R's rue

ALCOHOL - THREE New micropub round the corner from our house My drink of preference is beer. I might have a glass of wine with Sunday dinner but mostly it's beer. In our drinks cabinet I have six bottles of whisky (Scottish) and whiskey (Irish). Four of them have never been opened. Months will pass by before I have another shot of that fiery liquid. Though I like it, I can live without it. Nowadays I have at least three alcohol-free days in a normal week. During national  pub closures in the time of  COVID, there was a period of three months when I didn't have a single drop of alcohol. It just didn't appeal to me  any more and I didn't miss it either. I am glad that I  have a more healthy relationship with alcohol than I did in my student days. This is partly down to my wife Shirley who arguably reined me in like a cowgirl training a wild bronco. Decades have passed since I last lost it under the influence of the demon drink. I hardly ever drink in the dayt...

 In my book and in my family Food can often be a metaphor for affection I’m meeting my friend Colin on Friday and he’s a been a bit low as of late.  We are going out for supper. Today I cooked a huge beef stew thickened with left over mash potato. I left it cooking on low for hours, so tonight the meat fell apart as it should for the best comfort food. I’ve plated a bowl up and wrapped it in foil .  I will take it around to Eirlys tomorrow morning. I can’t believe it’s been eight weeks since her husbands funeral. Food is always a good gift when grief is involved . I skimmed a small bowl of gravy from the casserole and let it cool on the garden wall  before taking it up to Albert who has been under the weather today . He finished the lot  I was going out to a forensic talk on serial killers in llandudno tonight but couldn’t justify the 30 quid ticket cost ! Having said that I bought a pair of wellies and a reduced priced jug from Sainsbury’s this af...

 What is on your heart? What is making you smile? What are you making? Last thing you bought? Last book you read? from R's rue https://ift.tt/2J0CWmN

  Last night, as I was driving home after college I listened to a little gem of a radio programme on radio 4 Set in a northern city school  File On Four learning to survive  , was a gentle, but honest look of how an inner city school deals with a population ravaged by the financial crisis . One sequence, had me geared up at  Bluebell’s  wheel  It was the moment the school organised a  “day in pyjamas”  The children and staff all turned up in nightware, which was not just a bit of fun , but a crafty way for the senior teacher to see which children needed a proper fitting set of pyjamas later in the year. “ Of course we provide the new Pj’s “  she added “; but only after they won them in a raffle”  And it was that lie that really broke my heart just a little . What a wonderful head teacher What a fantastic bit of documentary radio and What a lesson learned  from Going Gently https://ift.tt/jT6s71N