Remember the James Bond film entitled ‘You Only Live Twice’? The lyrics go: You only live twice, Or so it seems, one life for yourself and one for your dreams. Well, it’s all change now. How about ‘You Only Live Thrice’ with the words: You only live thrice, so say we all, two lives for yourself and one Virtual. And what brought that on, you must all be asking yourself.

Well, I came across a rather surprising article on the BBC website a couple of days ago that sort of shocked me. Nothing serious but very, very sad to the sociable creature that I am. The article was all about Virtual dinner parties. It now seems a new cyber trend is developing whereby people can discuss a pre-set topic via e-mail rather than meeting over dinner. Can you imagine sitting alone with your plate and a glass of wine in the evenings, emailing your other ‘dinner guests’, who equally sit alone with their plate and glass of wine and all emailing one another? I have never read anything more morose.

Having said that, don’t we do this already at work? Rather than walking a couple of metres over to a colleague and discussing an issue or project, do we not email instead? While I may do this during work hours (boss breathing down my neck for an immediate answer, chained to my desk, bunions on my feet, etc.), I simply cannot see myself giving virtual dinner parties. Not that I give any dinner parties at night. I do lunches.

And, as we’re in France, I think it’s only right that I serve some wine. To be honest, I’m not a great connoisseur and tend to shy away from heavy reds preferring the light, refreshing Provencal Roses you can find here. This is normally chilled (but not icy) and then served in some rather posh cut-glass glasses. Any reds are left to come to room temperature (though there’s some debate as to what ‘room temperature’ means nowadays). Anyway, I was much amused by another BBC article I read recently on how music ‘can enhance wine taste’ and that playing a certain type of music brings out the best in wine (and your taste buds). Thus it seems that Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah and Merlot are quite particular in their musical tastes (ex. Syrah adores ‘Chariots of Fire’) and the effect they have on us, after they’ve had an ear full.

AHHH, now all is explained. That’s why I feel so terrible the next day after a glass or two of wine. It’s not so much the amount of wine I consumed but the music I played it . . .