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The Patterdale Hall Diaries | A cheeky pint
- Published: February 4, 2025
Jan. 3, 2025
It is a breathtakingly beautiful winter’s morning. We had light snow last night and currently have clear blue skies. The temperature is just below freezing. I shall finish my coffee — just one a day — and then drag a reluctant Archie out for a walk.
Ha! As soon as I typed that, little Arch got up off the sofa, stretched and came over to put his chin on me. It’s dogwalk o’clock.
We are on the brink of the temperature drop; I find the very low temperatures exciting. We simply do not get temperatures below minus 10° C (14° F) in the UK, as the sea protects us a little.
Here, though, I have experienced super cold temperatures, and it looks like we will see minus 15° C (7° F) next week. We should also get a decent dump of snow on Sunday, and Morris is praying for the first day of school to be a snow day. I hope he gets it, to be honest.
Today, I shall probably make food that I can freeze and take to work for my lunches. I fancy sausage, tomatoes, celery, onion, garlic, spinach and Italian herbs — delicious and reasonably high in fiber. I can have it with rice and beans. Preparing food in advance always reduces my stress at work, and it’s good to have healthy and hearty food in the middle of the day. As much as I love Wright State, its food options are awful if you are diabetic or need high fiber.
So, yes, I shall fry up some kielbasa and add it to a tasty Mediterranean-inspired vegetable stew. I suppose if I were to add flageolet beans it would be a whole meal. But I don’t have any flageolet beans and I’m a little loath to use an inferior bean. Great northerns just fall apart. I settled on cannellini beans, which are a bit larger than what I was aiming for but will do the job of punching up the fiber.
Jan. 4, 2025
The temperature dropped (14° F, minus 10° C) and I stayed out at the Hall to keep the fire going. Same ritual. Asleep at 10 p.m. Wake at midnight. Put logs on fire. Go back to sleep. Wake at 3 a.m. Put logs on fire. Wake at 6 a.m. Put logs on fire. Get up at 7.30 a.m. Build fire up. Bring more wood inside to dry.
It’s a good job. I can just wake up and go back to sleep with no trouble at all — potentially my only superpower.
I am now at home in Yellow Springs drinking coffee and prepping the food I made yesterday to take out for lunch/dinner. I’ll also wash the pots and take out trash while I’m here. Everybody is still fast asleep, including Archie.
The focus for today is to get more dry wood sorted and split up a few logs for starter fuel, because at some point that fire is going out. I should also get a decent fire poker. I can’t find the useful piece of bent steel that Jim used.
Jan. 5, 2025
Weather Underground is predicting six inches of snow starting this evening. I think we will get less, but as is traditional with snowfall, it looks like Interstate 70 is the border between heavy snow and moderate snow, and so it could go either way. I’ll buy a chicken to roast and some vegetables and camp out at home.
The radiators are on at the Hall, and I will head out to build a fire in the week as we are getting super low temperatures.
Time for a cup of tea, methinks.
On colloquial British language: the “cheeky pint”
A cornerstone of British society is the “cheeky pint.”
A very common and significant part of British life, the cheeky pint plays a key role in keeping people sane during trying times. In essence, it is a quick beer drunk spontaneously when the opportunity arises, but it can be so much more. Let’s examine the cheeky pint with a couple of vignettes:
One: It is Christmas Eve and Chris is shopping for his wife’s special Christmas present when he bumps into his friend Andy who has forgotten to buy the Brussels sprouts for Christmas dinner. Andy’s wife, Juliet, has sent Andy out to get said sprouts. This is a fortuitous meeting: Both Chris and Andy are in a bit of a pinch and the clock is ticking. However, instead of a hearty handshake and season’s greetings, the two friends opt for the cheeky pint. Popping into a convenient pub, Chris and Andy steady themselves with a cheeky pint — which can be anywhere between two and five pints of beer, usually premium European lager, but occasionally Guinness or strong bitter. Fortified, the two friends part with plans to meet again in the New Year. No sprouts are bought.
Two: It is the final day of cricket and England’s playing Sri Lanka at the Oval. Both Chris and Damian have a series of experiments to finish. Their supervisor has already written the manuscript and is waiting for the final bits of data. The two plucky scientists pop out for a sandwich and decide to catch a few overs on the television in The Dog and Trumpet. They have, you guessed it, a cheeky pint. No more data was acquired that day, but England was victorious. Thus the cheeky pint was warranted.
As can be seen: The cheeky pint is an enjoyable — yet perhaps an inadvisable — diversion in a busy world.
*Originally from Manchester, England, Chris Wyatt is an associate professor of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology at Wright State University. He has lived in Yellow Springs for 18 years, is married and has two children and an insane Patterdale terrier.
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