Thursday - Curry Night

travelled with Geoff and Jim to the Royal Oak Staple Hill on Thursday night. Here we met Alannis and Pete. Not a very great deal in way of choice of real ales at the bar, in my opinion. However, started with as it turned out a Ringwood Forty Niner . No idea of the ABV, at the time, because the chalk board come pump clip had been partly erased. There was not much help forthcoming from the bar staff and again I had to ask for the glasses to be topped up. I urge everyone to support the full pint campaign. With VAT increase due in January and Weatherspoons putting up their prices it is essential that beer drinkers get full value for their hard earned cash. Rise up I say and overcome the capitalist beer barons who are literally raking in millions by serving short measures of beer. If you bought a bag of spuds from the supermarket you would not expect them to take a couple out and still charge you full price. Likewise with petrol. You would not except a short measure of petrol for which you had paid for a full litre. I understand that some people may find it embarrassing to ask the bar person to top up their glass. However, it is your wallet they are ripping off. Stand strong and usurp the demon pub co's. OK enough of the rant. Back to the curry night. With my Chicken Jalfrezi I order a Bishops Finger 5%. This was followed by a bottle of Primavera Frascati a nice refreshing dry white wine that was too easily drinkable. The curry was really enjoyable. I know most people like to see big portions on their plates when they go out to eat. However, I would be quite happy with a slightly smaller plate of food if they were to use the extra revenue to reduce the cost of beer. However, I am not naive enough to think that they would pass on any savings to their customers. It would all disappear into the corporate pot and probably be used to train staff on how to get away with serving short measures of beer. Damn their eyes. Slipping back into rant mode there for a while.

A pleasant evening spent in the company of some old gits. Jim showed us a few photos of his New Zealand trip on his mobile. Especially around the wonderful Mount Cook. Not that I am envious or anything. Why would I be envious of anyone who had just spent 4 weeks travelling around New Zealand. Not me. Not bloody much!