JG/Bright and expressive with lovely crystalline citrus fruits and a touch of redcurrant and spice. Lovely sappy hints with some juicy hints and a touch of spiciness. Supple and elegant with some roundness and lovely fruitiness. This is really nice and expressive. 92/100 I’ve made a lot of negative comments but I enjoyed reading this in the main. I was keen to see how he was going to tie things up in the end, just disappointed with the ending. Those wishing to take advantage of the discount need to act fast as it is only valid from Friday, November 24 until Monday, November 27. The offer is valid both in store and online. This is probably the most beautiful spot. You can see where the Meunier ends. We’ve got some buds down here that are very tight, we’ve got areas where some have been nibbled so I tend not to shoot thin too soon because if we need to keep some of the crop, it’s not ideal as it creates a slightly more compact canopy. Everything is a little bit sporadic because we left the canes out very late, we had sacrificial buds so they would get hit first. On the prowl again He passed Bethlehem College and then St. Christopher’s where a famous English poet had kept a bear in his room after the college had banned the keeping of dogs.

it's lowkey misogynistic (like most books written by men; the women are just there to be love interests and create relationship drama, little more than pawns in the mind games the men play, I don't think it even passes the Bechdel test)

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Another extremely clever aspect of this novel for me, is the way that the usual “twists” you would be expecting to come at the end, or as game changers somewhere in the middle are all over the place and intricately placed. In a way this is very much a character driven novel…Jolyon stands out as perhaps one of the most enthralling and unusual characters you will find in fiction – and the rest of the students in their own way are just as fascinating. Any one of them can walk away at any moment…but will they? Psychologically speaking they are all captivating – are any of them quite as they appear? Its very cunning writing…Insidious indeed. JG/There’s a creamy undercurrent to the bright cherry, pear fruit with a citrus core. This is fruity and expressive with some nuts, cream and honey as well as good acidity. Some appley notes here and a nice acid line. 92/100 This is the author’s first book and I know aspiring writers are encouraged to write about what they know but if you read law at Oxford must you write a book about someone who read law at Oxford? Maybe Yates will improve. In the early 1990s six bright, self-satisfied, Oxford first-years spend time together – smoking and drinking – but want more out of life. So they get involved in “the game”. This is a series of dares – with embarrassment the aim – and penalities. As you might expect, it gets out of hand. Fourteen years later, one is dead and only two are left in the game.

The story actually begins 14 years later. Somehow, we are supposed to believe, the game is STILL going on after all this time and years of inactivity. The evil Game Soc has been biding its time. (At least, we think Game Soc must be evil. And wealthy. And powerful. All that is implied but never confirmed.) So after 14 years, the final two players must now finish it. Besides being unbelievable, long stretches of this story were less interesting than watching paint dry. Sadly, my biggest gripe with this novel is that I never found the answer to the question. It seemed like jealousy and bitterness kept something going so long that should have ended long before it did. And sadly, there was no character I ever seemed to really like. The only redeeming characters were the ones who had the courage to walk away. the opening is great - we have a man living in hermitical squalor, trapped in a web of OCD-routines and a mental disturbance so profound he has had to develop physical mnemonic devices to remind himself to even put on clothes. or eat. he has not been outside of his new york apartment in three years beyond going to the bodega for necessary supplies. he receives a troubling phone call that reminds him of something he has willed himself to forget, and we’re off! A game of consequences, of silly forfeits, childish dares. A game to be played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University. But then the game changed: the stakes grew higher and the dares more personal, more humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results. This story will sink into your subconcious…..written in a clever and compelling way the lines between fantasy and reality blur and you will never be quite sure where you are. The game itself is brilliantly imagined – it seems so innocuous and yet its insidious…when is the game being played exactly…and just how serious will the consequences be?

Highlights from the Collection

The game is overseen by the 3 flattest characters in the book- Shortest, Middle and Tallest. I guess this group was meant to be a shadowy, mysterious and a somewhat scary force in the book, propelling the characters to stay in the game even when they don't want to. Instead, they have absolutely no dimension or gravitas,and therefore, cannot serve their purpose in any way. Hampshire is home to some notable wineries. If you wish to combine two or more winery or vineyard tours we would highly recommend:

A fellow happy customer wrote: "Being able to chalk information on the outer shell is useful. It is efficient and cooks food well." However the chalkboard wasn't for everyone - one four-star review read: "Great slow cooker. Used it a few times. Just the right size for me. Bit of a faff having to rub chalk all over outside of the cooker before it can be chalked on. I still haven’t done it." Jamie Goode: This is a level of parcellation – of detail that is fascinating – if you can dial down to that level… He would force himself to make friends with one British student at Pitt. Because any friendship was a path and paths always led elsewhere. To more paths and new places. Maybe even a better kind of life. And then, if he could only find a new world, Chad would skip down its lanes. Wherever they took him. from there, the story flips between the narrator in present-day, and his experiences 14 years ago when he was a student at oxford. It’s a sort of The Secret History scenario: As a mystery, it works on several levels. It will keep you guessing but not about the usual things perhaps. You will want to work out what is going on but every time you think you do, something changes. Someone talks, someone else listens and the whole playing field shifts…if you were to ask me to sum up this novel in a sentence I would perhaps say “The Twilight Zone on Acid” and yet it is all very much grounded in reality. After all, we all play mind games…don’t we?

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Anyone who doesn't see the danger in an "innocent" board-game played between loved ones- has never played Risk with my father and I. It wasn't pretty, and friends who occasionally joined in- would usually get to see a whoooooooooole new side to my family. Alliances were formed...there was sometimes yelling and pleading. And by the end- it was almost always down to me and my dad- both of us ignoring everyone around us- "It's just a game!", "I've had enough", "This is stupid" "I'm going to bed" "Can't we allllllll just get along?" "bleep this bleeping bleep!", "I am never playing this game with you two ever again!!!"... Eventually we had to take Risk off the list of suggestions for game night. Scruples was the next BIG mistake...and was only played ONCE before my mother hid it away FOREVEEEEER. the mechanics of the game itself are vague; cards, dice, folded pieces of paper in cups, but the consequences are not. not at all. Certainly there’s no hiding from the fact that English still wine is massively on the rise,” Leadley told db. “As a wine business and as a tourism business still wine certainly has a place in that market.”

But tell me, what did we do that was so wrong? We played a game. That's all. A game. Isn't this how we teach children the ways of the world? Are we not all supposed to learn early in life how to cope with defeat? But then there were the consequences, the price paid for losing. Ah, the consequences. Yes. We went too far." Leadley was the winemaker at Hattingley for seven years from 2011, working with Driver during his time at the producer. Very bright and fruit driven with lovely crisp citrus fruit. There’s nice precision and focus with a lot of fruit and keen acidity. There’s just so much fruit here, but also freshness. It’s vivid and expressive with a lovely sense of balance. Juicy and delicious with a twist of cherry. So pure. 92/100

Jacob Leadlley: Frost is a major issue for us, much more so than over in Kent. We have the added complication of being slightly further inland and we also have the Isle of White which creates an additional buffer against any coastal impact – that probably has a bigger effect. We sit pretty much bang in the middle of the country, if you stretched a ruler from Bristol to the Kent Coast, and so if it’s a north-easterly or a north westerly cold wind we are going to get it. Whereas if it’s one of the others then maybe not so much. I really would like to see a part two of this book. I think there is a story there just waiting to happen! Yet I could understand if the writer chooses not to. I have also read many a sequel that do not live up to the original book so I guess my feelings are a bit mixed on the subject. The best thrillers, which generally include multiple major revelations (or “gasp points,” as I like to think of them), deploy a combination of all three strategies, making minor reveals early to scratch the knowledge itch, holding a major revelation in reserve until the very last moment, and leaving some things to the imagination. Fourteen years later- New York City- One of the players is living a reclusive existence - only leaving his Manhattan apartment for the necessities- food, alcohol, and meds. OCD has taken over and he uses mnemonic devices to remind him of his daily routine....But that routine is broken when he receives a troubling phone call and learns that The Game is far from over...