In the doghouse!

If everything had gone to plan, Stafford Paul and I would just be finishing our lunch and probably also our second pint at the legendary Vine Inn at Brierley Hill, more commonly known as the Bull and Bladder. The pub is the brewery tap for the equally legendary Batham’s Brewery, brewers of one of the finest traditional bitter beers in the country, and a remarkable survivor from a bygone era that spans six generations of family involvement.

The pair of us had put in a lot of work planning a trip that would have taken us to six legendary Black Country pubs, that as well as the Bull & Bladder, included the Beacon Hotel – home to the Sarah Hughes Brewery, the Old Swan, at Netherton – one of only four brew pubs still producing their own beer when CAMRA first came on the scene, the Britannia, at Upper Gornal – another Batham’s pub, plus the Great Western Inn, next to Wolverhampton station, and the place where I’d planned to be catching my train home. All of these pubs are new to me, and I was really looking forward to experiencing them at first hand. They were not unfamiliar to Paul, who was kindly going to act as my guide and companion for the day.

A new strain of COVID put a stop to our carefully planned day out, but fortunately all is not lost, as I managed to get a refund on my Advanced train tickets. This was good as at one-time refunds weren’t available on these cut-price tickets. Speaking to the good people at ticketing app MyTrainTicket, I discovered that new rules were brought in during the pandemic. Given the possible resurgence in COVID cases we’re seeing at the moment, it’s a good job they're still in place. I had to forward a photo of my positive lateral flow test result, and pay a £10 processing fee, but the bulk of the ticket price was refunded, ready to be used when we try again.

Speaking of which, Stafford Paul has correctly pointed out that everything is in place for a second attempt and have to do is to turn up and go. With regards to that possibility, there are only six weeks left now prior to our three-week Mediterranean cruise, and with this in mind I ought to be a good boy and follow my wife's advice and postpone the Black Country visit until after our return to the UK.

There's no 100% certainty in life of

course, and no certainty either that I picked up this troublesome infection at the London Craft Beer Festival. It would have been pointless wearing a mask at an event either where the main activity was drinking, or should that be sipping, beer, but my good lady wife doesn't see it like that, especially as she has now gone down with it too! You could argue this has clouded her judgement, but equally I can point out that I've been to several events that involved crowds over the course of the last year, without so much as a sniffle!

Back in March, the International Dental Show in Cologne drew crowds of people from all over the world, and involved international train travel as well, but I escaped, unscathed. The same applied to the other train trip I’ve made since the start of the year. These have included visits to Henley-on-Thames, Norwich, Birmingham, and Manchester, and all involved cross London travel by underground. There is of course a new strain of COVID that's been identified, and whilst I was aware of one other person, a member of the local CAMRA branch, who had contracted the illness recently, I didn’t put two and two together. Consequently, there seemed no reason to have cancelled that impromptu visit to LCBF, and despite the benefit of hindsight, there’s little point in being angry about it now.

Fortunately, I'm feeling a lot better than I did at the start of the week, and working in the garden on Thursday, l clocked up 2,450 odd steps. Not a lot, but a significant improvement on Tuesday, my first day off sick from work when the count didn't get above three figures! Mrs PBT's is still feeling rough but then her symptoms only appeared late on Wednesday evening. We're anxious to keep young Matthew at arm’s length as next week he will be house sitting for his cousin, while her and her family clear off, to the South of France. With three dogs, plus several guinea pigs and rabbits he would have his work cut out, but his absence should give his old mum and dad a bit of a break.

In his absence, we’re planning to have our entrance hall, stairs and landing re-decorated properly, for the first time since we've moved into the property, nearly 30 years ago. Decorating is something I've done reluctantly over the years, and enough to confirm how much I hate the activity. Compared to painting a few walls, a stairwell is a totally different ball game, and as I’m not a fan of ladders, I shall let the professionals sort that one out.

It’s Saturday afternoon now, and the good news is, this morning, my LFT returned a negative result, whoopee! Mrs PBT’s isn’t impressed, as she’s still quite poorly and tucked up in bed, although I expect she’ll be up early tomorrow morning, to watch England’s Lionesses take on Spain in the Women’s World Cup. So, for the time being, that's it for me and I shall return to my domestic duties, and patient care.