I live close to the Carlingwood Mall, which is a bit of a blue-rinse hang out. There's quite a few seniors buildings near by and the locals like to hang out around Tim Hortons for a gab. Which is fine, better that than out driving their heniously huge cars or smoking opium.

But today, as I was putting my Dad's birthday present in the mail, two songs were playing on the intercom that gave me pause. The first was the Scorpion's Rock you like a hurricane. Now I'd expect that in Ottawa, a song released in 1984 playing on mall intercom. But not this particular song. What the locals make of the lyric "Give her inches and feed her well", I'm not sure. The second song was Bad motorscooter by Montrose. Now you may not know much about [Ronnie] Montrose's band, a bit of a one hit wonder with a self-titled album in the mid 70's. You probably are more familiar with the lead singers' name, Sammy Hagar.

In any case, not something I'd be expecting on a Saturday at the mall. I was never a huge Scorpion's fan, but hearing Montrose was a nice treat.

A new wine I've just tried is the Pierre LaPlace 2005 Madiran. Madiran's are made with Tannat grapes, topped up with Cab Franc or Cab Sauginon. Typically really tannic wines, this one is really nice after you let it breath a little. Nose is a bit of black cherry with some plum and you get a real sense of the tannins that are coming your way. Flavour is strongly tannic, but not overpowering. So that means it'll taste quite dry with the flavour of black cherry, currants, overtop of a bit of plum without being bitter. It's got some legs with the tannins dominating but you still get a sense of cherry skins. Very nice for $14.95 at the LCBO. I bought half a case while I was there.