Christmas Is A'Comin'

12 November 2010

We're currently working the five days of the Country Living Christmas Fair in Islington, marketing The Daily Drinker to those desperate to find presents for difficult wine lovers and I would particularly recommend such an activity to those for whom flat feet are something to be desired. Standing up all day talking to everyone from those genuinely interested to those whose normal tipple is probably Lambrini and whose only interest is sucking down as many free samples as possible is wearing to say the least.

High point of the show thus far? Yesterday an extremely made up young lady came to the stand. Immediately we were informed (in the sort of accent popular in the environs of Catford at this time of year) that she was "a connoisseur of red wine". "Someone tried to tell me the other day that Pernod Noir is better than Merlot", she commented. Our interaction was brief and exceptionally pithy, as you might imagine.

There a sort of a buzz about working the fair, the sort of buzz one gets from repeating the same patter ad infinitum, refining it with experience. It's much like pigeon shooting. When it's busy, you get a great deal of practice and with experience comes a level of slickness. Two more days to go: the big weekend sessions. I am missing Joseph and Isabella, but at least Victoria is here to lend logistical and moral - if not chiropedal - support.