Beer o’clock

It’s 5:30 on a quiet Thursday

There’s a thing at a place (I’m in stealth mode) that I might be gatecrashing later. I should hear some time around 6pm if I’ve been added to the guest list. Meanwhile I find myself in The Champion of The Thames - the rare kind of Greene King pub that actually has beer from brewers I like, in this instance Oakham.

The Champ is a classic boozer’s boozer. The spattering of clientele seem like part of the furniture. They know each other, of course, time-served die-hard members of the afternoon drinking brigade. It’s 5:30 though so there’s a shift change in progress. The chap who has not stopped talking since I walked in is saying his goodbyes. And now he is gone and it’s like a loud fridge has reached its target temperature and the compressor has cut out.

Come back Talking Bob - it’s too quiet now. All I can hear is the Landlord and an Indian chap talking about setting up a website for the pub. It’s like I’m at work - in at least three different ways. On the plus side, I have managed to upload a photo. On the minus side, it looks like I’ve broken my image selector thing - that’s now on the ‘weekend bugfest’ list. Ah - but - I’m out-of-office this weekend. Off to some place in Norfolk for a lads’ getaway thing. Perhaps I should take my laptop in case there’s fishing. I don’t do fishing. I’m usually far too stressed out to do something that relaxing.