We're off to
Portugal for two weeks on Thursday so I am trying to get ahead of the game.
On Friday
of last week I met up with JohnG and the Welsh Bard for our quarterly quest to map
out all the pubs of Oxford and two new venues were ticked off our list.
Oxford really
is a lovely city and so far we haven't entered a public house that we wouldn't
be happy with staying in for the duration.
Here we are
enjoying lunch in the Kings arms on a previous meeting:
To celebrate our fourth visit I decided to put pen to paper:
Beneath
the clock at Oxford station,
the
meeting place again.
Three
OAPs, still young at heart
arriving
on the train.
From
South and East and West they came
with
stories to be told,
of
funerals and ailments
and
memories to unfold.
A
Welshman and a Suffolk boy
and
making up the trinity,
a
Northerner, an Eccles lad,
paradigms
of masculinity.
Oxford's
streets are paved with pubs
and they
are on a mission,
to have a
pint in every one
on their
quarterly expedition.
They've
done The Grapes and The White Horse,
The Kings
Arms and The Bear,
Eagle and Child, The Rose and Crown.
Have they
been everywhere?
This time
they started at The Grapes
but new
pubs they had vowed.
The Lamb
and Flag received them well
and the
Royal Oak did 'em proud.
With time to spare they crossed the road
into the Eagle and Child,
to finish off a perfect day
the boys were going wild!
At three
o'clock, their bellies full,
and
smiles upon their faces,
they say
goodbye and board their trains
back to
their diverse bases.
In three
months time, The Likely Lads
will meet
again, don't fear.
With
ailments new and stories too
and of a
course a pint of beer!
or two, or three or four or more!
February has seen the passing of two greats in diverse fields of entertainment.
Two days ago the
brilliant Richard Biers passed away. Although "The Good Life" only
ran for a comparatively short time, it is a sitcom that everyone of our
generation can relate to.
Earlier in
the month the legendary Reg Presley of the Troggs and one of Hampshires genuine
characters passed on:
The Troggs
shot to fame with "Wild Thing" a song that was later covered by Jimi
Hendrix, Bruce Springstein, the Muppets and many more.
What a star!!
