Big Day Done

 I'm really not up for making a big fuss around this time of year - for lots of reasons I just don't really get it.

I think that gets on my wick most of all is the incessant advertisement, articles and lord knows what that happens from October onwards.  Oddly, though, this year I've felt the pressure less than usual.

We've done our usual pub trips - Barley Mow, Moor, Volly, Small Bar and - in a special effort - the Arbor Brewery Tap.  The Volly was weird - in that when we arrived there was loads of interesting beer on the board but after the second one, they'd almost all gone off.  Still we enjoyed the saunter around there and took film cameras with us.   We popped over the road to Small Bar and had an imperial stout instead.

We took games to Marthas and enjoyed the lively atmosphere but when we went to the Barley Mow on Thursday to meet a local pal, the place was not only rammed but very noisy - clearly lots of people had been there for much of the day.  Sigh.

We'd picked up cans of beer wherever we could because we knew there would be nowhere open on Christmas Day and the rain (and the prospect of crowds) preventing us venturing out on Christmas Eve, as well.

Most fun trip was to Arbor - simply because the tiny taproom isn't usually open.  There wasn't a huge choice of cans but there were 4 beers on keg (pints/halves only) but hey.  And the walk, which is just over a mile but feels more remote was really pleasant.

So it's Boxing Day and, once again, almost nowhere is open (Volly appears to be but we haven't made firm plans to go out yet) but the world will be getting back to normal as the days start to lengthen noticeably.  

There may be some venturing at some point to avail selves of sales but we'll be keeping things low key.

I'm very lucky that the Best Beer Buddy is generally happy enough to not make too big a deal - our major food nod being batches of sausage rolls and the occasional mince pie.

Quite looking forward to going to the pub when it's relatively quiet now...