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

Fiesta, Trips and Heat Wave

The weekend fiesta ended with a magnificent firework display to celebrate the fine start to the season made by the Lads. That left us with lots of time on our hands to have a further look around this interesting part of the world. Outings to see fascinating shrines, hill top villages and the work done to restore the town of Lorca devastated by an earthquake earlier in the year.

A steep mountain road leads up to a summit interspersed with statues depicting the fourteen Stations of the Cross, or the events leading up to the death of Jesus.

These are to be found at La Santa above the town of Totana.

Statue of Christ - La Santa

Master of all he surveys

A view from the summit beneath the Christ statue had us spotting a small hill top village and fort that obviously needed to be investigated. Narrow streets, impatient natives and tempers worn by the heat contributed to our first real driver abuse at anything other than the Tom Tom Tart. Fortunately the recipients of said abuse quickly recognised that they were faced with VGLPS members on tour and decided that in the verbal or any other kind of joust they would probably fall short so they scuttled off in a cloud of dust.

Tower - Aledo

It was a very attractive village and on the way out we spotted a small shack with a large covered area outside that was clearly being used as a club house or bar, so we pulled up. There sitting out, engaged in the most vigorous debate were the members of Aledo’s Literary and Philosophical Society. We felt as if we’d come home.

Aledo

We were keen to visit Lorca. Nick had been there earlier in the year and he was interested to view the developments since his last visit, about six weeks ago. Whilst there is still an abundance of evidence of the carnage wrought by the earthquake there is a huge amount of progress that has been made. Building facades that had disappeared have been restored and most remarkable of all is the restoration of the church that whilst not finished is well on the way to being repaired.

Church - Lorca

Church - Lorca

Earthquake damage - Lorca

Corned Beef Pie works for me

An interesting aside, the day we went to Lorca was a feast day and that meant that everything else closed as it had been the day before, a Sunday. Can any of us who live in England remember when that would have been the case at home? Some people still value their traditional leisure and family time and are not slaves to the commercial juggernaut that governs the high streets of so many other countries.

Tuesday started early as we’d decided to drive down to Cartagena. Within a couple of miles of leaving home Nick noticed a warning light on the dash board. None of us could recognise the particular symbol and so we stopped to investigate. Panic began to set in as we wrestled with one of the down sides of buying a Spanish registered vehicle, the handbook is in Spanish. At this point Sheila came to the rescue and remembered that the bank teller who’d dealt with her last week, was an excellent linguist, so off she went with the hand book to consult him. Armed with the essential information that we were being told to consult someone with expertise because there was a problem with the engine we then had the problem of finding both a qualified person and also one who could converse with we inadequate linguists. As luck would have it Nick approached a chap who turned out to be English and was given directions to a garage run by a couple of English people at about seven miles distant. We decided to risk it and on arrival were welcomed and the car was hitched up to a diagnostic computer and the reason for the warning was explained to us. The best bit of the explanation being the news that we weren’t in imminent danger of losing any vehicular functionality. A real treasure of a find.

Onward to Cartagena and visits to harbours, castles and roman ruins as well as pleasant bars and cafes before heading home over the mountains to face a good bottle of burgundy. Nick has signed up for Spanish language classes.

Ruins Cartagena

Amphitheatre

Main Square Cartagena

Enjoying Nick's Estate

Sleep was not a problem but waking was. The initial plan of an early start and taking breakfast on the road was shelved as solids were required before daring to get behind the wheel. A long day lay ahead. It gave us lots of time to reflect on the experiences of the previous week

Hot, sweaty and tiring was the journey but we arrived at our final destination in good time to do a quick shop and settle into Nick’s lovely apartment in Condado de Alhama. The next job was to get organised before Sheila’s arrival the following day.

View along the golf course Condado de Alhama

Once we left the airport with Sheila we began our routine. In the very hot conditions life slows to a sensible pace. In a country like this the access to loads of fresh local grown produce is a treat. Fruit, vegetables, fish and meat in the local markets are of a fine quality and full of the taste that we older persons remember from our youth.

The other joy is the availability of good local wine at ridiculously low prices. In fact the cost of the local Jumilla at the market bodega is just over €1 per litre, less than the price of a litre of beer and that is cheap. When you pay something near to £3 a pint for Amstel think of the poor émigrés stuck here paying €1.10 per litre in Southern Spain. Our daily shopping run for provisions seems to always include a few litres of reasonably priced liquids.

But the trick below is a clever one. Water into Wine.

Water into Wine

Nick has a number of good friends and acquaintances on the site and as always pleasurable company makes for pleasant days.

Good company

Another part of the daily routine has been to release the inner chef from Mick. It is part of the evening organisation that he dons the bandana toque and sweats over a hot stove.

Chef de cuisine

Lots to see in the area and the fascinating sculptures below at Bolnuevo are just one of the sights that are worth a visit.

Sandstone sculpture Bolnuevo

More sculpture Bolnuevo

Nick gave Mick and Sheila some interesting directions for a trip out. Out along the coast. After negotiating the hairiest dirt tracks they came upon the sight below. You may not be able to see clearly but it is a nudist beach and the steward's enquiry commenced on return to the apartment.
Spot the nudie

Another facet of life in Spain is the joy in creating a fiesta for any and all reasons. Awoken by the sound of music the weekend of fun and feasting begins.

Band inviting people to the fiesta

Godfather Gemmeken

Relaxation has become the watchword for this phase of the trip and it is good each evening to have a relaxed meal and watch the sun go down.

Sunset over Condado de Alhama

Friday Meeting of VGLPS

Shower head from another planet

The next day was Friday and our readers will remember that Friday is a special day for Society members. Two o’clock is the time we convene and having made the short trip down to Barcelona we were intent on recreating our Friday meeting in Spain. How about that for a plan?

Describing the nightmare of driving in Barcelona obeying the senseless commands of the harridan in the box is an impossibility. Think of the most frightening fairground experience, remove any safety restraints and multiply the speed and you might get a glimpse of the dangers.

My apologies for the digression. Friday should be about the ordering of half and half and getting down to the business of the week’s discourse. Thereupon we hit a problem what might constitute a suitable substitute for half and half in Spain? Eventually we lit upon the notion of alternating German wheat beer with Spanish lager. The nearest we could get to our preferred pint. At this point it should be mentioned that the pouring of half and half is an art and in our area is one that is fast disappearing like shipbuilding, mining and other jobs. However we are fortunate to have in ‘management’ the wonderful Craig who has the skill set to produce proper pints for the punters. I would normally mention the landlord at this point but he is away on another holiday and we haven’t seen much of him lately. He will be introduced at a later date.

Management - Craig

Sampling the wheat beer

So our Friday meeting began early with wheat beer in a square next to our hotel. Then an afternoon in the Barri Gotic, wandering narrow streets and visiting pleasant hostelries. Highlight for me was the playing of a guitarist whose interpretations of the great Villa Lobos repertoire were fabulous and well worth a coin or two in his case. A ride up to see the splendour that is the Sagrada Familia completed the afternoon session. Thus back to the hotel for shower and preparation for dinner.

Interesting plazas
Hams in the market

Back door of Sagrada Familia

We were doing well, selection of tapas and a couple of bottles of Rioja, and then made a fatal mistake. Coffee and brandies. The last time I saw anyone pour such generous measures of spirit was when Dave’s grandson, Joseph was plying Bill with whisky at New Year. We were so taken aback, in such a state of disbelief that anyone could be so generous that we decided to order some more just to see if it was true. Sleep was not to be a problem.

This One Might Move

A late night attempt to load this got the wrong file to our readers, still instead of movie.

You were supposed to get the chance to see us in action. Hopefully this one works.

Watch and marvel at artists at work. Just shows what a decent drink can do.

Revenge of the B****

Crossword clue - Capital of Bohemia needs a scratch

When one feeds information into one of the wonderful technological aids that are now available to us we have a trust that the clever buggers will get us there. Our experience in this regard is definitely mixed. However, Giggle map and instructions in hand as well as the voice from the box we set off confidently for Perpignan. Or so we thought. The next three hours had us visiting lots of interesting farm tracks and picturesque locations to the point that we ceased any belief in the technology at all.

Lost in France

Yes we stopped because we had lost all faith. Now was a moment to decide, would she go or would she stay? we had reached the point where we had no clue as to our current position so she kept a seat in the car to exact further retribution for our disrespectful abuse up to this point. She got her own back on this day.

Part of our planning was to take in the wonderful construction that takes the A 75 across the Tarn near Millau. Eventually she did get us there.

This is a sight to marvel at and should be experienced if at all possible.

Nick at Millau

Mick in the near vicinity

Great architecture and great engineering

Our eventual destination was Perpignan and we arrived there in time to head out for dinner. Nick loves his seafood so we settled on a place that excelled in it.

Pot au feu with Langoustines

Dinner over we set off back to the hotel, on the way we were waylaid. The circus was in town or at least it was in the square. Nick and I were asked to show our skills and as the photo below shows our trapeze act has lost none of its appeal. Circus contracts abound and we have some very hard decisions to make.