On Fridays we like to go to our local pub, The Jolly Woodman, and sit at the bar chatting to the barmen and maids and growing familiar with the other locals who frequent this quaint little public house.
When we first started this little routine we popped into the chippy next door and my Texas hubs asked,
“How late are you open?” We wanted to make sure we could still get an evening meal to take home after our pint. The lady behind the counter looked at him with a blank expression,
“Sorry?” she said,
“How late are you open?” he asked again, using exactly the same words.
“How late do we open in the morning?” she asked, totally confused!
“No, how late are you open tonight?” hubby persisted, adding a couple of clarifying words.
A customer, waiting for his fish to fry, stepped up to the counter to translate,
“What time do you close?”
“Oh,” she beamed at my Texan, “Midnight!”
Plenty of time to have a pint and then pick up our dinner.
We included our daughter and her boyfriend in our routine this past Friday and sat outside in the beer garden for a change. It is really a patio overlooked on all sides by little cottagey houses. We could look straight into the windows. I was particularly fascinated by the one nearest me, I could see there was a fridge and cooker, a sink with washing up liquid and a dish brush and a beaker with toothbrushes and toothpaste,
“That must be a kitchen/bathroom,” I observed to Malia, “if there is such a room!?”
“Oh yes, there’s one in Friends, ” she said. So it must be possible I thought.
Hubby was noticing other things. Under the gathering vines was a grill and its presence was inflicting withdrawal pangs as my Texan, born and bred, remembered happy grilling days on the back forty. Once a cowboy always a cowboy! He started thinking aloud,
“I wonder if they’d let me come and cook on the grill on Sunday lunchtimes?” Malia, opened her mouth to speak and I wondered what Friends quote she was going to trot out now,
“I’m sure they’d love you to, you know on Friends…!”
Handsome hubby had left the table to go to the bar for another round. He came back grinning from ear to ear.
“The owner said I was welcome to come up on any Sunday and fix whatever I wanted to!”
Can you imagine a courtyard garden (overlooked by kitchen/bathrooms and goodness knows what other room combinations), full of locals, being able to resist the aroma of hotdogs and hamburgers sizzling on the grill?
I know I want to be there when Texas barbecue arrives at The Jolly Woodman!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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