I write this blog post with slight trepidation. You see, I fear that you will maybe read this and thus consider me an alcoholic. However, that is a tag that I would happily dispute as I know myself that I don't wake up craving a drink. It hasn't quite reached that level yet.
Now, I love cider. It is my favourite alcoholic drink and nothing beats a nice pint of cider on a hot summer day. Sadly, we've been lacking those hot summer days in the United Kingdom of late but I've still be drinking cider.
Why? Well, unless you live under a rock then you might just know that Wetherspoons has a cider festival on at all its pubs.
On the first day of the festival, I headed down to my local Wetherspoons pub with a few friends and fellow cider drinkers to sup on fine apple based alcoholic liquid. Upon arrival, I picked up the leaflet with the range of ciders on sale during the 18 day festival.
During the 18 days, there will be 16 different ciders on sale. After reading the leaflet, a challenge, an idea, a dream formed in my head.
I announced to my friends, "We should try to get through all 16 ciders before the festival finishes!" My idea wasn't quite met with the enthusiastic response I was hoping for but my friends were game.
It is now a week in to the festival and so far I have had around half of the ciders. I started off with the berry based ciders and they were surprisingly delicious despite my friends mocking me for starting off with the weakest and fruitiest ones. I have discovered that the Sheppy's cider on tap has proved the most delicious yet the Devon Ginger cider was sadly a massive disappointment.
I will keep you informed of my progress. Wish me luck!
It is time for a drink. A well earned drink, I might like to add.
You see, I have been in Reading for the past three days working on my dissertation. I managed to write 7000 words, which I think is a pretty solid effort.
I got the train back home on Wednesday evening and I met a couple of friends in the pub. A nice pint of Thatchers Gold was well deserved and thus I ordered a pint. I savoured every drop and I then went to the bar to order my next pint.
It was at the bar that I spotted something.
It was a card. However, this was not just any card. It was a card with a couple of stamps on and I quickly realised that it was one of those 'buy-5-get-one-free' incentive cards that coffee shops and the like give out to customers.
I picked up the card and observed it closer. It wasn't that fascinating but it was something to occupy my time whilst I stood at the bar waiting to be served by the adequate bar staff.
"Thought this was your lucky day, didn't you?" said an elderly man as he proceeded to take the card. As it turned out it was his card that he was collecting his stamps on in the hope of gaining that free coffee at some point in the near future.
"Oh no, I'm interested as to what it is" I replied in as convincing a manner as possible. However, it appeared like the man had brought my excuse that I had no idea what a couple of stamps on a card could be.
"It's a voucher card that I get stamped every time that I get a coffee and after five, I get a free one". I was fascinated to have learnt that he was only three coffee purchases until his long-awaited free Wetherspoons coffee.
I decided that I needed to win this man's trust. I don't like people thinking that I steal small bits of card with a couple of stamps on. That isn't a good reputation to gain.
"So it's quite a sensible idea then, isn't it?"
"Oh yes, I guess it just encourages you to buy more. However, it's so cheap that it doesn't really matter"
I pondered his point. This was true, Wetherspoons is lauded as being the cheapest pub chain. It was here that I thought of a potentially great conversation we could bond over and maybe look back on when we are best of friends in ten years time.
"Do you ever go to the Berrylands pub? It is much more expensive than here. I reckon they should have this loyalty card idea!"
"Well, you see I live in Wimbledon but I know Berrylands well. Is it the pub by the station?"
"Yes, yes it is!"
"My grandparents used to live in Berrylands so I used to go there a lot. I only really remember going to the outdoor lido. I don't think it exists anymore although there is still one in Ruislip"
The bar lady took my order and swiftly produced my drink. I paid up and said goodbye to my new friend.
I guess that I learnt a lot from this conversation. Elderly gentleman like to travel from Wimbledon to Surbiton for coffee and cheesecake and there is an outdoor lido in Ruislip. It never ceases to amaze me how much you can learn down the pub.
I started Monday night as I start every night out. I was late.
Generally, I am someone who is always on time in life. Lectures? I'm there on time. Seminars? I'll turn up with minutes to spare. A meeting with Miranda Kerr? Hell, I'd be so early she would consider me slightly strange. However, I am always late whenever I meet up with my friends. I always like to have a shower when I go out, but I think I just get carried away listening to music and singing along in the shower.
I did eventually turn up where I found my friend Alex and his mum in her car. I realise I have potentially phrased this badly, but in case you are wondering, she didn't come out with us. That would be a bit strange. No, she gave us a lift into Kingston where we went to The King's Tun, possibly the worst Wetherspoons pub this side of Europe. There, we met up with a lot of friends and there was a suprise in store for us.
Laith.
Yes, Laith. That guy. He was someone who was in all my classes at secondary school. I don't think any of us had seen him for at least three years but he was in the same pub as us. He joined us and after much chat, he and his friend left. If I hadn't known him, I would have suspected they were on a gay date (gate) but they weren't.
Anyway, we soon moved onto the drinking games. I don't particularly like drinking games because they are a bit last year but we played Who Is Most Likely To...? We played, we laughed and we drank.
In this state of relative tipsyness we moved on to Bacchus. Now, Bacchus is a bit like Stockport. It's small, horrible and it smells. However, they were playing 50's and 60's music and they played a recent pop song which seemed a bit out of place. I don't like 50's and 60's music so I drank and I drank. For some reason, I suddenly started enjoying the club but I can't quite figure out why that was...
Anyway, the end soon approached and our group of friends started a circle on the dancefloor as that classic Beatles song came on. My knowledge of The Beatles is limited so I can't quite name the song. Sorry about that. Soon, everyone in the club was joining us in the circle and by the end of the song the entire club was all in a big circle. We are trend-setters after all.
We trudged home in the search for food but that search would prove elusive. McDonalds was shut, so was SFC and there was no sign of Burger Box. It suddenly started pouring down with rain and to make matters worse I had to walk back all the way from the edge of Tolworth to my house all on my own. A wet end to the night.
