2 Buck Chuck

Having been on the 2 Buck Chuck (NOT the wine that doesn't give you a hangover) again, thought I'd write another bit of blog.

Gosh my belly is getting bigger. Its even showing in some of the photos. Oops. Need to get those online too, but the camera battery needs recharging... I'll put it on now.

Done! Right what to say... hmmm...

2 Buck Chuck is Charles Shaw - the grapes from the California Wineries that don't make it into the expensive wine... its thrown together and labelled as Charles Shaw, and is, well you guessed it, priced at $1.99 per bottle. Its actually very nice, (it goes down well anyway) we have been on the Cab Sav this evening - although you can buy a white, and other types of grape I believe. Its better than the supermarket wine you get in England for sure. But then I don't usually drink that anyway, don't you know...

I don't think the Wong's are particularly impressed with it, but then they aren't here. It'll do for me for the moment.

Today, we have been down to the beach at Monterey. That's pronounced Mon-erey for all you neanderthals (t's mid word are silent over here, or replaced with d's. Santa Cruz is San-a Cruz, and butter is budder. Shit is still pronounced shit... Well I needed an example that ended in t...).

Mon-erey is a lovely place, sort of proper California, nice sugary beach, freezing Pacific water (no matter how inviting it might appear, dipping your toe in liquid nitrogen is not a good idea), palm trees, cycle lanes, canneries, world-leading aquarium and sea conservation center (see I'm even spelling in American. Well at least its not French). The weather was sunny and a normal mid 70s temperature - Mon-erey doesn't get that hot, and it can take a while in summer for the fog to burn off. Around here, the fog comes in over night - due to the geography of the place - it gets sucked in from the Pacific, due to the heat in the Valley (Silicon Valley, if you will) during the day, as the valley will get up to 100F regularly. Unfortunately, that puts places like Mon-erey and Aptos (that is pronounced Aptoes, so includes the t and adds an e) under a thick layer of coastal fog - this process of drawing the sea fog in is what San Francisco experiences daily too.

But today, the fog was burned off by 11am, the sun was out and it was warm! The family joined us at the beach, and gave me some children to play with at digging, making dams, and pools. That is good, because it looks odd if my Dad and I dig with no children present. And the beach is the place for making dams, and pools. And Chevys. If you have imagination.

We took a picnic, and literally had sand-wiches. They had authentic American sand. Grains of which are big. As you would expect.

And, although I had sun-creamed up, the liquid nitrogen and sun has removed the top few layers of skin from my feet. Brill.

Today we travelled in a 1991 Mercedes 190E 2.3. The oldest car I've ever seen over here (you see, its German). But a classic nonetheless. The 190Es were legendary in their time. I even had one. Unfortunately, on these roads, you feel like you are on a skateboard. And you aren't much safer. But its a very comfortable skateboard.

Tomorrow, another trip over to Mon-erey is planned, for coffee, and then over on the 17-mile coastal drive to Carmel. We can do the 17 mile drive for free, as we know someone who knows someone... Hopefully we might bump into Mr Clint Eastwood, who used to own most of Carmel, and still owns much of the surrounding land. He bought it all to remove the possibility of development and the urban sprawl of Carmel, which has remained a very quaint (but equally expensive) little place.