Ice buckets?

With my new friend has come a whole set of new words and customs. He is from a different hemisphere...and it shows in odd little ways.
When he asked what time I got my ice bucket out I realised a little belatedly that he was enquiring when it was time to have the first gin!
In hot countries I suppose ice is an essential ingredient to any drink , soft or hard...but here during the winter I'm not sure...
I do drink. David opened a bottle of wine most nights but there were two of us to drink it!
Now mostly on my own I always open a bottle at Sunday lunch time because custom required that that was when the claret came out!
On my own it takes two or three evenings to finish the bottle....honestly!
What else I drink after it depends on several things but as my sitting room is upstairs I keep bottles of Scotch up there. They only require water to be added.
Solitary drinking can be the start of the slippery slope so I try to be careful.
Both Davids got into the habit of presenting me with a glass of something warming in the winter or cooling in the summer....but I've never really bothered with ice....my excuse is that I'm too far away from the kitchen!
I look back to the day when my incumbent was visiting me and found a very odd shaped artefact in the sitting room.
"What's that for? " he asked.
I grinned. "You really don't want to know." I said. When he persisted I told him it was a champagne cooler, set to exact temperatures.
Ouch!
Now on my own there is no cooler apart from the fridge downstairs but I have to admit that another strange artefact has appeared on my side board..
I have bought an ice bucket. Ahem!
It is a stainless steel job and does the trick...I can put ice in at the beginning of the evening which is still usable at the end...
The next day I pour out the water and start again....I am learning the habits of old colonials....and quite enjoying them!
The next bit of odd language is having an ABF. This was a puzzle for some time but I can now reveal that it means. "Absolute bloody final." Ahem!
I have got into bad ways...but I am quite enjoying a new culture...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad