From day one, the dog has hated being in, or even near, a car.
We’ve recently discovered, though, that she enjoys tolerates the van.
Car sickness
The Hillbilly Moon Explosion
I’ve always loved making new listening discoveries; there’s nothing better than being overwhelmed by great new music.
Recently, a really nice bloke introduced me to the Hillbilly Moon Explosion. And they’ve since been in my head pretty much non-stop.
Fortunately, I have a large degree of control of Spotify in the pub, so they’re on repeat through the day – at least until one of my colleagues notices.
A good track to start with is My love for evermore (both versions are great).
Today, to vary things a bit, I had around three hours of Prokofiev. Then, when Paul complained, I switched to the Hillbilly Moon Explosion. On repeat, of course. Several hours later, Phil noticed and put some other stuff on.
Wanker
Several years ago, a mate and I set off on an adventure to Holland. A festival in Holland. Arriving in Calais, we decided to buy cheap beer rather than pay Dutch prices.
This involved a lengthy wait for a wine warehouse to open, since we’d arrived at a ridiculously early hour. Which meant we were pretty tired by the time a warehouse opened.
The choice of wine was impressive. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take glass bottles to the festival and only one brand of beer was on sale for a sensible price.
And that brand was Wanka. It was incredibly cheap and only a month or two out of date. Concerned about our schedule and the possibility of illness due to outdated beer, we left the Wanka beer and continued on our way.
We ended up buying overpriced beer from a Lidl in Belgium, shortly before entering Holland. During our time at the festival, we often talked about Wanka beer, wondering whether we could have avoided the medical tent had we purchased out of date beer.
We did have a great time at the festival, despite having to drink overpriced beer.
Tonight, while in our local corner shop, I spotted some cans of Wanka beer. Except it wasn’t. After telling many people over the years about the Wanka near miss, I now realise that tiredness had led to us mis-reading the can lettering in Calais.
So there’s no such thing as Wanka beer.
Day off
Today was a well earned day off, the first in weeks. we drove to Holy Island.
Then to Berwick.
Followed by Seahouses (no pictures) and a random stop-off to let the dog have a pee.
A nice day.
19 mpg
We’ve swapped the car for the van this week. Despite the fact that it’s so expensive to run, we’re enjoying using the van every day.
Pizza
A conversation at work last night somehow ended in the proposal to make a pizza for the dog.
I’d never previously seen her eat so much, so quickly, before. She ate half and would have consumed more had we not removed the other half.
An earlier meal yesterday involved grass.
Salted herring
Bought these three years ago in Belgium. They’re a couple of years out of date and the bag had started to swell up.
I’d never fancied them, but came across them again while in a wine induced foraging state. They’re so nice.
Of course, I may now die.
Bar staff
While the pub can’t open due to the current Covid-19 situation, it’s important that we prepare for our eventual reopening.
Our new barperson in training.
Diseased
Around three weeks ago, I picked up a virus; mostly nausea, fever and a bit of a cough. I didn’t (couldn’t) eat for a week, which left me a little feeble and wobbly afterwards.
Unfortunately, the virus (I’m assuming it’s the same, or a variant of) returned a few days ago. Thankfully, with only minor nausea. I’ve presumed that this is the Coronavirus and that, when well, I’ll be immune and safe to go about my business again. I mean, one would be extremely unlucky to be so unwell and not actually had the virus.
Knowing my luck!
Measures
I’d planned on a day off today, but did have a couple of things to do in the pub first (till stuff and cleaning surfaces). So I walked to work, did what I needed to do, then took a slow walk home. Because the weather was so nice, I walked over to Newcastle and wandered through Ouseburn.
The place was eerily quiet, with very few people running or cycling, although the city centre was still busy-ish. Not that I can criticise others, since I was out too. In my defence, this is my first walk, other than strictly for work, in three weeks.
Anyway, some pictures of places usually teeming with people on a sunny afternoon.
It’s a little tough in the pub business right now.