Wednesday 12 December 2012

Sun, sand and sabres

Thirteen months ago, my anal soul would have been happy with this:
But I wanted more, this time, so I tried harder. And failed:
Reactions not as good as they used to be, or seconds have got shorter - or my laptop slower. I'm going with that. Never mind, it was a busy day with plenty of other stuff going on, like a lovely lunch at the Sofitel hosted by Macau Tourism, with a neat link between the two. It was in Macau that I saw sabrage for the first time, when chef Antonio, who was a bit of a showman and made us crepes Suzette with great flourish, took a lot of pleasure in showing the youngest, blondest member of our group how to remove the top from a champagne bottle with a sabre. (It's a French custom, initiated, legend has it, by Napoleon, so why a Portuguese man was doing it was never explained. Apart from the showmanship thing.) Of course, I learned earlier this year that it's a piece of weasel, and whipped one off myself with no trouble whatsoever, which hasn't stopped me from boasting about it ever since. With good reason, it turns out, judging by Trish's (three) efforts when the ritual was performed today, which left her with an eyeful - fortunately of champagne rather than bottle-top:
And then, after a lot of airline and travel chat, it was time to head out of the city on a sunny afternoon for a friend's Big Birthday picnic at a little beach on a gorgeous bit of coast with turquoise sea and islands and inlets. There was shared food and many popped corks - no sabres on hand, unfortunately - plus a dog with a stick, children, pohutukawa in bloom, sand between the toes and that glorious feeling that summer is finally here with lots more sun and sea and sociable times on the way. Yay.

4 comments:

the queen said...

And I am tickled that I got to wear the Eggplant Fox, the winter coat I just bought. We are so easily pleased by the passage of time.

TravelSkite said...

Change of seasons, yes. Passage of time? Not so much.

the queen said...

Are you not pleased it is 12/12/12?

TravelSkite said...

01/01/01 would be, oooh, almost 12 years better, I reckon.

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