A fine place for a quick meal when you can’t be bothered to cook, a fine place for a low-key celebration, a fine place when the plumbing’s packed up .. especially if you live within walking distance.. Well, that’s it. Holiday memories have faded, along with the tan and the duty-free bottles. By this time in September, unless the weather’s unusually warm, autumnal thoughts have displaced the summery kind, and some of us will even have started thinking – shudder, groan – about Christmas.

One way to dispel this season’s ennui is to make plans for attendance at the International Scotch Whisky Festival from 27 October to 2 November There are two venues, Speyside and Edinburgh. In Edinburgh the main spot is the Assembly Rooms, George Street, where a pounds 3 daily ticket will win you access to tastings and other pleasant diversions. On Speyside there are talks, tastings, tours etc at a number of the area’s distilleries. Tickets went on sale for the Edinburgh events in August, Speyside tickets at the beginning of this month, so you’d better get in there if the idea appeals.

For more information, ring the Edinburgh & Scotland Information Centre on 0131 557 1700.
Incidentally, visitors to Speyside who want further guidance can do a whole lot worse than buy a copy of The Whisky Trails by the late Gordon Brown (Prion, pounds 12.99), a well-illustrated guide to Scotland’s distilleries. The emphasis is on the places rather than the drinks, making the book ideal both for travellers and for armchair enthusiasts.For wine-drinkers whose glass needs filling immediately, Sainsbury’s Mendoza Torrontes (pounds 3.39) will recall the summery feeling very nicely: Pinot Gris-like nose, light and crisp with decent acidity and pleasant appley fruit. Or try a 100 per cent Tempranillo from Booth’s with the un-Spanish name Scraping the Barrel – fuller on nose and palate but with a fresh, exuberant mouth-feel for pounds 3.49. Speaking of good prices, the Coopers Creek Sauvignon Blanc 1996 whose praises I sang recently is reduced to pounds 5.49 (from pounds 7.49) at Somerfield until 7 October; this is a steal.Perhaps the best drink of all for these shorter, colder days is something that tastes of warmer, exotic climes. The ideas that spring to my mind come from a brand-new book, Tiger Lily Street Food, by Rani King and Chandra Khan (Piatkus, pounds 14.99).