Dave and Vinny: The Positive Pints Club

The Rampant Horse was, to put it charitably, a pub with character. Located on the edge of the sprawling Longcroft Estate, it was a haven for the locals, a place where the welcome was as warm as the beer was cold, and the humour as dry as yesterday’s buffet sandwiches.

On this particular Tuesday afternoon, the usual suspects were assembled.

Dave, fresh from his short walk across the railway lines that separated his house from the pub, nursed a pint of bitter. Opposite him sat his best mate, Vinny, a confirmed bachelor whose only long-term commitment was to his scruffy terrier, Scraps, currently asleep under the table and twitching with dreams of rabbit-chasing glory.

“It’s about mindfulness, you see,” Dave said, with the earnestness of a recent convert. He’d been reading a pamphlet Carol had brought back from the dentist’s waiting room.

Vinny took a long pull on his lager. “Mindfulness? Is that what they’re calling it these days? I’ve been mindful of my pint for the last twenty minutes, and I’m about to be mindful of another one.”

Ken, the perpetually grumpy barman, polished a glass with such ferocity it was a wonder it didn’t shatter. He’d heard it all in his thirty years behind the bar of The Rampant Horse, and he was rarely impressed.

“No, it’s about being present in the moment,” Dave insisted. “Appreciating the small things. Like the intricate pattern the beer mat makes on the table.”