The Night Mail

[Flying Fox 34F]

DH’s mention of Guinness conversion therapy in San Diego reminds me of my own efforts in Florida!

 

I was staying on International Drive in Orlando, in a 4 star hotel hosting a convention of serving US military personnel.

Draft Guinness was available in the bar, so I indulged.  After the first two pints, I was asked by a member of the US Navy, if I was ok?  Absolutely fine, was my response.  He promptly bought me another, which was gratefully received.  As I was still coherent, another appeared.  By close of play, I had enjoyed 10 pints!!!!!  However, I still felt fine, (I had been consuming snacks along the way).  The group who’d been drinking with me, ( a couple of them tried a glass of Guinness), were mainly carried to their rooms by colleagues.

 

Next day, at breakfast, I was approached by one of the group, who was aghast that I was capable of eating.  I still felt fine.  Apparently, several Officers were hungover and were not looking forward to food or the mornings conference.  
 

I did it all again in next the evening!!!!!!’

 

Paul

Edited June 22 by Flying Fox 34F
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[Dave Hunt]

One of the guys I tried introducing to Guinness in San Diego was a Texan named Dempsey (known as Jack for obvious reasons). We were in McP’s and I bought him a Guinness then later asked him what he would like next. “Another of those black soda pops,” he replied in true Texan fashion. Eventually he had in excess of eight pints of Guinness (we lost count) and the next day didn’t appear until the afternoon when he looked like something the cat dragged in. He never touched Guinness again and I was known for ever after as the man who broke Dempsey.

 

Dave

[SM42]

Earlish start today as we are off to Bridgnorth using the SVR. 

 

We have a free return ticket,  after our last visit, to use, so we ate going to spend a couple of hours mooching  about.

 

No rush, no plan. Just seeing how things happen as they happen. 

 

Just got to get Mrs SM42 out of the bathroom and to the station now. 

 

Andy

[Winslow Boy]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

I didn't know I had purple blood, but I have noticed  a growing number of my friends and acquaintances who say:

 

'Look!  Here comes that 'King Hippo again.'

 

 

Oh dear are you hearing 'voices' again?

 

Have you tried putting some cheese in those lugholes. Cheeper and certainly quicker.

[Winslow Boy]

3 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Earlish start today as we are off to Bridgnorth using the SVR. 

 

We have a free return ticket,  after our last visit, to use, so we ate going to spend a couple of hours mooching  about.

 

No rush, no plan. Just seeing how things happen as they happen. 

 

Just got to get Mrs SM42 out of the bathroom and to the station now. 

 

Andy

Sack barrow or fork lift truck?

[GMKAT7]

Good morning folks,

 

In a similar vein to the previous Guinness conversion tales, in my younger days I used to partake of 'lads ' weekends away (The lads bit was flexible as we had a 60 year old on the trips).

 

One of the younger tour members (24) decided that he would spend his Saturday in the company of our near-legendary drinker of the black stout.

 

After 4 pints for breakfast, with no food, the younger lad looked a bit peaky but said he would stick with it that day.

 

By Saturday evening he was a broken man, whilst the Guinness monster was still going strong.

The young lad spent his Sunday drinking nothing stronger than Lucozade 😂

 

Cheers, Nigel.

[Dave Hunt]

A very late and lazy start to Saturday. I’m still drinking coffee and doing little else apart from planning what I’m going to do in the shed later when I’ve got my ass in gear. I’d better get on with it soon or the day will be gone. This evening we are going to an Italian noshery - genuine Italian place run by Italians and featuring proper Italian grub, not pizza and chips.

 

TTFN

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

12 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

A very late and lazy start to Saturday. I’m still drinking coffee and doing little else apart from planning what I’m going to do in the shed later when I’ve got my ass in gear. I’d better get on with it soon or the day will be gone. This evening we are going to an Italian noshery - genuine Italian place run by Italians and featuring proper Italian grub, not pizza and chips.

 

TTFN

 

Dave

I'm just finishing my coffee, then it will be back out into the garden.

 

I am under instruction to do some re-potting of some Yew bushes.

 

This will be followed by more painting of various pieces of garden timber.

 

With luck I will make the time to finish the workshop repaint.  (Just the fancy contrasting colour for the window frames door surrounds and the barge boards.

 

Working on the railway is currently a fantasy.

[polybear]

28 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

This evening we are going to an Italian noshery - genuine Italian place run by Italians and featuring proper Italian grub, not pizza and chips.

 

 

You could always point out the error of their ways.......

 

Incidentally, it'd be interesting to know if their Spaggy Carb . is with or without cream....

[SM42]

Well that didn't happen. 

 

Seems the come back within 12  months ticket meant the remaining three months in 2023 and Mrs SM42 wasn't up for buying a full price ticket.

If there were more trains and we had all day maybe, but not for an out and back trip with limited options for stopping off en route  

 

Instead we did the shopping now rather  than later today and working in the garden and around the house beckons. 

 

Probably a blessing as time is short to get a lot done and the weather is on side. 

 

First job is dig out the bikes ready for tomorrow's trip and give them a check over. 

 

Lawn cutting and maybe duabing some paint on some timber to follow along with a general tidy up around the edges. 

 

Work on organising the West wing will continue later and more boxes have been liberated from the supermarket to help  move stuff about. 

 

I anticipate at least one trip to the tip as a result of today's activities. 

 

Andy

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 I’d better get on with it soon or the day will be gone. This evening we are going to an Italian noshery - genuine Italian place run by Italians and featuring proper Italian grub, not pizza and chips.

 

TTFN

 

Dave

 

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

You could always point out the error of their ways.......

 

Incidentally, it'd be interesting to know if their Spaggy Carb . is with or without cream....

The Mafia have killed people for less, Bear.

 

Hmm, perhaps we should dump you in the middle of Naples with a sign around your neck proclaiming "se non servi la pizza con le patatine fritte sei un idiota" and see how long you'd last.....

[GMKAT7]

Good morning folks,

 

After a Derby railway staff reunion last night (in the Brunswick naturally) and several glasses of Everard Tiger, followed by a Nepalese curry and Cobra for supper, the gardening mojo has departed despite it being a dry and sunny day.

 

So, any grass cutting, etc will have to wait for later in the day, if at all.

Having to drive up to Durham tomorrow morning, to collect the boy for his summer at home, I think conservation of energy is the best course of action.

 

Some light work on fitting etched name and number plates to various 4mm SR and WR locos sounds much more in order, especially since the Boss is out with friends.

As long as the dog gets her walks I should (ha!) remain clear of 'le maison du chien'.

 

Otherwise, it's been nice knowing you all.😅

 

Cheers, Nigel.

Edited June 22 by GMKAT7
Spelling!

[zarniwhoop]

15 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The flavour of beer depends a lot on the local water used for brewing it. Usually the harder the water is the better it is for brewing beer. That is why Burton-on-Trent is (or was) noted for its breweries also East Anglia and Kent all area's with a limestone aquifer, as is the area around Dublin. It is the minerals in the water that gives a beer it's particular flavour so Guinness brewed other than in Dublin will taste different.

In my youth I was encouraged to home brew. I would say that the yeast does make a difference (other things being equal) - I can remember getting bottles of Worthington White Shield and of Guinness (live ales) to use the dregs for brewing and with similar recipes they did taste quite different.

 

That was with the semi-hard water from the local chalk.

 

The grains, and of course the variety of hops, also make a difference to the flavour (even with a beer mostly using malt extract.

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

One of the guys I tried introducing to Guinness in San Diego was a Texan named Dempsey (known as Jack for obvious reasons). We were in McP’s and I bought him a Guinness then later asked him what he would like next. “Another of those black soda pops,” he replied in true Texan fashion. Eventually he had in excess of eight pints of Guinness (we lost count) and the next day didn’t appear until the afternoon when he looked like something the cat dragged in. He never touched Guinness again and I was known for ever after as the man who broke Dempsey.

 

Dave

 

 

I too have a "Guinness VS an American Person" story.

 

We were up in Darwin supporting a major international  exercise and we had a couple of US SME's from Lockheed Martin with us. The first night before  we had a day or two off  we all went down Mitchell Street and found an Irish Pub -  because nothing is more authentically Irish than  tropical Darwin.

 

One of the US guys was ex Special Ops and he spotted a Guinness poster and reckoned he'd like to try one. Despite us warning him that it wasn't all that good and that the tropics isn't going to bring out its best  he took  a liking to it and through the evening had a dozen or so. We all stuck to beer, because it was  Darwin and hot and therefore thats what you drink.

 

The next day we had a "Leaping Croc" trip organised for the US guys.  You probably have them on the Thames and so on  but if not,  you go on a boat that has cyclone fencing to protect the sides and the guide dangles dead chickens on a pole and f(#@$(*%$) massive crocs leap out of the water and grab them, soaking you in water.

 

The US Guiness enthusiast was coping ok even on the rocking boat until he copped a sight of the frozen chicken on a stick. For some reason that set him off and he dashed across to the other side of the boat and tried to climb up the fencing so he could puke unimpeded.

 

The guide spotted him and said something like  " what are ya doing mate? - the crocs'll get ya."  But that wasn't enough to make him stop. 

 

What I came away with out of it all is that the risk of getting your face bitten off by a croc is preferable to enduring a Guinness hangover.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, GMKAT7 said:

Some light work on fitting etched name and number plates to various 4mm SR and WR locos sounds much more in order, especially since the Boss is out with friends.

Obviously a gentleman with an impeccable taste in locomotives.

[Tony_S]

I am sitting in the lovely commuter village of Orsett. Actually I am sitting outside the Minor Injuries Unit at Orsett Hospital. When Aditi fell a week ago she banged her knee, so here we are. She had been examined, x rayed and has just gone back in to see the nurse. 

[Steamport Southport]

4 hours ago, GMKAT7 said:

The young lad spent his Sunday drinking nothing stronger than Lucozade 😂

 

Cheers, Nigel.

 

Ultimate failure!

 

Should have got back on the Guinness straight away. One of the best cures for a hangover is having a bit of what you had the night before and works especially well when it is Guinness. Even if it's just a few sips out of a half pint.

 

 

Jason

[Steamport Southport]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

The Mafia have killed people for less, Bear.

 

Hmm, perhaps we should dump you in the middle of Naples with a sign around your neck proclaiming "se non servi la pizza con le patatine fritte sei un idiota" and see how long you'd last.....

 

Nope. Needs pineapple not fries!

 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

10 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I am sitting in the lovely commuter village of Orsett. Actually I am sitting outside the Minor Injuries Unit at Orsett Hospital. When Aditi fell a week ago she banged her knee, so here we are. She had been examined, x rayed and has just gone back in to see the nurse. 

Orsett gained fame when the M25 was under construction, as diversions etc during works meant it featured regularly in Traffic News bulletins etc. Radio DJs just loved saying "Orsett Cock roundabout", I recall. 

[Tony_S]

Now in an Orsett pub having lunch. 

I am today's driver so Guinness Zero!

 

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Orsett gained fame when the M25 was under construction, as diversions etc during works meant it featured regularly in Traffic News bulletins etc. Radio DJs just loved saying "Orsett Cock roundabout", I recall. 

The Cock only remains as an interchange. We are in The Foxhound. 

[Northmoor]

It's been a busy week and plenty still to do this weekend.

 

Last weekend I collected my son from Uni - final results due on election day - and included a Saturday afternoon trip to Wells which he'd missed out on visiting in the last four years.  Then Tuesday I collected my daughter from her Uni, so that's two car-loads of stuff having to be found a home.  I can't complain; I went to Uni fitting everything in a family car's boot but returned in a Transit van.

 

Thursday involved working at home until the delivery of our new living room furniture and removing the old sofa and chair to the garden.  Being a steel-framed sofabed it took all four of us to get it out and the feet needed removing first.  We now look like a dodgy council house with furniture on the lawn; there is a local service who will take them for refurb and passing on to needy families, but not for two weeks so I need to find a friendly neighbour with an empty garage, before it all gets rained on.

 

This weekend will also consist of trying to find homes/storage for everything, some minor repairs on the Focus (which TNM'rs may recall encountered a small deer last week), food shopping, clean the cars, more party leaflet deliveries*, buy some new shoes for work.......

 

*Yesterday, with less than two weeks to go, we got a leaflet from the Conservative candidate (Michael Gove's replacement) whose connection with the area is that he attended Sandhurst about twenty years ago but doesn't appear to have been back since.  But his is the first mailing from any of the other PPCs in this area, I'm currently delivering the LibDem's fourth.  The neighbours are probably sick of us by now, but with all this walking I've lost a couple of pounds in the last few weeks, so that's something.

[polybear]

49 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Nope. Needs pineapple not fries!

 

 

 

 

No worries....

 

"Orso vorrebbe una pizza con patatine fritte e ananas, per favore"

[PhilJ W]

52 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Orsett gained fame when the M25 was under construction, as diversions etc during works meant it featured regularly in Traffic News bulletins etc. Radio DJs just loved saying "Orsett Cock roundabout", I recall. 

 

38 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The Cock only remains as an interchange. We are in The Foxhound. 

The original pub is still there and the last time I went down that way it had become an Indian restaurant.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Nope. Needs pineapple not fries!

 

 

 

It was nice knowing you too…..