The Senior

The Senior "Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” – P.J. O’Rourke

Old favourite. A Mad Men fan would love it.
21/08/2025

Old favourite. A Mad Men fan would love it.

“Arnaud came that summer. His arrival was worthy of Chaplin. He drove up with Eve in a white convertible, giving little ...
17/08/2025

“Arnaud came that summer. His arrival was worthy of Chaplin. He drove up with Eve in a white convertible, giving little waves when the front wheels went up on a stump and lifted the nose of the car three feet in the air. He took over two rooms in the back of the house, a bedroom and sun porch overlooking the fields. He wore a white cap and a ribbed shirt, pants the color of to***co or certain perfumes, and a scarf for a belt. He was outrageous, serene, sleek as a cavy. The first thing he did was to buy a hundred and fifty dollars’ worth of liquor.
“A wonderful gift,” Nedra recalled.
“Although,” Viri said, “as a matter of fact...”
“He didn’t drink it all.”

— Light Years, James Salter

“…Toward the end, in the last days of August, they lay on the lawn in the evening, Arnaud in shirt sleeves leaning on on...
17/08/2025

“…Toward the end, in the last days of August, they lay on the lawn in the evening, Arnaud in shirt sleeves leaning on one elbow, posed like a Manet, Viri and Nedra sitting. The dinner cloth was spread before them on the grass. The great trees, rich in leaves, sighed in the wind. Viri’s arms embraced his knees, his socks showed
“A lovely summer,” he said, “hasn’t it been?”
They did not know what they were praising; the days, the sense of contentment, of pagan joy. They were acclaiming the summer of their lives in which, far from danger, they rested.
Their flesh was speaking, their well-being.
“I’m going to get the soup,” Nedra said.”

— Light Years, James Salter

“Summer. The foliage is thick. The leaves shimmer everywhere, like scales. In the morning, aroma of coffee, the whitenes...
17/08/2025

“Summer. The foliage is thick. The leaves shimmer everywhere, like scales. In the morning, aroma of coffee, the whiteness of sunlight across the floor…Lunches that sheltered them like a tent. Beneath a wide umbrella Nedra spread chicken, eggs, endive, tomatoes, pâté, cheese, bread, cucumbers, butter and wine. Or they ate at a table in the garden, the sea distant, the trees green, the voices drifting from the house next-door. White sky, silence, the fragrant cigars.”

— Light Years, James Salter

A wonderful summer break with friends and family.

How I’ve felt whilst spending the week bare-chested in the heat, consuming three meals a day and thirty bottles of wine.
15/08/2025

How I’ve felt whilst spending the week bare-chested in the heat, consuming three meals a day and thirty bottles of wine.

Real Madrid training camp, .john.restaurant and .tto (complete with coccoli, a 1.2kg Bistecca and dessert). Completed it...
05/08/2025

Real Madrid training camp, .john.restaurant and .tto (complete with coccoli, a 1.2kg Bistecca and dessert). Completed it mate.

For the last few years at least, despite Mrs H. often sending me photos of new, better sofas she finds online, I keep ge...
03/08/2025

For the last few years at least, despite Mrs H. often sending me photos of new, better sofas she finds online, I keep getting out my sashiko needle and thread and repairing this old linen thing.

Comte soufflé and Californian white Rhone.Whilst the act itself may have been a result of my turning a few chapters of ‘...
03/08/2025

Comte soufflé and Californian white Rhone.

Whilst the act itself may have been a result of my turning a few chapters of ‘Light Years’ this week as I decided what books to take on holiday, watching ‘Three’ last night may have been a mistake. Whilst I had lots to otherwise get on with or discover I’ve been wanting to abandon it all and just reread all of Salter again.

“Three” — A Film by James Salter (which might be the second best thing it has going for it)
02/08/2025

“Three” — A Film by James Salter (which might be the second best thing it has going for it)

Iconicicon·​ic ī-ˈkä-nikadjective1.relating to or of the nature of an icon; regarded as a representative symbol or as wo...
31/07/2025

Iconic

icon·​ic ī-ˈkä-nik

adjective
1.
relating to or of the nature of an icon; regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration…

This is it! Put down your spicy margarita (hell, put down your increasingly popular Gibson) Like I said last year, and...
30/07/2025

This is it! Put down your spicy margarita (hell, put down your increasingly popular Gibson) Like I said last year, and like the years before that - “This is the year sherry goes big!”

Of course no one reads the captions. You’ve scrolled on. Anything that isn’t a Reel is so last year. You’re already watching a new GRWM video (of yet another thirty year old model turned influencer) hoping for another glimpse of her panties. It’s not happening – she’s already pulled her jeans up. She’s dressed – that’s the point. Unlike all of mindless videos, clickbait articles, and the latest fad and obsession you’ll waste this summer on, sherry isn’t happening either. You can’t split the G in sherry at your new micro-brewery local whilst wearing selvedge denim. It doesn’t want to be invited to your latest rooftop brunch discovery. Sherry isn’t trendy (or trending). It’s better. It’s indifferent. It doesn’t give a f**k what you think. Unlike the fit of your new trousers, or the length of your shorts — both of which seem to fluctuate annually, whilst you post TikTok videos about ‘timeless style’ in a new outfit, sherry just endures. It’ll still be there next year when I rant on this hill again too.

I’ll rave about the unique taste of fino - “As refreshingly dry as a desert wind; slightly saline, oddly dusty; like kissing a mermaid who smokes 40-a-day” – to anyone who will listen. No one cares really, but neither does sherry. It’s just does what it does. It’s not new. It’s not undiscovered. But it will outlive you and me. It tastes like something you’d drink if you stopped pretending to like the lastest trend.

“I think I’d like a martini,” Viri said.He drank one, icy cold, in a gleaming glass. It was like a change in the weather...
29/07/2025

“I think I’d like a martini,” Viri said.
He drank one, icy cold, in a gleaming glass. It was like a change in the weather.
The pitcher held another, potent, clear.
“How do you make them so cold?” he asked.
“Well, you happen to have commanded the drink which is, in my opinion, the one true test. You have to have the right ingredients — and also you keep the gin in the freezer.”
— James Salter, ‘Light Years’

Giving it some thought the other day I came to the conclusion that I’ve probably consumed more than 2,500 martinis in my life. That’s a far cry from James Salter who similarly calculated (albeit in his sixties) that he’d consumed around “eighty-seven hundred” but it’s nonetheless enough to afford some wisdom (especially given I’ve probably made well in excess of 90% of those myself).

The key component, as most of those who have drank a bad martini can tell you, is temperature. Regardless of whether your preference is for gin or vodka, you don’t want to be drinking either warm. Unless your martini is served ice-cold it can never offer the bracing quality that makes a martini what it should be.

Beyond that, there are a huge number of other factors at play – which at very simple, face value, I will delve into in the comments below:

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