Midge bytes

Mine, donchaknow!  It was lots of fun, Mahinda, Jen, Will and Paul all came down to play with me for the weekend in Devon.  I baked scones, we walked around the canal path and quay behind my house stopping off at The Double Locks, a Youngs pub, which met with Mindys approval, then we returned home and I force fed everyone scones with jam and clotted cream, (being a Devon speciality).  Then we chilled out for a bit, before eating again, this time beef casserole or veg chilli with some nice Bordeaux courtesy of Mahinda (Thank you) and some Asti, from Asti, from either Jen, Will or Paul or possibly all of them as they all went there on holiday…thanks to all of you anyway.  My loving mother had made a lemon drizzle cake so we had that for pudding…too much decadence   We then spent the rest of the evening talking, drinking and playing a slightly evil game called Snatch, which is a scrabble analogue but far more violent.  Obviously Mahinda wiped the floor with the rest of us.  Not a very rock n roll party but I enjoyed it, it was so nice finally getting Manchester friends back to my stamping grounds. 

On Sunday we all went for a long walk at Exmouth in a bracing wind, then I corrupted my dear friends in my favourite farm shop, Darts Farm.  It is top farm shop in Britain according to Food magazine and has everything from pink Agas to climbing gear plus the best food hall ever and a superb selection of drinks, including many good ales…thus there was much clanking of bottles on the way home!

I got some lovely presents, which I enjoyed contrasting to last years (a packet of softmints and a Bounty bar from lovely Madagascar friends).  Jen and Will made me a beautiful album to remember my friends by when I’m away, which I love, Mahinda gave me a diary to record my more private / less universally interesting (well, I might do something interesting one day, a girl can dream) New Zealand experiences, being the shy blogger that I am   I always take a fresh (and pretty) diary when I go away for a long time so I’m really touched by that too!  I’m also the happy wearer of a leather coat from my parents and various clothes and earrings from other relatives, all very pretty

So, 24 here we go!  I anticipate a good year!

On a different note, I have a new job, starting mid November I’m going to be working in Winchester for a company called Stone, Vine and Sun.  Mail order wine business, I’m going to help out with their Christmas rush.  They also do winetastings and anticipate some famous wine bods turning up, so my networking might stepped up a notch!  I hope I meet Oz Clark! 

I’m not looking forward to handing my notice in though, I feel a bit of a heel…I expect I’ll get over it though, the job I currently do means I’m rather replaceable I think (trained monkey territory)!  This monkey is moving on, opposable thumbs and all.

My name is Sarah Midgley, I’m in my early twenties, my hometown is Exeter, in Devon, England.  I studied Biochemistry at UMIST, (which turned into the University of Manchester while I was there) graduated with a 2:1, then decided to become a winemaker.  I’m currently in the process of following this ambition.  Whilst in Manchester I joined Manchester University Gilbert and Sullivan Society (MUGSS) and peformed in several shows, as well as gaining a few stage technician skills by working for Paradise Green Promotions (PGP) at the Edinburgh Festival three years running.  I also enjoy travel and conservation, I went to Madagascar on a biological survey last year (2006).  I also have a horse, through no fault of mine (or his) he is called Scampi, despite this our relationship is good.

Does that make me stealthy?  That was from an online dictionary.

I’ve booked my plane ticket, I’m leaving on Feb 3rd, flying from Heathrow to Singapore, then on to Brisbane.  I’ll stay with Lou and Mike, who will hopefully have a house by then, until Feb 18th, when I fly to Christchurch.  That’s exciting!

The past few weeks have been fun, I finally seem to have settled down at home again and started to enjoy my time here, just in time to move away again, faintly ironically.  The Crediton operatic and dramatic society (CODS) concert went well.  The theme was ‘ABC’: Songs / shows / composers / composers aunts beginning with A, B or C.  We sang, we jumped off stage to serve dinner (roast Beef, followed by Apple and Blackcurrant Crumble) we took our pinnies off exposing evening dress and sang again, all good fun!  The music was an eclectic mix ranging from ‘Castle on a cloud’ (4 part harmony, very weird!), to ‘catch a falling star’, ‘Blue Moon’, stuff from Cabaret and Carousel, ‘And the Glory’ from The Messiah…lots more, all a little odd but I think we did them well, it was all much better than I anticipated, I did worry it was going to be one of the things you wish you hadn’t done, but it wasn’t. The ‘third half’ (Devon logic) was cabaret acts and a dance floor, I didn’t sing but did dance a bit.

Last week I went up to manchester for Leila and Wills’ birthdays, found out when I got there that Wills was fancy dress so cobbled togethera costume, the theme was Gods and Goddesses, I went as ‘Annoia’ (from the latest P’terry offerings) Goddess of things which get stuck in drawers.  I wore a spatula in my belt and a whisk as a pendant.  It was lots of fun, very relaxing spending time with everyone.

Excuse me, this account may continue later, I have just been offered fresh coffee, a chocolate swizzle stick and dessert wine (Hanepoot Jeripigo from South Africa).  This requires my full attention .