Mannerisms

Next week is the semiconductor industry's annual treat, the Future Horizons conference.

No one thinks that the quality of the loos in the Ritz Hotel gives any clue to the quality of civilisation, but it’s arguable that, if the quality of public loos matches the quality of the loos in the Ritz Hotel, then the level of civilisation is pretty high.

Quite the nicest foreign tea-shop, apart from Florian’s in Venice, is Tricolore, just off the main cross roads of Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district.

All that Welsh Methodist puritanical bit seems to have hit a cherished part of Sony’s heritage, the replica of Maxim’s restaurant in the basement of the Sony building in the Ginza has been sold by Sony Corporation.

Here in Budapest for the MEDEA+ annual conference I reflect that it’s better to have dinner in a restaurant than an art gallery.

This is the last post of 2007.

May you escape the curses of flu, sub-prime, family squabbles, long sermons, insufficient alcohol, useless presents and burst pipes, and enjoy love, laughter and prosperity for ever after.

Next post, on Wednesday January 2nd 2008, will be:

THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES BEHIND THE TRANSISTOR

The glories of England are its history, countryside and pubs. If you want to wake up to one of England's most wonderful views stretching thirty miles across the Somerset Levels, where Alfred burnt the cakes, to Glastonbury Tor and the Mendip Hills, set within striking distance of some of England's best pubs, then book a brand new, rural self catering apartment at http://www.farmyardretreat.co.uk

Now it's the season of corporate jaunts, why not Somerset?  Instead of airports, being crammed into aluminium tubes and queues for car hire, you can toddle down the A303 or A30, or take a two hour and a half hour train ride from Waterloo to Yeovil, and be in a brand new room with a floor to ceiling window looking over, arguably, the best view in England.

www.farmyardretreat.co.uk takes parties of up to 30. The accommodation is very modern and stylish and high-tech with WiFi, iPod docks etc. The sheets are Egyptian cotton. The apartments are on two floors. It opened in May after being purpose-built.

In front of the apartments is a lake for fishing and beyond that a clay pigeon shooting range. Both are for residents.

Check out the brochure on http://www.farmyardretreat.co.uk

Taken, at the weekend, by a generous friend to Le Manoir Aux Qat'Saisons - Raymond Blanc's place which has had two Michelin stars for the last 22 years - I am deputed to interface with the sommelier on condition that I ultimately defer to the sommelier's judgment.

A couple of weeks ago I was put in my place by a French sommelier who thought it unnecessary to decant a bottle of Chateau Belgrave 2000.

America is the last place on earth to hear English oratory. Oratory of the mind-changing, tear-jerking, rib-tickling kind. It was great to come home last week, turn on the telly, and catch the big speeches from the previous day's proceedings at the Democratic Convention.

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Lightbulbs lasting six years would be a fine thing, and Sharp believes that this is round the corner, now that that the declining ratio of $ per lumen and rising ratio of lumen per Watt is propelling LED into the general lighting market.

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Last week I was pointing out that the Financial Times reckons semiconductor shares are cheap and next year could be a good opportunity for each of us to make our next significant fortune by buying at the bottom of the market.

Forget the churches, architecture, art galleries, concerts, Bellinis (painted and poured), carnivals, masked balls, vaporetti and gondolas - the great claim to fame of Venice is that it's the last great drinking city on earth.

After a week's conferencing in San Franciso it's off to Georgia for R&R.

Barrelling down I-16 from Atlanta to the sea, we hole up at Statesboro, 30 miles short of Savannah.