Jimmy “No Bellies” Gardner
Today one of the competitors in the Great North Run is Paul Gascoigne’s old drinking mate Jimmy “Five Bellies” Gardner.
Except that he’s slimmed from twenty-one stone to thirteen and now goes by the nickname of “No Bellies” according to The Sun.
Let’s hope he keeps to his new lifestyle!
Walking from Holywell near Newquay
These pictures were taken whilst walking from Holywell near Newquay.
Halfway round the walk, we stopped at the Bowgie Inn, where I sampled some Rattler Cloudy Cornish Cyder, spelt like Aspall with a “y”. It’s good to see another proper draught cyder.
How to Encourage Binge Drinking
This story from the Telegraph shows how those in charge of the nanny state haven’t a clue.
The “app”, which measures drinks in alcoholic units, has sparked something of a craze among drinkers to get the highest score.
The NHS drinks tracker was launched at the start of December and is designed to help people avoid overindulging.
It works by converting drinks into units to show drinkers when they have gone over the recommended daily limit.
But within days of the tracker being released it was being described on the internet as an “awesome game” and users were boasting about trying to beat their “top score”.
If you produce a drink-o-meter for an iPhone, you could have bet your life that people will attempt to create a record score. Someone should be fired for being stupid. But I doubt they will be.
White Horse, Brancaster Staithe
My late wife and I ate several times at this pub on the North Norfolk Coast.
Today, I had to visit a friend in the area and we had lunch in the restaurant. For a bad day in October, that was cold and looked to be turning wet, the restaurant was full. Perhaps it was more a day for eating and drinking rather than walking.
I said that I was a coeliac and I was told that everything on the menu was either naturally gluten-free or could be modified.
So I had salmon and potato fishcakes. I can’t remember the last time I had any decent fishcakes.
With a pint of Aspall‘s cyder as well.
Heaven!
Note that the group also have a similar and equally good pub called the Fox at Willian. This is useful as it is close to junction 9 of the A1(M). It’s so much better than the Service Area a few kilomtres to the north.
How to Run a Pub
My late wife and I used to eat regularly in the Beehive at Horringer, near to Bury St. Edmunds. I always remember Gary being one of the first landlords who took down his cigarette machine and banned smoking, a few years before it became mandatory. But it was also a pub that had a good food offering, excellent wine and if you drank it, the beer was as it should be.
But over the last few years, I have had one problem with the pub. As it was a tied Greene King pub, the cider offering was undrinkable.
But they have now decided to remedy that!
They are moving to the White Horse at Whepstead. And the cyder will be Aspalls. No-one should be allowed to die without having a pint of that first!
Now the Kingshotts must have done more than a lot right, as they have run the Beehive for more years than I have been in this part of Suffolk, but it never amazes me how some people think they know better.
I’ve just heard of a story in another part of the country, where someone with little experience of the licenced trade has taken over the village pub. The first thing they have done is annoy all of the locals, some of whom have drunk in the hostelry for many years. That attitude will see the For Sale or To Let sign up again in the coming months.
But I shall be trying out the Kingshott’s new pub in Whepstead.
The Oldham Solution to Binge Drinking
Oldham has brought in fairly draconian proposals to stop binge drinking.
You have to queue “Post Office” style for your drinks, there seem to be masses of extra staff and even police paid for by the bars. Panorama is doing a program tonight. But one landlord feels he is being tarred with same brush and has successfully appealed against the council.
I am all for cutting down the binge drinking, but feel that if only Oldham does this, then those that just want to drink to oblivion will go elsewhere. This may put the problem into other towns and also cause problems on the roads and public transport.
I always remember in the 1960s, that Ipswich closed the pubs at 10:30 and Suffolk at 11:00, so there was always problems as drinkers finished in Ipswich and continued in Suffolk. When the two authorities brought things into line, everything was much calmer and there was a lot less drinking and driving.
We actually need a law, which says that alcohol must be sold at a minimum price per unit in every outlet. But even this needs to be applied very carefully, as otherwise alcohol will be bootlegged and organised crime will get involved. Perhaps, the value per unit would not be fixed in law, but applied so as to minimise illegal alcohol sales.
But we will only get a solution to the binge drinking problem, when people wake up to the fact that there are better things to do.
I also think of “Education, education, education!”
Where have I heard that before?
Will I be visiting Olham for a drink? I don’t think so, as it would appear that the town is not to my liking. I’ve also checked the guides and there isn’t a decent restaurant in the place! And I suspect no-one has heard of gluten! After all, if you can’t drink beer, you can’t be a real man!
The Anonymous Widower 