Not a bad weekend. Friday saw me at Heathrow, seeing off friends going back to Nigeria. They were flying Virgin Upper class and I was impressed by the service, the pick-up limo, the luggage whisked through check in, etc etc, especially as it contrasted so starkly with me seeing off a friend's father flying business class back to Nigeria on KLM recently whose treatment left a fair bit to be desired. Two of his three suitcases were overweight, which I grant was his fault but the disdain with which the check in staff treated him, as he struggled to repack and redistribute the weight was appalling. This is the second time I've been impressed by Virgin. The first was my last trip to New York when I was well-impressed by the entertainment system- each seat had it's own video/television which you could pause and restart as needed, without being held captive by a centrally coordinated film system. In addition, the array of new films they had was impressive. Sadly on the flight back, it was the bog-standard central system.
At a party Friday night I find myself chatting to this guy who works for Yahoo. I make a mock cross-sign when he tells me who he works for and he asks why. I cite the case of the Chinese bloggers and he responds by saying that what the media reports fail to recognise is that their China offices were stormed by gun-wielding Chinese police. I'm skeptical and make this clear, and then he makes a comment which I find worrying. After all, he says, people haven't got any choice- they'll need to keep using Yahoo and Google because they are the best available, no matter how much they hate their policies. For their sakes, I hope he doesn't work in strategy, because I think that while people may not have choices now, dissatisfaction with the status quo is a potential growth area and a potential chink in the armour of the big guys. The attitude of "You have no choice" seems shockingly similar to New Labour's laid back attitude and look where it's leading them......
Saturday I'm at a dinner party and our host has prepared the loveliest roast chicken with roast potatoes. We eat outside in the Zen influenced garden and for once, I can actually understand a bit of what the fuss about English summers is all about. The first course is an amazing Stilton ice cream- a juxtaposition of cold and savoury which is perfect for a summer dinner....
On Sunday, to Tate Britain to see the Howard Hodgkin retrospective- I'm skeptical when a friend invites me but the vibrant colours and the way in which he is able to convey moods through colours and brushstrokes has me glowing gently all day....
All through the weekend the Middle East crisis preys on my mind- and I am particularly touched by the plight of the Lebanese people- the grass suffering as it is trampled,caught between the elephants of Hizbollah and Israel.....
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3 comments:
Roast chicken, roast potatoes, Stilton ice cream... never tried that but I still envy you all the same.
Stilton ice cream, divine! I have a love of my Mum's white stilton soup but stilton ice cream sounds much more summery and essentially the same ingredients - very clever, I must note that one down in my food diary.
Is your friend a cooking junkie?? If so please head them my way as I'm always up for some inspriation.
stilton ice cream is...
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