The Next Generation

 About 10 days ago, I'd arranged an "awayday" or, planning session, for the team of folk that will be responsible for delivering the bulk of our work for the next year.

It was seriously hard to find a place that was affordable, easy to get to, and allowed for a decent lunch break in the middle of the day.

Also, I really didn't want the meeting itself to be in a pub - somehow, it didn't give the right sort of vibe for me.  There was more than one joke about this - I'm cool with it.

The whole team have a tendency towards introversion and so rather than force a communal lunch on people who had already been cooped up in a room together I suggested I'd be going to the only place nearby that would do an OK lunch - The Marine pub.  I said anyone was welcome to join me.

So...we all went to the pub together.

It's a pub of last resort for me but the service was lovely, the food good and not too expensive and there was a beer option for anyone who wanted it (sparkling water for me).

At the end of the meeting around 4pm I had planned to meet the Best Beer Buddy for a de-compressing quiet beer somewhere.  However, the team had other ideas.  It would have been churlish to say no, so we all (bar one who was knackered) walked around to Beerarama and BBB met us there.

It was jolly and collegiate and everything you want from an after-work beer, to be honest.  It was particularly nice to see the younger members of the group trying different things - and a more accustomed cider drinker trying an NEIPA, declaring delicious and switching to it on the next round.

Then this week, we were planning to meet a pal (and founder of TechResort) for a drink and a chat and because he commutes via train, we agreed to meet in Ninkasi.  We walked in to find not only him - but two of the "Elves" (as we call them).  Initially a bit bemused because we thought they must have come together, we learned that the Elves had been in the bar when A arrived so we ended up drinking beer together for a couple of hours.

I'm hopeful that a love of beer and some of the good places to drink it isn't my most important legacy with the young people of Eastbourne but it's kinda nice to know that good independent bars in the town get regular support from the youngsters who grew up there.  It's their trade that will sustain the places into the future.