And another thing

And another thing. Today, I bought a bottle of French wine, something I haven't done in a raccoon's age.
It was a Côtes du Rhone Villages 2004, and should have been palatable. I used to drink this stuff when I was a sprog, and I decided to forget the advice of a friend now living in France that they send only the rubbish to England.
He is right, though. So right. It was without taste. It was acid. It was the sort of stuff that garage mechanics use to get the rust off nuts and bolts. It was the oenological equivalent of that stuff you use to get the limescale out of your kettle.
I remember when I was in Algeria having a conversation about Algerian wine (which is good fiery stuff in the main), and being told that "we export a lot of our wine to France pour améliorer le vin français (to improve the French wine)".
Now I know what the Algerians meant: French wine - at least the crap they sell to us - needs all the help it can get.
Thank God we beat the buggers at Waterloo or we'd all be condemned to pouring this stuff on our cornflakes every morning.