Mechanism of wine swirling explained

Wine drinkers know that swirling a good vintage around in a glass aerates the wine and releases its bouquet. Just how the process -- known as "orbital shaking" -- works, however, has been something of a mystery.

Read more: Mechanism of wine swirling explained

Green Monday.

Too often in history there have been incidents which refer to a Monday as being 'Black Monday'.

For us Monday 21^st has been a 'Green Monday', a day for good results, purchases and movement forward towards completing the refurbishment of the house.

Since our expedition to IKEA on Thursday we spent our time on Friday and the two Week-End days divided between research, elimination, confirmation, and household chores.

Friday was a time to reduce the selection of possible white appliances for the kitchen, make the final choice of the kitchen design, and begin the search for curtains and blinds.

Saturday morning was a trip to Sainsbury's in Lincoln for the weekly shop of groceries including the all important two jam doughnuts. This took most of the morning because of the distance to drive and the enormous size of the shop and the range of goods. Arriving back at the cottage we unloaded and put away the shopping, had an early and quick lunch, and then headed back to Lincoln. The afternoon was spent on the selection and purchase of curtains. We couldn't take too long as we had to get back to watch 'Strictly Come Dancing' and 'Merlin'. Doesn't everyone watch them?

Sunday was housework in the morning and searching on the 'World Wide Web' and agreeing the final choice of washing machine, tumble dryer, and fridge/freezer in the afternoon, and of course watching the 'Strictly Come Dancing' results show. What a shame Russell Grant was eliminated!

Monday started off well. The kitchen fitter started the refit as scheduled, the skip hire firm delivered the skip on time. Having called at the house to confirm these the rest of the day was spent in Lincoln shopping. By the end of the morning we had purchased and arranged delivery of the kitchen's larger white goods and the all important television, and managed to negotiated some additional discount. The afternoon was spent buying bedding and towels. As the last visit of the day we managed to squeeze in a visit to get the tiles for the kitchen walls.

At the end of the day we were tired and weary, with a considerably reduced bank balance and an enormously increased credit card balance. We certainly did our bit to stimulate the UK's retail economy, an early 'Green Monday'. It was a day when the green light was shown to the progress towards the metamorphosis of the house to a home. We feel we've broken the back of the shopping list of the larger items. That leaves our return trip to IKEA as the next major shop and that will be another story I'm sure.

Expedition IKEA – A potential mixture of dreams and nightmares!

We have decided that IKEA is to be one of the sources of furniture for the house. The nearest store to Lincoln is in the City of Nottingham. Thursday 17^th was the day we had planned to undertake an expedition through the Nottinghamshire countryside, and suburbs of the city to the mysterious land of IKEA. A day for reconnoitring the possibilities.

Our route took us close to Newark and through the town of Southwell The cooks amongst my readers probably know that the Bramley cooking apple variety originates from there.

The distance from Lincoln to Nottingham required an early start to ensure a full tiring day navigating the many pathways in IKEA.

However no sooner had we started than we received a telephone call from Dreams central customer services to tell us that our new bed could not be delivered until the 16^th December, two weeks after our deadline date. Our hopes for sweet dreams were turning into nightmares. The news necessitated an immediate change of route to take us to the Lincoln store to seek a solution to save us sleeping on floorboards. Once again we had to wait for the pedestrian automatic doors to allow entry. After much discussion, with the branch manager, and computer keyboard operation and problem solving by him we arrived at an agreeable solution. We will have our dreams on an improved quality bed, at no extra cost to us, with delivery on the 30^th November.

We resumed our expedition, all be it an hour later.

Satnavratilova didn't fail us, taking us safely through the picturesque countryside and the complicated, depressing, suburbs of Nottingham, “arriving at destination on the left”.

After some five hours of exploration we headed back here to our temporary home. We had negotiated the IKEA store maze, without the help of 'Satnav', several times. We were physically and mentally fatigued. Legs and feet hurting and brain whirling. Notebook full of information for discussion later at our leisure. We survived reasonably unscathed, helped of course by the obligatory lunch, in the IKEA restaurant, of Swedish meat balls, chips and peas, followed by a fattening dessert, and accompanied by the multi-refill drink. We will return for round two in a few days time, once we have rebuilt our energy levels, to make our purchases. We will certainly need another lunch on that day.

Sweet Dreams we hope.

After seeing and cheering on Matt Baker on Wednesday it was time to move on into Lincoln.

Our two main tasks for the day were to purchase a UK mobile telephone and a double bed for the house.

For the past few days we have had to rely on using our Spanish phone but this is expensive for both making and receiving calls for us, and for our UK contacts. The array of handsets and tariffs is totally confusing! Much to the shop assistant's disappointment we only wanted a handset that makes and receives calls and texts, and on a PAYG basis. Despite his strenuous efforts that is all we purchased.

Out of the telephone shop and straight into the bed shop. We needed a lay down, the telephone encyclopedia had worn us out.

No sooner had we walked into the store, after being allowed in by what must be the slowest automatic opening door, than the voice behind us said, “How can we help you today”. The implication by this that we are regular purchasers of beds from this establishment.

We informed the very eager salesman of our needs to purchase a standard double divan bed with mattress and headboard, and that delivery has to be made in two weeks time. Not too much to ask for we thought!

“Delivery is normally at least three to four weeks on most mattresses” he informed us.

Not to be deterred we moved further into the shop. His next move was to suggest that what we needed was a king size double, “that is the popular size at the moment”, with a television that pops up out of the foot of the bed. We kept on the move through the displays asking questions about the type of bed we really wanted. Natalie and I were leaping on and off beds, faster than a honeymoon couple, I can remember that far back, testing bounce, comfort, and roll over qualities of the various mattresses. As time went on it seemed that some of those that we preferred were possibly available within our delivery time period as they were usually stock items in the central warehouse. If they were not the salesman's bonus would slip from his grasp.

An hour and a quarter had slept by and at last we had made our selection and were prepared to part with money, subject to a delivery on time. On receiving the assurance we wanted, and of course some discount, we placed the order and hit the plastic again.

We are looking forward to sweet Dreams!

Matt Baker's 'Children in Need' Rickshaw Ride

On Wednesday 16th, as part of his route for his 'Children in Need' rickshaw cycle ride, Matt Baker rode from Lincoln to Peterborough.

He was due to leave Lincoln very early in the morning, at around 06:00 hrs., but due to circumstances beyond his control he left approximately 4 hours late.

His route would take him close by to where we are staying at the moment. We didn't expect to see him as it would have been before our wake up time.

We were pleasantly surprised as we drove towards Lincoln about mid-morning to be able to see Matt cycling through the village of Branston on his journey south. We managed to find a parking place to enable us to cheer him on, along with many roadside supporters, and contribute to the his sponsorship funds.

Many congratulations to Matt Baker for his magnificent effort.

Choice of Carpets

Tuesday (15^th) morning was taken up by housekeeping and shopping chores, well we have to keep clean and eat!

In the afternoon it was time to choose the new floor coverings; carpets for the lounge, bedrooms and stairs, and vinyl cushion floor for the kitchen/diner and bathroom. We met the salesman at the house and made our choice of colour after he had taken the necessary measurements.

The decorating team had started today, as planned, and this helped in the selection of the shade of carpet needed as we were able to compare the wall paint colour to carpet samples.

The day for the carpet fitters was confirmed. We now know the date after which deliveries of furniture and white goods can be planned for.

Preparation for the Decorator.

Sunday 13^th was a rest day after the previous busy days travelling. The only task I needed to do was to purchase some tools, screwdrivers, pliers, and a small electric drill, from B&Q to enable me to work on Monday.

Monday's main task was to prepare the house for the decorator before his start day on Tuesday. We need his team to have a clear run at the job in hand to meet our deadline. This meant me taking down all the curtains and tracks, and lampshades, along with the lifting and removal of all the carpets.

During the morning the electrician called to discuss his involvement in replacing some of the storage heaters and installation of new power sockets for the new kitchen. The afternoon was rounded off by the preliminary visit of the kitchen fitter to agree the new layout and selection of the style, appliances, sink and taps.

The house was ready for painting to start in the morning so we finished reasonably early at approximately 17:00 hrs.

Orihuela Costa to Heighington

The suitcases, five to be precise, and an assortment of other bags and packages were stored in our faithful Hyundai Getz. 'Operation Hibernation' was complete with the result of our Spanish home resting in a semi-comatose state until our return in the New Year. Our departure at 08:08 hrs. on Thursday 10^th November was the beginning of our three day journey to the United Kingdom. As usual on such excursions we normally have two nights stopovers in France.

Our target destination for Thursday night was the Ibis Hotel in Beziers. We have stopped there before as it is one of our three choices of hotels for first night accommodation in France; the other two being Perpignan and Narbonne. The days travelling went as planned, with us stopping, as usual on this route, for coffee at the services on the A7 Valencia ring-road, lunch at the L' Hospitalet services on the AP7, and afternoon tea at La Jonquera, before the final stage to Beziers, arriving at the hotel at 18:25 hrs. We always call into the gasolinera at La Jonquera, on the Spain/France border, to fill up the petrol tank with sin plomo 95 before entering France. The price increase of a litre of fuel from Spain to France is enormous. We paid €1.334 p/litre and then noted that just 20 kilometres into France the price was €1.625 p/litre. The saving we made by filling up in Spain paid for our afternoon tea!

The aim of our travel on day two is to get to within approximately three hours driving of 'Le tunnel sous la Manche' at Coquelles, Calais. This trip we decided, in consultation with Satnavratilova, to go the eastern route via Montpellier, Nimes, Lyon, Dijon, and Troyes, with our overnight stop at Reims in the Ibis Tinqueux. Having stopped for our three break periods during the day we arrived at 17:45 hrs.

Saturday the 12^th November, the third day, saw our arrival in the UK. An early start at 07:30 hrs. was needed to arrive at the Channel Tunnel in time to catch our pre-booked train. We couldn't afford to miss that one as we had a busy schedule to deal with in the afternoon. Our satisfaction at reaching the terminal in good time was soon reduced when we read the notice, as we waited to register our arrival and pass through the French and British passport control, “Due to a stopped train in the tunnel there is a delay on some departure times”. With all the administration procedures completed, including the printing of our train allocation alphabetical ticket displaying the letter 'H', we proceeded to the terminal building to await to be called to board the 'H' train at some unknown time. But as luck would have it; no sooner had we purchased our latte coffees than the announcement we hoped for was displayed on the notice screens. Our train was to depart on the scheduled time with those travellers delayed from the 'F' and 'G' trains joining us. The thought came to mind, what if three into one won't go! A second thought came into mind. If a power failure was the cause of the delays, what if it happened again when we were in the tunnel.

The what ifs didn't happen and we arrived at the Folkestone terminal on time at 10:55 hrs.

Our next objective was to be at Heighington, near Lincoln, at 15:30 hrs. to check out our outgoing tenant from our future UK base home. The two major hurdles that had to be negotiated as we drove north were the Dartford Crossing and the M25.

The approaches to the Dartford toll booths were surprisingly clear. We chose a non-change lane and as we approached the urinal coin collector Natalie made sure she had the £1.50 toll ready and practised her throwing action. Window down, we crept towards the receptor at a steady very slow speed, she took aim and threw the two coins in with some force, both of us looking for the red stop light to change to green before we reached it, to confirm receipt of the correct fee. Why wasn't it changing? Had Natalie thrown the two coins with such force that they were still going round the urinal like two motorcyclists riding the wall of death, or like two balls bouncing round a roulette wheel, seemingly determined not to fall to the bottom of the shoot to be counted. At last we had green.

Our short journey on the M25 from the tunnel to the M11 was bliss. In fact I had difficulty in not getting too excited and keeping below the 50 mph limit through the variable speed control section.

We arrived at Heighington on time and within twenty minutes the check-out was completed satisfactorily and the tenant had departed. As we are refurbishing the house before we furnish it we then moved on to our holiday rental cottage for three weeks as we were due there for 16:30 hrs. A quick unload of the car and then off to Sainsburys in Lincoln for provisions, returning to the cottage at 19:10 hrs. Having been on the move for nearly thirteen hours we had completed all our aims for the day. If you are thinking my calculation of the total time is wrong don't forget we put our watches back one hour when we entered the UK.

When we finally got to bed and turned the lights out I thought "What a day this has been"!

Satnavratilova Nuvi de Garmin is ready.

Only 4 days to go before we (Natalie and I) start our journey to the UK, to refurbish our new home there, but we haven't started the difficult, and very important for a lady, selection of what clothes to take with us. Of course there are the other necessary items a lady needs to consider; cosmetics, jewellery, perfumes, handbags, and multitudes of shoes that might be worn, or not; in the next few days. As departure day draws nearer the spare bedroom will look more and more like a boutique as the necessary items are displayed.

I mentioned before our regular travel companion on our expeditions, and the only other lady in my life, of course I'm referring to Satnavratilova Nuvi de Garmin. Our travelling days would not be the same if we didn't have her regular interjections of her opinion into our conversations. Sometimes it can be many minutes, even up to an hour, before she utters her thoughts, whilst at other times, especially when I am trying to concentrate on my driving through complicated street systems she never seems to stop to take breath between uttering her many pearls of wisdom. We wouldn't want to be without her though and even turn off the radio or cd player in deference to her greater knowledge than ours.

Now she is much more organised than we are as she has already completed her arrangements for the trip. She is ready, we are not!

Not for her any fashion decisions as she is always in her goth like attire.

She has her priorities right and has been on the computer and used the internet to download the most up-to-date maps, and has even thought to update her mini notepad computer with the latest operating software. She takes pride in being a modern sophisticated lady who uses the latest technology to full advantage in helping her friends.

So as not to get in the way in the final days of Natalie's and my preparations Satnav (our pet name for her) is keeping out of the way, secure in her small, perfectly fashioned, room, safe in the knowledge that we will make sure we do not forget such an important person.

Millions of birds migrating to Spain face painful deaths in glue-filled traps

Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Giles Tremlett reports in The Guardian that up to 4 million migrating birds will be killed by illegal Spanish hunters this year, with many dying a slow, sticky death in traps that literally glue the animals to the ground, according to campaigners.

Read his disturbing article here: Millions of birds migrating to Spain face painful deaths in glue-filled traps | World news | The Guardian

Another example of a Spanish tradition of torturing living creatures. But it is alright because it is part of the country's culture and heritage claim the torturers.

Experts recommend the inclusion of rainwater-collection systems in cities

Researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in Spain carried out a study into the collection of rainwater from roofs of buildings and the effectiveness of different roof surfaces.

Ramon Farreny, co-author of different projects developed by the UAB, said "It is important to consider the collection of rainwater when planning and designing cities, as this is an alternative water source with many different uses, it can even be used to save drinking water."

In urban areas the use of the roofs of buildings for collection of rainwater has to be the first option. However the pitch of the roof and the surface covering it will determine the efficiency of collection of water and the quality of the water collected. The conclusions of the study are that plain sloping roofs covered with metal or plastic will collect 50% more water than those that are flat and covered in a gravelled surface. It was also found that the quality of the water collected would be better.

Ramon Farreny also went on to explain that: "The inclusion of criteria related to the slope and roughness of roofs in urban planning may be useful in promoting the harvesting of rainwater as an alternative water source. This could also contribute to preventing flooding and water shortages." It is good to see such research being carried out and especially in Spain where water availability is an ongoing problem, environmentally, economically and politically.

Read more on the research in ScienceDaily. Experts recommend the inclusion of rainwater-collection systems in cities