Champany Inn - The Chop and Ale House

What better to do on an unexpectedly free weekend, when the sun is shining, than go out for lunch? A place that has been on our 'to visit' list for some time now has been the Champany Inn near Linlithgow (well, nearer Bo'ness). The main restaurant gained a Michelin star earlier this year (along with the Ballachulish House Hotel - which is stunning! A review to be posted here if I ever have the good fortune to revisit that establishment).

We did not go to the main restaurant, but to the Chop and Ale House. It's a traditional Scottish style of pub, with plenty of parking and easy access from the M9. The choice on the menu is excellent, with mains including burgers, steaks, chicken and fish. The puddings also looked good. Between us we polished off a burger with Stilton sauce, and a beef and lamb sausage, washed down with some Bellhaven Best.

The quality of the beef is key here, and the meat was excellent. Mains ranged from £8 to over £20 for some of the steaks. All in all a good atmosphere, attentive staff, and very good pub food. Excellent coffee to finish off with!

As well as the Ale house and restaurant, there is a third establishment on the premises: Champany Cellars - a gem of a shop with a huge selection of wine (about 20% of the restaurant wine list), which specialises in South African wines. The shop stocks a large selection of 'Cape Winemakers Guild' wines. Having been to South Africa and tasted a few Cape wines, we are huge fans of Kanonkop and bagged a bottle of 1999 Pinotage. It will be interesting to see how it compares to their standard bottling.

With the wine in the boot, we headed to Blackness for a wander round the castle, and then back to Edinburgh to finish digesting.

Overall Rating

A fine day out, a good pub and a fantastic wine shop - could this possibly be the best kept secret in Scottish wine? We may have to arrange a trip to the restaurant - what could be better than good quality steak and a huge wine list?? Oh the memories .... 96 Winery Road.

Autumn Gold

Some pictures from a recent walk along the Firth of Forth from South Queensferry to Cramond, and back. A good way to spend a Sunday morning.

Gorgeous woodland.

A little sandy cove, a sunny day ... just imagine that it's hot instead of 'bracing'.


It could almost be a golf course. This is Scotland remember, of course it's a golf course.

The road home ...

The Mother of All Indians

I really have to start walking up mountains more and eating out less ... Oh well ;)

Apparently a stalwart of the Glasgow dining scene, Mother India's Cafe opened up in Edinburgh in May. It is informal Indian dining, tapas style and the latest establishment from a brand including the Cafe, a more formal 'Mother India' restaurant and 'The Wee Curry Shop',

A friend walked passed recently, smelled the food, saw that every table was full and suggested we try it.

Food

There are over 30 dishes to sample, ranging from £3.00 to £5.00 per dish, as well as the usual selection of rices and breads. Portions are small, as you would expect, and beautifully seasoned.

We started by sharing some popadoms and delicious chutneys whilst working out what dishes to order. A selection of 6 mains, including the 'signature' dish of oven baked spiced haddock arrived. My particular stand outs included the Patina Lamb, with mint and the Keema Dosa pancake stuffed with mince. As someone who doesn't particularly like fish, I even enjoyed the haddock!

The peshwari nan was so good we ordered a second, along with a few more dishes including the lamb saag. Nothing disappointed.

Overall Rating

The website points out the commitment to using the best local produce, and having tasted the dishes I can certainly attest to that - the lamb in particular was outstanding. The restaurant keeps some tables free for walk in customers, so if you haven't booked and are passing by it would be worth dropping in. However, there was a queue waiting at the bar when we left last night so I would recommend booking in advance.

If this is an example of Glasgow dining, I say bring more over to us. Mother India's Cafe delivered excellent food in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. The concept is brilliant, and it was the most enjoyable Indian meal I have ever eaten. Price??? Well, here comes the best bit: more than enough food and beer for only £20.00 per head, including tip. Go!

The Witchery: New Restaurant Review

Now I know it has not been very long since I was last at the Witchery (See my previous post). But even though I was disappointed, I knew that I would be back ...

I said last time "when the Witchery is good, it is very very good". I am pleased to say that my latest visit reminded me of why I love this restaurant so much.

Atmosphere

We were back in the Secret Garden, a bottle of champagne waiting, celebrating a birthday with 2 Witchery virgins - they loved the place. I believe that the Secret Garden cannot be beaten for atmosphere - no restaurant I have been to yet has even come close. If anyone knows of any contenders please let me know! Comparing the SG to the main restaurant I can now say that there is no contest - Secret Garden every time.

Wine List

Once again, the Wine List is unsurpassed, both for quality and size, than anything else in Edinburgh. This time, in addition to the Pol Roger, we had a lovely 2001 Gran Reserva - both bottles were beautiful.

Food

Starters were varied, but all excellent: 1 goats cheese salad with walnuts, 1 smoked eel, and 2 partridge. The partridge in particular was presented in a very 'Michelin' manner! I am pleased to say that no seasoning was required for any of the dishes.

We opted for 4 different main courses: ribeye with bearnaise sauce; breast and confit leg of duck; monkfish with baby octopus (slightly squeamish to look at, but apparently delicious); and venison with (Mmm) chocolate sauce. Once again all mains were well cooked and well presented.

And so to dessert. My other half has now started a tradition of ordering (and eating in front of me) the dessert selection which he assures me was once again brilliant! Another selection was shared, and I opted for a pistachio parfait which I was very sad to see the end of.

Coffee and port finished the meal off nicely.

Conclusion

I am delighted to say that, this time, the Witchery lived up to my high expectations. I would not recommend going during the Tattoo, but this weeks visit was one of my most enjoyable. The wine was good; the food was very good; the setting was excellent as usual; the service was excellent too.

I'm glad I returned so soon as I can keep these memories and look forward to my next visit, whenever that may be.

Slugs, snails and vegetables

Oh dear ...

I have been using the terrible weather as an excuse to stay inside and do things in the house, trying to convince myself that we don't need to put the heating on yet. I am a fair weather gardener, so when it rains, as it mostly has this 'summer', I have let the weeds grow.

Today, however, the sun is shining and it's actually quite warm, so I ventured out to see how my veggies were doing. The verdict? Badly.

My sprouts are ravaged by slugs and snails, but it looks confined to the lower leaves (I remain hopeful)

The cauliflower seems to be an all round disaster

My tomatoes are green (but there are lots of them!)

The only small ray of hope is that the broccoli (both varieties) have started to show some signs of life ...

Ciao Roma: Restaurant Review

The Witchery or Ciao Roma .... Hmmmm tough choice.

If you don't live in Edinburgh (or Perth) you probably won't have heard of Ciao Roma. Whilst Edinburgh has some excellent Italian Restaurants, this isn't one of them. Only once in my life have I ever not tipped in a restaurant: the restaurant in question no longer exists and the service was truly appalling.

Tonight came very close.

OK I like really nice restaurants, but at the end of the day when I go out for a meal, all I really want is decent food, decent service and a good night out - of course my expectations vary depending on what price I'm paying. Ciao Roma is cheap, so my expectations are low.

Food

You can look at the menu, but really, just imagine ordinary Italian food, the kind you could do at home (no offence), and then downgrade it. You can do better yourself.

For starters I had 'peperoni': peppers stuffed with mozzarella and goats cheese. A waiter told me it was an excellent choice: I would hate to have tried anything ordinary. It lacked goats cheese, had too much cheap mozzarella, and hadn't heard of seasoning.

For the main course, I went for a chicken and mushroom pizza. Pretty ordinary with a soggy base. The Cannelloni looked OK ...

I skipped dessert, but to be fair the Tiramisu didn't look like it came out of a packet (which is always a bonus), and I could smell the alcohol for miles. Instead I opted for a 'double espresso': what it lacked in taste it made up for in quantity.

I wish I could write more, but I just can't bring myself to.

Service

Now comes the sucker punch. Imagine ordinary food with terrible service. We had a large table, but even so: 2 pieces of cutlery had to be sent back because they were not clean. When we arrived we were short of four wine glasses. How can you set a table so badly as to forget to put out wine glasses??

The staff are clearly having to look after too many tables, as getting anyone to take a drinks order was very hard work and even paying the bill took time.

Rating

Just don't go. There are many other Italian restaurants in Edinburgh which are far better value. May I offer a small selection here:

Vittorias on Leith Walk: I haven't been for a while but a very good basic Italian.

Guilliano's on the Shore: this is smaller than the one on Leith Walk, features fresh seafood, and is excellent for both groups and small tables. Recommended.

Cento Tre: George Street and higher end. I've not been in for a while, but have been very impressed on previous visits.

Vin Caffe: Valvona and Crolla's restaurant on Multrees Walk. A truly excellent restaurant (although quite expensive) with stunning food and a fabulous wine list. I really hope to be going back there soon - and if so I'll definitely post a review!

I'm sure there are many other good Italians in Edinburgh, but Ciao Roma is definitely not one of them. If you do decide to go, don't expect much ...

The Witchery: Restaurant Review

The Tattoo is on; the Royal Mile is full of tourists; we have to confirm our restaurant reservations before we are even allowed up to the castle. It all added to the atmosphere before we entered the Witchery.

Because we only booked over a month in advance, and because is was in the middle of the festival, we ended up in the Witchery rather than the Secret Garden. Never mind - a new experience. Some hopeful Americans were hanging around at the entrance hoping that there was an empty table for them (there wasn't).

Atmosphere

I had heard that the underfloor heating made the restaurant too hot for comfort. If there was underfloor heating, it wasn't on, but the restaurant is quite small, and busy, so it was warm, but not uncomfortably so.

Better than the Secret Garden? I'm not sure - each has it appeal. We had a large table so didn't feel crammed in, as you sometimes can in the Secret Garden. The atmosphere is different, with dark panelled walls and ceiling, and small windows high on the wall to allow passing tourists a look in at your food. The restaurant was somehow smaller than I had imagined, but more intimate for that.

For my money though, if you can get one of the tables in the Garden besides the patio doors, you'd be a fool to eat anywhere else.

Wine List

What can I say? The Witchery is renowned for its huge wine list, and although there are some very expensive wines on it, there are also some decent bargains to be found. We enjoyed a Forrest Estate Sauv Blanc from Marlborough, and a Pavie-Macquin 2001. The latter was, we decided after much debate, very slightly corked and we sent it back - the first time we've ever had a corked bottle in a restaurant. The Sommelier agreed with our assessment and replaced it immediately. Good depth, nice cherry fruit: a very enjoyable wine.

Food

A mixed bag here. For starters we polished off 2 Crab with Iberico ham, 1 fish bisque and 1 smoked barbary duck. The verdict on the crab was good, the bisque and the duck however were a little lacking in seasoning. I had never, until last night, reached for the salt and pepper in a restaurant before. For me, there was also something missing from the duck - the prune chutney would have been better replaced with something like an onion marmalade. That was my overriding impression of the dish - it could have been so much better.

Now, my main course was a completely different story. We had 2 salmon with gingerbread crust and lemon grass velout, and 2 grass fed fillet of beef, with a savoury bread and butter pudding, celeriac purée and smoked garlic. Smoked garlic??? It was lovely! The salmon had a good balance of ginger flavouring - not too much to drown it out, but no 'crust' as promised. The beef was delicious in every respect, and cooked perfectly.

And so to dessert. This was one of the most tempting dessert menus I've seen in a long time. I settled for a vanilla brulee and strawberry milkshake. We also had: one chocolate torte; one dessert selection (how we longed to try them all) and one cheese selection. I have nothing bad to say about dessert at all. The torte was lovely, rich and creamy, the vanilla brulee perfect, the cheese eaten completely. Very good.

Conclusion

I really like the Witchery - it's my favourite restaurant in terms of the whole experience, and I generally end up there at least once a year. Yes you can get better food elsewhere, but I don't think you can get a better wine list, and you'd have to be doing something very special to get a better atmosphere.

But ... last night we were surrounded by people who said things like "That's it, we've 'done' the Witchery"; last night we had to season our food; last night we had to top up our own wine glasses; last night we had to order water twice before it came.

My heart wants to say it was great, but my head says that I've eaten far better food. My heart says that the Witchery should be trying for a Michelin star (the prices are certainly comparable) but my head, and my taste buds, says there is a long way to go.

When the Witchery is good, it is very very good. When the Witchery is not so good, it leaves you wondering why you are left with such a big bill, and why you keep going back.

Will we go back? Of course! How can you live in Edinburgh and not go to the Witchery? Besides, we've promised someone a meal there in October ...

I'll never be going back during the festival again though.

Mr Thomson: please, please, please pay as much attention to your food and service as you do to the wine list; please try for a star: your restaurant could eclipse so many others if only you just tried a tiny bit harder.

Is the Witchery trading on its reputation at the moment? Probably not, but it felt like it was last night. Having said all of that - did we have a good night? Yes.

Hanedan, Edinburgh: Restaurant Review

Hanedan is a Turkish restaurant with a good reputation, on the Hit List for the List magazine. I had been looking forward to going for a while - what better occasion than a night out with friends I haven't seen for a while.

Wine List

First of all the wine list: cheap and cheerful, and perfect for the restaurant, delivering good value and good quality. We drank the rose Shiraz from Argentina (I forget the name) and at £13 per bottle it was excellent value - a damn site better than the £5.00 per glass nonsense I tried to drink at a wedding at the Dalmahoy the next day.

Food

For starters I indulged my feta fetish and chose Borek - filo pastry, filled with feta and spinach. It was lovely. The stand out starter though was the Firin Kofte - superb minced lamb meatballs (also available as a main! I will bear this in mind for my next visit).

Our mains were chicken skewers, lamb skewers and a mixed grill, all served with some rice, and a mixed salad on the side. The lamb had been recommended to me and was very good.

Desserts were, unfortunately, slightly less well received. My baklava was nice, but it's hard to do anything extraordinary with it I think. The Hanedan's Mess looked lovely but the verdict was lukewarm - nothing to write home about (in contrast to the review on the List).

Overall Rating

The ambience in the restaurant is fantastic - we stayed until about midnight and never felt any pressure to leave, although I suspect we were the last table of paying guests. Overall value for money is superb - our total bill came in at £25 per head for 3 courses and half a bottle of wine. The menu is slightly limited, especially the desserts, but I will certainly be going back, and had a fantastic night.

Book a table here for an informal, relaxed night out and good food.

Restaurant Reviews - Preview

As the next few weeks stretch before me, I'll be eating out in Edinburgh a few times, so keep an eye out for reviews of: Hanedan, The Witchery, Ciao Roma and maybe 1 or 2 others.

I am especially looking forward to The Witchery as it's been nearly a year since my last visit. Unfortunately, due to festival season, we were unable to get a table in the Secret Garden in the middle of the week, despite booking well in advance. But I've never eaten in the main restaurant before, so this will be a new experience.

Expectations are high ...

Koi, Edinburgh: Entertaining Eating

It's not high end dining, but it's not trying to be. Koi Edinburgh is a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant - the only one in Edinburgh.

I'm not too keen on fish, so when it was suggested we go out for dinner with friends I was a bit wary. But when I saw the variety of dishes available on the website I was convinced, and booked a table for a teppanyaki set meal. We arrived not knowing quite what to expect.

Food

Diners sit on 3 sides of a square, with the chef in the middle. The table accommodates 18 people so be prepared to share space with people you've never met before.

We started with Miso soup, Wo Fo Salad, spare ribs, a scallop and a chicken skewer. Accompanied by Kirin beer.

Then the chef arrived to cook our mains. Some lighter fluid and candles created an explosive start to the meal, and the chef showed off his skills with a knife. For the main course(s) we had Tiger King Prawns, Chicken Teriyaki, Sirloin Steak and, the best dish of the night for me, some sublime salmon steak, cooked with soy sauce, rice wine, salt, pepper and garlic butter - amazing! To balance things out we also had some rice and vegetables, although I have to say I couldn't eat much of mine.

If we had had any room for desert we could have tried pancake ice cream (which looked delicious) and green tea or coffee, but instead the chef had ordered us a 'one time only' flask of saki on the house.

Overall Rating

Good food, fabulous salmon, the best japanese beer, and great entertainment. This is definitely a place to go for a unique experience which is immensely enjoyable. Book a teppanyaki table though, or you'll just be jealous of the people who did! One thing's for sure: you'll not be going home hungry!

New Additions to the Vegetable Patch

A visit to my parents (the green fingered ones) and we leave laden with little seedlings to nurture. And so my planned Sunday afternoon of relaxation turns into a weeding and planting session ...

On the bright side I now have cauliflowers, broccoli and purple sprouting broccoli for the slugs to eat, and for the cats to dig up.

You may be forgiven for thinking that we only eat brassicas, and actually you wouldn't be too far wrong. This could present certain crop rotation challenges though, so I may have to branch out.

Ducks on the March

Terrible new for Edinburgh restaurant goers yesterday as Malcolm Duck, owner of Ducks a la Marche Noir, has put his restaurant up for sale to concentrate on his East Lothian business.

This is especially bad news for us as we made our first visit there in January, and immediately marked it as our favourite Edinburgh restaurant. It has everything we look for: good food; good wine; reasonable prices; great atmosphere. It was this last aspect that really sold us on the restaurant: very relaxing and welcoming - a bit like having dinner at a friends house. All these facets came together that night to provide the perfect dining experience.


It looks like we will soon have to return to pay homage to Ducks before it shuts its doors for good.

F1 British Grand Prix: Press Conference Observation

Strange Transcript Anomaly!

How the Press Conference on Sunday began:

Lewis, you started the season with a win, you won the Monaco Grand Prix, but now the moment’s yours. Let’s savour the moment, describe your emotions on that slow-down lap, having won, finally, the British Grand Prix.

Finally? It's only his second attempt!

Funny thing is, the journalist seems to have realised the stupidity of his remark as it has been excised from all transcripts of the press conference on the web. This is how PlanetF1 amongst others are reporting it: Sunday FIA Press Conference.

I started to doubt myself but I had recorded it (so I could watch it in between rain breaks at Wimbledon) - and it's there all right.

Glencoe Mountains: some pictures

The river Coe on the way to the Pap of Glencoe

It's about time to add some mountains, so here are some shots of Glencoe after a week walking in glorious sunshine and t-shirts ... in May ... in Scotland - no, really, it was good weather! (and let us not forget the midges!)

First of all a shot on the Aonach Eagach - we didn't climb this, but a policy of climbing hills nearby deadly ridges is a good way to get the views without exposing ourselves to any danger!

Aonach Eagach from Garbh Bheinn

Buachaille Etive Mor is my favourite Mountain top of all time (so far). I would say favourite Munro, but I don't want to exclude other countries, notably New Zealand. This was part of the view from the top after a stunning climb up through Coire na Tulaich. A fabulous top with loads of high level walking available, and on a day like this, fantastic views.

Stob Na Doire from the top of Buachaille Etive Mor

Next up another view of Aonach Eagach, taken on the way up to Stob Coire nan Lochan. With perfect timing we did all the hard climbing in the cloud, and the sun started to break through just before the top, giving another day of breathtaking scenery.

Cloud clearing on the Aonach Eagach, from Coire nan Lochan

And finally, after a short stroll up Glen Nevis, a view of Steall falls:

An Gearanach from Steall Meadows

All Photographs © BrokenMountain 2008

Horsehoe Inn, Eddleston: Restaurant Review

We went to the Horseshoe Inn a few months ago so I thought I'd post a quick summary of my impressions on the blog. Hopefully this can become a regular feature!

The Horseshoe Inn is a great restaurant set in an old Blacksmiths in Eddleston, just outside Peebles and about 30 miles south of Edinburgh on the A703. It won AA Restaurant of the Year 2007-2008, so we thought it was worth checking out.

Accommodation

The Horseshoe Inn is a "Restaurant with Rooms". At £50.00 per person per night they aren't cheap compared to B&Bs, but look to be a relatively good deal for a restaurant of its calibre compared to what other establishments charge. The only problem was the size of the room: whilst it was nicely furnished, it was quite small. Yes it has everything you could want - large bed, desk, TV, tea and coffee, ironing board etc, but it was all just a little bit cramped for the price. Also, the ensuite shower room was a little tired - a few cracked tiles, some unused rawl plugs - you get the idea. We've just had a new bathroom fitted though, so perhaps we were being hypercritical.

All in all staying there didn't add anything to the experience for us, but to be fair, the only reason we did stay was because it wasn't going to require us to remortgage the house.

Wine List

One thing you should know - we won't go anywhere (expensive) unless there's a decent wine list (preferably not that expensive) ... or it's BYO!

We started off with a bottle of Champagne on arrival: Delamotte NV, which is the second wine of Salon. Phenomenal value - so much so that a party (not us!) drank the restaurant dry that weekend. I would highly recommend it! I can't remember what wine we had with the main course, but we finished off with a lovely Beerenauslese Austrian sweetie.

A definite thumbs up for the wine list: great wine and some really good value bargains!

Food

This is, after all, the reason why we went in the first place! To start: snails, as I was being brave - interesting and good to try but I'm not sure I'd eat them again; followed by fillet and braised shoulder of beef, which was absolutely delicious; and the sweets were fabulous - lots of roasted bananas and chocolate, so right up my street.

What I especially liked was that there were lots of amouse bouche served between courses (including a pre-dessert!!) but it was all done in a way which was completely unpretentious.

Overall Rating

Great food served in a really nice restaurant with a relaxing atmosphere. Staff are friendly and knowledgeable too.

Value for money? £30 to £40 for 3 courses, but well worth it. Tip: save yourselves a few quid by staying in a B&B in Peebles and forking out for the short taxi ride!

Beginning to Garden

To have a garden and not to use it is a bit of a crime, and one which I have been guilty of. The problem is that to use a garden invariably involves a higher level of 'gardening' than just periodically ripping weeds out. So, putting aside the fact that I'm not very good at it, and the fact that I don't particularly enjoy gardening (I am hoping it will be like running but with less effort - not actually as bad as you think its going to be, and slightly enjoyable after a while), I decided to grow something this year. I thought this would:

(a) get me into the garden.
(b) (more importantly) help me attack my weeds and keep them under control.

I wanted to start small and not give myself too much to do, but what to plant?

For me there are 3 types of plants (excluding weeds):

1. Plants you can stick in the ground and forget about, whilst they grow on their own without taking over the garden - we have several of these including a huge buddleia and some rhododendrons. I really like this kind of plant, especially when they can contribute to keeping weeds at bay!
   
2. Plants with a purpose i.e. vegetables. We grow them with the aim of getting something back from them (food). For me flowers do not fall into this category.
3. The rest: flowers are fine (especially the ones that grow every year - see above) but they don't actually do anything, except provide a bit of colour; and those plants that only last one year - why were they even invented?
   

So with this in mind, the obvious answer seemed to be to grow vegetables. I went out and bought a growbag (if I put it on my newly weeded earth it'll stop the weeds beneath it - right? Well actually it doesn't, but it was worth a try).

I stuck a couple of tomato plants in it, saw some brussel sprouts in the sale and shoved them into the ground. And I also bought some marigolds, as I read on the internet that they keep whitefly away. Do marigolds only last one year? Maybe this is why such plants were invented!

I have looked after my new charges well so far: I have tended them; watered them; fed them; weeded (continually it seems); and started a battle with slugs and snails that I didn't even know we had in the garden. Funnily enough the marigolds are what the slugs go straight for. Conclusion: not even slugs like sprouts ...

To my surprise, the sprouts are actually doing quite well so far. I bought a pack of 12 for fifty pence and reasoned that some would die, but now it looks like we'll be eating sprouts all winter (good job we like them).

The tomatoes are a different story - one small plant doesn't really seem to be doing much, but I'm hopeful for the other one - just starting to flower. As they say ... time will tell.

Weeds ...

I've had a garden for over 5 years now, but, although I like the idea of gardens I have to admit that I am not what you would call 'green fingered': last year for instance I managed to kill mint, which I believe is quite an achievement. Until recently though I have not really attempted to grow anything in the garden - read more here on my first attempts ...

But despite my failings in this area I am remarkably good at getting weeds to grow - why is that? And why do they grow at ten times the rate of anything else? The answer to these questions, it seems to me, lies with a higher power.

I guessed the answer was hard work, so I ripped out all the weeds. To my dismay only a week later thousands of the little b*!**!s were growing up through my beautiful soil again, throwing into disarray any plans I had for planting things. What to do???

As any fully independent adult will do when faced with uncertainty, I turned at once to my parents for answers - my parents who for years have grown organically all manner of fruit and vegetables in quantities so large that they cannot even give them all away. My mother, usually so good at reassuring me, had only one piece of advice:

"Kneel down and weed out each one by hand."

She kindly followed this bombshell with the information that seeds can lie dormant in the ground for seven years!! I think I know what I'll be doing for some time to come ...

On Wimbledon ...

Photograph by Michelle

As we come to the end of a remarkably dry Wimbledon fortnight, we reach a mens final that all would have predicted, and a womens final which, although the seedings tell a different story, perhaps few are surprised to see.

So why are the headlines about what's happening off the court (or is that just me)?

• We started with front page photos of what the stars are wearing - Roger in his cardigan, then Maria and her 'tux', not to mention Serena's mac (will she wear it for the final today?) The headlines reached around the world: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/06/25/1214073302908.html But who cares ...

• Then there's the gripping question of Nadal's pants which seem to fit him incredibly badly ...

• Jamie Murray was obviously cowed by press coverage, and perhaps comments from his brother, as he moved quickly from Macenroe tribute act to skinhead.

• And don't get me started on Andy: one gripping 5 set match and the press turn him into the next winner of Wimbledon - all this from someone who (let's be honest) hasn't been playing at the top of his game so far, struggles with his first serve, and hits a second serve so slowly that even a tortoise could reach it and send a winner back. Beat Nadal?? No matter how optimistic you are it was never going to happen (not in this universe anyway). Strike 1 for the British press - build him up knock him down (on that subject Hamilton surely must be going to win the grand prix tomorrow, but lets pillory him if he crashes again ...)

Let's just ignore the press, ignore the fashion statements, try and ignore Nadal's fiddling with his bum, and sit back and enjoy what could prove to be 2 great singles finals.

Oh .. and if Laura Robson should win the girls tournament, lets try not to turn her into the next national sporting hero.