QuizList

This week my job is pruning some closed pubs from the list, and thanks to the person who sent a few of these in.  I also rely on the listings of pubs closed, demolished or converted in The London Drinker, which is a CAMRA publication to be found in some establishments.  They have an interesting editorial in the current issue (Dec/Jan) which throws some light on why pubs close and re-open as restaurants.  Apparently, there are such things as restrictive covenants which stop a sold pub being used again as a pub.  Or it is suggested even where these do not exist, pubs with a hint of development potential are priced beyond the range of potential pub operators.  Do we really need more flats?  I wouldn’t have thought so.  But obviously, there is more going on behind the scenes than we knew of…

To turn again to Quiz Tribes, and this week it’s among the most miserable of the species:  Couples.  Now, most couple are fine and enter into the spirit of the quiz.  Where they are not, they tend to turn up in glum groups of two or more.  If this happens outside London, you may deduce that one person is a designated driver and their misery has extended to all in the group.  Somewhat militating against that is the fact that no-one seems to speak to anyone else;  a strange symbiosis dictates what is bought in the infrequent rounds, what is written on the answer sheet, and the time they all rise to go home.  One or more may have pretensions of being a Serious Quizzer and take notes in a funny little notebook.  Do they always win?  God, no.  But if they do, it doesn’t cheer them up…