Movember hits the Vic

The heart of any pub is the community that it serves and there is an inner strength to any place that attracts a hard core of people who commit themselves to one another and a cause.

There have been many causes that have benefited from that sort of spirit and the latest one to hit the Vic has been the testicular cancer charity and the Movember drive or grow a moustache during November.

The eight chaps below contracted to do just that, grow a 'tache'. All arrived at the end of the month in varying degrees of success. Their hair growing might be erratic but their spirit and generosity is not. Well done men.

The 'Tache" Eight - Photograph by David Armour

Left to Right:

Craig 'Management' Stearn, Danny Ebblewhite, Stephen 'The Landlord' McCormack , Carl Morgan, Andrew 'Handy' McAlpine , Wayne Stubbs , Andrew 'The Chef' Gregory and Tom Lundy raised £108 for testicular cancer.

At last - The Landlord

Quiz – which of the people pictured below is in charge of our local?

Regular readers will know that we have been missing a vital component in the running of a pub, a landlord. You have been introduced to a number of people, so a few more from our cast list might be appropriate in the search for our elusive host.

No. 1

No. 2

Nos. 3 + 4

No. 5

Well, have you guessed?

One of the above is the resident Chef, another an occasional bar person with an inexplicable enthusiasm for Manchester United and colourful description. One has already been identified elsewhere as 'management'. That leaves a lady and the landlord, have you got it?

The answers are of course:

1. Andy from Manchester

2. Andy the chef

3. Management

4. Paula

5. Steve

And our landlord is N0. 5 - Steve.

Steve's return has presaged a new age in customer cosseting.Not before time, some might say but the upholsterers have arrived. We are being treated to a recovering of the furniture. And that's not all, when we arrive we are surprised to sit and find dishes of nuts on the table. Is Steve trying to reintroduce himself after a summer of absence or are we entering a new age of customer comfort?

With all of this activity it would be easy to forget why we congregate. And this week was as interesting as usual. One gem of a discussion centred on the inevitable path towards extinction. This arose after someone talked about the impact of pet death in a family or household. It developed into an interesting theory. Get pets that outlive you so that when you pass they can have the pleasure of devouring you, thereby saving the expenditure of a funeral and contributing to the cause of recycling.

This last idea, because it was hers, gives me the opportunity to introduce Jeannette, a young woman with some very distinctive thinking along with a very real interest in people and community.

Jeannette

Let me leave you with another interesting question that is puzzling the company. We've all heard about the Christmas Truce where World War 1 combatants left their trenches to engage in a game of footy. England v. Germany. But we never hear who won? We need to know. An even bigger question, did it go to penalties? Any information with regard to these matters would be gratefully received.

Still Searching for a Landlord

Still no sign of the landlord but we’re always pleased to have Hannah behind the bar to look after us. She not only brings skill in creating half and half but has such a pleasant disposition that it is always a delight to see her happy face as we enter the Bar. Another of her skills is in the use of language and last week she reintroduced a word that has fallen into disuse – SWISH.

How did this word emerge in our conversation? Well apparently there had been some chat in a previous session about the wearing of waistcoats and only Bill had remembered it and turned up with a very decorative example – it was duly dubbed as SWISH by Hannah. Sartorial elegance is alive and well in the Victoria Gardens.

Happy Hannah

Waistcoat of the Day - How SWISH is that?

This of course rapidly developed into a wide ranging conversation about clothing. One strand of this grew out of the images on Bill's waistcoat and ran to comparisons of the trouser length chosen by Brits as opposed to Americans who seem oblivious to the maxim that trouser must meet shoe. As an example Stan Getz and his style was mentioned, at the other end of the company a request was made as to who had just used an expletive to describe the Americans. Not everyone in the group follows the great music form of Jazz.

Still on the clothing theme, Dave who has always been meticulous in his appearance told a good story about a friend who was visiting the North East and who went clothes shopping with him. On entering one gent’s outfitters he was introduced to an assistant who was working there as a second job. When Dave informed him that the assistant’s main occupation was as a plumber the visitor became convinced that this was a common practice in the North East and spent the rest of the trip enquiring as to the main employment of all gents’ clothes shop assistants.

Hot news, there has been an official sighting of the landlord, albeit too late for inclusion in this bulletin. Interestingly he had returned with a gift for ‘Manager in his absence’, Craig. The gift was clothing and became a spirited part of the discussion. It was one of the popular designer branded garments – the logo reading Hollister. This caused great merriment in the meeting as we were informed by our resident pharmacist that this is the brand name of the biggest suppliers of colostomy bags and incontinence pants in the UK. Interesting choice of product to be advertising!

Where is the Landlord?

The call over the summer has been, "Where is the Landlord?" and last week this was becoming a cause for concern as the latest rumour had himself and his fiancee in New York with the latest hurricane heading in that direction.

Still life goes on in the Vic and it's about time we introduced another couple of regulars from our Friday gatherings.

The first of these is Rodney who really enjoys a bottle of wine, often shared with his wife Anne when they appear as a couple. He also knows what he's talking about when wine is on the agenda. However, on Fridays he flies solo with the rest of 'The Old Farts' as Anne describes us, and takes a pint or two of the local ale. Rodney is retired from his post office business.

The recent road trip gave Nick and myself the opportunity to investigate a wider that usual range of wine and it has been a pleasure revisited to have good wine chat. A bottle of Crozes Hermitage drunk in Lyon was my recent highlight.

Rodney

Next up is Kenny, a live wire conversationalist always up to date with the whole gamut of the latest news issues and keen to start up conversational investigation of them. Ally that to a healthy sense of humour and there is little chance of the chat flagging. Kenny is a retired engineer.

Kenny

Recent topics for discussion have centred around some of those issues where the life experience of 'Old Farts' has seen massive changes. Just think Telephone. Most of us brought up when telephones were a rarity in private homes cannot help but marvel at the technology available to the youth of today as well as to us at the other end of the age spectrum.

Apprenticeships were part of the education of many in our group and the disappearance of those sort of opportunities has exercised us for some years. The more recent apparent availability of these has had much discussion.

Another regular feature of the week is the arrival of John with his latest batch of home cooked provender. What a great hobby he has adopted? This week saw the production of his superb loaves, great buns and the exquisite pate that is his signature dish. Looking forward to the next baking day.

Debriefing – August 19th

It’s Friday once again and on this one it’s back to mission control at the Vic, having flown back to England yesterday. Nick is staying on in Spain for a few more weeks so it was left to me to report on the recent excursion.

One of the joys of travel is the fund of stories that one returns with and this trip was no exception. The promptings of the assembled group brought back a flood of memories from the last three weeks. And what memories they were, beautiful architecture, fascinating cities, good food, good music but most of all good conversation and comradeship. It is these last two that are the basis of our usual gatherings.

The afternoon’s proceedings afford the opportunity for the group to interrogate me about the detail of the recent road trip. As usual the discussion ranged far and wide, one highlight being a vigorous exchange of views relating to the rights or wrongs of the links between our judicial system and the European courts.

The impending local derby was the subject of much speculation. It can’t be another disappointment can it?

A quick phone call to Nick in Spain to check on the weather cheered us up.

There’s still no sign of the landlord and rumours as to his whereabouts on the North American land mass abound. Fortunately we still have Craig looking after our every need.

Pasties, Pints and Points (APOLOGY)

A quick check on the site has revealed that operational idiosyncrasies have failed to publish the odd report. The following falls into that category. The management would like to deny any rumour associated with the consumption of alcoholic beverages but would acknowledge the possibility that worrying about the new football season may have been a distraction.

The weekend approached and thoughts turned to the impending start of the season for the Lads. The big job was to ensure that we had the technology organised so that we could view the proceedings at Anfield. Nick had packed a variety of cables that could connect computers to televisions, and do so at a distance so that everything didn’t have to be situated in one spot. Good forward planning. Once the connections had been established the problem then was one of finding a decent feed from the Internet. Having found a Doug advised web site we had the luxury of being able to follow the remarkable events at Edgbaston. This gave us the confidence that come match day all would be well.

But that’s all jumping ahead. Before Saturday comes Friday and naturally thoughts turn to what might be happening back at mission control at the Vic. So we poured the first drinks at 2.00 p.m., just like home. The temperatures here are not currently conducive to anything energetic so lazing with liquid accompaniment is suiting everybody. The latest version of half and half being Spanish lager with the addition of a dash of ginger ale. Refreshing and apparently a favourite tipple amongst mariners.

A restless evening followed with much speculation as to tem selection and prospects for the morrow. One interesting diversion came when mention was made of traditional treats like corned beef and potato pie. Great match day food. The thoughts turned to Irene’s pasties. Sheila then made the rash offer that she might knock up a pie if we could find some corned beef and a few other ingredients.

This last suggestion made for good displacement activity on the following morning as we suffered our usual Pre Match Tension. A frustrating shopping expedition, discovering that corned beef was not common on the shelves of Spanish shops, led us to one of those businesses that cater to tourist visitors and their longing for the comforts of home. A real guilty purchase. Sheila set to and we made our final preparations by lunching on Pasties and Pints.

Pasties and Pints

What a joy to witness the growing confidence of the Lads in the second half and what a magnificent strike to halve the points. A creditable start to the season.

A short walk to the centre of the development where the fiesta was taking place to mill with the crowds, view the stalls, ride camels and learn how to belly dance. A little easier for some of us than others.

Another couple of great days at Alhama. Local Jumilla and Torres 10 to conclude the day’s events.

Local transport

Our dancing teacher

Food, Fun and Days Out

I'd hate to think that our readers got the notion that we have some sort of obsession with food and drink but it does consume a deal of our thinking time and day to day activity. So this post begins with the bottle mentioned at the end of the last page. How about good burgundy with corned beef pie?

Burgundy and Corned Beef

Of course part of the joy of catering for oneself in Southern Europe is the ease of access to incredibly fresh ingredients, all of which are of high quality particularly in the taste stakes. It doesn't take any encouragement to head out to the local market at Puerto de Mazarron to select the constituents of the evening meal.
The Market

Just stopped flapping around

Unfortunately for your author, his friend and his wife have a strange predilection for exploring shops that sell a vast range of goods at very cheap prices, the Spanish equivalent of the Pound Shop but on a much bigger scale. There they go again.

The only thing missing was a potato masher

Whilst most of our eating has been in house the restaurant below is worth a mention. A glorious four course meal for the price of €10 was a revelation. Meats, squid, sardines then the Murcian version of bread and butter pudding made for a filling and taste filled repast.

Antipodas - La Azohia

But you can't go to the seaside without testing the sea.

Post lunch plodging

The end of each day is the time for settling down with coffee and brandy and for those of you who haven't tried it can we recommend a Spanish version of the drink. All of us have developed a real taste for Torres 10 year old. As a previous visitor with Nick says, it's the nearest you will get to decent Armagnac without it being the real thing. And for €9, it is some bargain.

Time for bed