Flaming Nora

In this whole crapola of an illness, I haven't had a drink since August 28th. Not that I've been counting the days, but, you know. When I get well I am looking forward to enjoying one of these .

Regular readers(*) will know I'm a laydee who likes a drop of real ale every now and then. If you didn't know, you can read more on me waxing lyrical about the merits of good beer here in Fancy a Fruity Blonde ? and I profess my love of beer here . And so, as you can imagine, I'm over the moon to discover there's a blog for girls just like me, it's called the Girl's Guide to Beer Blogspot, written by Melissa Cole, who has my dream job. She's a freelance beer writer and a Guild of Beer Writers committee member. (*)you lovely, lovely people.

I love beer, me. Mind you, I won’t say no to a glass of chilled white wine or a deep and sensuous red either. But when it comes a choice of drinks in a pub and that choice is between fizzy over-priced lager with an after-taste of gun metal, or some flowery, fruity real ale, I’ll go for a glass of proper beer every time. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) do their best to promote beer as a decent drink for us ladies but the image of the organisation is still, I’m sad to say, that of beer bellied fat men wearing sandals and smoking a pipe. Well, I can assure you dear reader that I’m neither fat nor a fella and I’m not wearing sandals today. As for the pipe, that only comes out on a weekend. So, where to start if you’re a beer virgin and you want to give it a go in a pub? Bars and pubs selling real ale offer a confusing array of beers with names that might as well be Ye Olde Sheepdip, Bathplug Liquor and so on and it’s hard to know what to try. My rule of thumb, and beer experts up and do...

According to the north-east folk song, Cushy Butterfield was thus: She's a big lass, she's a bonny lass And she likes her beer And they call her Cushy Butterfield And I wish she was here Now then, I like the odd beer ( the odder the better ) and I'm also quite big, as in tall. Regular readers will already know that. I got into a lift the other weekend when another tall woman came in and stood next to me. Nothing unusual in that, but it prompted an older woman at the back of the lift to call out: "Ooh, aren't you two lovely tall girls? I bet you two can see over other people's heads in a crowd, eh?" I didn't quite know what to say but I've got a ticklish sense of humour so I think I sort of smirked. But would the comment have beem made if two short-arsed people had got into the lift together instead of two tall ones? I think not, don't you?