At last I’m back from the eye doctor and I’m okay so far, having had a suprachoroidal hemorrhage during cataract surgery, a rare complication whose frequency is between 0.03% and 0.1%. (Mine was the first one my experienced ophthalmologist had ever seen.) Fortunately it was a small one, is contained, and while the clot will slow the healing process while it gets resorbed, so far it looks like eye #1 will be okay. For the time being I’ve canceled surgery on eye #2. But I looked up what I had, and here’s an object lesson—one I have not learned—never to look up symptoms on the Internet:
FEARED COMPLICATION! That put my kishkes in knots, and it was with a heavy heart that I dragged my butt to the ophthomologist. Fortunately, a retinal specialist had already told me that my hemorrhage did not turn out not to be so fearful, as it was small and contained. Today the symptom I developed yesterday—stabbing eye pain—was diagnosed as “part of the normal healing process.” One of Coyne’s Rules for Life is this:
Never look up your symptoms on the Internet, for everything eventually devolves to cancer.
But in this case it devolved to a guide dog and a white cane. Warning: do not discuss my hemorrhage or prognosis as it will make me grumpy. You can tender well wishes if you want!
On top of this, I was way late for my appointment because there was a deadly crash that shut down inbound Lake Shore drive. Some joker, probably drunk, drove his car south into the northbound lane, killing a poor woman in a head-on crash that also involved another car. Not a good start to the day.
But eye digress. The point of this post was to be that this is Drink Beer Day and my friend Andrew Berry has a British Ale to recommend. You’ll remember from this morning that he sent me a photo of an empty pint of my favorite session beer, Timothy Taylor Landlord. But he claims (wrongly, I think) that there’s a better beer. I got this photo in an email titled “The best pint IN THE WORLD.”
I emailed back saying, “What is the beer?”
He responded, “Harvey’s Sussex Bitter. The best beer in the world, according to A Berry. Brewed in Lewes, Sussex. You probably had some when you came to Down House with me and my summer school students. Harveys is served in both pubs in the village of Downe.”
That was a great trip, as the tour of Down House, Darwin’s home, was led by none other than Janet Browne, who wrote the definitive biography of Darwin (now in one volume, condensed from the original two).
I then wrote Andrew this, “You haven’t tried all the beers!!! Plus you must mean session pint.”
His response?: “And, yes, I’ve tried ‘em all. Every beer ever brewed anywhere ever. And Harvey’s Sussex Bitter is indubitably the Best of them All.”
When I asked if he was in Downe (the village where Down House resides, he answered, “Downe? Nope, this is Harveys pub in Sevenoaks, where my mother lives. The Bricklayer’s Arms.”
And he sent a photo (below). Look at that place! The genuine pubs of England—the ones with real ales cellared well and without music—are one of that country’s great contributions to the planet. Let us hope they endure.
Had a wonderful Irish Red Ale from the Great Northern Brewing Company the other day, and it’s my new favourite beer.
Personally I am on Team Timothy Taylor. (It’s Madonna’s favourite ale, too. Not that that has any bearing on my preference.)
“But eye digress” – we see what you did there 🙂
It sounds like you’re in competent hands – even with a perfect surgery and doing every drop appropriately complications can develop. But the good news is you’re human! I’m on the veterinary side of ophthalmology and have days where I wish my patients were human. We do cataract surgery in non-human species, too, but at higher complication rate simply due to species differences (post-op inflammation, anatomy of drainage angle/size of lens, etc). Most humans do well with cataract surgery, and if complications arise most are quite manageable! Sure hoping for all things good and positive to come!
I love British beer—bitter, if you please. And there is nothing better than a pint served in a pub such as you describe—even if the publican generates a laugh among the patrons when, hearing my American accent, by asking if I want ice with that.
Selecting a favorite is difficult, especially since I have tried so many, though Harvey’s Sussex does stand out, possibly because it was not commonly served at our usual pub. Working in Oxford, and letting the publican choose for me (different one every day) does blur matters. One might imagine that beer for long does impede one’s work capacity after long, but at that age, I could handle one(!) pint, saving the rest of my consumption for after work.
So I can’t participate in your poll. But I can say that I am happy that your recovery is proceeding apace
Oxford is the home of one of my favorite pubs–the Turf Tavern, where they must have at least 15 cask ales on tap at any one time. Their fish and chips, accompanied by at least two different pints, is Paradise enow.
Just to add that live and informal music is entirely acceptable in a real pub. There are pubs where, on certain days of the week, locals will take along their guitar or violin and sing or play a song or two.
Yes, I meant recorded music.
I love Belgians, and SCALDIS and DE GARRE are the best of the best for me.
Harvey’s is a really good beer but the best I’ve ever had was a cask Thwaites at the Cross Gaits in Blacko. Sadly while the pub is still there it no longer does cask ales.
https://www.inapub.co.uk/pubs/in/Lancashire/~/venues/the-cross-gaits-inn/nelson/bb96rf/21403
I worked as a bartender in Milwaukee (1969 – 1971) at a saloon named Someplace Else, located on Water Street. (Sadly it burned down in the early 1980s).
One night a group of Germans entered the bar. They were on a tour of the USA to locate the best beer in America. Milwaukee was their last stop. I asked what their favorite beer was so far, and they said Point Beer Lager. In those days you had to go to Stevens Point WI to get it. It is my favorite.
https://www.pointbeer.com/
There is a handy tool to find where it can be purchased:
https://www.pointbeer.com/#find-brews
There are various connoisseurs of beer, and from them come various declarations of the best beers. It is a simple matter to ask Gemini about their opinions. There are several candidates given, and surprisingly, a couple are brewed in the U.S. One even in Iowa, which isn’t far, and I am thinking about looking for it here.
My favorite brew that I can easily find is Rochester Red. The best beer I ever had, though, was a coconut stout out of Maui, which I drank much of when I had visited the island. Unfortunately, the canned version that I can get here is dreck since you can taste the can.
UPDATE:Oh, that Iowa beer (it is called Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout), is challenging to get! Available mainly through a lottery. Oh, well….
I had Landlord this past summer during a family trip to the UK. It was excellent, in my top couple of beers I’ve ever had. In England I think I had it at 4 different pubs. I tried a few other local brews while there and can’t remember what they were, but I enjoyed the red ales quite a bit.
I had Guinness in Ireland and while I’m not a Guinness fan here in the states, the taste was much better over there and I’d put that in my top 3 too.
Bell’s Oberon and Two Hearted IPA are in my top tier as well; I’m not normally an IPA fan but really like Two Hearted. And Oberon is fantastic.
King and Barnes Sussex Bitter used to be my favourite, but the brewery has closed now. It’s nice just to try local beers around the UK – there’s so many good ones. My current favourite is probably whatever interesting beer I tried most recently. I had a lovely pint in Manchester a couple of weeks ago, but I can’t remember what it was. Not very helpful, am I?