It was The Skiing Chess Dude wot did it.

We had been exchanging a few of the old electronic missals and he was telling me that he was using the current situation as an opportunity to make contact with a few bodies that he had not heard from in a while.

This seemed to My Good Self like an eminently reasonable plan of action.

The old crisis/opportunity gig.

And so I have taken to sending texts and making calls to various friends and acquaintances around the universe.

Greetings are exchanged and I, for my part, assure them that My Good Self is in the absolute rudest of health and doing my very best for the global wine industry.

Merlot, Carmenere, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc.

You name it and My Good Self has been happily guzzling it down the gullet with great aplomb.

Indeed I am not the only one doing a bit of reaching out in these troubled times.

My good friend, The Downtown Dude, maker of the best gelato in the entire solar system, popped down to the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street the other day to donate some of his produce to the trojan staff there.

He’s a good lad.