Ladies and gentlemen, I have new absinthe. And lots of it.

The nice Mr DHL delivered a consignment this afternoon direct from the lovely people at Absinthe-Shop.com to fill the void (and shelf space) left by more than a year of me not buying any absinthe.

My absinthe purchasing history has been somewhat chequered. You may recall the unpleasant eAbsinthe brouhaha from last year which – frankly – put me off buying for some considerable time. I’m very pleased to say that the ordering process from absinthe-shop.com was painless, simple and instilled way more confidence in anything (the now-defunct) eAbsinthe shop ever did.

The promise I made to myself was that I would sell stuff I no longer have reason to keep and use some of the money to spend on something I enjoy, in this case absinthe. For point of reference, I ordered four bottles in this shipment, enough to last me a year or more:

• La Fée XS Francaise
• La Fée XS Suisse
• Mansinthe
• Aderlass

(The Mansinthe and Aderlass were bought as an appropriately-named Darkness special offer combo)

I am by no means an absinthe expert or even a connoisseur. I don’t drink lurid, luminous absinthe in those horrid shots, nor do I set fire to it (though I used to, I must admit). It’s a drink I take with ice water and sugar, and I enjoy it. It’s a ritual.

I enjoy it to the point that there are very few other alcoholic drinks I partake in. I’m partial to Jägermeister any time of the year, and an occasional Tanqueray (gin) and Fever Tree tonic in summer – the absolute best way to enjoy g&t, in my humble etc, but that’s about it.

Back to the Absinthe Shop order. Here’s the timeline:

• Friday, March 12th, 2010 = Order placed, just after lunchtime UK time
• The Absinthe-Shop.com pixies packed my goodies and despatched them
• Tuesday, March 16th = Order arrived, courtesy of Mr DHL

Even with a non-working weekend in the middle, that’s essentially two business days for international delivery, including a cross-channel run – the package was dispatched from Heidelberg in Germany, which is by far the best service I’ve had from any online absinthe delivery, ever.

Packaging-wise, there are no complaints: a very sturdy cardboard box, well-fitting around the bottles (two of which, the La Fée XS, were boxed), with additional internal card protection and scrunched up paper for the non-boxed bottles. No box damage at all en route, the package could just as well have come from around the corner consider the tip-cop condition it was in.

All things considered, I’m very pleased. The memories of the eAbsinthe disaster are now long gone.

As mentioned in the latest Emma and Pete Show, my long-awaited boots have arrived from the Celtic Sheepskin Company. My new house boots are handmade in Cornwall, from British sheepskin. When they arrive they’re supposed to be very tight across the end of your foot; a couple of days later and mine are easing up a little bit but are still a bit tight. It feels like they will be lovely and warm when I’ve worn them in a bit.

Celtic Sheepskin have a factory shop in Cornwall, which we plan to visit when we’re next in that part of the world, but if you want to order from their online shop you can get free standard delivery for online orders going to a UK mainland address until 22nd January by using the offer code NY1AW when completing your order.

That’s not an affiliate link, it just seems to me that they’re a company worth supporting (unless you’re vegan!).

Pete would really appreciate it if you’d enter FatFace’s competition to win a restored classic VW camper van via this link, because he really wants one and we get more entries if you use our link to enter. So we hope you will enter, but then we hope that you don’t win :D

I’m selling stuff. Lots and lots and lots of stuff. It’s all part of a ’5 out, 1 in’ process to reduce the amount of stuff around the place that I don’t use and to make purchase of new toys useful things easier to swallow.

I’m aiming for 3000GBP as a target. With this, I’m hoping to buy a Canon 5D mk II camera and a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM lens.

To get to this vast figure, I’m going to go through the house and find the tech I no longer use, then prep it for sale – either via eBay or similar – or on a local classified site like DailyInfo/Gumtree/Craigslist.

As a pre-cursor to this, I’ve got some things that I know I’ll be selling. If you’re interested in any of these things before they get sold to the general public, please do drop me a line (gaekwad at gmail). All items excellent condition unless stated.

Studio gear
· Korg Kaoss Pad 2 / KP2 (unboxed, with PSU and I’ll throw in some good interconnects) – guide price 80-100GBP.

Hi-fi/DJ gear
· Nad C370 power amp – guide price 275-300GBP.
· REL Q150E sub – guide price 150-200GBP.
· Stanton STR8-150 turntable – guide price 175-200GBP.
· Mission 780 speakers, black. Guide price 50-70GBP.

Camera gear
· Canon 30D (boxed) w/ BP-2 battery pack, 2x batteries, hand strap and some other bits. Guide price 275-300GBP.
· Sigma 17-70mm DC f/2.8-4.5 lens (Canon fit) w/ UV filter. I’ll throw in a load of Hama 72mm filters. Guide price 150-175GBP.
· Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 lens (Canon fit) w/ UV filter. Guide price 225-275GBP.
· Sigma DG 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 lens w/ skylight filter. Guide price 130GBP.
· Casio Exilim Z600, w/ charger and 2gb card. Guide price 40-70GBP.

The list above will likely be updated as more stuff is found/listed and items are sold. Happy shopping :)

Pete is very happy this morning, because his Pizza Oven (a freebie, ordered using reward points from Euroffice) has arrived. It even came with a free minty Aero :D

If you want to own your very own Pizza Oven, you can order one from Firebox!

Ladies and gentlemen, I have new absinthe. And lots of it.

The nice Mr DHL delivered a consignment this afternoon direct from the lovely people at Absinthe-Shop.com to fill the void (and shelf space) left by more than a year of me not buying any absinthe.

My absinthe purchasing history has been somewhat chequered. You may recall the unpleasant eAbsinthe brouhaha from last year which – frankly – put me off buying for some considerable time. I’m very pleased to say that the ordering process from absinthe-shop.com was painless, simple and instilled way more confidence in anything (the now-defunct) eAbsinthe shop ever did.

The promise I made to myself was that I would sell stuff I no longer have reason to keep and use some of the money to spend on something I enjoy, in this case absinthe. For point of reference, I ordered four bottles in this shipment, enough to last me a year or more:

• La Fée XS Francaise
• La Fée XS Suisse
• Mansinthe
• Aderlass

(The Mansinthe and Aderlass were bought as an appropriately-named Darkness special offer combo)

I am by no means an absinthe expert or even a connoisseur. I don’t drink lurid, luminous absinthe in those horrid shots, nor do I set fire to it (though I used to, I must admit). It’s a drink I take with ice water and sugar, and I enjoy it. It’s a ritual.

I enjoy it to the point that there are very few other alcoholic drinks I partake in. I’m partial to Jägermeister any time of the year, and an occasional Tanqueray (gin) and Fever Tree tonic in summer – the absolute best way to enjoy g&t, in my humble etc, but that’s about it.

Back to the Absinthe Shop order. Here’s the timeline:

• Friday, March 12th, 2010 = Order placed, just after lunchtime UK time
• The Absinthe-Shop.com pixies packed my goodies and despatched them
• Tuesday, March 16th = Order arrived, courtesy of Mr DHL

Even with a non-working weekend in the middle, that’s essentially two business days for international delivery, including a cross-channel run – the package was dispatched from Heidelberg in Germany, which is by far the best service I’ve had from any online absinthe delivery, ever.

Packaging-wise, there are no complaints: a very sturdy cardboard box, well-fitting around the bottles (two of which, the La Fée XS, were boxed), with additional internal card protection and scrunched up paper for the non-boxed bottles. No box damage at all en route, the package could just as well have come from around the corner consider the tip-cop condition it was in.

All things considered, I’m very pleased. The memories of the eAbsinthe disaster are now long gone.

As mentioned in the latest Emma and Pete Show, my long-awaited boots have arrived from the Celtic Sheepskin Company. My new house boots are handmade in Cornwall, from British sheepskin. When they arrive they’re supposed to be very tight across the end of your foot; a couple of days later and mine are easing up a little bit but are still a bit tight. It feels like they will be lovely and warm when I’ve worn them in a bit.

Celtic Sheepskin have a factory shop in Cornwall, which we plan to visit when we’re next in that part of the world, but if you want to order from their online shop you can get free standard delivery for online orders going to a UK mainland address until 22nd January by using the offer code NY1AW when completing your order.

That’s not an affiliate link, it just seems to me that they’re a company worth supporting (unless you’re vegan!).

Pete would really appreciate it if you’d enter FatFace’s competition to win a restored classic VW camper van via this link, because he really wants one and we get more entries if you use our link to enter. So we hope you will enter, but then we hope that you don’t win :D

I’m selling stuff. Lots and lots and lots of stuff. It’s all part of a ’5 out, 1 in’ process to reduce the amount of stuff around the place that I don’t use and to make purchase of new toys useful things easier to swallow.

I’m aiming for 3000GBP as a target. With this, I’m hoping to buy a Canon 5D mk II camera and a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM lens.

To get to this vast figure, I’m going to go through the house and find the tech I no longer use, then prep it for sale – either via eBay or similar – or on a local classified site like DailyInfo/Gumtree/Craigslist.

As a pre-cursor to this, I’ve got some things that I know I’ll be selling. If you’re interested in any of these things before they get sold to the general public, please do drop me a line (gaekwad at gmail). All items excellent condition unless stated.

Studio gear
· Korg Kaoss Pad 2 / KP2 (unboxed, with PSU and I’ll throw in some good interconnects) – guide price 80-100GBP.

Hi-fi/DJ gear
· Nad C370 power amp – guide price 275-300GBP.
· REL Q150E sub – guide price 150-200GBP.
· Stanton STR8-150 turntable – guide price 175-200GBP.
· Mission 780 speakers, black. Guide price 50-70GBP.

Camera gear
· Canon 30D (boxed) w/ BP-2 battery pack, 2x batteries, hand strap and some other bits. Guide price 275-300GBP.
· Sigma 17-70mm DC f/2.8-4.5 lens (Canon fit) w/ UV filter. I’ll throw in a load of Hama 72mm filters. Guide price 150-175GBP.
· Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 lens (Canon fit) w/ UV filter. Guide price 225-275GBP.
· Sigma DG 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 lens w/ skylight filter. Guide price 130GBP.
· Casio Exilim Z600, w/ charger and 2gb card. Guide price 40-70GBP.

The list above will likely be updated as more stuff is found/listed and items are sold. Happy shopping :)

Pete is very happy this morning, because his Pizza Oven (a freebie, ordered using reward points from Euroffice) has arrived. It even came with a free minty Aero :D

If you want to own your very own Pizza Oven, you can order one from Firebox!