Rose Petal Wine - Fifteenth Bottle (A4), 25th February 2018

This really was an excellent bottle of wine. It had a true white wine taste with only a hint of Eastern Promise. We drank it in anticipation of a rose bed - I spent a couple of hours in the back garden, removing more of our lawn. Eventually we will have arches covered in rambling roses. Right now we have a kidney-shaped patch of earth.

Whilst Claire and I were drinking this bottle, Rachael and family were having a very different experience. A shop literally round the corner from her in Leicester exploded, killing five people. Rachael is fine if rattled. She heard a tremendous bang. A split-second later her house shook and a few minutes after that the police came round, insisting she evacuate. Terrible, yet vicariously exciting.

Round the corner from my sister

Orange - Bottle B4, 8th-10th August 2011

I am no longer a policeman. I never was, of course, but I am no longer employed by West Yorkshire Police. This has nothing to do with the riots sweeping much of the country over the last few days (Leeds being an exception). More with concentrating on the Brooke North job, and the police finding a replacement for me. It has been an excellent job - varied and slightly off-the-wall. Much of the time I was making things up as I went along, but it all seemed to work - and the police constables for whom I did the work were surprisingly grateful.

The bottle of orange wine was started during my last day there and drunk slowly throughout the week, with my last glass in a hot bath listening to eighteenth-century scandal on Radio 4.