Wintry day (Albert and the credit crunch)

Today has been a dull,wet,wintry day. I seem to have been outside for most of the daylight hours and now feel chilled and tired. Albert is not being discharged today. Reading between the lines, I think he is leading the staff at the vets a merry dance with his much hated plaster cast. Apparently he has been galloping around his cage desperate to get rid of the dammed thing, so much so that the staff feel that he may be in danger exacerbating his fracture. So although he is eating and drinking ok, he won't be discharged until tomorrow......I suspect a little Valium may be in orderThe only pub in the village The Crown has now unfortunately closed. High rents, dropping client numbers, the smoking ban, crap food.........I guess there are scores of reasons why small businesses fall by the wayside nowadays. It saddens me because the pub and restaurant was once someones dream of success, a hopeful new way of life, a new venture, a new challenge........
The place looked cold and unloved when I walked past with the dogs this afternoon. Although it had been renovated to cater for shall we say, more modern tastes, the two fireplaces were always lit and the fires were always welcoming and rather sweet.
I hope someone takes the business over, and I hope they return the old pub to something more old fashioned and traditional.Strangely enough The Crown has never felt central to the village life as the Memorial Hall obviously does ......................perhaps it is a sign of the village's slightly puritanical roots.