A place to have a chat.

Kev, London is great for a few days when it’s really busy but i then need to get away … seen the Christmas lights a few years ago and they were magic. Maybe well get up there next Christmas to see them…

The pubs and restaurants in London are rammed this time of year aren’t they. We’ve been to Dublin a few times and one of our favorite bars has a guy standing on the bar taking orders from the back. Basically as it’s too crowded to get to the bar. Once you’ve got his attention he'll pass your order through the crowd to you . Then you pass some money onto the guy next to you and it goes up to the barman and you get your change shortly after , again handed to you by the guy next to you ..  seems bizarre but it worked really well. Loads of the bars have live Irish music in too which is amazing.

Im hankering after taking the missus to a real nice Christmas market. We’ve tried Bath, Cheltenham and some others but they were a bit of a let down. Ive also been to Cologne Christmas market a few times as i worked there back in ‘78 and then more recently when my office had their Christmas parties 🤢. Nice market but i looked for a more likelyhood of snow ….

So come up with Krakow …. Looks lovely and fairly easy to get to from Luton. And they usually get snow in December. So just got to persuade the missus now and she’s got to manage to get the first week of December off which is generally a No No…

I think we need these things to look forward to rather than just surviving for another year, month, day whatever…..

Anyways, take care guys, look after yourselves and keep strong 😎

Phil

I remember that other scene from Crocodile Dundee..

"That's not a knife. This is a knife."

Hey Phil, what happens when they spill your pint passing it from the bar?

Cheers, 

P.S. Bit wet and windy out there today. Careful you don't get blown off if you're outside putting lights up.

Kev.

Hi Phil,

The highlight of my year today. The Club's OAP Xmas party!

Doors open at 1630 hrs, buffet open half an hour later. The Geriatics are playing live, there's bingo during the interlude.

It'll be grand. Everyone will be wearing Xmas jumpers and party hats and moaning about how the sausage rolls aren't as good as last year. Usually some old cantankerous git starts arguing with a committee member that it isn't value for money. Despite tickets only costing six quid,  which includes two free pints.

I can't wait. 😁

It's so bad, that weirdly, it becomes very entertaining. It is the sort of do, that Peter Kay could base an hour of his stand up on. 😁

Edited by member 10 Dec 2024 at 09:42  | Reason: Not specified

Oh you’ve been busy Kev. Still need to get the outside lights up as it’s been so wet and windy. I’m writing cards right now . Always late with them …! 

Our oldest doesn’t get here till Boxing Day evening so our family get together will be on 28th … Wife’s Brother and partner down from oop Norf that day too. Just MiL and me and the missus for Christmas Day as youngest and his missus are with her family this year. That’s ok she’s staying over so we can have a drink. We were in Jersey last year for Christmas. 

Where are you jetting off to ? I’m right jealous 🤣… Have a brill time 👍

Phil

Enjoy yourself Adrian. Maybe they could rent out a put u up bed to sleep off a couple of jars over the top 💤 . 

Phil

Hi Chaps,

Just chipping in with a bit of banter. Its nearly Christmas! 🎄 Should be getting excited 😬.

I did do my bit at home by untangling some outdoor lights and jazzing up the shed with them - very festive.

And I've got the nearest thing that I'm going to get to a 'Works Christmas Do' coming up on Friday, when I'm meeting up with some old old ex-colleagues. Should be good to have a few beers and a gossip. TBH though I think I like the sound of your party Adrian in your club better than this, but we'll see.

It doesn't feel very Christmassy yet for me, probably very much a sign of me getting older. One thing I do miss is Christmas carols, not that I'm religious in anyway. You just don't hear them these days, or if you do they have different unknown tunes. When you look back, you realise that we used to get them drummed into our heads daily in school assemblies, which I don't think they do these days, just in case it offends some people. Also, back in the old days, when I used to work at Yorkshire Water in Bradford, on leaving work to walk across town to the car they would play carols on the Town Hall Bells, it was fabulous, it really put a spring in your step and added greatly to the festive mood. Mind you, part of the then Christmas work celebrations was an all day bender around town, for the office blokes only and the condition was that you had to be back in work the next day with your sore head. I wonder how many peoples water bills were worked out incorrectly on those hungover days?

And here's a subject - 'favourite Christmas songs'. Mine is quite a boring but obvious choice - Slade, 'Merry Christmas Everybody'. That's because I saw them in December 1980 at Leicester University, it was aired on Radio 1 with Mike Reid. One of the very best nights of my life, Noddy kept asking what we all wanted to hear and everybody shouting for 'Merry Christmas', they must have played it about 5 times - brilliant 😂.

Phil did you ever have the pleasure of seeing Southend play Bradford City at any time? Roots Hall a bit too far down south for me. I guess, that given where Southend currently are, and just like at Bradford City, watching them these days is probably on a par with painful effects of prostap hell.

And as everybody is talking about holidays already! I've got something special lined up, planning on busting the retirement pot to fly out to see son no 2 in Japan and doing a bit of sight seeing on the bullet trains. Bonzai! karaoke!  Shogun!

Jingle all the way chaps!

Spongebob

favorite bottled ale ? , any of the Fuller's range for me .