Dogwash

So this geezer is standing at the bar and gets out his Oyster card wallet in preparation for paying for his drinks. A delightful fantasy plays over the surface of my mind. Now if he's paying by Oyster and if I've got a Freedom Pass, which is basically a free-of-charge Oyster card dished out to Londoners over 60, does that mean I get my beer for nothing?

And then the bubble burst as he reached into the other pocket of the ticket wallet and drew out a credit card.

Back in the real world, I notice the £4 pint is beginning to gain an irreversible foothold in normal boozers in central London. I can more-or-less accept The Maple Leaf asking £4.10 a pint for draught Sleeman's (IPA or Honey Brown, highly recommended) as they are low-volume imports from across the seas, but when I ordered a pint of Budvar in The Salisbury on St Martin's Lane, I found myself staring at the lonely £1 coin change in my hand in mortified disbelief.

Ah, well. As Kilgore Trout would say, so it goes.