Random reviews:
Wine - Amarone (2017) with Christmas dinner. Outstanding. This is a hefty drink.
Book - not a Christmas present, been reading it for some time - Rip it Up and Start Again by Simon Reynolds - Post Punk 1978-1984. For those interested this is a huge, and brilliant history of how different people in different places took the fragments of punk in incredible new directions from PIL, Pere Ubu and Devo to Cabaret Voltaire, the Fall etc etc. Really enjoying this, and listening to loads of old music that I had forgotten about. Wire might not be to everyone’s taste, but man were they exciting and new. It’s a very big book.
Gadget - Sage (Breville in some countries) bean to cup coffee maker. Had this a few years, looks like a mini proper Italian bar coffee maker. Has served us well, used several times a day. Recently the pressure has been playing up a bit, and no amount of fiddling with grinds etc has improved it, or even made it predictable. Culminating in it virtually exploding this morning, shooting the portafilter across the room and spraying hot coffee everywhere. Built in obsolescence perhaps but a bit of an extreme signal to get a new machine. Not recommended, I’ll be getting another make for the next one.