It’s been the best part of a week since I published a post
on the blog, and it’s all down to a combination of inertia, plus a necessary
focus on other things. You see
Mrs PBT’s, and I have been rather busy on the
domestic front, not so much with spring cleaning - we’re a little late for
that, but instead we’ve been de-cluttering on quite a grand scale.
To cap it all, I hung a new pair of curtains in the back
bedroom on Thursday – a task that was no way near as simple as it sounds. Tip,
watch a couple of the “How to” You Tube videos before starting, rather than
waiting until you are halfway through! I could also have asked Mrs PBT’s, but
that would have been too obvious. Task completed, and they look very good –
“hanging well,” as they say in the interior design business.
I took four bags of clothes to the charity shop on Friday –
none of which were mine, and there were another half dozen bags to drop off at
our local household waste centre on Sunday.
We had a pre-booked slot for midday, so with Matthew available to help, we
enjoyed a pre-dump run at Chiddingstone Causeway Village Hall, first thing on Sunday
morning.
Although I’m sure there are some who might disagree with me,
I’m of the opinion that the pre-booking system works much better. It eliminates
the queuing, for a start, and also, by eliminating bottlenecks, as far as
possible, makes the whole experience that little bit smoother. Matthew helped
me load the car up on Saturday, with enough scrap metal and redundant cabling
to start our own totting business. It’s amazing how many
computer and printer leads one accumulates over the years, to say nothing of chargers
there are. It’s small wonder that the European Union passed a very sensible
directive compelling manufacturers of such equipment to standardise the type of
connections they use on their devices.
Of course, we in Global (Little) Britain don’t need such legislation
because we’re “world beating” in everything we do. We certainly don’t need
Johnny Foreigner telling us what to do, which reminds me how is the bonfire of
“EU red tape” going now that we’ve cast of the shackles and regained the
freedom, that we never lost on the first place?
Oh, wait a minute, we’ve been forced to introduce a huge
pile of “red tape” of our own, after foolishly abandoning the friction-less
trade that membership of the Single Market gave us. (Wasn’t that concept a
British idea in the first place, championed by no less a person than former Prime
Minister, Margaret Thatcher? Sorry, getting a bit carried away here, but you have
to call out stupidity and blatant own goals when you come across them.
Back to the de-cluttering, I’ve managed two bags of books,
plus two bags of clothes, and there’s more to come, and the process has
continued outside of the house, with unwanted/expired items from shed,
summerhouse and greenhouse also culled and awaiting their re-cycling destiny at
the tip tomorrow.
I did manage a swift pint of
Goacher’s Gold Star on
Friday,
at the
Beer Seller in
Tonbridge, having dropped the books plus the first lot of
clothes off at two nearby charity shops. Matthew was finishing work early, so I
arranged to meet him afterwards at the aforementioned pub. The
Beer Seller was
quiet for a
Friday afternoon, with only a handful of customers present, apart
from ourselves, and although we were sat in one of the alcoves, we could quite
clearly hear the conversation at the bar.
The manager and a member of her staff was commenting on how
quiet it was, and what the cause might be. Could it be the unseasonably cold
weather, the interminable roadworks afflicting the own, or were the recent cost
of living increases and the squeeze they were putting on people’s disposable
income to blame?
The conclusion seemed to be the latter, which isn’t entirely
surprising. I’ve recently had to increase our monthly direct debit payment for
gas and electricity, by £97, with the threat of a further increase, come
October, and with diesel now costing just under £1.80 a litre, I’m kind of glad
my commute to work is now only three days, rather then five. Spare a thought
for my two colleagues, who joined the company last year. One has a daily
commute from Thanet, whilst the other drives in from Romney Marsh. Both
locations are about as far away as one can get from this part of west Kent, so
I have to admire their resilience as well as well as their dedication.
Back in the
early 90’s, I had a long distance, daily commute
by car, to
Lewes and back – around trip of
60 miles each day. I suspect my colleagues
both have a longer journey each day, and whilst they’re younger than me, I
don’t envy that sort of drive on a daily basis. One of them has looked at
putting up at a local hotel, for a couple of nights a week, but given the areas
popularity with tourists (think
Penshurst Place, Hever Castle, Knowle House and
Chartwell), overnight rates aren’t exactly cheap – a fact I discovered for
myself, whilst planning the next, and final stages of my
North Downs Way walk.
So where is all this leading? Well, continuing with the
cost-of-living theme, two particular online items caught my eye over the past
couple of days. The first was a well-argued and thought-provoking post by veteran
blogger
Tandleman, about our old friend
Wetherspoons. I somehow missed the
article when it appeared a few days ago (I said I’d been distracted), but it
was brought to my attention by
Boak & Bailey, via their weekly
Saturday
round-up.
Tandleman’s article certainly attracted plenty of comments
(48 at the last count), with the majority coming out in favour of the chain. I’ve
got plenty of thoughts of my own regarding JDW and their maverick, and at times
controversial, founder and chairman, but I shall save them for when I get round
to writing an article about Spoons of my own – something I have been
threatening to do for a long time!
The other article, which appeared on the
BBC’s Worklife
page, entitled
“The sky-high cost of returning to the office,” consisted
mainly of people whining about the increased costs they are now facing,
following on from two years spent working at home. Employees who haven’t had to
budget for train tickets, takeaway coffees or new office outfits for the past
two years are now acutely aware of how much it costs to spend a day at their
desks.
But two years without splashing out on transport, takeaway
lunches, office wear and after-work drinks, has left many workers quid’s in. One
woman even claimed to have saved £6,000 in six months, although the same
individual is now complaining that her return train ticket to work has risen
from £35 pre-pandemic to almost £50. Her employer had upped salaries to meet
market rates but, she said "It’s really not enough”.
Then there’s the other poor soul, too disorganised to do
what many of us have done for years, namely knock up a packed lunch the night
before, and leave it in the fridge until the following morning. Instead, this
hapless individual grabs both breakfast and lunch around work. Her cheapest
option is Pret a Manger, where
“Very easily, one coffee, one little breakfast
thing and lunch, ends up being £13.” Then
there are the snacks she gets from
Tesco, “Which aren’t cheap either.”
I made my thoughts on working from home quite clear, at the
height of the first lock-down, and have very little sympathy for either individual.
However, after reading articles such as these, it’s not surprising that the
country’s political leaders want workers back at their desks. Without daily
commutes and dining a one’s desk, businesses of all types and sizes are losing
out financially. One day of commuting is reportedly worth £82m to businesses in
the UK, so no wonder city centre businesses want the people back.
The question that also needs asking, is working from home as
efficient as its made out to be? It appears that in department such as the
DVLA
and the
Passport Office, the answer is definitely a large NO! A colleague of
mine has been waiting for his daughter’s passport to be renewed.
The
Passport Office have a self-imposed
10-week
maximum wait (itself a disgrace), but this period has already been passed. He
has found it impossible to get through on the phone because, guess what, the
staff are all working from home!
In such situations, accountability goes out the window. It’s
not often I find myself agreeing with "haunted Victorian pencil" Jacob Rees-Mogg, but
it’s high time people in public service, followed the example of those of us in
the private sector, and got themselves back to their work places.
That’s more than enough ranting for one article, but at what
appears a quiet time on the local beer scene, there hasn’t been much that’s
topical to write about. I shall be joining the local
CAMRA’s on
Thursday
evening, for a walkabout of the pubs at the north end of
Tonbridge, which should be
interesting. Spoiler alert, there aren't many pubs left in that part of the town, but until then…………
ps. The photo of the bookcase, pre-dates the clear-out!
It is therefore doubly sad to learn that this pioneering brewery
is to close. The Fat Cat will remain open, but Kelham Island Brewery beer will
only be available on cask and in bottles while stock lasts. It is also both sad
and frustrating on a personal note, as I have a trip to Sheffield, planned for
11 days’ time, and some time spent in the Kelham Island quarter, featured high
on my priority list. I still plan to head down that way, as I will be meeting up with
pub-ticking legend, Retired Martin, and pub connoisseur, Sheffield Hatter, who
is also a pub-going legend in his own right, but the closure of Kelham Island Brewery
will put something of a dampener on the whole experience.
It's rather pointless going over the same ground, as the
obvious conclusion has to be there are just too many breweries in existence in
the UK today. CAMRA of course will tell you otherwise, as will many of the organisation’s
members, but in a declining market, beset by rapidly rising prices, it’s dog
eat world out there. There is only so much trade to go
round, and with each new start up the market, and the opportunities therein, become
ever more diluted - when will CAMRA realise this basic, economic fact?
Ironically, whilst researching the background to Devon-based
Exe Valley Brewery, I discovered that in March 2021, there were 45 breweries
operating in the county alone. If that doesn’t’ make the point, then I don’t
know what does. It might also go a long way towards explain why, after nearly
40 years of brewing, Exe Valley had to call it a day.
