Winter creeps nearer

After such a heavy retail experience yesterday morning I timidly suggested to that nice lady decorator that we should be rewarded with a pint of Harvey’s. Rather surprisingly she agreed and we went in search of a pub called The Sportsman in Amberley that we had been told had great views. On the way, and lost, we happened across this house looking fantastic with its Virginia creeper turning red, a warning that autumn is in full effect and winter is around the corner.

Virginia creeper points to winter

Allowed just the one pint before being returned to my office, to work on my book and secure new clients for Currencies Direct, I adopted a carefully nurtured hang-dog expression, added some carefully placed sighs and at the right moment dropped into the conversation that I would like to take her out to dinner in the evening.  She must have mellowed because she agreed. Thus we popped in to the White Hart for a pint then went to get a take away to eat in the Kings Arms.

Dinner is dinner and it was very cheap. It is a splendid arrangement. The pub does not offer food itself but welcomes people to come in with their takeaways and have a drink, a very sensible idea and one that I welcome. They even provide plates, cutlery and sauces and clear away after you so it is better than being at home.

The most exciting thing for that nice lady decorator was the containers in which the food was supplied. A range of tupperware like trays all with lids which she pronounced would be ideal for mixing paint. I still think that this morning when she opens her handbag to an assortment of festering Indian food she will regret it.

The Kings Arms is a cosy intimate pub, so cosy that later in the evening John The Builder, who joined us, went to sleep mid sentence and only awoke as we were leaving. Uncharitably I suggested it was a ploy to avoid his round until I remembered he had bought the first bottle. He was obviously a couple off drinks ahead of us as earlier he had been briefly chucked out of the pub for lighting up a roll up. His brother is the landlord.

Today then takes us up to the smoke. London is calling so we shall go up this afternoon, visit sprog 1 who has, for the first time in her life, found gainful employment in a pub, then take a drink with the great pop and soon to be film star himself, John Otway, before casting an eye over his “Somersaults At Sixty show in Leicester Square. His 60th birthday was earlier this week and this is a prequel to getting his birthday present to himself, a film about himself. Otway The Movie premieres tomorrow at The Odeon Leicester Square, the same venue at which the new James Bond film “Skyfall” will début in a few weeks time. The balcony and the red carpet will both be pressed into service. I need to decide what to wear.

Once the fun is over I must face the worst. I have to go “up north” for about a week. This obviously requires great fortitude, the packing of provisions, the fitting of bull bars to the car and checking the anti-freeze levels. I will also be packing a shovel so that I can dig our way out of the snowdrifts that will doubtless be covering the tundra. At least the midges should now be in hibernation but I shall miss the benefits bestowed by electricity.

So dear readers, the timely publication of your daily must read column may be in jeopardy from Wednesday onwards as I doubt the internet coverage will be widespread. In fact I believe the word internet up north is a colloquialism for catching fish.

Chris France

@Valbonne_News