Sunday, April 6, 2008

Famous Last Words

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You can't ridea scooter in snow and sleet. I look forward to riding in when I do my sunday shifts, but today I was thwarted. For the first time ever the weather was just too bad for my eponymous wheels. When the alarm buzzed at 6.30, I got up and looked out of the window - I was hoping the forecast would be wrong, but I could barely see to the other side of the street for diagonally-falling snow. The streets were muffled silent as I walked to the tube, every car covered by a couple of inches. After work I stopped off at the John Lewis food hall and picked up a couple of bottles of Orval. Many Belgian beers claim to be brewed by Trappist monks - or look as if they are (yes, Leffe, I'm talking to you)) - but Orval is the real thing. I first came across it at the Bar Garré in Bruges, a serious contender fot the world's best pub. It's an easily missed little boozer down an alley off the main square. A waiter recommended this brew as his personal favourite. Can't say I can argue much. Mrs Teninchwheels bought me the special glass above, a beautiful thing that rings like a bell when empty. Orval just bursts with character, a fragrant sweet toffee flavour - a beer that makes even the bleakest day a lot more cheerful. Hard to believe Stella comes from the same continent, let alone the same country.

2 comments:

John Bagnall said...

Lovely drinking glass! I like Orval too, though part of the attraction might be knowing these holy Trappists are somehow touching lives in the secular world other than through their powerful but cloistered prayer lives.
Very interesting blog, TIW, will be keeping in touch....

TIW said...

Hello John, glad to see you here.