Tasting, Travel and Treats

Wine Tasting
The first thing to tell you about this week is that we are holding another wine tasting event with Corporate Wine UK. The wine tasting offers a fun activity for groups of friends or colleagues who are looking for an alternative to the traditional Christmas night out and will be held, as previously, in the Pompadour Restaurant at the Hilton Caledonian Hotel.
This informal walk-about wine tasting promises a voyage of discovery and enjoyment with a selection of 30 old and new world wines, including champagne, selected for the season and ranging from £5.00 to £25.00 per bottle.
If you are planning a special event, then this is the perfect opportunity to try before you buy. There is no obligation to buy at all but if you do choose to make a purchase, there will be a 10% discount on everything you buy on the night.
We hope to see you between 7.00pm and 9.00pm on Sunday 2nd December. Please book your ticket online or call us on 0845 053 6732.
Tickets are just £10.00 each or 2 for £18.00

Staying with the Food and Drink theme, I must tell you about these Port Sippers from Scotts of Stow. An unusual gift for connoisseurs or a novelty for festive dining, these delicate hand-blown Port Sippers are based on a 17th Century original. The design enables liquid to be sipped from the bottom of the glass, where it has not had a chance to oxidize – thus enhancing the flavour of ports and liqueurs. Priced at 2 for £9.95.

Savoie Wine Glasses
Utterly timeless, these crystal glasses from the White Company will work beautifully in any setting. With elegant long stems and crisp vertical cuts they are available as wine glass or champagne flutes and are dishwasher safe. Priced £35 for a set of four.

Lory Calice Wine Glasses from World of Linens are now reduced from £80 to £60 for a set of 6. I think these are really stylish and there are matching champagne flutes, similarly reduced and highball tumblers. The straight tube-shaped bowl and exceptionally long stem make them truly unusual pieces and a pleasure to hold. Save these ones for special occasions and savour the moment even more.They are hand made in Italy and dishwasher safe.

If it’s a liqueur you fancy, Whittards of Chelsea have these beautiful Midnight owl liqueur glasses at £15 each. Not the cheapest, but they are in Whittard’s 3 for 2 offer, which means that, for every three items purchased, you don’t pay for the least expensive. In additon, until 20th December, Lothian Life readers can claim 10% off by quoting code WAFF1507.
If you’re a real wine lover you’ll know that serving wine at the correct temperature enhances its bouquet and flavour. This superb appliance stores 40 bottles at their most appetising and delicious best. As reliable and efficient as you would expect from Baumatic, the freestanding cooler also features electronic controls with LED, interior light, adjustable feet and tempered glass door with reversible hinge. Aluminium-look finish. 84 x 50 x 49cm. Two-year labour warranty, five-year parts guarantee from Cotswold.

And finally, on the wine theme, accidents sometimes happen and Betterware have a Wine/Fruit Juice Stain Clean-Up Kit for £4.99. It’s a specially formulated spray to remove red wine and fruit juice stains effectively from most surfaces including table linen, furnishings, carpets and clothing. Why not be prepared?

Treats
Welcome to BabyDeluxe, a luxury online baby boutique stocking the latest in high quality baby clothing, footwear and baby gifts. They also have lovely presents for mummy and daddy too! Check out the range of Emile et Rose clothing for newborns available in premature sizes through to 12 months, even the tiniest of babies will look gorgeous in these cute clothes! Our site offers carefully selected baby clothes, toddler clothes and newborn baby gifts from the collections of exciting designers such as Mini Vanilla, Vanilla Park, Soggs, Samantha Holmes and Pink Bamboo, to name but a few!

Not only is BT Total Broadband the UK’s most complete broadband, but once you have it you can watch On Demand digital TV whenever you want, without having to sign up to an annual contract.

It also means that when TV goes digital you’ll be ready. Just order BT Vision and you’ll get a V-Box, (BT’s digital TV recorder) when you sign up to BT Total Broadband. Then you’ll be able to pause and rewind live TV and record up to 80 hours of your favourite programmes. There’s a £30 connection fee, but that’s it.
Once you’re up-and-running with BT Vision you can:
- Watch films for as little as £1.99
- Enjoy 70 digital TV and radio channels with Freeview as standard (assuming Freeview is available in your area – the website can tell from yur postcode)
- See up to 242 Barclay Premier League games for as little as 99p per view, or get unlimited access to Setanta Sports from £9.99 a month
- Choose from a wide range of viewing packages, so you get to choose the kind of TV Films and Sport you want to watch, from just £6 a month
- Record up to 80 hours of programmes with a V-Box. Customers signing up to BT Total Broadband get a V Box at no extra cost, otherwise it’s £199. What a treat!

Our last treat is a suggestion that there is never a bad time to send flowers. Eden4flowers are offering free delivery and a free glass vase with all their Value bouquets. Value bouquets are priced from £12.99 - £19.99. They have flowers for every occasion but that isn’t all – they have a range of hampers, birthday and Christmas cakes and Fair Trade chocolates.

Travel
We like to be as green as possible when it comes to travel and The Trainline offers some very good discounted prices for train travel. These are snapped up pretty quickly so to take advantage, don’t delay. In common with a lot of companies now they have a small charge for credit card purchases but debit card purchases are still free.

If you are like our Andrew Robson and prefer to go everywhere by bike, winter is a tough time to make the switch to green transport. That’s why there are so many good buys to be found. Halfords have some great online offers for bikes. There’s £25 off when you spend £200, or up to half price kids’ bikes or 10% off bikes and accessories. If you live in Edinburgh, don’t forget the Bike Station where you can donate your old bike or pick up a renovated one. They have lots to choose from.

If you are heading off somewhere warmer during the winter either to warmer climes or for winter sports, a lot of people feel it’s worth while taking out travel insurance. The AA is one of the best known companies with excellent cover and their online prices are up to 30% cheaper than prices in the call centre. You can cover just one holiday or you might benefit from an annual rate. Benefits include:
Emergency assistance available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
Medical expenses up to £10,000,000
Cancellation cover up to £5,000
Kids go free
Discounts for couples & families
Special rates for single-parent families
Cover for business travel is included

I’m sure there can’t be anyone in the country who doesn’t know someone who has been affected by breast cancer. Having treated ourselves, I would finally like to draw your attention to Avon’s Breast Cancer Awareness site. Avon are best known for their range of toiletries and gifts but not so many of us know about the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade. This Crusade started in the UK in 1992 with the sole aim of making a difference to women’s lives everywhere. By the end of 2006 an amazing £13 million had been raised for breast cancer charities including Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Macmillan Cancer Support and Breast Cancer Care. In addition to various other fund raising activities, their web site shop offers two products, the friendship bracelet priced £1 (50p to the charity) and this pin, also priced £1, with 100% going to the charity.