A private dinner

Above:  Friday evening I drove across country to attend a private dinner.  The evening stayed light until very late.  The countryside was incredibly beautiful, which surprised me since we were close to the environs of a Midlands city. 




















Above:  It took me two hours to reach my destination, a country house hotel in one of the central counties. So exceptional was the house that Tennyson kept intruding into my mind (An English home, gray twilight pour'd; On dewey pastures, dewey trees; Softer than sleep, all things in order stored; A haunt of ancient peace... and all that).  The building is medieval with Tudor additions, and looked as if it had been carved from the living rock.

Central quadrangle, numerous little stairwells, long corridors with creaking floor boards and odd little steps.  Once in my room I washed, and changed my shirt, and then went down to meet the rest of the party - drinking Pol Roger at one of the tables in the courtyard.  I was made very welcome, they were a very friendly group.

Above:  my meal consisted of smoked salmon blinis, beef stroganoff, a chocolate cream pudding.  As well as champagne we had Pouilly Fume and a sauternes.  We talked about politics, culture, society.

Above:  there was a short presentation on economics, nothing too taxing:

"Historically the price of gold keeps pace with the price of oil.  One ounce of gold is usually matched by fifteen barrels of oil.  Therefore if you think oil is going up to $150 a barrel you can expect gold to rise to $2,250 an ounce."

"Experience of the internet over the last twenty years has been 75% US, 68% EU and only 8% China - which is a problem for the Chinese since much of the future of product innovation depends on the internet."

"Look at the global index of over-eaters.  If you accept the recommended daily intake of calories should be 2,245, in 1960 the West was over-consuming 1.3 of the daily amount of calories per person and China was on average under-consuming by 0.7 - effectively starving.  Now China is over-consuming on average 1.3 and the West is over-consuming by 1.7 - we are all heading for obesity."

Above:  we had our coffee in the great hall, which was lit by candles.  Games of chess.  A walk (past midnight) in the gardens. 

Above:  I left my curtains open so that the sunlight would wake me in the morning.  I had slept very well, despite the room being over warm.  View of lawns curving down to the lake, swifts flying around the cedar trees.