under another sun

Russia invaded Ukraine. I was completely wrong, and thought Putin was bluffing. Horrible business. Such a vacuum of democratic leadership he thinks nobody will do much.  On the domestic front, Lorraine and I enjoyably pottering about at home most of the day. We popped into Lidl for some shopping, and also went to speak to the people at the local storage firm called Cinch, and put down a deposit on a lockup.   I went for beer with Anton tonight. Met in The Park Crescent, a bit of a tucked away locals pub, where we had a drink on February 12th 2020, 743 days ago as Anton said, shortly before the first lockdown. A kind of reboot which felt fitting now that many of the special measures taken by the government have now been lifted. It even, to the delight of Anton, had an Avengers themed pinball machine, with the heroic pricing of a quid a game.  Lots to chat about. Headed from there to the Joker where we ate a really sloppily cheesy chicken burger, and then made off to the Fr...

Lorraine working from home this afternoon, feeling a bit under par,  end of termish and in need of chocolate. Good to have her at home however. Off in the evening with Anton for a drink. Anton's new philosophy is to walk such long distances between pubs so that your drink is calorie neutral. He met me at The Cleveland Arms. This is a pub that is very near to me, but the last time Anton and I went there was with Lorraine on a December 31st 2016.  It had a weird banjo-playing/Deliverance kind of atmosphere and we didn't tarry. Now three years later it feels very different. Had a nice beer there and then set off on our travels. Had a half in the Open House, and then found a pub called The Park Crescent. This was a real find, tucked away in a street I had never been in. It was raining pretty heavily as we approached it. Inside there was good beer, a pleasant atmosphere and Al's Pies. We didn't eat them, but were deeply impressed with the menu. The pies looked exemplar...