I was up early this morning and decided to watch the Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small. Mike and Abbie were also up early and, after showering, left to spend the day with Abbie's Dad.
Once Sophie was up, we enjoyed bacon and tomatoes for breakfast and looked forward to chilling out for the rest of the day, with a walk planned to visit our local pub this afternoon. It was great to relax and pootle about, eating some chocolates and watching television. The weather was cold and sunny but tomorrow Storm Gerrit will affect the north of England and Scotland, with rain and strong winds forecast.
At about 3pm, we set off for the pub and had a lovely walk to the village. It certainly blew the cobwebs away! The pub was busy, with people lingering after lunchtime meals and standing at the bar with drinks. Almost everyone had a dog with them!
We found a table next to the bar and Matthew, the manager, greeted us warmly. Sophie and I enjoyed half a Guinness each, while Keith had a pint of IPA. I'd recognised our "new" (not so new now, I suppose) neighbour's car parked outside so I kept a look out for them. Apart from parcelgate, we have barely spoken to them since they arrived last December, and I have never spoken to the woman, or even seen her properly.
Keith, Sophie and I had a lovely chat and thoroughly dissected Christmas! As we were talking, our neighbours came to the bar but we didn't speak, even though I'm sure they knew who we were! I just thought it was such a shame we don't know each other properly, and I sorely miss the old days when we were so sociable with our neighbours!
We had another drink and the pub began to empty out. Another neighbour, Sonal, came in with her family and we had a chat, before drinking up and walking home. The sky wasn't totally black and the stars were out, with an almost full moon.
Back home, we carried on with the beer theme and tried out some more of Vikesh's stouts and porters. Sophie wasn't keen on a couple of them, but Keith and I enjoyed some of the nuttier, smokier bottles.
Dinner tonight was, of course, bubble and squeak and cold turkey, supplemented by some more sausages. Sophie had chopped all the leftovers up this morning and I baked them in the oven so the vegetables, pigs in blankets and Yorkshire puddings were crispy. As always, it was almost better than the main meal yesterday!
I still have four whiskies to try and haven't sampled them yet as I've mostly been drinking wine over the last few days. I will save them up for New Year's Eve perhaps!
No comments:
Post a Comment