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kpe123.bsky.social
Secondary teacher from 1980 then Senior Lecturer in Music Education, University of Greenwich 2006-2018. Now fully retired and enjoying pleasures of life: family, food & drink, and travel
44 posts 51 followers 97 following
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Are there any supermarket retailers these days where you can pop in and buy perhaps just one or possible two bottles of wine at a genuinely discounted, non-loyalty card, price? grapeandhop.blogspot.com/2025/02/a-ge...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Spot on

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

The final bottle of Bric Castelvej Panera Alta Riserva 2019 (100% Nebbiolo) and fading memory of a great ad hoc winery visit outside Canale, summer 2023. See grapeandhop.blogspot.com/2023/08/pers...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

How will alcohol duty changes affect the price of drinks?

submitted 23 days ago • 6 comments

The damning statistics that reveal the true cost of Brexit, five years on

submitted 23 days ago • 100 comments

Five years ago today, the UK left the EU. Johnson's faux-Churchillesque speech on the day ended with these lines. How did that work out?

submitted 23 days ago • 68 comments

Austrian wine, still overlooked? Well for less than £20 before 11 February you won’t be disappointed trying these two bottles from Waitrose. grapeandhop.blogspot.com/2025/01/aust...

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Even if JDV wasn’t joking he was wrong

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

I loved the irony of this shortly after Trump’s proud boast that he’d be soon planting to US flag on Mars. Fat chance if they can’t even successfully set up the PA system for a school assembly!

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

Getting a sense of "ah fuck it" from the Kiribatan Town Naming Committee

submitted 46 days ago • 56 comments

Recommended to anyone interested in education: Exam Nation by @sammywright.bsky.social A perceptive & honest analysis of the failings of state education in England with suggestions for how things could be changed for the better. By an experienced school leader writing with insight & compassion

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

Nick Gibb and Michael Gove have claimed that Labour’s plans in the children’s wellbeing and schools bill are ‘educational vandalism’. This is despite them overseeing 14 years of decline for music in schools 🧵

submitted 39 days ago • 1 comment

Another ‘instrumental’ benefit of music education then?!?! “(musicality) as being uniquely suited to supporting the process of falling and staying in love.” www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

Love your liver! 19 simple ways to look after this incredible organ, chosen by doctors

submitted 51 days ago • 7 comments

Saturday, 8pm, on Radio 4. Via The Radio Times. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

submitted 51 days ago • 3 comments

Going for a beer on the pier grapeandhop.blogspot.com/2024/12/goin...

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Shocking the level of respect in public life when political figures from one country describe another’s incoming ambassador as a moron. In contrast, Mandelson’s earlier comments that Trump is"reckless and a danger to the world" and "a bully" are proven facts

submitted 64 days ago • 0 comments

Labour government has had a bumpy start but consider this ….

submitted 64 days ago • 0 comments

Northern Monk Death 2024 Imperial Stout 10%. A brilliant nightcap after the tasting menu at Manchester French restaurant 63 degrees 63degrees.co.uk

submitted 67 days ago • 0 comments

A shout out for a cracking good beer: Higher Grounds (Tempest Brewing Company) Imperial Coffee Stout 11% grapeandhop.blogspot.com/2024/12/high...

submitted 70 days ago • 0 comments

The importance of punctuation. Nancy Pelosi was not injured at the Battle of the Bulge!

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments

Eat healthily, not politically!

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments

Oh, I thought this was farmers protesting in Whitehall again

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments

Great news for Music Tech BTEC courses today.

submitted 73 days ago • 0 comments

Another miserable gloomy day so decided to join the retiree audience at Curzon Canterbury to see Conclave. 2 hrs well spent in suspense and awe of some outstanding acting, Ralph Fiennes in particular. m.imdb.com/title/tt2021...

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

grapeandhop.blogspot.com/2024/12/masi... Waitrose Christmas £10 Fine Wines: “Of course, in the interests of research I felt it was important to undertake an early December tasting in order to confirm the wine is as good as its reputation leads us to believe.”

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

Great to see arbroath smokies on a menu (at The Goods Shed in Canterbury) Better still with this spot-on wine pairing www.matchingfoodandwine.com/news/match_o... #matchoftheweek

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

It's gaining our attention, displays the letter X, yet thankfully has nothing to do with Musk. You’ll find it in the wine aisle at M&S. grapeandhop.blogspot.com/2024/12/mark...

submitted 77 days ago • 0 comments

Lovely unplanned wine tasting at @vinkowine in Whitstable. Changing range of English wine & wines from further afield by the glass and wide range of bottles too. In particular we loved warm welcome from Ewa and her extensive knowledge of the world of wine. Highly recommend. We’ll be back

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

Masterchef Crisis Grips Britain The new Private Eye is out now

submitted 81 days ago • 15 comments

And Wallace finally gets it (or his lawyers have lost it with him) - “It's obvious to me I need to take some time out while this investigation is under way.”

submitted 83 days ago • 0 comments

Can’t argue with this, and best of all we will be in Manchester for a couple of nights next month

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

Bravo to “middle-class women of a certain age” is all I’m saying.

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

Emphatic 4-0 away win for Charlton in FA Cup yesterday. Ever hoping they will draw a top Premier League club in Round 3 draw tomorrow night. Now that would be a great start to 2025!

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

And reading this immediately brought to mind this wonderful piece for music teachers by @Johnfinney8 reminding them about music as social practice jfin107.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/m...

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

Ever hopeful this is as good as the Observer review suggests

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

Let’s talk about Tokaji, the Hungarian wine that inspired Beethoven and Goethe

submitted 84 days ago • 9 comments

Some of England’s oldest Pinot Noir vines are in New Hall Vineyard, Essex. And you might have thought Essex was only famous for the world’s longest pier at Southend? Think that no longer! www.iwfs.capital/post/from-ki...

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

I spent yesterday afternoon learning about the tradition of West Gallery Choirs at a workshop and concert in Bristol. It led me to this story by Thomas Hardy about a boozy town band that, at Christmas, forgets whether it's in the pub or the church... [Jess] wgma.org.uk/Resources/Li...

submitted 84 days ago • 1 comment

What a beautiful musical tribute. See www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... for the many episodes of Valentina's Kiosk that precede it

submitted 89 days ago • 0 comments

In which Martin rightly calls out the argument that “children can’t be creative until they have accumulated a lot of domain-specific knowledge” as twaddle. Anyone who has children / grandchildren knows in terms of music this is indeed complete “twaddle”

submitted 89 days ago • 2 comments