Weekday Drinking

I have just read that a few people whom I know have developed a scheme to avoid alcohol for five nights a week. Presumably, they avoid waking up with hangovers to carry in to their work. Gosh, I admire these people. I'd find it very hard to go a whole five days without at least a little tipple:for me it would be the whole nine yards; five nights stretched out to one thousand and one and only desert in view and no Sheherazada to soften the length of them. Today's picture features two Martinis awaiting consumption in Alessandro Palazzi's bar in Dukes Hotel, St James's. Alessandro is probably one of the best bar managers in the world and oversaw my 'drinks' section in History of Men's Accessories. However, his current receipt for the Vesper Martini includes: Berry's No 3 Gin; Potocki Polish Vodka; Angostrura Bitters, and Lillet Blanc. Whether or not Krystyna Skarbeka (Christine Granville) really was the inspiration for Ian Fleming characters Vesper Lynd and Tatiana Romanova, this heroine is nicely remembered in her own right anyway in the use of the Polish Vodka. Well done, Alessandro Palazzi.