Christmas has started

The tree is trimmed, the decorations are up and the food and booze has all been bought. The Blogs are ready for Christmas 2011.  Daughter Blog returned home from Aberdeen today so the family is back together - what could possibly spoil things?

In my "double-dip recession worried frame of mind" I spotted the introduction of Sainsnbury's finest "own label"wine earlier in the year. It is actually a pretty good value bottle of plonk, whether you go for the Shiraz or the Cabernet Sauvignon etc. So earlier this week when I saw they had brought out wine-boxes of the stuff I was in heaven! Two and a quarter litres of drinkable wine at a bargain price. For added value when you have drunk the wine you can take the silver bag out of the box, this is the bit that actually holds the wine, and blow it up to make a make-shift pillow. (This handy tip cones from living in Scotland and listening to local wisdom.)

I have been patting myself on the back for my vigilance in spotting this ace bargain all week.

Just ten minutes ago I opened the box of wine; (no small feat of engineering). It tasted like it should have been sprinkled on chips!!

As you can see Mrs Blog and Daughter Blog had the same reaction as me. Our one remaining hope is that Son-Blog will find a liking for it, failing which I will be drinking it all myself - can't waste booze! So if you are touring through the Borders of Scotland this week and see a middle-aged grump asleep on a silver pillow - it is me!