Beer On A Thursday

The B.O.A.T. Club meet at a pub for the first time in four months.

We had arranged to meet at 7pm, having booked our table in the garden of a pub in a nearby village.  Needless to say, at the allotted hour it was raining steadily, if not heavily.  Dave was a few minutes late (he was being interviewed on Radio Bristo)l, but the rest of us were able to shelter under the disused railway Arch in the village until he arrived.

The walk over the verdant fields (and they really are just at the moment), was very pleasant, despite the constant rain.  We arrived at the pub garden15 minutes early, but the inclement weather meant that we largely had the place to ourselves.  Mole had very sensibly booked one of the 3 tables that had a permanent roof, so we were always going to be able to sit in the dry.

Real ale (Bass) from the barrel.  It tasted wonderful.  Bottled beer really doesn't cut it in comparison. Just over an hour later we had last orders at 9pm (they need the customers out early as everything gets wiped down afterwards.  As you can see we had to drink out of plastic glasses, which get thrown away each round (they have a logo on them which suggests that they are sustainable). 

As you can see, with six of us at the table, each person is facing others, which is not ideal.  Certainly it is considerably less isolated than we have been when meeting in each other's gardens on previous Thursdays, when we have chosen to sit in a large spaced out circle.  But it was wonderful to be able to visit a pub and drink proper beer for 75 minutes, even if it rained persistently getting there and back.