I started out with Pilates, cleaned the house, then went for a brisk hour and a half walk to the eiffel tower and back. I was all pumped up and ready to do the groceries for our invitees tonight. I started at the top of Rue Montorgueil. Pancetta from the Italian deli, strawberries imported from Morocco and handmade, home-fried chips from the cheese & charcuterie shop. I was passing by our local wine shope and I peered in (as usual) to say bonjour to JD – he motioned for me to come in, which I did, and that was the end of my nice light healthy story.

He called me in because he had just opened a bottle of Brown Bros. Australian wine to taste. He often has tastings in the back of the wine store when he gets a new wine in. It was a Brown Bros wine I didn’t know, and it was quite nice, but at €15 I’d rather drink a really good French wine (when in France..). I hung about a bit, chatted to the other guy in the shop from Corsica and mentioned we were hoping to go to Corsica this July with a group of friends and rent a house “did he have any some inside info?”.

At some point as I was leaving so was JD, we both hadn’t eaten yet and at 2.30pm figured it was probably sensible to do so sooner rather than later. He took me to a Bistrot a Vins he knew on the Rue de Richelieu, Juveniles owned by a Scottish fellow which was really rather pleasant. We had a nice lunch with a pichet of red, tasted a Spanish Cava and a special Cuvee of Australian wine he had by the pallet load called Torbreck, Cuvee Juveniles 2005 from the Barossa Valley. Very nice. A couple of hours later I returned home ready for a nap with the phone number of a friend of a friend who is renting their house in Porto Vecchio, Corsica.

Gone were the well laid plans of Scallops with Puy lentils followed by an ashen goat cheese to eat with the Banyuls we have to finish… and once again here I am rushing around while the cupboards are bare trying to find a restaurant to go to for dinner. Wine in the afternoon always does that to me.