Drinking

Carol Midgeley in The Times quotes Kingsley Amis on pre-lunch behaviour. Amis said that the most depressing words in the English Language are "Shall we go straight in?" She agreed. So do I.
She goes on to comment on David Cameron's pre-lunch drinking. She says that she now has at least one thing in common with him: they both like beer as a pre-lunch drink.
I used to when I was younger; now that I'm old I prefer a sherry. Beer fills you up too much I find. As the Germans say "It's a food".
And she disapproved of drinking wine before a meal (she approves of it with a meal). I don't. For one thing, if there's no sherry available or it's too dear in a restaurant then wine suits me fine. Again, sometimes if you order a meal first and the wine second, the wine might not arrive in time for the meal - I have known it come after the meal has finished. So I always order the wine as soon as I sit down at the table, before even looking at the menu; then I order the meal after the wine has arrived so that I can have a glass before dining and a few while dining.
I always order house red wine. It's usually quite good and, of course, reasonably priced - only about twice that amount you'd pay in the supermarket!
I once ordered the state-owned wine producer's cheap stuff in Malta. I had a hangover for days afterwards. I think it retailed at about 50p a litre. It made me give up on the idealism of socialism and become a capitalist. Sort of.

The Queen

I have to say I felt a little sorry for the Queen having to suffer those celebrations as she did.
The four hour journey down the Thames with the rain coming down in bucketfuls and the
piercing cold of a winter’s day to bear. That and then the evening concert: another three hours or so of pop music, of Elton John, of Cliff Richard - God help us all! Enough to make anyone throw up.
But she bore it gallantly and may have even enjoyed some of it. But I bet she was glad to
get back to the palace warmth and to bed with a gin and whatever she has with it.


It must be a strange feeling being a queen in this age when the word queen and the word
royalty seem anachronisms. She has no power. Only the power to order an egg for breakfast
or a glass of what she fancies when she is alone or within the confines of her private quarters.

So what is she when she’s not an ordinary human being? A figurehead. A representative of a
nation who is presented to the world as.... As what? A centre of regard of a patriotic nation?
Except that the nation is not so patriotic as it may seem at times of celebration.

And what has been celebrated? A length of time. Sixty years of being a figurehead.
A celebration of someone who has done her duty perhaps. Her duty? What is that exactly?
Her duty in being a figurehead of course.