Wightian Wine; Music Musings

Ride for the smaller children at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight




We have just returned from our annual long-weekender on the Isle of Wight with the entire Bowes clan. Saturday was rather mis, weather-wise, and demanded indoor things to do with the children, but Sunday afforded an opportunity to visit Robin Hill, a theme park that most of the generations seems to enjoy.

There's adequate quirkiness to this valley of rides and things-to-do; a dearth of flashiness and kitch that stops it being naff in any way.

The falconry display gave their Saker falcon the chance to disappear into the high clouds for fifteen minutes, the stand-in master of ceremonies becoming inceasingly nervous that his job wouldn't be worth the drying ink on a newly printed P45 come Monday. But all she was doing was stalking his swinging lure, just very, very carefully. I turned around and saw her coming, finally, low down, head height, like the bolt from a crossbow.

The Priory Bay Hotel is fun for children and relaxing for mum and dad. Service as abstract as one could expect from somewhere this far from the Centre of Things, yet food good, nine hole golf course quite testing, beach a margin of honey sand beside unswimmably chilly Solent waters. I took a tranche of bottles for dinner. Yet another bottle of 2000 Château Lucie corked. How annoying.

Now fielding these '09 Bordeaux releases, starting to come thick and fast now.

And today secured four tickets to see Joanna Newsom in Bristol this September. I consider her the most original talent in music for years, although it took me a while to "get my head 'round" what she's doing. Please, do yourself a favour. Download Good Intentions Paving Co. or '81 from her new album Have One On Me, lie back and bask.