A&E Ale

Happy new year everyone!

My 2008 had an interesting end. I ended up in hospital on Stephen's night. A&E isn't a great place to be as you get tests and wait for a bed at three in the morning. They thought I had a lung blood clot so they kept me in to do some tests. A CT showed I had pneumonia. Last time I went to hospital I ended up staying there for two months so to get away with pneumonia really wasn't so bad. The hospital had an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug so no visitors were allowed. That was as bad as it sounds. Relatives could leave food parcels and supplies at the front door. It did feel like a scene from a Dickens novel. The nurse felt sorry for me as I had no chocolate as my bag of supplies hadn't arrived so she gave me some emergency Roses from the nurses supply.

Luckily my Mum delivered my latest crochet project along with books and proper food. It's the Alpine Frost Scarf from Interweave Crochet Magazine which I subscribed to. It's a good price for the year and as a bonus it was delivered just in time for Christmas. The patterns are lovely, some crochet patterns aren't great but the ones in this magazine are gorgeous. I had a skein of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lion in the colorway purple iris so I decided to make it into the scarf. Since Lion and Lamb is worsted weight and the pattern is for lace weight yarn I modified the pattern to give the width scarf I wanted and used a bigger hook.



One of the old ladies on the ward was very impressed with the scarf. I think in this yarn and colour it looks like seaweed or something. The Lion and Lamb yarn is an expensive treat but I'm not sure it's worth it. The start of the scarf has gone a bit fuzzy and I haven't even finished it yet. It might not wear so well. Manos del Uruguay silk blend is the same type of yarn with beautiful colours and it's cheaper. I know it wears well since a cowl I made from it a year ago is still going strong despite constant wear.



The hospital food was awful as usual but was made all the worse knowing I was missing all the lovely christmas leftovers. At tea time I was so glad I'd been sent a bag of cheese and onion crisps as it livened up the plain cheese sandwich and tea. This is the first year I didn't eat christmas pudding every day for a week. I suppose it's a head start on the new years diet.





On christmas day I did have some nice christmas beers. The Anchor christmas ale was lovely and went very well with the turkey and ham. I think the Samichlaus was maybe a little heavy with the pudding. Though at that stage I was pretty full so maybe I should try that combination again.

I got home on the monday but had to go back in to hospital on tuesday as I had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. I've had anaphylaxis from antibiotics before so I was taking no chances this time. I've resolved not to get sick again after this so I don't need antibiotics anymore. Thankfully by wednesday evening I was ok with my new antibiotic and was sent home. I had a very quiet new years eve with no beer or parties but it was nice all the same. My christmas ale stash is quite intact. I'm with Boak and Bailey in thinking that january is a ludicrous time of year to contemplate giving up beer. We need something to cheer us up in this dark cold month.

I decided to name my Kolsch A&E Ale after my adventures. Unfortunately when I got back to Dublin I discovered that the better bottle I was storing it in had leaked. There is some left but it doesn't look very good, it's turned brown. The bottle leaked as the valve wasn't closed properly. Lesson learned: make sure you hear a click when you close the high flow valve.

Better luck in 2009 eh?