Alcohol as the big bogeyman

 We've been back in Eastbourne for a few weeks and we're already planning our next trip to Bristol.  Work is so busy that the only option is to block out the calendar well in advance to stop us being trapped around appointments.

I'm already excited to go back - so many places to revisit and the prospect that things are getting a little better on the plague front.

Also, we know some places do reduced opening in January - partly as recovery from December but also because so many people do Dry January.  By the beginning of February, pubs will have more confidence about their punters, I reckon.

Anyhow - enough of my excitement.

I go through little phases of being sufficiently irked at news coverage that I feel the urge to grumpily write or tweet something.

So it was the other day.  The shitstorm about parties in No10 during lockdown rumbled on, and on, and on as story after story was uncovered (leaked?).

Then Newsnight did a short feature about the "Boozy Culture of No10" when a load of ex-staffers were rolled out to say how often there was drinking, how much, and so on.  I don't think it's a particularly attractive picture of a government and its staff and I don't think it's a great way for them to behave - but I'm minded to point out (grumpily) that none of that is illegal.

What was illegal about the parties wasn't what was served at them - it was the fact that it happened at all.

Once again "Booze" is being a proxy for wrong-doing.

It pisses me off.

I work really hard for our odd little organisation and more often than not, after a day's work I like to drink beer.  Sometimes it's at a pub or other establishment - sometimes it's at home.

Very occasionally (usually when I go to another town for work) I may have a drink at lunchtime in the spirit of collegiate bonding.  

The brewing and pubbing industry has had a hard enough time without being the scapegoat for a lazy media who know that using the word "boozy" is a dog whistle.  

Stop doing it!

We have a brilliant licensed trade (well, in our small and medium organisations anyhow) and we should be proud of it - not making it the dirty little secret that no one admits to.

Please Stop Telling Me What to Do

 I'm not, it's safe to say, keen on the festive season.

I was telling the Best Beer Buddy the other day why this is - it's not about what he, or other members of my family or friends expect of me specifically, it's about what society generally expects and demonstrates it in the media.

It starts around my birthday in October when, in days of yore, I already start to get uncomfortable about what you're "supposed to do" on your birthday - and how awkward I find it all. By December it reaches a frenzied screech on every advert, every item of social media, EVERYWHERE.

That's three months of "how to do the perfect roast", "how to wrap/choose/whatever the perfect present" coupled with "how are you going to spend your birthday", "what are you doing for Christmas" etc, etc, etc, et bloody cetera.

One of things I love most about the Beer Buddy was the conversation we had in the Victoria in Eastbourne in late October 2010 (yes, it really has stuck in my memory for the sheer relief of it) when he said "do you have plans for Christmas" and I think I just said "I want to run away" - so we ran away to Devon and shared a house for a week.

We walked and went to the pub and played board games and read books.

Thankfully, with no parents or children to take account of and family members happy enough to let us get on with our own thing we mostly do similar things now - but I still feel the pressure of the build up - even if my present-buying and card-writing is pretty minimal now.

If I don't do the social norms I also feel a little guilty for being a curmudgeon.  

Anyhow, the arrival of 1st January starts to mean a reduction in the pressure I feel - and I'm keen to "get back to normal".

Then the other messages start - the ones so keen to see us eat and drink our way in oblivion in December are now urging us to buy healthy things or breaks the habits they were selling us not 10 days ago - it's so...tedious!

So many people so keen to tell us not to drink alcohol, or things with caffeine in, or meat or, <insert prohibition of your choice>. Or, in some ways worse telling us very smugly that they will be following whatever regime to "detox" from Christmas, and that we ought to do likewise otherwise we're killing ourselves or the planet or <insert something else>.

For the record - the only thing we've eaten more of over December is cheese - and that's mostly because of an accidental over-purchase of crackers.

If you want to give something up, or take up the regime of daily Kombuch enemas or whatever - more power to your elbow.  Please, though, for the love of God - stopping telling me to do it too!

Surely it must be time for an amble to the pub now...

Small Act of Kindness

 We knew that most pubs we like going to would not be open on New Years Day.  Fortunately, I'd had the presence of mind to check on the Barley Mow.

We headed out around 4.45 after a very satisfying board game and had a quick look at Moor Brewery Tap - no evidence it was open to visitors - so we swung around the corner to the pub instead.

We ordered a couple of pints and I had a quick chat with the chap behind the bar - the same one who served us the day before.

In the conversation I learned that he was now the bar manager (has been for a couple of months) and the previous one - Harry - was now working in the sales team at the brewery.

There's a planned refit of the kitchen and new food offering planned later in the month.

He also said it had been busy but not mad on NYE, much as he'd expected.  He was glad he hadn't arranged a formal event.

Later on - the boy asked whether we could have keg beers in tulip glasses and he said that was fine but they had hardly any left since they're phasing them out in favour of simpler styles.  On hearing our disappointment, he said we were welcome to keep the glasses we'd had our beer in.

Sad buggers that we are, we were thrilled!  They are now washed and stowed in a cupboard here for use before too long!

Such a small act of kindness from someone can clearly read his customers.

Made my day.