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.