Neurosis

October 18th's wine (well the 18th is its third day, actually, although that's not to be taken as a measure of its quality) is a Les Vieilles Vignes de Chateau Maris 2005 from the Minervois la Liviniere "commune" in the Languedoc region. Now the bottle says "Appellation Minervois la Liviniere Controlee", but Hugh Johnson's 1971 World Atlas of Wine (coutesy of the Wayfarers library) suggests that some areas are Appellations Controlee, and second rank wines are VDQS (Vin Dilimite de Qualite Superieure), and names Minervois la Liviniere as a VDQS. Hmmm. I chose it because it was described as "full bodied", and one that would make people forget about the food and consider the wine a highlight. It was certainly more full bodied than the other French wines I've tried, and probably the best French red overall. It claims to have been "partly aged in oak barrels", which possibly explains why it doesn't have the tannins that I'd expect from a Rockford Basket Press, Turkey Flat Shiraz, Leasingham Classic Clare Shiraz, or Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz - probably my favourite wines from my cellar. I will give the wine due credit for the complexity and smoothness, but these French wines seem to be a little shy, not like the "blockbuster" Barossa ones. Oh well, more to learn I'm sure. Must be time to talk to Geraldine.

Now some w(h)ining of a different kind. The friendly Avis people came to collect our rental car today. This was fine - we were ready for both rental cars to be collected. But perhaps the Avis system can't cope with people renting two vehicles, as the second car is still here. The two people who came to collect the car said they'd ask about the second car. A lady from Avis rang to say that Avis would accept responsibility for their parking ticket (issued when the car was being delivered to us in London), and I mentioned that we had been expecting the second car to be picked up. She couldn't find any reference to the second car without a rental agreement number, which I didn't have on me at the time. When I got home again, in a spirit of altruism, I tried calling Avis to remind them. I called the main reservations number, but they couldn't cope with people who already had a car. They gave me what they claimed was the phone number for the Worcester office, which I tried to call, but which appears to be an invalid phone number. (And no, Glennn, it's not the phone number for a disabled person!) I knew it wasn't the right area code, but the friendly Avis reservations person assured me it was. I suppose that we're obliged to be standing at the front door with car keys in hand, ready to smile at the friendly Avis people whenever they choose to come and collect the car. I hope I can still smile at them.

The next saga relates to cooking. The microwave worked last night. We cooked some vegetables with it. But then, it was time to warm the baby food, and it came out cold. We tried all sorts of things. The turntable turned. The timer timed. The power adjuster adjusted the power. But the food still came out cold. Readers will be shocked to hear that I even consulted the troubleshooting guide in the manual! Of course this guide was not written by an engineer, and contained very little of value. After much trial and just as much error, we could only conclude that there were no microwaves left in this oven. We tried it again at breakfast, but we obviously weren't three bears, because the porridge was cold. Even at lunch time, it was broken. So I gave in, and left a message for the owner. He came around this evening, just after Berenice informed me that the oven was working again. Now if there's anything more embarassing than having to resort to the manual, it's telling someone that the thing is broken when it clearly isn't. But there you go, it heated a few different things for us - even some potatoes for dinner. But wait! This story doesn't merely relate minor embarassment on the way to a happy ending. It seems that the oven is following the Royal Mail's example, and going on another unofficial strike! At least an intermittent fault is more is more interesting, and more worthy of an engineer's attention.

The third saga for today is from Internet, chapter Three. Readers may be familiar with the fact that I came close to acquiring a modem for mobile broadband, but that credit history was my undoing. Not a bad history, of course, but a non-existent one. It was rather disheartening to have the hopes built up only to be suddenly dashed. But I thought that maybe I could call Three central, rather than going through a local dealer who had no discretion. So, I looked for the Three number. Maybe on the Three brochure? Nope. Maybe in the white pages? Nope. Called the local dealer, who gave me customer service. After various menu options, I reached a person who said I needed to talk to someone in sales, not customer service. The sales person said that if I had an issue with credit, I should contact the credit reporting agency, Experian. Well, I'd lost confidence that I was getting anywhere useful at this stage, but there was still a positive balance on the phone, so I tried one last time. Well of course the Experian number was purely an automated voice response system, and the only option really open to me was to order a credit report, so that I could see what there might be to complain about. Maybe I'll get back to the Three people tomorrow. Perhaps I need to start asking for supervisors.

Should I go on about the Bank for a while now? We were in a hurry, but Mr Bank Manager kept insisting he'd keep us only a few more minutes. It was interesting that the bank ended up giving us nearly three thousand pounds credit (can you tell I'm not typing this on a UK keyboard?) with very little evidence of ability to pay it back. But it took several trips to the printer, which ran out of paper at least once, and a couple of other little interruptions. But we were able to finalise credit card applications, which we had earlier been told would not be available until we'd been in the country for at least six months. After all the rest, that should have been a successful, relaxing, and even rewarding time. Maybe if we hadn't been running late to pick Helen up from school it would have been. But it's all ok in retrospect, isn't it. We can look back and laugh...

Perhaps that's the end of such sagas, and I can get back to normal - listen to a bit of music. Hmmm - I know that tune. Oh yes, Tchaikovsky VI. No wonder I'm feeling neurotic (pathetic?). I guess it's all excusable in the context of such powerful music. Definitely my favourite Tchaikovsky. I love the way there's always applause at the end of the upbeat 3rd movement, but then things just fade away from dramatic despair into lonely misery in the 4th. It seems very symbolically autobiographical for the composer.

I'm sure you're lucky to see such a long blog entry. If I had decent Internet access, there'd be so much else to get on with: making multitudes of minor modifications to blog formatting and line breaks, looking for better mobile plans, searching for more properties to let, or even indulging in dreamy surfing for logical curiosities and interesting tidbits about music, religion, mathematics, or even security. But at the moment, there's not much else to do. Make the most of it!