In the same month as Decanter Magazine launched it’s electronic version for the iPhone new wine magazine ‘By The Bottle’ launched its first issue exclusively for the iPad. Revolutionary by wine trade standards By The Bottle is entirely electronic and it’s free. Billed as an innovative lifestyle magazine for wine lovers it ‘offers a blend of articles that range from being fun and lighthearted to serious and provocative.’ If Decanter is your wine enthused Uncle then By The Bottle is your floppy haired, posh, younger cousin.

Unlike any wine title gone before, to the untrained eye By The Bottle could be mistaken for a copy of men’s mag GQ: it’s a little bit sexy with an undertone of Top Gear meets Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. As an exclusively electronic magazine it punches above its weight in terms of artistic and technical impact with enough pop-ups and push-me buttons to keep even the most disengaged wine drinkers turning the page. ………

When’s the right time to start thinking about Christmas? Everybody has their signal, the Oxford Street lights going on usually start things off for me but Christmas songs on the radio before December is a no-no. Mr B and I are hosting both our families on Christmas Day this year, it’s going to be a snug affair in our little London house but as it’s the first time we’ve done it I’m definitely starting to plan things way earlier than usual.

Adapting to my new role as Christmas-maker-in-chief will be quite different to my usual role as Vino-topper-upper but as my bump will be getting in the way of my usual Christmas Cheer this year I’ll be handing over the reigns to Mr B. Here are some words of wisdom I’ll be sharing with him to make sure the glasses are full and everybody has a very merry Christmas!

The Vino Topper-Upper: ………

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The previous owners of our house had a penchant for bold colours. Our kitchen work surfaces are sparkly Chelsea blue and our bathroom is puurrrrple!  Needless to say both will be disappearing with time, starting with the bathroom which is being done next week. During the design decision making we keep being told that contrast is good so we’ve gone for water-turquoise tiles and a slate grey floor. Whether these opposites will look any good remains to be seen, there’s only a certain clarity you can get with two tile samples and a splodge of paint on the wall. .
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Contrast is also being tested in other news where I’m told we should be embracing sober-October in a last chance attempt to give the liver a break before the Christmas party season. This at the same time as London Cocktail Week kicks off. ………

As the bunting comes down post-Jubilee I’m left with the same feeling of sadness and deflation I had two days after my wedding. The build up to the event, the outfits, the planning, the decorations now all gone and normality has replaced what was once excitement and anticipation.

Like the odd piece of confetti you uncover months after your big day I wonder where the last Union Jack will be left flying? If I wasn’t trying to move house I’d happily leave ours up until the end of the Olympics but in an uncharacteristically organised move Mr B has already got rid of it…..! It was an awesome weekend but on reflection I can’t decide whether it was the Queen herself, the sheer number of Union Jacks or the extra long weekend that moved me most. Luckily though my post celebration deflation doesn’t have to kick in yet as coincidently this week also happens to be English Wine Week!

Sales of English sparkling wine soared over the Jubilee celebrations, of course we can’t be sure whether it was Queenie or The Apprentice that can take the credit. ………

There is definitely a little je ne sais quoi in the air…. Bastille Day followed by the Tour de France, topped off with the launch party of Mr & Mrs Smith’s Hotel Collection – France. I love cycling but I only took part in two of the events above, naturellement.

1. Bastille Day at Battersea Park proved France is anything but out of favour with Londoners as queues for the country’s gastronomic delights were consistently longer than my patience can handle!

2. The launch of Mr & Mrs Smith’s Hotel Collection – France, embraced an air of shabby chic that only West London and parts of Paris can get away with and still retain their cool edge as we hung out in Notting Hill’s quaint Travel Book Shop drinking Champagne Ruinart Brut NV and eating our body weight in cheese from the dangerously waist-expanding La Fromagerie. ………

I’m getting increasingly annoyed by Them. You know the ones, that group that everyone refers to, never questions but no-one actually knows. I once heard Them say that as the speed of technology increases so does the pace of life…… and so here I sit avec laptop simultaneously realising that I haven’t written a blog post for over a month and that sometimes They are right. ………