Does anyone else just hate January? I know I do. Since the beginning of 2005, it’s been apathy city. Maybe it’s the letdown at the end of the holiday season, or maybe it’s this nasty, dreary, cold, dirty, annoying weather we’ve been having, but whatever it is, the result has been a distinct lack of motivation.

That would explain why this is my first post of the year. At the end of the month. This, mind you, comes before my first concerted effort to get the laundry done of the year (which may or may not happen over the weekend), and my first home-cooked meal of the year (ready-meals not counting), so it’s not as dire as it sounds.

This is a crappy time of year, but one of the cool things you can perpetually do around London is a wine tasting course. Sound stuffy? Think again. It’s actually a really great way to spend a weeknight, with some interesting folks. You don’t need any prior knowledge, you don’t need to know about regions or types of grapes or anything like that, you can admit without embarassment that, actually, right now, the way you choose a bottle is by looking at the label and the price (come on, we all do it).

I did a wine course last year, through the Wine Education Service. It was a ten-week course, and we did six different types of wine a night, one night a week. It was really cool. That was the beginning class. This time around, I think I’m going to go for The Wines of Italy, Portugal & Spain, but I encourage anyone who’s interested to try the beginner course. It’s amazing how much there is out there.

They’re offering beginner courses all over London right now: Leadenhall Market (City), Hoborn, Hampstead, Notting Hill Gate and South Kensington. You can check their website for dates and such. They sort of start every month or so at various places, so you can always find something going on.

January sucks, yes. There are probably better reasons to drink wine, but that one will do for me.

Related posts:

1. Wine tasting foibles
2. London Book Fair
3. Bedale’s (SE1)
4. So how was it for you?
5. English, the new world language. Know wot I mean?