If that’s a happy marriage I’d prefer to be unhappy

On Friday I bought a bottle from the supermarket, where there genuinely does - I'm not just spouting the party line - seem to be less and less that's unexpected to choose from. I can see how, if you're running a supermarket, getting all the money all the time and taking no chances whatsoever could be a way to do things, but always shooting the same fish in the same barrel generally leaves a bit of a smell behind.

I thought I'd give a big name a lash, and after quarter of an hour's padding up and down, the curious blend of Zinfandel-Shiraz 2003 from Fetzer got the gig. Loads of fruit, all right, but most of it was very sour cherries driven forward on their own acidity, casting an indistinct, acrid shadow. Perhaps a really rough barbeque with plenty of sauce sloshed over everything would have suited it quite well.

Today is the anniversary of the Emancipation Act:

1834: The Emancipation Act abolishes slavery throughout the British Empire.

Meanwhile, in Germany, bureaucratic madness is attempting to replace Polish agricultural workers with Germans to reduce unemployment in the country. Here's Decanter's report.