Happy Birthday Shish

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Happy Birthday mate, what is it 39 again this year :)
:guntotin:
Help yourself to a beer or 2 from the :fridge:
It's okay we only used a few candles for your :cake:
:birthday:

[Bok]

Happy Birthday mate,

hope you are having a great day!

Bok :cheers:

[Digital Parasite]

Happy Birthday!! Hope you have a great one...

[LAURENU2]

I will raise my glass for a cheer :drink: :birthday:

[Shish]

Thank you guys. Much appreciate the wishes. Sorry I very rarely wish it to others but I normally try to ignore birthdays because I've had quite a few but today is special for me. I'm having the day off and being driven means I can have an odd (very odd actually, but luvverly) glass of local brewery lager and sample some wines found in the cellar of a pub the boys just took on. This place goes back to around the 18th century and the cellar was full of nooks and crannys stuffed with booty, don't want to make anybody drool but the brandy is still casked (for now) and I found a giant rack of wines, some of which I recognised and many I didn't but cork smelling indicates absolute gorgeousness. So I've just finished an excellent meal and sampled several beverages including a bella bella brandy and hot chocolate drink which I'm getting for home use. Stuff the drugs, this stuff will put anybody to sleep. Got the new Google Android sorted so I've got internet everywhere on a reasonable screen and a phone call earlier said we've had all our plans and projects approved so we start spending money soon. Always makes anybody happy does that :D
So, a lot of hard work is coming to fruition and I'm in the best of condition I could hope for today with lots of good news, just a small amount of drugs in my system (always good that) and free booze, good food and even better company, including of course all you guys at Free-DC who are very special to me.
Best of regards to you all from the depths of the Yorkshire Dales (for a couple of days) and thank goodness for VNC cos I can still get to my home computer which seemed to start a sulk as soon as I left home. Very odd having a better connection or easier, going wifi to my son's netbook from my phone then via my home computer to get a decent connection. The adsl here is worse than an old phoneline modem connection but my son's connection is reasonable and that lets me switch networks cos mine ain't too good here. Having wifi connect on the phone comes in very handy :thumbs:
Cheers and beers guys, this will be one pub which never has to shut so I guess I'll be back when I get to be half sober and my supposedly non alchol(ic) driver sobers up. Seems the smell of the brandy cask went to his head so I persuaded him to sample some of the old apple stuff, dunno how old it is but it says Armagnac on the cask, it's full and it's very faded writing and about 11 gallons (IMP), smell says it's the real deal and I reckon even the smell is about 80% proof ;):thumbs::cheers:

[Bigred]

http://bestsmileys.com/birthday1/7.gif

[Paratima]

Hey! Don't hurry to get sober on our account! :p

Sounds like you're doing about as well as any. "...in the cellar of a pub the boys took on..." That sounds pretty damn good to me! Have a great one.

[Shish]

Well, I survived the Armagnac and I'm lucky I'm one of those people who don't get a hangover (nothing much to notice anyway). Thanks Paratima for those thoughts and I must admit, after having my doubts about the boys going back into the business we liquidated a few years ago, I'm enjoying the fruits of THEIR labours for a change instead of putting my brain and ( a very small amount) of brawn into this business which when it's good it's very good but when it's bad (mostly bad nowadays) it's Crapsy with a bold, capital C. They've only got the 2 pubs just now and they're as different as chalk and cheese. This one has a superb cellar, an excellent chef and a reputation for both good food and drink to attract custom from miles around. I have been asked to earn my keep and produce a few meals but that's a joy to do nowadays and I can still get the patron seat behind the bar which can be one of the best seats in any pub. Even pulled a few pints last night cos we wore out 3 barmen/maids and everybody present had a good night till around 5:00am this morning. The other pub is more of a local town centre pub but now with little competition so both are some of the few pubs making money. So, instead of a dozen or twenty tied houses, the boys have now just two, wholly owned, maybe more to come, but no big staff to worry about and no brewery to answer to and the best part is, they still get to keep the horses. I may even go back to an old interest in Shires which are the working horses I was brought up with in Norfolk. Just as a retirement present to myself of course but the 16 stall stables which are still mostly there as part of the old buildings could be put to better use than just keeping a couple Arabians and a pair of Irish 'sticks' jumpers. The stables can also bring in a goodly amount of paying guests rent so as of now it seems an ideal place and a very lucky find. Now all I want is for the health to behave a little and hopefully the Yorkshire air will also help that a bit and this could be the best birthday ever. I'd much sooner take a good pint (of beer/lager/spirits or wine) than a handfull of pills along with a nice meal and I think my quality of life would certainly benefit. The brain still, mostly, works, just the body has stopped repairing itself after years of 100+ hour weeks and office in fighting, neither of which I miss at all.
So I hope you all end up in this kind of life and wish you all that a good life can offer. Modern science and medicine is still a wonderful thing but some of the old stuff can still work wonders and a happy mind is or should be always a priority. I will always be around here cos, despite a few sparks now and again, this site maintains it's integrity and that's no easy thing nowadays. Now, after a pint of best, after a good breakfast, I'm going back to bed :rotfl:

[Paratima]

Thanks, Shish. Fine story. With one good, thoughtful paragraph you have done a lot of illuminating.

Keep on keepin' on.