The Weekend So Far

Well Saturday was my birthday!  21 again  ... (he jests of course)

Anyway, yesterday GC and i went to Piddinghoe in the morning to a boot fair in the village. Not exactly the best place to find greta books or slabs of vinyl but i did pick up some decent books at 50p a pop. The best was an anthology of the works of Oscar Wilde and a Penguin paperback of the  Albert Camus existentialist novel  "The Oursider".

Aftyerwards, we drove up to Kingston village for a meal at THE JUGGS. It is a Shepheards Neame pub and they sent me a birthday invitation with voucher so that the birthday person gets a free lunch with the cost of an equvalent priced meal. GC had fresh cod and chips and i had a chicken breast meal wrapped in bacon and stuffed with Stilton cheese with sauted\ potatoes and vegetables. Absolutely yummy, washed down with two pints of Bishops Finger ale.

It was a lovely sunny day too, so we decided to eat al fresco. Wonderful!

We ended the afternoon at her place watching the live FA Cup final between Portsmouth and Chelsea (Chelsea won 1-0). I had bought a few beers beforehand to watch the match with,  a couple of Leffe Bruns  (6.5% ABV) from the Offie shop  in her street.

I hoped that Pompey would surprise us all but after a valiant first half they succumbed to a blinding free kick from Drogba  in the second half. .Oh well , there was a kind of inevitabilty to the proceedings , and it is the first time that Chelsea have done a double! (League and FA Cup in a season).

I didn;t go out in the evening. I was quite happy watching Dr. Who and Wallander on TV.

This morning, after a good sleep, i woke up early and showered. Put on the new aftershave L got me for my birthday. Had a coffee and a Stilton toastie outside the back soaking uo the glorious sunshine. It did not stay that way as it soon clouded iver about 10 am.

GC picked me up just after 8 am as we decided to visit the boot fair down at  the Marina. It is the first time i been there since it moved from the car pack behind the train station..

I I found it slightly disappointing. My usual record dealer, who use to be at the station version, seems to be no longer at this new location. It was also very windy and cold up there. I wouldn;t visit that one in winter!

However, i did buy four books at a quid each, including a hardback. One of them is an Oxford Dictionanry of Phrase,Saying And Quaotation from 1997 (the hardback from the purchases) and the others are all text books relating to  OU courses on literature. All published by Routledge, They are the kind of thing i could sell down at the university, since KP Nick cannot do it due to his breathaliser stop a week ago.

(For those readers who do'nt know of KP NIck, and it is probably the first time i have mentioned him, he is the bookseller who does the universities and the locl boot fairs including Lewes. He drinks at the Evening Sta,r but is often found driving his van under the influence of alcohol and remarkably , that is until the last week, has not been stopped and breathalized by the police. We  all knew he has been sailing dangerously close to the wind and often had his vehicle  keys taken off him. It was only a matter of time that he would be caught out. It does mean any conviction, which i think is certain, will be curtains to his livelihood in the book trade and the other things he buys and sells. Silly old git!)

This means there is a gap , a vacancy, which i could fill. Take a few books with me on the Tuesdays he use to do Sussex Uni and sell them to the students.

It is worth investigating!

Anyway,after our excursion to the Marina, GC dropped me off at home. Midday i went down to my local and had a pint and a half of the Thornbridge St Petersburg Stout (7.7 % ABV) - a really strong fulsome ale with a huge aroma and delicous aftertaste that satisfies the most  discerning palate.  

At the moment listening to some cool jazz albums on the turntable -