kenobi

Went and had a few beers with my pal obie last night. I felt celebratory, after a 3 hour meeting with the Sharpshooter (my accountant). Sharpy, wizard that he is, made about 30 large disappear into tax limbo making me a very happy boy indeed. So when obie called me for an ale, i was well and truly up for it. I've been dodging beers with civilian mates for about a year now. The pub got a bit heavy going for a while and I felt like an arsehole unloading on mates who drank there. You don't pay seven bucks a pint to have a fat publican pining about how little he enjoys life.


So beers with obie it was. We went to the Gamekeepers Secret, a fairly run of the mill theme pub run by a guy we know. I had a couple of Leffe Blondes and then switched to rum, and obie had draught in large quantities. I went to school with obie but we weren't that close back then, him being a year older than me and a fairly wholesome sort of bloke, while i was younger and forging a career as a teenage Shane McGowan and general malcontent. Anyway he's a great guy. He works as a social worker at the local hospital and its a gig I couldn't do for love nor money. Most days he helps people come to terms with their own impending mortality and their families cope with the grief as well as trauma stuff and general welfare issues that face the very ill. He's a big bluff hearty lad but he executes his job with a great deal of care and empathy. He lost his own brother to cancer a couple of years ago and went through a really tough time, so he can relate to what his clients go through as well as anyone.

He's not made of stone though and after a hard day at the hospital sometimes he has to go and put in some quality time in a quiet pub to get his head straight. Good luck to him I reckon, if it wasn't for people like obie the world could be a pretty cold show for people going through a bad patch. The downside is the man can drink like a machine and its midday and I'm sucking on an icy pole trying to kill a thumping headache and watching the day slip away.....