As mentioned in my last post friend Adrian has bought a boat and the proud owner, his brother Kevin and myself moved her from Leighton Buggered to Marsworth prior to coming up to Cow Roast after the Boaters' Christmas Party at the Red Lion at the beginning of December. He is waiting on a vacancy in the marina.
Grove Lock -Ady's first as Skipper of Moorhen
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| Leaving Maffers 2 |
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| A Glass of Bubbly to celebrate-Cheers Ady |
Mind you he wont be doing much boating for the next fortnight as friend Claudia is visiting from Chicago and they have a very busy syllabus......Welcome Claudia -have a great time.
and here are 6 more silly buses
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Some ratbag stole my Number plates!
Who would do such a thing in broad daylight as to cause inconvenience (and expense) for the sake and risk of two number plates with no significance.
(Is there such a thing as narrow daylight? Discuss)
Bastards.
I rang the police to report it. Apparently the popular scam is to nick the number plates, fix them on their own vehicle-or a stolen one- fill up at the petrol station, drive off without paying and then throw the plates away. They took all the details and issued a crime number; rang me a couple of days later to say no crimes had been reported and to enquire if I needed the services of Victim Support. I said I was happy with the surgical one I was wearing but should that fail or the Govt demand its returnto the truss bank I would be in touch
I didn't but I wouldn't mind finding the ratbags and getting the 30 quid for replacements.
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It's a bad week in the matter of pubs. My two locals, The Cow Roast and The Lamb are in crisis.
Phil the landlord of the Lamb is leaving which is sad for me as we are good friends and I'm sorry to see this successful landlord somewhat broken in spirit. No doubt as in all matters there are more complex reasons but the common factor in both pubs is the dreaded Punch Taverns with their record of high rents, restrictive practices and lack of maintenance. In my opinion they are not interested in encouraging their pubs to develop but solely in copping the rent and when that runs out redeveloping the site.
I'm presuming the Lamb will reopen with a new landlord-I just hope the poor sod has a good solicitor.
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| Phil and I at opposite ends on a brewery tour |
The Cowroast fortunes have been up and down-mainly down for a few years now and it has closed. Rumours abound as to its future but the ugly steel shutters suggest an air of Toxtethicity (my new word) made even worse by the fact that the BMW garage opposite who used to park staff cars behind the pub are now parking in front. All very sad and does nothing for the streetscene.
The site is scheduled as an Ancient Monument under the protection of English Heritage and is designated as a Roman town so redevelopment will be difficult.
http://www.dacorumheritage.org.uk/article/cow-roast-dig/
It occurred to me the other night that I have been using the Cowroast Inn for about a week less than Mugabe was ruling Zimbabwe. (Since 1979)There is no truth in the rumour he is to become a Director of Punch Taverns.
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I was sad to learn of the passing of Antonio Carluccio-he was one of the good guys. We met him once and he was a charming fellow. I read that he suffered what Churchill called The Black Dog and I know what that's like.
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The diary is beginning to fill up as Christmas approaches-in fact the unwritten Wall's Law is that the Days of December fill up in inverse proportion to the speed at which the bank balance empties.
There-it's no longer unwritten.
The usual rule in the Wall clan is no presents other than for the under 16s and I'm applying that to other friends as well.
Mean old scrote.
Anyway friend Trevor's six eventieth next week and the Boaters' Christmas Party the following weekend. So rock on.
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I'm staying in tonight. I have a very chesty cough and generally feel like I'm on my way out. I went out for a short walk today and was wheezing like a sodding harmonium so I've decided to behave. I have a bottle of beer, half a bottle of wine and a quarter of a bottle of single malt. And a lemon.
For want of sleep I'm a bit zombied. Do you think I should leave the lemon?
No. I'll start with a hot lemon with a tincture of whisky then have beer while I'm cooking, then the wine with my dinner. Ah hang on I've just found a mini bottle of bubbly in the fridge. Hmmm. Breakfast?
The good news is that at 12 midnight I can listen to Test Match Special covering the 2nd day of the first test in Australia. It's great radio though obviously it would be nice to watch our national sport on the Beeb. Sadly that isn't possible since the bitch Thatcher sold that part of our birthright to the Australian/American/whatever dodges the most tax /Murdoch
(The same Govt that set up the likes of Punch Taverns and buggered the pub business)
While I'm in anti government mode I was surprised that the meedjah didn't pick up on Boris when he was making his third apology for the Zaghari-Ratcliffe cock-up and used the phrase "we shall leave no stone unturned" blah blah. Don't give those buggers any ideas about stoning you eedjit.
The fire is roaring and the central heating is running.It's very cold out there and it's snowing ooop north. I just had a text from Carrie to say it's blowing a hooley up in the Orkneys and they're catching a ferry tonight. Look what's on the same ferry!
Bon voyage my friends. See you soon.
And all the best to the rest.
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There should be many contented spirits on board, for such a life is both to travel and stay at home …. and for the bargee, in his floating home, travelling abed, it is merely as if he were listening to another man’s story or turning the leaves of a picture book in which he has no concern”
An Inland Voyage, 1878. Robert Louis Stevenson
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