A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood

We here in the U of K, good ole GB, Henglan' wid a Haitch, have been recently subjected to a series of summer-like days with scorching temps in the upper 70s, endless blue skies, sunsets to die for, flowers ahoy and wittle baby wambkins gambolling in the fields while their thickly woollen mamas look on disdainfully. Young ladies in inappropriately revealing outfits picnicking on the grass while their shirtless beaus play football in a vain attempt to appear manly. Young children saying 'want DAT one' while their harried parents hurriedly try to shovel ice cream into their snot-nosed faces. And of course, old geezers and geezettes waddling around saying 'phew what a scorcher' and other such phrases. And me stuck inside, working, watching it all and thanking the inventor of air-conditioning for, well... air-conditioning.

Of course as the end of the day approaches I view it all with slightly more enthusiasm as the temperature drops to a more manageable level and the sun hangs lower in the late April sky. And when my Laura shows up and asks if I fancy a drink after work, I reply "Mine's a large one!"

Such was the case today. As the White Lion looked to be heaving with merry punters all happy to have a three-day weekend, we chose The Vine as this evening's venue. When we got there we decided to have a bite to eat as we were both a little peckish. The beer garden beckoned.

We chose a table and settled down. The beer garden was actually quite busy, but quiet enough to be enjoyable. Armed with our drinks, a pint of Spitfire and a DiSaronno and lemonade, we awaited the arrival of our nibbles.

Laura had ordered a salad and a side order of chips, and I ordered a Brie and avocado ciabatta sandwich and a side of onion rings.

The Brie slices were pretty huge, and there was a lot of avocado in this tiny sammich. Not complaining at all. Yes, the roll was small, but I was more than satisfied with the amount of filling! 

The tomatoes kind of obscured all the onion that was underneath, but this was a pretty decent-sized salad.

All in all, a good way to end the workday. However, we did have to carry three bags of shopping home...