Blog posts
See you back at The Ranch – or not
I don’t often rejoice in a demise, but the closure of The Ranch on Whiteladies Road in Bristol, gave me a little frisson of schadenfreude. The axe is entirely mine to grind, so let me just paint the picture for why I so despised this blameless Clifton drinking establishment. The Fine Line, which once inhabited the unit at 59-61 Whiteladies …
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The trouble with paradise
In my head, the Fiji part of the trip went something like this: 1) Land in Nadi, Fiji 2) Catch a boat to paradise island from outside the airport 3) Be lying on hammock drinking cockatils in the sun within the hour. The reality was somewhat different.
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Fiji… or Africa?
Fiji. Weird. Of all things I’m transported straight back to Africa. The smell – both natural and polluted – the humidity, the taxi experience – both the fare negotiation and the rickety vehicle – and the extensively pot-holed roads. There are probably places in the world that are more alike – and certainly less – but based on my limited …
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Nelson and Christchurch and bye bye NZ!
After a jaunt to Kaikoura — which incorporated none of the things it’s famous for (dolphin swimming: booked up; stunning mountain views: overcast; crayfish: soooo overpriced but a few things it isn’t known for – a petting zoo and horse trekking) — we headed back to Nelson. En route we stopped in Blenheim again as it’s the one place we’ve …
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Marlborough: tastes, sights and Sounds
I arrived in Blenheim to a pleasant surprise. This small city is, to us, merely the staging area for the food and wine festival, hosted at the Branscott Estate winery on its outskirts, I hadn’t given a second thought to what it might actually be like. This is wise I think! This trip has taught me that imagination is often …
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