Being Intrigued.

When I was a boy I remember being intrigued by references to the drink ‘porter’ which seemed to crop up frequently in 19^th century literature. More latterly, I’ve noticed that it crops up quite a lot in Irish folk songs, too. And yet I’ve never tried it. As far as I’m aware, none of the pubs I’ve ever been into sold the stuff.

But today I went into the cheap shop in Uttoxeter (the one where I get good quality Italian coffee cheaper than the supermarkets’ bog standard cheapest.) They had porter! 500ml bottles of it for only 99p. It’s full strength, too – 5.2% ABV. So I got one to try. That’s today’s little treat taken care of.

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I’m intrigued to know why somebody from Germany should come to my blog from Google by searching the roston inn landlord, and then leave to go to the Wikipedia page on Roston which features a picture of the pub. Germany?

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I’m also intrigued to know what’s happened to all the sparrows. We’ve had several days of intensely cold weather where I live, and the garden birds are flocking in great numbers to feed ravenously on the food I put out. And yet the House Sparrows, which normally make up the largest single species, have been almost completely absent.