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Followup Thought

Deep Thoughts, Lifestyle, Technology

…to the above QOTD:  I wonder whether this irritation towards the modern world’s increasing (and likely over-) complexity is just a generational thing?

I have no idea as to the age of the commenter in this case, but I know that this disenchantment and hankering after a simpler life seems fairly common among people of my age, for the simple reason that it’s a common factor of life among my friends and, lest we forget, Readers of this here website.

But do the various “Gen” types feel the same way?  I mean, we Olde Pharttes can remember (a bit) how much earlier times were less complicated and simpler.  But in the case of Teh Youngins, are they even aware that life can be simpler, given that all they’ve ever experienced is Smartphones, the Internet, self-drive cars and refrigerators that can tell you when you’re running low on milk?

And considering that most Millennials, let alone the Gen X/Y/Z tribe don’t know how to change a flat tire, cook a meal from scratch and drive a stick shift, would they embrace a simpler world when so much of their daily life is smoothed by technology?

I suspect not, for the same reason that people of my generation would have no idea how to drive a horse-drawn carriage or be able to transmit a telegraph message in Morse code.

So our final few years of life on this planet seem doomed to be techno-centric instead of simple.  What joy awaits us.

Pub Crawl Alert

Food & Drink

I hardly ever drink beer anymore, at least here in Murka, because at heart I’m a pub drinker, not a party drinker or heaven forfend, a solitary drinker.  And there’s no pub culture Over Here, only a bar culture, thus Q.E.D.

So this list of top British beers* got my attention, and it made me want to go Over There and embark on a nationwide pub crawl.

Now there’s a problem brewing, so to speak, in that said list doesn’t include two of my absolute favorites, Wiltshire’s Wadworth 6X and Cornwall’s Tribute, which are to me an astounding omission.  That said, however, I know that both of them are wonderful so I don’t need some poxy list to tell me about their charms.  Another omission is Kent’s Spitfire Ale, which I haven’t tasted for myself but which goes highly recommended by everyone whose opinion on the topic I respect;  and their advertising is just wonderful.

And not having spent any time at all Oop Nawth, all the Yorkshire brews listed are to me like Swedish virgins, i.e. unknown, unobtainable but somehow enticing**.

I mean, really (#8).

And we all know about this one (#6):

Kent, here I come.

I won’t drink lager beers of any brand or national origin anyway, so some of the listed brands are unlikely ever to find their way down my gullet — hell, I never liked that Carling Black Label swill, even when I was smack in the middle of the target demographic (young, stupid and poor) — and I once described Scotland’s Tennent as the reason why the Jocks fight so much.

And while I heartily agree with their ranking of Fuller’s ESB as the very best of beers, I find it a little too strong and always end up drinking their London Pride (#7) instead — hardly a terrible compromise, I assure you.

Anyway, give the linked video a chance;  and if like me you have a sudden urge to sink a pint or two afterwards, don’t blame me.

And if ever I find myself with the funds necessary to embark upon a nationwide pub crawl to sample all those lovely brews for myself, it’s on Ye Olde Bucquette Lyste, you betcha.

*ignore the stupid A.I. voiceover.  FFS, how difficult could it be to have someone real just read a script?

**that’s just a literary device:  I have absolutely zero interest in virgins, of any nationality, assuming that any still exist over the age of… well, I think 14 is probably the lamentably-low bar these days.