22nd May, 2009

There's a lot of it about......births I'm talking about. I've had three conversations with nervously expectant Dad's this week, and I share their sense of anticipation. Good luck boys. If all goes well, by the end of the Bank Holiday weekend I will be the proud "father" of a clutch of Russian Orloffs. So exciting.

Albeit hens are not on the top of my joy list just now. I alluded to the bill I received from Vodafone earlier in the week and truth be told I still havnft quite recovered from that. Nevertheless, indirectly, I have got my own back on her and it would appear she senses my disapproval. What follows is slightly convoluted, but if you concentrate should be worth the read. I received this email from her:



if i wasnt in trouble id have your guts for garters! xxxxxxxxx



The story, if you are interested stems from an earlier discussion I had had with her about the quality of the wine served at various social functions at her school. She had told me it was really disgusting stuff. Frankly I expected better of Rugby. Even 16 year olds should appreciate life is too short to drink cr*p wine and Ifm proud of Hen in this regard it should be said. So yours truly took it upon himself to raise the matter with the relevant authorities at the school. Being the parent of Henrietta Sandison this is called sailing close to the wind though drinking illegally is one of the few misdemeanors Hen has yet to be caught doing. Anyway I asked what the wine was they were giving the teenagers and also offered my services to the school's Wine Society should they want someone to come up and give a talk to them on the subject. You can imagine that Hen might be mortified by this. So here is the response from the Head Porter. Interestingly, it appears he knows all about Hen.


----- Original Message -----
From: Ian Peet < >
To: David Sandison, CLSA
Cc: Sarah Rusk < >
Sent: Wed May 20 02:02:18 2009
Subject: wine quality in junior social center

Dear Mr Sandison

Thank you very much for your feedback on the wine we serve in bar,in no way do we think you are a busybody in fact we appreciate your time.

As Mrs Rusk has said the wine we serve in bar is generally Stowells of Chelsea wine boxes for the red and white and Ernst Julio Gallo Grenache for the rose.

This year has been a bit of an experiment with social events other than bar were drinks have been served in houses rather than the social centre every week,on these occasions we normally deliver from memory has been :- Hardys,Ernst Julio Gallo,Jacobs Creek and Kumala and although not perfect are slightly better than the wine boxes.

The problem we have is that to keep costs down we have to purchase our drinks Cider, Lager, Bitter as well as wine from one supplier, it is a shame Henrietta does not like bitter as we stock a great range of real ales :-Black sheep,Bishops finger(a favourite or Rev Horners) and Pedigree to name a few.

I will speak to Mr Beaumont to see if we can arrange a wine tasting session next term with wine available from our suppliers and that way the the XX and LXX can choose the wines they like.


Hope this helps

Many thanks Ian Peet

Head porter



See.....I knew it. Wine Boxes.....It's a disgrace. I am going to have to work on this. Mr. Peet's email having been forwarded to Hen, her reaction was priceless. Fortunately she is not doing English A level....oh dear, actually I've just remembered...she is........

oh my goodeness!!! he knows my name!? your a nightmare, i thought you were joking!!

FYI; the junior social centre is what jimmy goes to, so i expect the wine they are all used to drinking is bought from some dingy co-op on the out skirts of town and drunk whilst sitting in their warderobes.

the social 'event' in which drinking is allowed is for the LXX and XX and is called 'Bar'

BIG L DAVE xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



*** Talking of English A levels

My brother, based in the US, had been surfing The Scotsman on line in an attempt to keep in touch with major news developments. Sent me this:



Found a small article on Susan Boyle, with usual list of comments in the "Chat" bit below. This one jumped out at me:



"susns goat the vise of an anjel n the fase of a angle and is use dinny lyk it use can lump it shes gonny win n shes gony sell her ane lyne of breakfast products lyke susn boil toste n susn boile coafy n susn boil egs n susn boile myusli n aw that n shes gony be rich n yus r oll goni b jelus ha ha she cn sing betr thn pavroti betr n alane page betr n anione. so bes of luck susn n dinny lisn ta the detracters n the jelus"




I must say there's nothing that makes me prouder to be Scottish than when I see my compatriots defending one of our own......and with such command of the English language.