Next stop, Newtonmore, geographical centre of Scotland, which is just weird.
If you want to go there right now, there’s bargains to be had.
There must be a thousand villages bigger than Newtonmore in England that don’t have a railway station, but I guess Potton doesn’t have is a setting by the Cairngorms and shops with fonts like Toshac’s Tuck Shop.
The main street is wide and weird, with much to entertain fans of tweed and plush and slightly off-kilter sculpture.
It’s a very low key version of the pretend activity centre that is Aviemore up the road, but there’s plenty of easy walks from the cafe to exciting place called Milton of Nuide and “Aqua Theatre”.
I couldn’t wait till Aviemore; I was dying for a comfort partner, as they say in Dunblane.
Lucky the Glen Hotel is 5 minutes uncomfortable jog from the station, eh ?
Seasoned tickers will know the scenario well.
You tip up, desperate for the Gents. Do you buy your half/pint/schooner first, or nip straight to the loos, inevitably the wrong one, with the Landlord shouting “Toilets for customers only ye Sassenach“.
I hop at the bar for 30 seconds waiting for signs of life.
“IF YOU’RE WANTING THE LITTLE BOYS ROOM IT’S THRU THERE” booms a friendly voice from the kitchen.
Thanks for that.
The food he’s bringing out to a couple of young Pretend Walkers looks good, so I order one of their specials, probably haggis, before I remember it’s well past 2pm and I’ve missed it.
At least his beer, called Wooha Summit Smash and a favourite of walkers who make it here from the Co-op at the top of the street, was very good (NBSS 3+). Not my first Wooha, as Duncan will attest.
Nothing happens, even the WiFi, but there’s a wide choice of reading material.
Planning ahead, I make a mental note.
DON’T ALTERNATE COFFEE AND BEER YOU FOOL
But with half an hour till the No.32, what is there to do apart from excellent coffee and carrot cake at a café called Antlers ?
Music was Night Time by Master Peace, which at least proved 2019 punk rap has reached the Highlands.
I suddenly couldn’t wait to get home and start pinking in page 291 of my Navigator.
retiredmartin 
Like a time warp – not necessarily to a time when pubs were better.
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I dunno. Just add customers 😉.
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You perhaps wouldn’t get many customers in Liverpool for your pub, if you had the Sun, Express etc. on display. Interesting choice for Scotland too, I’d have thought.
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“Newtonmore, geographical centre of Scotland” and probably twinned with Meriden.
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Have a curry and then next door to top it off with a scone and clotted cream….
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Yes, and probably a deep fried scone.
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Or better yet a deep fried Snickers bar….
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And it probably won’t be long until someone comes up with a recipe for deep fried curry.
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Good point Etu makes about pub papers. Mind you the Scottish Sun takes a very different editorial line to its English sister. One in Cumbria this week had two – Daily Star and Guardian.
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Is the Daily Star the weekend edition of the Guardian?
They had a Morning Star in the Maldon Spoons. Unlikely at best.
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Well the Morning Star does share TM’s view of a certain issue (and has excellent coverage of women’s football). Can’t think of much else they might have in common though.
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They are both printed on paper.
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And we have wasps to thank for that.
Long ago a Chinese man got the idea after he observed how wasps make their nests from pulped paper.
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Not many people know this, but the Chinese are responsible for the greatest invention of all.
The Chinese takeaway.
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– which we have because of the paper that the menu’s printed on.
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I always order off-menu in a Chinese takeaway.
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Ah, you know the numbers which are the same in every Chinese takeaway across the land ?
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I love that purpose-built “Daily Papers” rack on the wall. Is that common sight in pubs? Or did it used to be, in decades past? I think in America I’d more likely see such a thing in an old fashioned barber shop than in a drinking establishment.
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Papers in pubs used to be occasionally seen (more so hotels), but seems to be less so nowadays. Possibly more frequently to be seen in coffee shops these days (or garden centres for literate pensioners). But then again papers are rapidly disappearing.
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I think papers in pubs are more common than in the past.
Quite often I peruse the Daily Mirror in the Metropolitan Bar a ten minute walk from me.
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I think we were thinking more of the quaint paper rack than papers left sprawling over tables.
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They’re in a rack, though not a quaint rack, in the Metropolitan Bar near me.
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I think you’d more likely see it in barbers here, Mark. Say, our countries have so much in common, maybe we should merge 😉
No, uncommon in pubs which I guess is why I took the photos. A pile of local magazines is more usual.
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