Gentlemen in Nyon
Organised walks are off at the moment to avoid groups of more than 5. But I would highly recommend individual walks in the Arboretum at Aubonne. Especially at this time of year while the magnolias are at their best.
I went last Friday with Lynda and it was almost deserted.
I’ve just learnt that the New York Metropolitan opera are providing free streamings of some of their great opera broadcasts from the last 14 years.
Further details here
https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/coronavirus-the-metropolitan-opera-to-stream-free-operas.html
The stream will be free and will present encores of The Met’s acclaimed Live in HD series. The performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be available to stream for 20 hours. The first week’s schedule, outlined below, will be featuring timeless classics as Carmen, La Bohème, and La Traviata.
Here is a link to information about some of the world’s great museums which are offering virtual tours via the web. I’ve not looked at any of these yet but the list is impressive.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours
There was a very interesting programme on BBC 4 last Thursday, 16/01/2020, 22:00 about quantum entanglement. I had recorded it and just got round to watching it. I wanted to let you know in case anyone else with Swisscom TV wants to watch it before it’s a week old.
What I like about the program is that it gives the history, starting with the 1927 Solway conference and onto Einstein’s paper and the work of John Bell. It does not try to describe any of the mathematics but rather gives one of the clearest explanations I’ve seen of the physical phenomenon and what they are currently doing to verify it.
I already sent this as a note to members of the GIN Kulture group since I definitely believe this qualifies under our definition of Culture. Since there was reasonable interest I’m adding it to the blog.
Brian Allardyce refers us to an article by the Austrian Academy of Sciences at oeaw.ac.at in case you missed the programme. This describes what they did.
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/detail/news/quantum-entanglement-confirmed-with-light-from-distant-quasars/
I also found an interesting YouTube video which goes a step backwards and explores the origins of Quantum Mechanics and spends some time on the endless arguments between Bohr and Einstein at the 1927 conference. These are referred to in the BBC programme but only related to entanglement whereas the disagreement was much more fundamental.
Here is the link
https://ch.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=solvay+conference#id=19&vid=e36e4a2e5c40902eb79a7761d344a8b9&action=view
There were 5 GIN members and 2 associate members (if that means anyting) for our annual outing to Champéry on January 15th. Mervyn, Peter and Mark drove from Commugny while Rudi and David (almost bootless) met us there. We also met up with Mervyn’s chums, and regular skiing outing participants, Brian and Alun. Thatcher cried off due to too much skiing at Verbier and crunchy baguettes.
The weather was great, the snow surprisingly good and the company also great.
Naturally we raised a glass to Dave K over an excellent lunch at la Cantine des Dents Blanches.
Thanks to Mervyn for organising and driving plus for arranging some good weather.
Our illustrious leader was unavailable (holiday in Crete) but did send us this
so we were ably led by Peter D: up the hill at Bonmont, over to Gex, then to Echenevex to find a closed restaurant and on to the Maison Blanche golf club for lunch and well earned beers.
After lunch we returned to Gex where we found the old railway line and followed it all the way back into Divonne.
A great bike ride. Thanks to Peter and Steve for waiting for me.
Total of 52 km (a few further for Steve) and 545 m dénivellation
Dave selected some excellent Italian reds for this tasting and laid on a good spread including a superb brie.
There were 6 wines with the descriptions Dave found on the internet below
Full body, nice and beautiful aroma. Purple and velvet color. Nice balance of tannin and low acidity. Scent of leather, slightly earthy, dominent of dark plum, dark berries.
Clear, medium ruby. Clean, moderate intensity aroma of blackberry, violet. Dry, high acidity, strong tannins, full body and prolonged finish.
Dark cherry colour, an intense nose of ripe red berries, slightly spicy, reminiscent of juniper, cloves and violets, a rich prelude, full-bodied on the palate with distinct tannins, subtle nuances, a long, intense full-bodied wine from Sicily’s southern climes.
Corvina produces light to medium body wines with a light crimson coloring. The grapes’ naturally high acidity can make the wine somewhat tart with a slight, bitter almond note.[2] The finish is sometimes marked with sour-cherry notes
Bouquet is a bit flat with cherry notes. The palate delivered aromas of cherry, blackberry, dried plum, pepper notes followed by a sweetness. Spices could be a bit more. Noticeable Tannins but flat in acidity.
Medium ruby with slight watery rims. Classic nose of earthy characters and balsamic notes, plum and cherry, cedar wood and leather. On the palate well balanced, great acidity and good structure.
Details of all the wines, including prices
Participants: Dave Gwilliam (host), Brian Allardyce, David Stieber, Terry Gale, Mark Watts, Ian Cappin
Just Dave G, Peter D and I. Not much wind but a pleasant little sail in good company. We still felt we’d earned a beer at the end.
Just 3 sailing today: Philip Jenkins, Dave Gwilliam and myself.
We started with an almost flat calm but then the wind got up to a very pleasant force 3. Unfortunately there was a lot of water in the bilges so I spent much of the time below deck mopping it out and leaving the other 2 to sail the boat. I believe the water tank must have ruptured – need to check it out later.
We all needed a beer at the end.
Photographer was so incompetent he could not find the button to make a selfie!!
Perfect weather for a lovely sail. Sunny with force 3 gusting 4. Crew this time was Dave G, Mervyn, myself plus Lynda (fellow boat owner and official photographer). Nothing dramatic, just across the lake a few times, but enough wind to decide on life jackets. Also discussed the man overboard procedure which we’ll practice in a subsequent outing.
Knot tests
And some essential rehydration (thanks to Mervyn for providing the beer)
No Peter T (feeble excuse about being stuck in England due to cancelled flight), so ably led by Steve with Mervyn following and Mark GW bringing up the rear.
Similar route to previous trip: to Genolier, but not by the Abbaye de Bonmont, then onto Coinsins for coffee, then Gilly and Tartegnin for lunch. Slightly more direct route back.
Somewhere around 50 kms, longer for Steve and Mervyn, and about 400 m climbing.
Good cycling despite the severe heat.
