Jolly Evenings at the Rose and Crown

Before the fire, Lucy's (the Three Tuns) was the place to go where everyone who walked through the door was welcomed into a general conversation. Now, it seems, that mantle has passed to the Rose and Crown.

On Saturday, I went into Hereford (to get my train tickets for my holiday at Easter - yay!) and did an errand for Brian-with-the-Staffies while I was there. When he came round in the evening to collect his printer ink, he asked if I fancied going for a pint at the Rose and Crown.
The real ale on at the moment is Dennis Hopper from Jones the Brewer, which is very tasty.
When we arrived, Paul the landlord was sitting by the open fire on his own, but soon more people arrived, including a couple of chaps who had come down from Ludlow. They had been intending to buy a couple of mini bottles of wine to take back to their hotel room, but they ended up making an evening of it. One of the chaps was very interested in archaeology, and had dug with people from Time Team, though his day job was an A&E nurse, so we got talking about the Dorstone dig locally, and other interesting archaeology we have known. Later another lady came in, and she goes off on holidays to Egypt where she assists with the excavation of tombs. I'm not a great fan of Egyptology, but what she was doing sounded fascinating.
The other chap from Ludlow ran the student union at Birmingham University, so I was able to trot out the old story about the lead singer from Wizard being mistaken for my ex-husband (they both had impressive beards) when he was playing there.

On Monday, I was heading for home after the Council meeting (report follows shortly) when Brian called me over again - and I was still there well after closing time! That night we were talking to a chap who plays guitar, and has written a song about waiting for the train at Sidcup station - a station I know well, because my Young Man used to live there.