drink...

I popped into my local beer shop on Saturday.  It's just around the corner and is a proper, local affair that sells all sorts of beer, but specialises in beer from around this area and the North of England, and also has a splendid range of interesting Belgian and Dutch beers. I've been a big fan from the moment that I heard that they were opening. I mean, why wouldn't you love a shop that's literally 100m from your front door and, as well as a very good basic range, also stocks Oktoberfest beer in the Autumn and a wide selection of seasonal, dark beers in the winter.  Their tastings are pretty good too.  What's not like?  Not only am I in there quite a lot for myself, but to everyone's satisfaction, it's also now the source of my Christmas presents for my dad and both of my brothers, as well as being my go-to source of almost every other gifting occasion.  The guy who runs the shop -- Nick -- is a fan of the Leicester Tigers, but no one's perfect.

I haven't been in there for a few weeks, but I decided to nip in before the rugby started to make sure I was adequately stocked up.  Nick was in:

"Hello there Tim. Have you been having a dry January?"
"Hell no!  Why ever would I do something like that?"
"Oh, it's just that I've seen you around quite a lot - running usually - but you haven't been in the shop since Christmas.  I just assumed that you must be having a dry January and were on a health kick or something...."

Well, the simple truth is that I haven't been in the shop for a few weeks because I got given a lot of beer for Christmas (give and ye shall receive, eh?) and have been drinking my way through that stash... but you have to love having a local beer shop where they know you by name and worry you might have given up drinking when you don't show up for a few weeks.

I don't think I drink quite enough to be single-handedly responsible for their profit margins, but you know what they say about small businesses: use them or lose them.  And in this instance, I'm more than happy to do my bit.