And I could hear my watch ticking at 120mph.
Citro?is keen to stress that the C6 will be made in small numbers, for an obvious reason. The last big Citro? the XM, depreciated faster than Paris Olympics memorabilia, partly because of over-supply and poor reliability, but also because of its daunting complexity and all-out weirdness. It’s a confounding blend of weightiness and waft but without the pitch and roll usually associated with big, soft saloons. In fact, body control improves the more aggressively you corner. It also has its forebears’ long front overhang, concave rear window and, of course, hydropneumatic suspension. But the C6 takes this magic-carpet technology one step further, varying both the spring rates and, for the first time, the damper rates according to what the road surface throws at them.
It feels as if the car is simultaneously steamrollering the bumps and floating above them. I thought the Citro?and the cathedral would go well together. Both are monuments to French engineering excess; both have played host to France’s ruling class (Rheims was a coronation cathedral, and is the resting place of Joan of Arc; Jacques Chirac has just taken delivery of a C6). Not sure where I fit in, except that I am in awe of each.The C6 evokes large Citro? of the past, like the DS, SM and, in particular, the CX. Like them, its external architecture is vaguely futuristic in that endearingly na? French way (I’m thinking of the bonkers Charles de Gaulle Airport, or any of Mitterand’s Parisian follies). Many Christians say suicide is a sin66: per cent of Britons favour legal voluntary euthanasia7: per cent of people oppose euthanasia in any situation, according to a recent survey. Would suit: Anyone bored with German saloons Price: £28,500-£38,000 Maximum speed: 140mph, 0-60mph in 10 seconds Combined fuel economy: 23mpg (diesel), 17.3mpg (petrol) Further information: 0800 262 262
This is the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Rheims, the new Citro?C6 and me.
People are dying before they need to.”EXIT STRATEGY54: percentage of UK doctors in favour of legalising physician-assisted suicide92: percentage of pensioners who believe doctors should be able to end a life3: percentage of GPs who have helped patients to die3,000: British patients were helped to die by doctors in 20041961: The Suicide Act 1961 decriminalised taking one’s own life but made it a crime to aid, abet or counsel another to kill themselves6: The Sixth Commandment is “Thou shalt not kill”. She had a job in marketing and PR.”I used to bomb around the world I had a lot of fun Then I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1995. At first I noticed I was getting tired too quickly and my legs wouldn’t go in the right direction Finally I couldn’t walk. Now my arms are getting tired.”I want to have the law changed, not so that I can die, but so that I can enjoy my life now I will lose the ability to look after myself at some point Crucially, I will also lose the ability to take my own life. Under the current law I would have to make a decision now if I wanted to commit suicide, while I still can.”Anne Turner died before she was ready.
Were the law different she could have stayed in England, where she could have been helped to die To the Government I say, if you value life, change the law. In the autumn l often add some wild mushrooms that l have sweated separately in a pan with a good knob of butter and toss through just before serving.Importers and distributors of Verjuice in the UKCarr Taylor Wines Ltd, tel: 01424 752 501MD Wine – fine South African wines, contact: Dorothee Kirchner, tel: 020 8546 2066, or email dkirchner md-wine Mail order from Kai Kitchen, tel: 0845 157 6654 or 01273 732 981, www.kaikitchen.co.uk. A friend recently asked me about wine courses, having made a New Year’s resolution to learn more about the stuff. I answered, as I always do, that my first choice is WineWise. The man behind WineWise is Michael Schuster, a world-class authority who has written the best introduction to tasting, among other distinguished books. He runs the courses from his home in London, and I don’t know anyone who’s come away from them feeling they’d had anything less than their money’s worth. I’d been thinking about Schuster even before my friend asked about wine courses, because he had recently sent out a list of upcoming courses for 2006.
The ones that caught my eye were the specialised, single-evening sessions focusing on one or two French appellations (eg, C?R? or Puligny- and Chassagne-Montrachet), or a single producer (eg, Trimbach or J J Pr? or a theme (eg, 1995 and 1996 “second” wines from several Bordeaux communes). These tastings all deal with wines of considerable rarity and expense; they’re the sort of stuff you’d have a hard time finding – and an even harder time paying for. Chez Schuster, you get a small taste of each one (nine to 14 wines per session) for prices ranging from £49 to £85.
The most impressive thing about these courses is that the wines all come from Schuster’s own cellar. By buying and holding top wines, Schuster ensures the breadth and depth needed to supply, for instance, vertical tastings of those Burgundies from vintages beginning in 1979 and finishing in 1995.The storage of wine in individual cellars becomes all the more important when you read about the sorry fate that met a wine warehouse in California last year. A deliberately started fire at the Wines Central warehouse in Vallejo, between Napa and San Francisco, destroyed thousands of bottles stored there both by wineries and by private collectors. The fire was centred on the sections of the warehouse housing the costliest wine. What’s worse, the bottles destroyed, which had an estimated value of around £60m, represented the entire stocks from some wineries’ recent production.For example: the excellent Viader winery in Napa lost all of its 2003 production as well as her “library” of the two preceding vintages; while the Saintsbury winery in Carneros, maker of some of California’s best Pinot Noir, lost its entire library of a quarter-century’s production.