….and not a drop to drink!

I’ve spent my entire day in a vineyard today, sat in a room watching the vines sway in the breeze. It’s been a warm, sunny day here that’s been just perfect in my view….not too hot but sunny, white cotton wool clouds scudding across the horizon in high-ish winds, just the sort of thing to blow away a few cobwebs. A perfect day for being outside and letting the wind blow through hair, clothes and mind.

Unfortunately it was not to be. I spent the day in a company Directors away day, talking about strategy, money and the healthcare industry. It was torture of the worst kind for me, loving my wine as I do, to be so close to the vines and so close to the wine without being able to get close enough to either to satisfy any of my desires.

I did learn a few things though……firstly I learned that there is only one employer in the world that employs more people than our very own NHS. Yes, that’s right, only one! It’s the Chinese Red Army. I think that says plenty about waste and inefficiency and not a lot about a good health service personally. I also learned a few other things about waste and inefficiency in the NHS but I’m not going to share them. What I will say is that I hope that now the statins switch to OTC status has been given the green light this will herald a whole new wave of switches of other categories. If I can’t consult a GP because there aren’t enough of them to service the public, I’d rather take charge of my own healthcare thank you very much, given the right drugs availability to buy. I’m certainly not going to trust my health to anyone else.

As you already know if you’ve been reading my diary, I hate these ‘strategy days’ with a passion. My misery was compounded at lunchtime when my colleague told me we’d been offered a tour of the vineyard as part of our package and we turned it down because it was felt it was either that or lunch and we couldn’t do both. Given that lunch consisted of what I call ‘group discussion food’ I’d have significantly preferred the tour.

There was nothing to indicate what was vegetarian and when I asked, the waitress told me the onion bhajees and the vegetable samosas were OK for veggies as well as the cheese sandwiches. So, the cheese sandwiches were on a plate with all the meat ones and meat and fish were smeared all over the outside of the bread, I didn’t dare to ask whether the cheese was made with vegetarian rennet or not. The samosas and bhajees were fried. My heartfelt thanks again to the chefs in mass catering institutions for thinking about how they treat vegetarians, it’s such a joy to be treated so well. My advice? If you want a good lunch, don’t go to Denbies Vineyard (actually I’d apply this statement to the meat eaters too).

Anyway, on the way back to the station, the light was low in the sky and the vineyards looked fab so here is a vine. Shame I didn’t get the chance to sample any of their wares but hell, who knows, next time maybe.

Another interesting fact.....Microsoft's spellchecker recognises the word 'Gucci' but not the word 'samosa' how terrible is that?