Beer of the Year...

So the good people at CAMRGB (Campaign for Really Good Beer) have announced they are running their Beer of the year 2011 - Votes are being taken between 1st - 14th November, Get your votes in HERE!

- Nice One

An interesting project...

I was strolling through the blogosphere (not a word I use comfortably I will admit) when I found this little gem: http://sry-youre-not-a-winner.tumblr.com/.

An interesting project where by the writer enters every competition she comes across. This blog being a record and progress report for all her entries.

Give it a look over why don't you...

- Luke

Just a quickie...

My good friend and compatriot Jimmy Hatherley has just started up a new blog, well worth a follow: http://fermentalbreakdown.blogspot.com/

- Get on it!

With my utmost apologies...

I have been a combination of extremely busy and extremely lazy with writing any new blogs for about 6 months!

Long story short: Everything went a bit tits up at work with the (slightly less than reputable) MD siphoning funds and not paying bills. This all came to a rather spectacular climax with HMRC taking the company to court and forcing liquidation due to unpaid taxes.

That left me (and about 400 other faultless employees) out on my arse! Anyways after a lengthy process of attempting to actually get paid it is now sorted.

I have also started working for a new company, in-charge of their Marketing / Design / Brand management. They are a great bunch of guys but the last 3 months have been a bit hectic with learning the ropes (not a great excuse for absenteeism but there you go).

So, the last 6 months in brief:

Got my new flat sorted finally.

Got an amazing kitten (pics to follow I'm sure).

Played heaps of games - most notably Fallout New Vegas and its infuriating ending, Marvel VS Capcom 3 lots, the extremely disappointing Force Unleashed 2 and Ico / Shadow of the Colossus HD.

Read lots of good books, a few more Jasper Fforde books including the 1st in the new series "Shades of Grey" which is well worth a read. I was also introduced to a new auther Ben Aaronovich with "Rivers of London" which is the best book about London I think Iv read since Nererwhere!

New job, obviously.

Bought shares in a brewery - check out BrewDog they make amazing beer!

Plenty of new music, Listening to Hot Head Show a lot at the moment especially.

Some great gigs, most notably Dinosaur Jr. playing for free in HMV about 3 foot away from where we were standing.

Well anyway thats a bit of a catch up cramming session, I'll try to find time to write more on here but in the meantime you can always find me on Twitter ( https://twitter.com/#!/a_gnome ).

- Nice One.

Back online...

... So after a bit of a hiatus (mostly due to moving house and it taking flipping ages to get the broadband connected) I am back online and able to spout rubbish at you all again.

So to a soundtrack of the Rancid/NOFX split version of Radio I am returned! Here's a little something to apologise for my absence:



And this just in case:..



Cheers.

Ridgeview...

So Jack and myself recently went down to Sussex to visit one of our favourite sparklers, Ridgeview. Top bunch of people and a really relaxed atmosphere to the place (not to mention a range to make any Frenchman quiver!)

They gave us the grand tour of the Vineyards, Winery, Cellar, and the Tasting Room of course!

The grapes are just filling out nicely and forming proper bunches at the moment, I managed a couple of snaps along the way so here you go...

The Pinot Noir vines pruned for maximum sun exposure.

The Pinot Meunier fields.

Budding Chardonnay Grapes in the North Vineyard.

The Double Guyot experiment in the Chardonnay vines.

So... A top day out, a top bunch of guys and the 2007 vintages are tasting blinding so far, look out for them hitting stores within the next few months.

Don't Fuck with Gnomes...

...Or You'll get messed up sucker!!!