The Curious Case of the Abandoned Pint

Two weeks ago we spent a long weekend in London as a 21st wedding anniversary treat when we ended up at the local O"Neills pub in Kings Cross. The place was packed and after visiting several restaurants in the area with no luck in getting a table we were pleased to find a perfect table right next to a big window on the ground floor.

The atmosphere was great and although quite noisy we really enjoyed not "Being alone" as we had been for the weekend. We ordered a nice bottle of wine and some scrumptious food and just enjoyed the experience.

Just after we finished our main meal we noticed a young white man sitting down at the table outside our window with a pint of beer. He lit a cigarette, took a sip of his beer and then took a call on his mobile after which he got up and promptly left, abandoning his now nearly untouched pint of beer on the table. As there was a drizzle and it was on the cold side there were no other people sitting at the single row of covered outside tables.

Time for my "after dinner" smoke break and I headed outside. Lit up my cigarette and looked at the "Lonely" unfinished pint sitting on the outside table, wondering what important call the young man had received to make him leave his pint like that.






Returned to our table and within a few minutes we noticed a staggering black, man of the street (Hobo) coming towards the abandoned pint. He stopped, looked around for a few seconds and then promptly grabbed the pint and took two huge gulps, put it down and staggered of. Not even two minutes later he re appeared, grabbed the pint and took another big drink before disappearing not to be seen again. The pint had now been enjoyed by two total strangers with about just under half left in the glass.

Strange but true and we both laughed and talked about what we had just witnessed. Another five minutes or so passed while chatting when a Chinese tourist looking man walked up to the table, looked around, and then grabbed pint and what was left of it and finished it of before casually walking away. Again we could not believe what we were seeing and laughed some more about the now, three total strangers that had shared the pint. It was funny but the whole idea a bit gruesome, come to think of it.

We did discuss the idea of buying another pint and putting it on the outside table to see what would be it's fate and even taking photos if the same sordid story unfolded but it was already late so we finished our wine and left.

I wanted to call the story the "Beer & the Threesome" but decided the Abandoned Pint deserved some dignity and named it as such.

Finding Beatrix Potter

This year is her 150th birthday celebration and No, I am not an Idiot. I knew who she was although I  have never read any of her books. And so it happened during our 8 day road trip we ended up staying in Windermere in the Lake District without knowing that this was basically where she lived most of her life and owned most of the property in the area.

Entrance at the Attraction

After we checked into the Hotel we took a walk down to the village of Bowness to plan our lake excursion and noticed many Japanese tourists in the street with suitcases. This was strange to see such a high number of the same nationality in such a small village in the middle of the country. We kept on coming across even more of them down at the harbor. This puzzled me and upon our return I asked the owner about this. Oh, it's simple he said. They use Beatrix Potter books to learn English and basically grow up with it. So it is normal and sort of a pilgrimage for Japanese tourists to come and visit her home. Her house is just outside the village and we could also visit the Beatrix Potter attraction in Bowness.

Japanese tourist stocking up at the Attraction

The next day during our Mountain Goat trip we ended up driving past the Hilltop Farm house where she lived most of her life. Our guide Michael went on the share some interesting facts about the lady. She used the proceeds from her books to buy properties in the Lake District and owned fourteen farms by the time of her death in 1943, aged 77.



Apart from being a writer, illustrator and natural scientist she also was a serious conservationist and prize winning sheep farmer. She stocked all her farms with Herdwick sheep and Galloway cattle. The acquisition of all the farms were part of her efforts to preserve the unique hill countryside. She got married at age 47 and never had any children. She left most of her properties (4000 acres) in total to the National Trust therefor preserving much of the land that now constitutes the Lake District National Park.

As you can see from the photos we did visit the World of Beatrix Potter attraction and it was very informative and interesting. She wrote 30 books including 24 children books. Zelma really enjoyed all the interactive displays and even spent some time playing with some of them. My only observation is how thin and small the books are with most of the pages basically illustrations but then I am no children's book expert and two million of her books are sold each year.

There, one history lesson for the day.

Visiting the UK Coastal Towns

Finally, after a long break I have "Picked up the Pen" and decided to write some more articles. Since moving to the UK in December 2014 from Singapore we have done some getting around and visited 47 cities to date including four coastal towns chosen as part of our long weekend road trips.

We previously visited Skegness and Bournemouth and during our latest trip included Blackpool and Whitby. Blackpool, I hear you say and certainly that is the response we got from many people when we announced our itinerary but here is the thing. I like visiting these places for the very reason that the people are very different from the city folk.


They are a more simply people, with less hangups and certainly far more laid back and I mean that in the best way possible. The dress code is more "Common" and during our visit to Blackpool it was strange to see the locals walking around in town and about in their track suites. That's the way it is and I am okay with that. Why do we have to dress up all the time?

One thing is for sure, the people in the coastal towns are friendly and down to earth. What you see is what you get attitude and more genuine if I dare say so. I have read that many of the coastal towns are struggling and no longer the destination of choice for the UK people. Now, they prefer the cheap "Packaged" overseas holidays and as a result these towns are in decline when it comes to holiday visitors.

I believe the direct result is that the coastal people therefor make an extra effort to be friendly and treat visitors in a special way. You are appreciated and certainly that has been my experience. Even if you end up staying in some small hotel you come away with 5 Star treatment and that is a bonus for me. The hospitality is great, awesome food and overall a more personal and rewarding experience.

There are always loads to explore so I will continue to include more of these towns in future road trips and to date has always been very cost effective compared to some other destinations.

Kudos to all the peoples of the Coastal Towns.