And yet, maybe we can add value in some small way by the recounting of a weekend well spent. If it doesn't add value, well, I don't really mind, and you can always register your protest in the comments. So here we go: the sort of weekend the QO really enjoys.
Friday: finish working mid-afternoon and head into town to RV with Mrs QO at the Canalhouse. Move on with some reluctance to the Trip to Jerusalem to meet other friends. Drink at least one pint too many before returning home for pizza with way too much Tabasco on.
Saturday: spring nimbly out of bed... OK, crawl reluctantly out of bed... and prepare to go out with Father of QO into the urban fringe countryside. Walk some six miles in glorious sunshine, spotting a hare and hearing the first skylark of the year. Arrive with enormous thirst at a real gem of a pub. Connoisseurs of Nottinghamshire pubs may be able to ID the place from this pic. Hint: to the west of the city, and sadly no longer the brewery tap.
Consume excellent beer and steak & ale pie with chips. Return home for a little restorative period of inactivity, then head out onto the local nature reserve for an evening stroll, enjoying some fine dusk music from the song thrushes and blackbirds.
Sunday: up at 05.30, out on another local nature reserve by 06.15 to hear the dawn chorus at full chat. Magnificent. Spend some time stalking a lovely fluid singer and eventually put the binoculars on a blackcap. Home to thaw out with freshly brewed coffee. Brunch of scrambled eggs and crisp bacon. In the afternoon, two hours of volunteer work on the reserve, pulling Himalayan Balsam seedlings out before they can get started, the little buggers. Enjoy not-too-stressful work in the sunshine, then repair to local for well-earned beers.
So, some physical exercise, some nature conservation, enjoyment of the local wildlife, plenty of beer and time with friends and relations. And sunshine. Sod politics, I'm intellectually downsizing, me.
Sounds like a brilliant weekend... and the pub looks like the Nelson and Railway in Kimberley.
ReplyDeleteIs it?
Yes it is - well spotted. A little gem of a pub, particularly at the end of a walk.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness I can still spot a pub at a thousand paces! Mind you I suspect this landmark resonates with me due to drives to IKEA and Kimberley Leisure Centre :-) Good to hear about your good times.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, IKEA. One of the reasons I became fond of this pub was that after one particularly frenetic and stressful trip to IKEA on a Sunday afternoon, I had to lay down a marital condition that if Mrs QO wanted me to accompany her to that store in future, she would have to undertake not only to do the driving but to take me to the nearest decent pub afterwards for something restorative. The N&R was the place of choice :-)
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