old gold 17 November 2010
I attended evensong at Manchester Cathedral yesterday. The music is always just beautiful and I love the sounds and smells of older churches and the solace is also most welcome. A sign of the interesting times we live in was the clergyman calling us to pray for financial institutions throughout the world, but particularly Europe in this rocky time.
And on it goes in money land today with billions of euros in the mix of a rescue package for the Irish alone. However, there is still wonder of another sort to be enjoyed – for example, 168 bottles of (now vintage) champagne were recently taken from a wreck on the sea bed near the Aland Islands, between Sweden and Finland and most of them have been declared entirely quaffable after 200 years below the waves. Indeed one taster detected hints of chanterelles and linden blossom, no less.
Another said he got ‘a toasted, zesty nose with hints of coffee, and a very agreeable taste with accents of flowers and lime-tree.’ And yes, for those of you who want in, some of the stash will be sold at an auction, where a bottle might set you back as much as €50,000. I know what I’ll be doing with some of my bail-out money from Europe…hic!
