The new local Wetherspoon

 I blogged earlier this year about the new Wetherspoon that was being built in our little town. Well, it is going to open this week. I will avoid it for a few days, if not a few weeks: when pubs open or reopen, they tend to get overcrowded and messy. Not that I go to pubs very often anymore anyway, especially since I am a father. That said, the place does look good, judging from the pictures, and even if Wetherspoon pubs can be a bit bland sometimes, they are also fairly cheap and they have good standards. I generally have a good time there. So I will happily go, when the novelty has worn off a bit.

Irish Red Ale

 Well, not all Irish beers have to be Guinness or stout. So today, we went to out Henley-on-Thames and we sort of celebrated Saint Patrick's Day at the The Catherine Wheel, a Wetherspoon pub. I say sort of, because I was the only one truly celebrating. There was actually a beer festival, ending today, and as I have plenty of Guinness at home, I went for Lough Gill Brewery's Irish Red Ale. Which is Irish enough, surely. More suitable, in any case, than the green coloured lagers too many people drink on Saint Paddy's nowadays. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the day everyone.

A local Wetherspoon

They are constructing a new Wetherspoon in our little English town. It will be, as far as I know, the very first Wetherspoon in town, there was never another one before. We have and had other pub chains (in fact most of the pubs here belong to a chain, big or small), but never as of yet a behemoth like Wetherspoon. I'm of two minds about it. I like Wetherspoon pubs for their affordable beers and guest ales. The menu is decent and generally cheap. But it is often overcrowded and, while some of them have genuine atmosphere, they can be quite bland. On principle, I prefer independent businesses. I also fear for the other places round it might suffer from its presence. And finally, before this Wetherspoon, there was a clothes shop in its place. With cheap, but not cheap looking, affordable clothes. It was really practical, especially for Wolfie. And now we don't have it. Come to think of it, I am not sure I am so happy to have a Wetherspoon opening in this town...

The Catherine Wheel

You may remember that last year, I blogged about the The Catherine Wheel, a Wetherspoon pub in Henley. Or, more specifically, the sign of The Catherine Wheel in Henley. The reason was simple: it was Saint Catherine's Day and this was an excuse to learn about the saint and why she is associated to this breaking wheel, which is of course an instrument of torture. The name of the pub and the image always intrigued me. Well, today is also Saint Catherine's Day and I am sharing another photo of the ensign of the Catherine Wheel in Henley. I took it back in January this year, during a visit in the town and I have literally been waiting all year to share it with you today (very sad, I know). So here it is. A gloomy image inviting you to go in, eat, drink and be merry. Gory, but cool.

The Catherine Wheel

I did not take this picture myself: it is one I found online. This is the ensign of The Catherine Wheel, a Wetherspoon pub in Henley. It's only a Wetherspoon pub, nothing special, but we went there a few times and quite enjoyed it. I always wondered what its name meant. Well, today I discovered it, pretty much at random. You see, today is Saint Catherine's Day, which we used to celebrate when I was a good but ignorant Catholic boy. Out of curiosity, I read about it. The Saint in question is Catherine of Alexandria, who according to legends, had to endure ridiculously gory tortures as a martyr. Among them, she was placed on a breaking wheel, which shattered at her touch. She is often depicted on a wheel and this is why there is this cool ensign at the entrance of the pub. Neat. I wish I had been told this story when I was a young and ignorant Catholic boy.

Me, enjoying coffee?

I have a confession of some sort to make: I enjoyed coffee last Sunday. Cappuccino, Lavazza coffee, to be more precise. Yes, it happens sometimes, but it is rare enough to make me slightly worried. We went to John Lewis and there was demonstrations of coffee machines, we tried an "authentic Itaaaalian coffee," as the Italian presenter (should she be called a promoter?) said, from one of the machines. I don't know much about Lavazza, except that it is the coffee they serve at Wetherspoon, I certainly don't know how authentically Italian it is. But the Lavazza cappuccino was surprisingly drinkable. I might be turning mad.

In the mood for a burger and some ice cream

I will be in London tomorrow. And I am still bored of the city. Oh well, better make the best of it. I don't know if it's the hot summer day, but today I am in the mood for a burger. I am feeling quite famished actually. I think I haven't eaten red meat for a month now, so I need a quick fix, and it's not the local Wimpy that can provide it. I just have this idea of a nice, juicy burger. In London, there is the Hamburger Union I want to try, so I might try it and to Hell with Fish Friday. I wish I could get a burger from Frite Alors!, or l'Anecdote (probably my favorite), or El Dorado (not bad either, but I see them nowhere on the menue on their website), or... Or I might just get some burger in the nearest Wetherspoon. It's cheaper and I'll rather try new restaurants with my wife.

In the meantime, I haven't had ice cream in months and with this heat that would be the right dessert. Again, London is the right place for that. When we started dating, my wife and I, we got a really decadent sundae in a place called Ciao, around Picadilly Circus. We haven't gone back there, even though we have wanted to repeat the experience since we started dating.

And yes, it is another food entry.

Another day in Windsor

I spent another day in Windsor. It's lovely to be there, not so difficult to get there, but it's a Hell of a journey back. My legs are killing me and I'm exhausted. I'll try to write a long blog entry another day. I'll just give my impressions of Windsor to posterity. It's lovely, as you know, there is a huge gigantic castle that dates back to William the Conqueror. For a medievalist like me, it's happytown. It has lots of nice restaurants (including a burger place I want to visit), at least one Wetherspoon that does not look too bland, and this is a boost for me as it means I can have access to real ales at a decent price. There is a Waterstone, but sadly it does not have as much choice as many other Waterstones I have been to. I even think the one in Maidenhead is better furnished. There is one real downside to Windsor: it's so full of tourists. Yes, you know that already, I just can't stand them. I never felt like Liverpool was invaded, and it probably was, but Windsor is so small you can't miss them.