Joe,
I didn't know you'd been to England looking for beer. You should have said.

Grouse beater, I can't bring it to mind. If I can find some , I will send you some. But to be honest, merely decent.....it hardly describes our finest beers.

Do come here again, and kip on our sofa and I will show you the local stuff on offer.

as for the priests - its all weird shit. i was lucky, my Grandma had a terrific barney with the local priest and my mother was only one of four kids who wasn't brought up a catholic.

so I wasn't a catholic, but my cousin was and was terribly abused by the priests. every which way. nightmares into his 30's and all that stuff. He grew up respecting their teaching methods - which made him very successful, but determined his own kids weren't going to suffer as he had.

there was an article in the the Irish Times a while back, asking for compassion for the errant priests. A lot of them were suckered into the priesthood at an age when they had little idea of what was involved, and what exactly they were renouncing. A lot of them came from rural communities and were a long way from home . completely at sea in city places- with no idea of how sophisticated townie kids conducted themselves.

Van Gogh's ear, Richard you make Oscar Wilde seem like Arthur Mullard.

all the best to all

al