of an appetite to do justice to the restaurant we are going to later tonight. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Wednesday, September 7. 2011In The French ProvincesJohn Linton
However, veteran travelers that we are, we found out what train went via Dijon (using the train number printed on the ticket and comparing it to the platform indicator) and then, even more cleverly, we discovered the the yellow square next to the train number meant that the platform was in the 'old' part of the station some few hundred meters away from where we were working this out. Eventually we found the platform and were lucky enough, once again, to get there earlier enough to obtain a share of the limited baggage stowage and found our seats. The French TVG high speed train services appears to use the same rolling stock as the Euro Star - except it's far newer and cleaner and the seats actually recline a little. The trip from Paris to Dijon was uneventful and the scenery was flat and topologically unremarkable until we reach Dijon which is perched on a hill and is an attractive town (from the little we saw). We had almost an hour to wait for the local train connection to Beaune which passed quite quickly (except this time the platform display did not disply Beaune they also did not display any train number - we eventually worked it out) and we hauled our luggage up two flights of quite steep stairs and boarded the local train. If only NSW trains were this fast, clean, well appointed and comfortable....which they aren't by a very long way. It was a nineteen minute trip to Beaune with the 'scenery' much more interesting consisting almost entirely of rows of vines being picked by hundreds and hundreds of people. Both trains departed and arrived to the second stated on the tickets. Our 'tour guide' met us at Beaune station (quite tiny with only one entrance/exit) and drove us to our hotel some 10 or so kilometers outside the little town. It is a lovely place to stay with big gardens and woods with a small river flowing through the grounds. A more than adequate base to allow us to visit some of the more famous vineyards and shippers of great Burgundies for the next three days. The mobile sim Catherine bought for us when we met her when we first arrived is performing well (300 minute/300 SMS/1 gB data for thirty pounds is doing well but, for the first time, we could get no usable signal in our hotel room. Fortunately it worked in the hotel's bar. Dinner in the restaurant's one Michelin star restaurant was far more 'conventional' than the meals we had in Paris but none the less pleasant enough except for the table position which detracted greatly from the overall pleasure of the dining experience. I ordered a wine I had previously drunk in one of Sydney's better restaurants quite recently. It was slightly lower priced but it tasted significantly better - so much so they could have been quite different wines. One reason for coming to Burgundy it to test a theory I have developed (totally unscientifically) that French wines suffer from being shipped to Australia so badly they are often very disappointing in taste and no where near justify the high prices charged for them in Sydney. We will have to eat somewhere else for the remainder of our stay. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Tuesday, September 6. 2011Paris Seems To Have A Single Purpose.......John Linton ..........to serve enough food in a single day to destroy any semblance of sensible eating habits. We took ourselves off to spend some time in Montmartre in the morning and then attempted to find something to buy in the 'left bank district" in the early afternoon. I have been to Montmartre several times but still find it very interesting despite its continuing descent into a tourist rip off spot. The artists in the Place du Terte still amaze with their displays of instant rendition of any 'sitter's' image as you watch and the exactness of their depictions are mind blowing - not cartoons but fully rendered head and shoulders or full length portraits in 15 or 20 minutes. I had a particular reason for going there which was to see if I could find a suitable 'sculpture' made from Dali's various paintings and drawings "authorised by the artist". I had seen them on a previous visit but could not afford to buy such things in those days. There was still the art gallery right on the Terte that I had previously visited and they did indeed have some of the bronze castings that I had admired so many years ago. I was tempted to buy one, a rendition of an elephant but with mosquito like legs with an armed figure perched on its back but, it wasn't quite appealing enough. There were also some great examples of trompe l'oeil which fascinated Annette but in the end we contented ourselves by visiting Sacre Couer and listening to parts of the devotions while admiring its magnificence and wandering round the old village for a while conjuring up images of how the 'old Paris' may have looked. It remains a very pretty place and still has its own charm despite the tourist depredations. We weren't brave enough to risk the multiple metro exchanges getting from Montmartre to the left bank and as there was a cab rank we took a cab there - less than a 15 minute trip with the skill and daring of our taxi driver. Many of the streets of the left bank now seem to be wall to wall cafes and memento shops but we eventually located the art gallery district (wall to wall art galleries in a small 'square of inter connected streets' and attempted to find something to buy within our budget and close to what we had in mind. Unfortunately we were there in the early afternoon and almost all of the shops were closed for the extended lunch favoured by Parisian small business - especially at this time of year. Then it began to rain so we quickly ducked in to the closest cafe (not very many in this particular area) which was the quintessential long and narrow affair with small wooden tables and chairs that had seen better days featured in movies and TV shows when they are trying to depict something 'typically French'. It was quite full and as we subsequently discovered only patronised by locals many of whom subsequently turned out to be the missing gallery owners. We had a very satisfying light lunch, a quick beer (exceptional) and then resumed our search as the various shops re-opened. Again, we had no luck. So we 'went home' to our hotel and prepared ourselves for a second visit to the hotel's restaurant having eaten at another two Michelin star restaurant recommended by the concierge the previous night. It too was an amazing experience but although we sensibly took their advice to share a 'starter' and a main course because of their size that didn't compensate for the five canapes and five sizable amuse bouches they also provided before any part of the ordered dishes arrived! The food itself was, again, sensational but the quantities were just monumental. So tonight we will have to seek further advice on how to reduce the amount of food served. Unlike yesterday, today I did make an attempt to look at things communications - but I couldn't summon up enough interest and stopped after less than ten minutes. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Monday, September 5. 2011Paris Looks As Good In The Rain As The SunJohn Linton We had a very pleasant day doing very little. We got up late and had a light late breakfast of french bread and pastries together with cafe au lait (in my opinion the only way to have coffee since I first tasted real coffee in Rome so long ago) and fresh fruit juice. The simple pleasures of the way the French make bread and the taste of unsalted butter is, again, wonderful. What an amazing contrast to yesterday's miserable event. Although the weather was 'threatening' we decided we needed some exercise so we set out to visit some of the major sights via walking - a brave decision. So we set off to visit the Place de la Concorde, The Tuilleries gardens, the Louvre, Notre Dame and the Bastille with the help of a map of Paris despite the lowering skies. If you have never visited Paris these sites, and the transits between them, provide city views that are the most magnificent the planet has to offer. The succession of amazing and breathtaking architecture revealed time after time is simply amazing. We stopped at Le Petit Palais to look at a Durer exhibition and were not disappointed. Norman Lindsay is often rated as the best etcher the world has ever known but Durer who was producing etchings 500 years before Lindsay and based on two of the etchings in this exhibition (Apollo and Diana /The Satyr Family - although both were very small) Durer is the equal of Lindsay and I have never seen any better work by either Rembrandt or Delacroix. The other thing that strikes even a casual observer is the multitude of significant sculpture decorating the buildings (statues of 28 French kings on the facade of Notre Dame alone) and massive figure groups including chariots and horses on so many gates and displays. Many of the buildings are also highlighted with massive amounts of gold paint (I doubt it would be gold leaf these days but I have no way of knowing). One thing I noticed was the absence of bird life in the Tuilleries gardens, which are huge, and along the river. Pigeons, but not in the numbers you would see in London or Sydney, a few crows, a few seagulls and a duck or two. The lack of seagulls is understandable but the lack of ducks was surprising and the absence of all other breeds is very hard to understand. Another notable aspect is the almost total absence of litter on any of the streets we walked along. Not the immaculate neatness and almost hygenic cleanliness of Tokyo but pristine compared to the squalid dirtiness of London or Sydney. So we made our way along our chosen route (pretty much keep the Seine on your right till you get to Notre Dame and the retrace your steps keeping the Seine on your left till you find yourself back at the street leading to your hotel. We had a simple lunch (ham roll and fresh pamplemousse juice at a cafe on the way back) and then it started to rain. We pressed on even though the rain became drenching and made it back to our hotel after five hours of seeing the sights....except for the Bastille (the rain discouraged the minor detour that would have entailed). We didn't go into either the Louvre or Notre Dame because the queues at both were of many hour wait times and we had seen La Giaconda, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory on previous visits many years ago. So although we were soaked to the skin by the time we returned to our hotel a long hot bath fixed the body and a couple of Macallans in the lovely hotel bar revived the spirits. It's very nice to be on holidays and although I dutifully reply to my emails I just couldn't bring myself to look at what is happening in Australian communications today. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Sunday, September 4. 2011Back In France For The First Time In YonksJohn Linton We got up late on Saturday trying to adapt to jet lag which gets no easier as you get older. Having been forewarned by the previous night's disastrous dinner we were unsurprised that "breakfast" was equally as bad - so confined ourselves to toast and orange juice as even the tea was undrinkable (I think it had been stewing in an urn since at least the day before). As we selected the hotel purely on the basis that it was a 2 minute walk to the Eurostar check in we had no problem that the rest of the attributes were such dismal failures. It was our first experience of Eurostar and only being able to compare it to the Japanese ultrafast rail systems our view is that getting you from the centre of London to the centre of Paris in 2 hours and a bit is a great service. The train ride itself was smooth to the point that you had no idea of what speed you were going, apparently close to 200 kph, but the seats and carriage surrounds were grubby and very worn. No matter we were precisely on time and our female Algerian taxi driver eventually found her way to our hotel (the taxi had an ineffective air conditioner that didn't deal with the 33C degree heat in any suitable way). The hotel that I had originally selected to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary was as spectacular as its astronomically high daily room charge demanded it would be. So after we checked in we went for a leisurely stroll up the Champs Elysee to the Arc De Triomphe and then back to Fouquet's before returning to the bar at our hotel for a cooling drink - or two in my case. It was a wonderful 'English Bar' with comfortable chairs and exceptional ambience and bar staff who you just knew would mix drinks from perfect ingredients in perfect ways and serve them perfectly at exceptionally high prices. Annette commented on the very young girl sitting at an adjoining table whose see through dress revealed that she had overly severely economised on expenditure on under wear and I pointed out to her the couple of 'ladies' who were keeping body and soul together eating what looked like half a pound of Malossol caviar which they were washing down with very large martinis. A truly Parisian moment for us louts from Sydney. We are, courtesy of the efforts of the hotel concierge (Guillaume) who conjured up reservations at the hotel's two Michelin star restaurant on a Saturday night with two hours notice going to belatedly celebrate our anniversary. I have never been to a Michelin starred restaurant before but I have been to Sydney's and Melbourne's most highly regarded restaurants several times over the years. All I can say is, with absolutely no disrespect, is that Australia's best restaurants may as well be "Macdonalds" compared to the surroundings, ambience, food and service we experienced tonight. So an auspicious start to our holiday after lengthy travel to actually get here. Paris remains very different to other cities. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Saturday, September 3. 2011Back In London - BrieflyJohn Linton We left Singapore on a 9 am flight and arrived at Heathrow at a little after 3 pm (UK time). After an epic taxi around what seemed to be the entire perimeter of all five terminals we were eventually ejected into one of the oldest of Heathrow's terminals that was so scruffy it made Sydney's airport look almost luxurious. However customs/immigration was a breeze and our bags were prompt so no complaints. We took a taxi to our hotel which was the rebuilt St Pancras railway station (because we are getting a Eurostar to France from the operating St Pancras station tomorrow) and I couldn't face the London tube after a 16 hour journey time. I must thank our taxi driver for introducing us to new parts of London that I wouldn't have thought were a part of any of the obvious routes From Heathrow to our destination but that was my own fault for not paying attention to what was going on. The hotel is quite spectacular using the old Victorian building shell with the original high vaulted ceilings and very clever architects. The added on rooms are OK and for one night more than adequate. We met up with our youngest daughter and her boyfriend for drinks and the worst meal I can remember having in the hotel's bar/casual dining as, not unnaturally, their fining restaurant was fully booked being a Friday night. However it was nice to see Catherine again and she was in very high spirits and she and Annette managed to fill every second with their 'information exchanges' that the males at the table were not required to utter more than a few words during the time it took to have a couple of drinks and push the execrable food around the plate. The bar we 'ate' in had doors that led directly on to the train station platforms and the Eurostar platforms are less than a five minute walk from the hotel's check out...so we can sleep in before taking the train to Paris for a few days. I was amused by this: http://delimiter.com.au/2011/09/02/tech-management-bloodbath-hits-internode/ which I read just before starting this blog entry. Not because I wish anything bad for the people who try to operate in this terrible industry over the past few years bt because of the many direct contradictions that the article tries to "spin". The quote from the Internode spokesperson that began the article "these difficult times" means very simply that Internode is now firing the 'fat' within its personnel following the increase to its prices some weeks ago. The people named in the article didn't "want to try something different after working for Internode for so many years" they simply were an expendable overhead in a company that is facing falling revenues and far too many overheads - including personnel who make no contributions. Internode won't "suddenly find" that they have four over priced/under contributing senior managers they will extend this "rationalisation" across every 'level' of their operations. I have stated many times over the past few years that the residential ADSL business was just getting tougher and tougher and there was no room for 'fat' in any participant's operations. Apparently Internode is finding the same situation as every provider of residential services has had to recognise and is doing what they almost certainly knew should be done some time ago. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011
Friday, September 2. 2011Memory - One Of Living Things Great AssetsJohn Linton Because we booked so late due to having to re-schedule this trip we had to 'over night' in Singapore which is no big deal other than wasting a day of our holiday. We had the usual very pleasant flight with Singapore airlines with the usual over the top service and charming cabin crew which, yet again, reinforces why with the same planes with the same seats on the same schedules that service makes a huge difference to the long distance flying experience and why we have almost never flied Qantas for over 30 years. Even the person who checked in our luggage at Sydney airport greeted me by name when I dumped our bags on the conveyor. How on earth did he know my name? So I asked him and he said he remembered me from his Ansett days when he used to check in my car at Ansett's valet parking service - which meant I hadn't seen him for over ten years. Sad to remember how a great airline lost its way. I watched a couple of totally unmemorable movies while dozing the eight hour flight away yesterday and turned over in my mind the residential ADSL issues we are facing. Our problem, perhaps other companies problems are that the possibility that the NBN will continue in either possible way will not be helpful in maintaining a viable ADSL business over its dreadfully long 'roll out'. The thought of going through the last three years for another unknown number of years is simply not tenable....at least not for me. While I have an indelible understanding that all business is simply 'in business' to make money for its shareholders that is a pretty depressing to way to spend the latter years of your life. It is fine when you are young and can make your gazillions from your bright ideas before you're 25 and then go on to do something useful with your life - but it's a very long time since I was 25. So as Jason Statham beat yet another person who totally deserved it to a pulp or Cate Blanchett minced and moued across the screen for more meaningless minutes my mind drifted across the options that I, and Exetel may have in residential Australian marketplaces in the coming years. We have lost our reason for being in the residential business because Telstra now prices their 'head line services' lower than they sell them to us for. We have survived that three year 'siege' by cutting our prices to below our costs and made up the difference in add on services to that percentage of our customers who buy voice wire line, mobile or other services. But that is not a sensible thing to do unless their is some sensible pay back for all of that money and people investment. Providing residential communications services over the past seven plus years has allowed us to build a very, very solid and resilient net work that is highly cost/effective which has, in turn, allowed us to begin to build a formidable capability to compete in non residential markets. Our challenge is now to find how, or if, we can continue to compete in the future residential markets or if we would be better off deploying those resources in other more sensible ways. Something to think about on the flight to London because the two movies that bored me witless on the flight to Singapore seemed to be the best of a bad lot. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 Thursday, September 1. 2011September Is Upon Us.......John Linton ......and for people who don't notice the sun's position in the sky the media will tell us that it's the first day of Spring....which actually wont be here for another three weeks. August finished with a bang....with far more than 200 new mobile orders (243) being received for the first time in one day in Exetel's history and the eventual tally of new corporate data orders reaching 157 for the month. Monthly billings were up by more than 7%, accounting for the new complicated way we now need to deal with supplier bonuses, which is an increase percentage we haven't seen for over three years.....since the Empire Struck Back. So all, at least temporarily, is well with the world as we prepare to leave on our belated annual break. Personally, I think the last 15 months have been the hardest and most difficult times of my working life...and if my memory is correct, I have had some pretty horrendously difficult times since I came to this country as an almost 18 year old with a couple of hundred dollars in my pocket and knowing absolutely no-one across the length and breadth of this considerably sized land. Telstra has made life miserable for companies like Exetel and companies much larger than Exetel and while that was not exactly unexpected the scale and length of the problems has been almost impossible to deal with. The fact that we dealt with them is of no credit to any sort of planning or execution of brilliant strategies it was simply that we had absolutely no choice but to survive as best we could and take our nascent company (in the event a seven plus year old company can be described that way) in a new, Telstra free, direction. I am hoping that a few weeks of r and r will restore my body and mind to some sort of unexhausted and rational state where I can sensibly provide some input as to just how Exetel should continue in business from this point. It would have been wrong to consider any major changes while we were in the midst of what appeared to be never ending predatory 'marketing' exercises by Telstra aimed at destroying the business we had built up to that time. With virtually every day containing some elements of a 'battle for survival' (undoubtedly that's over dramatising a mundane commercial situation) there was no sensible way to begin to address major changes. However as the smoke clears and the extent of the carnage can be assessed we really do need to decide on just what mess Telstra will make of our business lives and just how best we, as an irrelevant to anyone but ourselves, group of people should best devote our resources to. So, we will shortly make our way to the airport to begin our belated 30th wedding anniversary celebration and I am hoping that time in Paris, Bugundy and rural England will produce restorative effects large enough and complete enough to allow some rational decision making....if not for Exetel's immediate and short term future then at least for our own personal futures. A future free of bullies would be nice to contemplate but that's not likely. Perhaps a future with far less d***heads will turn out to be possible? I can almost taste the wine and food we have so carefully planned to put ourselves in the way of next week after a few days seeing what coffee and fresh rolls in Paris is like after a long absence, and........ .......I have to go. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011 |
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