Retirement Planning

If you had purchased US$1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth US$49.00.

With Enron, you would have had US$16.50 left of the original US$1000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have had less than US$5.00 left.

If you had purchased US$1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have US$49.00 left.

But, if you had purchased US$1,000.00 worth of beer/wine one year ago, drank all the beer/wine, then turned in the cans/bottles for the aluminium recycling REFUND, you would have had US$121.00.

Based on the above, my best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle!

Bacco

Whilst I'm on the topic of food and drink, I should give a mention to Bacco, and italian restaurant in Richmond.

Really nice food, not your typical Italian high street restaurant menu. The staff are really nice as well and the wine list is nothing short of fantastic. I had dinner there last week after not visiting for a few years and I have to the dishes and drinks were sublime.

Caffé Vergnano

Just a quick note to mention the fabulous Caffé Vergnano.

I had a few of their Blend 1882 Espresso drinks last night and they were fabulous. So fabulous that I had too many of them and was awake until 02:00 this morning!

The one I went to was next to the Royal Festival Hall in London and the staff were really friendly and the service was quite good.

If you are in the neighbourhood it is worth visiting.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.

I hope you are spending it with your loved ones.

Marie Antionette's Plaything

One of the cottages built in Marie Antoinette's private village at the Petit Trianon at Versailles and built around 1784.

Roman Ruins

Well preserved Roman ruins at Cimiez. There is a bath house and a courtyard and as you walk through it you realise that design and construction techniques haven't changed much in 2000 years.

Cours Saleya - Nice

Armée de Terre

Look Up

Brandi Carlile @ Borderline

I should be writing that I'm ecstatic to hear that Brandi Carlile plays her first ever London show, at the Borderline in a weeks time. Except that I'm not ecstatic, I'm not even excited. In fact I'm downright bitter.

By now you'll have guessed that I didn't get any tickets to the gig. How gutted am I! How I managed not to notice that she was doing a London event is beyond me. I think that the fact that she is playing in London is fantastic; but why only one night!

If it wasn't for the fact that I saw the rather excellent Andy McKee perform last night I'd be totally gutted, but as it is I'm actually only mildly depressed. Not finding out about the gig until it was too late is almost enough to drive me to get a myspace account! Hmm, almost but not quite.