I’m currently away from my normal West London stomping ground to be in Manchester visiting familiy and friends.

Pictured are Santas loitering outside the Moon Under Water in Deansgate.

Went to Twinterval 2008 on Monday at the Match Bar, Margaret Street, London W1.

A good time was had by all – it was good to meet fellow Twitter users face to face.

Also caught up with Mauricio Reyes, who I last met at a meeting of the WordPress UK London local.

Above I’m pictured (some rights reserved) by Paul Parkinson, sampling some of the Czech bottled beer available at the gathering.

Training for Christmas is fully underway in the Scott household.

What’s the connection between the worlds of wine, beer and cider?

Well, the obvious answer (alcohol) was not the conclusion reached during discussion between Robert McIntosh and myself at the London Bloggers meeting on Tuesday at Ember in Farringdon.

During the wine tasting session organised by Robert, we discussed the common themes between the wine community and the real ale and cider movements.

There is an obvious connection between real ale and real cider, demonstrated by the regular appearances of cider (and perry) at CAMRA real ale festivals.

But what is the connection between the consumers of hop and apple-based drinks, and grape-based beverages?

The majority of members of both groups tend to drink wine, beer and cider (but not at the same time normally!).

The commonality between the real ale and cider groups, and the hard core wine aficionados, seems to be spreading the availability of the ‘real thing’.

In beer and cider it involves getting into as many outlets as possible drinks produced using traditional methods and ingredients.

In the wine world it involves making easily available wines that are outside the fairly standardised range distributed through supermarkets and the off-license chains

How to prove the thesis of a common ground between these interest groups correct?

I’m more from a real ale background, whilst Robert is from a wine background. Together we’re proposing a wine/beer/cider tasting evening in the London area to bring together those who might be interested in the intersection between these currently disparate areas.

The evening could also involve matching each drink with a food dish from a range that could be produced by food bloggers.

Whether this actually happens depends on the level of interest shown beforehand.

Therefore if interested readers could leave a comment to this post we can take the idea from there.

* With apologies to James Cridland for the title of this post!

Another excellent London Bloggers gathering included wine tasting along with the usual fun and games.

Robert McIntosh gave an illuminating presentation on wine, followed by a tasting session of a range wines produced by wineries who have their own blogs.

I must admit, like a number of others, the sherry was not to my liking – all the other wines I liked with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

For various reasons, I haven’t been able to get to a London Bloggers meeting since June – it was therefore good to catch up with Alexandra and Andy.

Also met for the first time:

• Melinda – We discussed AI and whether it is fully achievable in the foreseeable future.
• Willem – We discussed stuff in general!

Sorry if I’ve missed anyone off the list (I definitely have) – but I wasn’t taking detailed notes due to the wine tasting!

• Malcolm Gladwell – The man who can’t stop thinking [Observer] Interview with the author of The Tipping Point and Blink on the eve of the publication of his new book Outliers. Some extracts from the book, along with Geek gurus: The rise of social psychology.
• 10 things you need to know about WordPress 2.7 [Technosailor] Summary of the shortly to be released new version of WordPress.
• Commercial radio needs to fix its own problems, not moan about Radio 1 [Guardian] “Commercial radio companies argue that Radio 1 is dodging its remit by targeting over-30s – when what they are really bothered about is the success of Chris Moyles. And what they should actually be doing is finding a Moyles of their own”.

Two WordPress events coming up this month, one in the UK, the other Australia:

• The fourth WordPress UK London local meeting on Wednesday 19 November 2008 at the One Tun, Goodge Street.
• WordCamp Australia 2008 on Saturday and Sunday, 29 and 30 November 2008, at The Red Box, Sydney.

Sam Bauers, from Automattic, who attended WordCamp UK 2008, is involved in organising this year’s WordCamp Australia. Good luck to all those attending for a great weekend in Sydney!

It would be great if any of those at the last WordCamp UK could attend – unfortunately I can’t make it myself…

• Why the open strategy is a good idea [Matt McAlister] Matt thinks “we’re on the cusp of an explosion of open strategies and concepts across all markets, not least of which is the publishing world”.
• 1,000 web APIs [ProgrammableWeb] “Last week ProgrammableWeb crossed one of its biggest milestones thus far when we added the 1,000th web service API to our API directory.”
• Prototyping with XHTML [Boxes and Arrows] “Leverage code as a design and specification platform.”
• The week that Britain’s culture wars broke out [Observer] “The BBC’s attempts to create cross-generational entertainment have opened up new fault lines.”
• SERTUC conference on PSB [BECTU] “The South Eastern Regional TUC‘s Creative and Leisure section, is organising a conference on the future of public service broadcasting … on Saturday 15 November 2008.” Update 10 November 2008 at 1607: The conference has been postponed.