In my adult life, I have drunk countless gallons of beer - by volume, the equivalent of an Olympic swimming pool. Beer has been a good friend to me - a faithful companion in good times and bad. Foaming pints have been sunk in pubs from New Zealand to New York and from Lands End to John O'Groats
I could always leave spirits alone. In our little drinks cabinet, I have two unopened bottles of whisky (Scottish) and two of whiskey (Irish). They have been there for a decade or more. Wine and cider are okay but beer was always my best buddy.
During the time of The Plague (COVID), there were two long spells when I didn't drink any beer at all but we gradually got back together as old friends often do. Then earlier this year, I recognised that I had been drinking beer every evening for weeks on end and I asked myself why. I decided to give it a rest - only drinking at the pub quiz on a Sunday night.
That has been my pattern since mid-September. I am down to ten "units" a week. In October, I received the shock news that my blood pressure was far too high and I am now taking medication to bring it down. It appears to be working. What was 190/90 is now down to 165/75 and sometimes lower than that. It was pure co-incidence that I had already reduced my intake of beer before this new phase in my life began but now I am motivated to maintain the present regime for the purpose of longevity. I measure my blood pressure every day and my next follow-up doctor's appointment is on December 2nd. Now I am living by numbers.
Of course I have always loved public houses - the ambience, the unique character, meeting new people and old friends and acquaintances. They have been like homes away from home and it is there that I have sunk the majority of my pints and enjoyed lots of great times.
However, the English pub scene is now much changed. Many independent pubs have closed their doors for good and lots that remain are "food led" and corporate. It is not the same as it once was. And pub goers have changed their habits too. Pubs are not packed as they used to be with regular drinkers conversing and laughing and sometimes singing. Nowadays, many pub customers meet up on particular nights and frequently go home long before closing time.
Maybe this is just a phase and I will climb aboard the beer train once again - guzzling like a champion - but I don't think so. Those days are over. I do not plan to give beer up completely, it will still be there and I will still enjoy it. But it won't be taking me over. The majority of my nights will continue to be spent at home and there'll be more tea, water and hot chocolate in the space that beer used to occupy.
I wondered why you never consumed the red wine that I brought on our walks these many years past!! I am afraid that I indulge in about 8 ounces of wine most nights....not all, mind you, but most. I like it, it helps with the bad old dreams, the bad old thoughts..... I am in my upper 70's! I DON'T CARE!!
ReplyDeleteI fear I will never make it back to England! But, if I should be so lucky, I will announce myself on your doorstep and I expect that you will take me to all the "Old-timey" pubs within 100 miles!! I would just LOVE that!
In the meantime, I will plod on with my painting and sewing and reading and travelling in a caravan (US camper!) for as long as Big Bear and I can! I do love you, my unknown brother!!!
This may sound daft but I feel we should have met, long ago. I would gladly drive you to "The White Horse" in Beverley - usually known as Nelly's and on the journey there we would chat about American things like baseball, grizzly bears, mail boxes, William Faulkner, Hollywood, chewing gum, guns and cup cakes. Keep drinking the wine sister! Cheers!
DeleteI've always liked drinking beer. At one point I thought I might like it too much, so I took a break. (for 12 years!) These days I might have one several times a week, but it's always just one and I like to drink it in the late afternoon before our supper.
ReplyDeleteTonight (quiz night) I will have four pints of Stone's Best Bitter. Having three or four was quite common for me in the past and when I was a university student I often drank like a fish.
DeletePubs don't exist in America; at least not those neighborhood kind of establishment y'all have. And sad to hear that they are being overrun by corporations.
ReplyDeleteI found some great bars in Ohio when I was a camp counsellor. They were quite close to the English idea of a pub.
DeleteAnd you will be better for it, living longer too and being able to watch the grandchildren grow up. I remember English pubs of old, seeing them in movies and reading of them in novels, they always seemed cheery, warm and welcoming. Possible early Australian pubs were the same, being based on British heritage, but like your country, many are food based and plenty are huge places catering for events such as weddings etc. Life changes even as we watch and not always for the better.
ReplyDeleteBefore you know it, what seemed stable and everlasting may have slipped away forever.
DeleteWhat a great title for a blog!!! I'm rather ashamed to say that I haven't been to my local (about 200 yards away) for months. 'The Caxton' is a good traditional pub' that is dog friendly too. They often bring a bowl of water for Billy. We must go next week.
ReplyDelete"Support Your Local! Get Pissed!"
DeleteHaving mostly given it up, do you feel better? ca you name any benefits you've noticed?
ReplyDeleteIt has to be a saving, you 'll be able to afford all kinds of things now
Oh yes. It must be saving me lots of money though I would not say that I feel any healthier.
DeleteI'm way ahead of you on this account having asked the same question about 30 years ago. If I had to guess, I may have had less beer units than the fingers on my hands over the last decade. I also have roughly the same among of bottles of scotch and whiskey in the pantry gathering dust.
ReplyDeleteBut if I lived near a pub and have friends that gathered there once a week for a couple hours and a handful of pints, it would probably be a totally different story.
Many times, the local pub felt like an extension of my home and it was a nice counterpoint to the daily stresses of work.
DeleteI think I would like to visit the Rivelin for a pint of Scotch. Oh yes, about Scotch. I will receive your stale old bottles of Scotch by post very gratefully.
ReplyDeleteI expect my blood pressure might drop if I drank less, but I don't take any mood medication or pain killers as so many do, and as a widower I feel I am on bonus time. Btw, all my my health issues are controlled by medications.
If you return to England, please call round and I will give you a vase of whisky with a straw.
DeleteYou are wise to limit your intake of beer YP, long term it will do wonders for your waistline and I'm sure will add to your longivity by a fair number of years. You'll be able to watch those grandchildren grow!
ReplyDeleteI've never been a drinker of beer or spirits, although I've been into pubs - usually with a crowd of friends. Back then I would mostly drink fruit juice or on the very rare occasion a Babycham (oh the sophistication!!) most of which I frequently left. There was a time when I used to beg a drop of my husband's beer to rinse my hair after I'd washed it!
I would love to witness Phoebe starting secondary school. I will be 78 then.
DeleteThat's no age these days!
DeletePubs are probably more of a male thing. Drinking beer, talking with mates about football or cars, having a break from their womenfolk.
ReplyDeleteI am not a great fan of pubs but I do like to visit the local bars in Spain or France where the cultural aspect is different, particularly in Spain where it is all so relaxed and welcoming to both sexes.
You make a good point JayCee. Many times I have looked around a tap room and there hasn't been one woman in there.
DeleteI only go in pubs on sun holidays like the Algarve and I always look for English and Irish bars. I love Wetherspoon's in England because it is so inexpensive and so is the food. I drink cans of beer most nights. I am drinking Guinness during winter. We have no way of getting to a pub with no public transport and a taxi costs 15 Euros one way and a pint is over five Euros.
ReplyDeleteIf you were here in Sheffield I would take you out to a few pubs for old time's sake. And we would gossip about JayCee till the cows came home.
DeleteAn interesting subject to be sure...
DeleteRunning a pub these days is harder work than ever. My grandmother ran a pub in Essex decades ago though she was teetotal. I never knew her. My late sister and brother-in-law ran a pub in Blakeney, and later their younger daughter ran one in Letheringsett, also in Norfolk. They gave it up when it became ever more difficult to attract and 'entertain' the customers, with live music and other events.
ReplyDeleteNow, sadly, those who "run" pubs are likely to be paid managers rather than proper landlords and landladies.
DeleteWe never had quite the same kind of pub culture in Sweden as you do in Britain. You also can't buy alcoholic beverages (stronger than 3,5%) in ordinary grocery stores here (only in one special government-owned chain of liquor stores). For my own part I grew up in a family and among friends where alcohol was never part of the social context. So I never got into the habit. (Still didn't manage to escape high blood pressure. But beer or other alcoholic beverages not likely to have improved it...)
ReplyDeleteI have been to Sweden but never saw anything that resembled a pub.
DeleteNo, I can't really think of any either - even if there are of course various kinds of establishments where you can get both food and drink... I'm a lousy guide when it comes to such places, though, as I rarely "eat out" at all except for an occasional lunch now and then!
DeleteAs my doctor tells me, you know what to do to stay healthy, the choice is yours each day. I like her.
ReplyDeleteWith the health issues you had in the past, I guess that every happy, healthy day is like bonus territory for you.
DeleteI am always fascinated by the British novels I read wherein pubs play a big role. We just don't have anything like there here. Not really. Certainly not in Lloyd! But oh, if you'd like to attend church, you have a myriad of choices. What's up with that?
ReplyDeleteI am proud of the traditional English pub but less proud than I used to be. In the village where I grew up there were two pubs - both community hubs. And five minutes walk from this house there are three pubs with several others a bit further away.
DeleteI rarely drink alcohol. For starters, having seen my husband die from an excess of it, does not instill in me a desire to go the same way. Also living on my own, I would consider drinking alcohol on my own a slippery slope. I probably drink a glass of wine once every two months when out with friends for an evening meal, so not even a bottle of wine in a year.
ReplyDeleteYou sound like a real funtime gal Addy!
DeleteHello yourshire pudding.
ReplyDeleteI'm discovering some blogs via taskerdunham.
Well, for me, it's a little bit pricey going to pubs. I was recently talked into going to a 'posh' pub and a single round between 4/5 people was nearly £40-50! A bit much on my modest budget.
For me, I like to cook a dinner for 2 or 3 people (I like cooking anyway) and we drink a nice bottle of wine (£7 Tescos) and have some dessert afterwards in the kitchen.
Having said that, I am not really a big drinking person.
Mixed feelings here. I don't really drink but occasionally have a glass of wine. Paul loved his beer and living next door to a pub, he frequently went in but only a pint a time.
ReplyDeleteI understand missing pub culture, even though I'm sure I haven't experienced the best of it. But I think these days, when we know more about alcohol and its damaging effects, it makes sense that most people would drink a lot less and not go "down the pub" after work as regularly as past generations. In terms of public health it's a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteI quit drinking alcohol in the 90s. My ex-husband is an alcoholic so while we were married, I felt like I couldn't expect him to quit drinking if I was sitting there having a beer or a glass of wine.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't quit until after the divorce and is now very involved in Alcoholics Anonymous. I've always said that he couldn't quit while we were married as I would have won the long-term argument about his drinking but he could quit when it was just for his own health. I've never missed alcohol (or being married to him either)!
I do like amber ale (no spirits for me either, thanks!) and enjoy an evening out with a beer or two. However, the older I get, the less inclined I am to overdo anything, including alcohol. I loved the neighborhood pubs when I was in England and am sad that that culture is changing.
ReplyDelete