The return of Mycroft (from 20,000 fathoms)

Mes amis.... no, fear not, its not Maurice, its me, Mycroft. It's safe to come out from hiding now...

Not much blogging recently as have been organising... stuff... to do with the commonwealth heads of government meeting in Perth. Can't really comment on that at this moment, or indeed at any other moment. Some things will just have to stay opaque.

But the main point here is that this hasn't left me much leisure to do internetting... or much else indeed. And I've been in Perth -- away from my humble abode in Canberra, my library, my cellar...

But back in Canberra now. Maurice-free since December 2010! Quite an achievement. I'm proud, in any case.

I bought plenty of wine in Burgundy ... you might all remember my trip there earlier in the year ... and that was arriving back in dribs and drabs by surface mail for months afterwards. But I got some good stuff ... '55 Clos Vougeot? I bought several magnums. I also got a few nice bottles of a '78 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru ... yummy.

But Julia said I should stop boasting about my wine cellar, so that's it for now (though I think that's because she's secretly envious ... and because I wouldn't open my last bottle of '34 Romanée-Conti for her ... but we'll pass over that in silence. What cannot be said here will not be spoken of!)

I'm starting to make plans for 2012. A trip to Italy is a must. Lots of trips to the US, but that's not personal, it's business. No, again, I can't speak of that here. I'm also debating starting on a scholarly autobiography ... 'Life and times of an intellectual civil servant', but probably wouldn't get clearance to publish it. Eh ...

Back to the present -- seems Maurice (my 'geynius' brother) has forgotten the grape harvest at his Italian and Spanish estates. How long should we wait till we remind him? Just need to wait long enough for the vintage to be an almost irreparable disaster ... so any day now?

ROAD TRIP PLANNINATED MES AMIS

Mes amis... tihs is tres exciting... Morrhose has been in his apratment in Beaun for a few days/months/weeeks/years/centruries/milleniea (Wahtever, Merisse lost track of teh time and isnt really sure), and has raelly enjoyinated his stay. BUT now he has sometihng even more excinating planed... a ROAD TRIP

Tahts right, mes amis, you heard corectly, a ROAD TRIP.

He plans to  drivinate to Bordeaux in Switzerland via teh Jura. He will postinate updates on TWITER wehn he can, and frequent wobleg updates.

There only one problem is... he cant findinate his car keys, he has tehm lost. He was shure tehy were in his jacket pocket... and yet, tehy are not! Miaerwse knows only one solution to tihs problem... BUYINAYE A NEW CAR. Expensive, but nohitng else works. He will talkinate to his local JAGUAR daeler tihs wekk. And tehn, keep tuned, mes amis. excitement awaits....

Muarhise in burgundy....

Mes amis.... Murhose is in his new apratment in Burgundy.

Actually, he lies, he isnt. He in an intrenet cafe is. Teh internet at his apratment, it works not. Some one (e.g., his brohter, Mycroft) has stolenated teh A.D.S.L. MODEM from Morhise his apratment... so he teh intrenet tehre use cannot. Tres annoying.

AND YET, Morrhose enjoyinating being in Burgundy is. Teh wineyards are wery difficult to find (a Templar conspiracy, Maerhoce is sure) and yet, yesterday he managed to find one! It wery exciting was. Mieeorohse celebrated wiht a glass or three of teh local SHIRAZ wine....

Tomorrow , Morrhose will dirvinate to teh NEARBY WILLAGE of GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN to see if he can see any wineyards tehre... and if he can any whine for his cellar buyinate tehre... Wish Morose luck, mes amis...

Mycroft in Burgundy: Hello Folks!

Greetings, mon amis...

No, fear not, it is not Maurice. It is I, Mycroft. You remember, Maurice's more intelligent brother? Facebook friends might remember that I was about to head off to France for a holiday. Well, luckily, I got out of Canberra before the volcanic ash did it worst (at last, I found something more disruptive and annoying than Maurice! Okay, maybe not) -- I left on the 14th June.

Also, luckily, I managed to get more than the two weeks leave I'd hoped for originally, I got three and a half weeks! I expect Australia will be in economic ruins by the time I get back... the PM's office (and therefore the rest of the country) can't function for half an hour without me, it seems... let alone nearly a month.

Anyway. Back on topic. I arrived in Beaune expecting to find that the "apratment" Maurice had bought here in Beaune to be a virtual ruin.

We all know how gullible Maurice is, and he bought it sight-unseen.

But no! Miraculous! It really is a rather elegant apartment, right in the centre of the old town, with three bedrooms... and a study... and a rather nice kitchen. And Maurice paid to have the Eurocave wine fridge stocked with good burgundy... and that happened too (amazing! Maurice making canny decisions -- must be coincidence!). Just drinking a good bottle of Montrachet now.

Well, its been a good holiday so far. Brought my work mobile with me, which was my one mistake. Of course, I've kept getting work-related phone calls at all hours of the day. I'm maliciously gleeful thinking about the phone bills they're racking up ringing me here... they pay for that phone, so they'll be paying all the lovely, juicy roaming fees. If Australia goes bankrupt and enters another recession in a month or so, you'll know why... heh.

Made a pilgrimage to the Romanée-Conti vineyard yesterday, and sat on the vineyard wall drinking a bottle of '96 Romanée-Conti. A rare privilege indeed! Even remembered to bring some a bit of a picnic to nibble on too... magnifique. Would def. recommend. And my mobile didn't go off once for the whole meal. Rumours that I had "accidentally" turned if off are all biased and unreliable (though accurate).

Visiting Chateau de Pommard tomorrow... the brochure makes it look very nice. Wondering if I can con Maurice into buying it for me as a holiday bolt-hole (would only be fair, to make up for all those bottles of '59 Haut-Brion and '47 Cheval Blanc of mine he drank).

That's enough for now, mes amis... a mid-morning walk beckons. Then lunch.