The village pub

On Thursday we finally got down to our revamped village pub. It is with great relief I discovered that one bar area remained just that, a pub. No one armed bandits. No big screens. It was also good to see at least one familiar face still behind the bar.

The restaurant has grown considerably, making it a pleasant place to potentially eat, unlike the rather echoey dingy old restaurant. What was the cellar has now been opened up into another seating area, though this is not really accessible to me as it one step down through a rather narrow arch – a bit tight for a wheelchair.

Indeed the access was my main adverse criticism. There were only two tables that were really accessible with a wheelchair in the bar area. The other tables were too closely packed to get through with a chair or down the step.

I was pleased to see one acquaintance was still allowed to bring in her dog - under proper control of course.

The outside has been massively improved. There seems to be more seating, some of it comfortable looking. There is now a pizza hut too. The access has been improved with a wide gateway & a good paved path to the seating areas rather than the muddy path through some very uneven scrappy grass.

By the looks of the pictures on their website the bedrooms look very comfortable. We were joined by a friend. As he lives just a few houses away from the pub, he’d been invited to a pre-official opening party & tour of the alterations. He confirmed how good it did look upstairs. And there is one accessible room downstairs for wheelchair users.

All in all it looks as though the work had been done well. On Thursday it was heaving. We suspect many were there out of curiosity to see the changes – rather like us in other words. Being a sunny day & the garden area being rather nice now also encouraged day trippers to stay.

The prices of drinks do seem to have gone up a lot, presumably to pay for all these changes. 50p extra is one thing, over £1 seems a bit much! Still I dare say we will be back. It is by far the nicest pub in Heysham – the others are full of big screens or essentially a stopping place while waiting for the ferries.

An inland sea

The trip to hospital yesterday for the Fox’s scan went well. They could find no obvious problem though a more in-depth review of the scan will be done before the results are sent to the doctor. All of this seems to confirm the suggestion that the nausea, lack of appetite & weight loss was due to stress rather than anything else. He’s still to go for further blood tests tomorrow. Meanwhile he’s eating up well, even feeling the need to snack on top of meals as he’s feeling half-starved after not eating much for so long.

Yesterday was a very sunny day, full of wind. At the hospital the Fox had got out of the car, tried to put on his jacket to find it more or less being blown out of his hands.

After the scan we went on to Snatchems, the pub beside the Lune. On the hillside behind the adjoining caravan park the field seemed white, as though it had just been limed. On the way home, we pass through open countryside & farmland. All the fields & hedgerows seemed white. Then we realised it wasn’t liming. It was the sheer brilliance of the sun reflecting on the shiny leathery blades of grass. Whole fields were white. With the wind rippling through the long grass, you almost thought you were seeing the waves of the sea. Quite wonderful.

Drying out

I was shocked yesterday when I went out to the garage. As I passed I noticed how dry the pots of daffodils alongside looked. I gave them a feel. The soil felt as though that wasn’t a bit of moisture in it, just dust.

When our gardener came on Friday she was concerned about a buddleia we have in one pot & concluded it was just so dry. As a result I’d got around to cleaning the bird bath & refilling it with water, then gave a good watering to all the pots. Nonetheless the pots were dry by Sunday. We gave them another good water.

I don’t remember ever needing to water the plants in April before. In high summer yes, but not April. It goes to show that, although April has seemed wet enough, it has all been light April showers that have quickly dried out in remarkably mild, or alternatively cold but very windy, weather.

Is this a sign that summer is going to be season of regularly watering everything? A sign of global warming?