I took the shot, then fished it out. It lumbered around drunkenly on the table for a few minutes, drying itself off in the sunshine, then flew off and presumably will lead a long and waspy life. Therefore, no insects were harmed in the making of this picture.
Ilias is the son of Marilena (behind), who works for me despite living in Corfu — but that’s the online world for you. This was his first visit to England, we met them for lunch in Manchester, and he got to show that he has adopted certain local customs even at his young age. Yia mas!
(Obligatory child protection note: he didn’t drink it, you know.)
One of the most indolent days of this year, or indeed any year. So be it. I’ll be active enough in a few days’ time.
I do like a pint of Guinness anyway so I’m not succumbing to marketing. Well, maybe a little bit. A happy St. Paddy’s day to you. And a happy day 1,300 of the blog, too.
Tough assignment today. Working at home on a flat, grey day. So little to inspire that I was reduced to this attempt at an original self-portrait, which is OK I guess.
Spectacularly gorgeous day today in Stavanger, as nice a day of weather as I’ve experienced anywhere. I was not the only one thinking that the best way to end the working day was to sit outside in the sun and enjoy a beer. Taken outside the ‘Dickens’ pub (so called because Charles Dickens was not Norwegian and probably never came to Stavanger in his life).
If this isn’t the world’s finest beer then I’d like to taste the one that is. Proof that God exists, at least in the Abbaye St-Remy, Rochefort, Belgium.
Well, one can read just about wherever one likes, so yes, that is a pint also close at hand. Seasoned Drew followers will probably recognise the location of this shot.
This morning I was invited to visit the workplace of my friend Simon, on the right here; he is the boss of the Slightly Foxed Brewing Company. I just had an interest in seeing the process of making the very nice beer his company come out with on a regular basis. We started early — the brewer, also called Simon, had started on the day’s batch at about 6.30am. Here, the two Simons inspect a brew that has been in these fermentation vats for a few days and should have been ready to go out, but it is still too cloudy.
Having been convinced, over the three years I have been coming here regularly, that Norway actually doesn’t have any decent bars or pubs, I have over the last couple of visits ended up in three spectacularly good examples, one in Stavanger, one in Oslo and tonight, this one in Bergen — Kafé Spesial — each of which has literally hundreds of different beers. Am I complaining? Not at all. As you may have gathered from following this blog, I quite like beer. The choice and quality of the stuff available in each almost makes the outrageous alcohol tax in this country tolerable. Well, almost.
Being 42 