Coronavirus diary, Thursday 13 August

The tropical weather reminds me of one of the pleasures  coronavirus has denied me - a  quiet drink with family and friends.

Robert and Bob at the Yacht Club, June 2015

Rosemary and I used to love visits to the Penarth Yacht Club, along the seafront from our flat, sitting on the balcony overlooking the sea. That stopped when we were unable to climb the stairs, resuming when a lift was installed. It is over a year since I had the pleasure. 

Yacht Club is open again and members are again enjoying a drink on the balcony, safe in  bubbles in perspex cubicles.

Our friend Therese celebrates on the Yacht Club balcony

Here in my new home I used to look forward to trips with family and friends to local pubs, the Nine Giants, near where we used to live in Llanishen, and the Three Arches which I have managed to reach on my scooter.

The most memorable of my leisurely drinks in the sunshine in lovely surroundings are from our visits over the years to Germany, home of the beer garden, with our friends Werner and Sabine, Ursula and Dieter. There were lovely days in ancient Black Forest inns.

Nothing compares with my first visit to a traditional German beer festival. It was British Week in Stuttgart and I, the lord mayor of Cardiff and the town clerk had been invited by the oberbürgermeister to the annual Stuttgart beer fest.

Bob and lord mayor Winifred Matthias

The hundreds of boisterous revellers in one of the six enormous marques were surprised to see Mrs Winifred Matthias, the lord mayor, resplendent and wearing the glittering chain of office.

A buxom waitress, with a fistful of steins, handed her a beer and the whole marquee in cheered. Quite an evening. Mrs Matthias loved it, but I decided not to have any photographs for the media at home. After all, it was a working trip.

I notice this week that the pandemic has been a boost for German beer gardens with cities adding to the traditional venues by making space on pavements and even in car parks.

There will never be a shortage of beer - Germany  has 1,400 breweries and the tradition, started in Bavaria in 1862, is more popular than ever. I'll drink to that!