Barrels and Bongs

So just what the heck is happening here? It looks like the barrel’s trying to get high as it dishes out the beer. It looks like a tiny bit of plastic that’s someone’s moulded to the top. Is this a quick repair job to keep the line intact? Is the beer being transferred from one barrel to the other to make some room? And what’s the stuff that’s coming up the tube? Is it a gas or a liquid? Maybe the beer’s breathing and the air’s being extracted from the barrel to make it last longer. It’s strange that the keystone is on the metal rim of the barrel and not the wood. This must make it a lot harder to fit unless this is a barrel that’s designed to be refilled. I can think of better things to do on a Saturday afternoon. Hopefully it’s not wasting too much beer.

Ambridge Mosaic at Southcrest Manor Beer Festival

 A festival isn’t’ just about the bands you see or the beers you drink or how much you spend or avoid spending. It’s about the people you meet. The bands might be from the top of the pops and you could spend every penny you have sampling every item but if you’re doing it all solo it all tends to be a bit commercialised. And even with your friends it could just like you’re meeting up in the usual local all over again. It’s all about meeting different people and seeing how they interact with the same stimuli. You might find that character that everyone talks about or the event might just move you enough to become that person. There’s a great atmosphere to get you going with live music for everyone, bales of hay to sit on and chill out, and you can go at your own pace and try whatever takes your fancy.

Nice Day for a Drab Wedding #dreamdiary 118

Me and a colleague from work have been invited to a wedding reception. There’s been a bit of a debate as to who will attend, but we are the company’s chosen representatives. We work a half day then throw a blazer over our uniforms and jump into a taxi. We arrive at the local social club. Inside, we walk through a large open room with a square bar in the middle to reach the function room at the back. The tables are laid out banquet-style in front of a stage and we’re invited to take our seats. Then Mrs. Doyle (or a lookalike) arrives to a glittering gold backdrop. She’s wearing a matching top hat and tails with white gloves and boots. She presents the new bride and groom’s family who are a bit shy to be brought up on stage. We then realise that we have to make our way back to work and organise a taxi, realising that we still need to retrieve our cars from our workplace. We also haven’t seen the bride and groom all day. 

Happy Birthday

Is it a time for celebration or is it a time of reflection? After all, it does mark your demise. But it's a day when all the attention is on you. There's a ritual to this as we turn light into darkness by blowing out candles on a cake after observing how many there are. But does it mark another year of survival? Is it an opportunity to compare your progress to your peers? Whatever it is, society believes that it should be marked in some way. It's as if it's commemorating successful intercourse between two people around nine months before this date. And now we gather and send gifts and share cake and send cards if we can't be there or in this day and age a photo message on social media is dispatched instead. It's a great indication of who your friends and allies are. But don't forget that it's just as important to take part in the celebration of theirs as well.

 

Pointless

It’s a bit difficult to play these games on your own, but at least they get the theme music right in these things. We get a warm welcome from the gameshow hosts then the assistant jumps in to announce today’s category. Mine was History and Politics. I suppose you get the option to run away if you don’t fancy it. There’s also no time limit, so you can take as long as you like to answer the question, which means that there’s nothing to stop you from googling your answers either. So if you can’t think of anything, you can go ahead and learn. If you’re right, Richard does give a few other answers but not as much detail as he would in the show. After three rounds the game is over, and I’m invited to come back tomorrow to play again or pay to upgrade to the tournament mode. I suppose it’s handy to build up your confidence if you’re planning to appear on the show, but otherwise it’s just a quick five minutes of entertainment.   

A Wander in Worcester Woods Country Park

We’re off for a walk in the woods. Well, what we’re really doing is attending a hospital appointment and using a free car park that’s situated just a ten-minute walk away. We arrive early to orientate ourselves and drive into a marshalled car park opposite a large modern office building and we’re directed into a space. As I leave the car, I ask one of the marshals if it's free parking because it's odd that there's marshals here. I'm told that it is free so long as we're not parking here to use the hospital. We head off and we’re aware that we're being casually observed, so we entered the woods rather than the tarmac path alongside it. At the corner we re-join the tarmac path and follow the signs to the hospital. Once we work out where our department is, we head backed into the woods as we’re still too early.

Is Toxic Positivity Real?

You’ve got to wonder who dreams these terms up. Is it something that we really need to be aware of? I suppose it’s real if you choose to make it real. But if you choose to ignore it, then you don’t need to worry about it. I suppose it can be annoying if someone’s always smiling at you even if there’s a negative situation. It’s as if they’re a plastic person with a fixed smile who can’t identify an emotion or be granted any freedom of expression. There’s just no way that these people can sympathise with any kind of problem, or when they do they just want to dispose of you as quickly as possible. It can be frustrating when you’re trying to get some genuine help. But if they’re stuck in their ways, it’s probably better to just abandon them altogether and try and find someone that cares.