Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 11 degrees, chilly, grey and damp.
What do you do on a cold and slightly rainy Sunday in England? You go to the pub!
I worked in the morning, but I didn’t do any exercise as I am still sore, very sore from the workout yesterday. My mother suggested that we have a late lunch and also told me more than once to go and have a drink at a local pub.
I haven’t fed the swans in a couple of days, so I thought I’d make a round trip. Go down to the canal, feed the swans and ducks, then visit a more refined pub on the other side of the village, and afterwards stop at a simpler pub on the way back.
It is bitterly cold, windy, and damp in the street. The Swans were there, two beautiful adults and some smaller but large ducks. I’m not sure if they recognise me, because as soon as they see me from a distance, they don’t hesitate to come. I took some pictures of them while they were feeding, and then started walking around to the first pub.
‘The Lawnswood’ is a well-established pub, and when my brother lived nearby, he would often go there for a drink. Nowadays, it’s quite a lively pub with large TV screens displayed around the lounge to broadcast special events, especially football derbies.
Football is an institution in England, especially among the working or lower middle classes, where their fanaticism for supporting their team is very similar to that of supporters in South America.
I had already visited this pub at lunchtime on Christmas Eve; it was completely full of families and friends wishing each other a happy Christmas before the big day. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the pub; I found the service slow, bureaucratic, and the prices bordering on expensive. I didn’t eat there at the time because I thought the food was nothing special and the portions were small, almost symbolic.
Living in Brazil for so long, we are spoiled by fast service, not necessarily pleasant or polite, but quick. It is also challenging to find subpar food in Brazil; again, we are spoiled with good-quality, wholesome food at reasonable prices. Finding bad food is rare. The pub was half full today; I had two glasses of red wine, which I thought were a bit overpriced. While I was there, I called and spoke to Yasmin and Nalva in Brazil before leaving.
It’s the kind of place you go with a girlfriend or a woman to have a drink and chat, but for me, going alone is too costly and not worth it.
On the way to the other pub, I passed by the local mini supermarket to buy milk; the milkman won’t come until Tuesday, so I had already worked out that with the amount of tea my mother drinks, she wouldn’t have enough for tonight and tomorrow.
Seeing, noticing, understanding, and taking into consideration something that is coming to an end at home, at work, or in your life in various ways is an art. If you can anticipate or plan for something that you know will a lot of stress in our lives.
Being prepared for something before it happens is a real gem!
When I was married to Nalva, after a long day of work and teaching at the school, I would arrive home to find a pile of dirty dishes that hadn’t been washed. To keep the peace, I would offer to do them. When I started washing the dishes, I noticed the washing-up liquid was running out.
I asked her where another bottle was, and she told me she hadn’t bought any. There was no washing-up liquid left to wash the dishes. She had been home all day and had also gone out, but she hadn’t had the sense to see that the bottle was nearly empty and buy another before it was finished.
If Nalva had the good sense to buy another bottle, a lot of stress, arguments, and fighting could have been avoided. By simply observing and paying attention to her life, the flat, and everything around her, being consistent with the situation, and avoiding minor or micro emergencies, she could have prevented the resulting stress—just by having the foresight to see what was needed at home.
It took her a long time and many arguments to learn this simple but valid lesson.
If we don’t learn to understand and communicate the whole situation around us, whether at work, at home, or with our family, then, besides unnecessarily suffering from not having what we need at that moment, it also causes stress that could have been avoided.
I arrived at the same pub I had visited the previous Sunday. It is simpler and cheaper than the other one, and when I arrived, it was already half full. When I left, all the chairs and tables had been taken. The pub offers a mix of traditional pub food and Indian cuisine.
At the back, there is a separate industrial kitchen specialising in Indian food, catering not only to the pub but also for takeaway and delivery. The food seems to be very good, and there is quite a crowd. I haven’t eaten there yet, but I plan to in the future.
I drank three glasses of wine and went home, where my late lunch and early dinner were waiting for me. Later, I watched a little TV with my mother and was in bed by 10:00 PM.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
