Original "Flay Otters" Inn Bought by Bristol Pub Owners

What wonderful news! Some lovely competitors of mine in the Bristol pub-owning wheeze have purchased the hotel in Torquay that was the inspiration for the postively brilliant
comedy "Fawlty Towers."

It's rather touchingly awful that there was a real-life equivalent of the reptilian and outrageously snobby Basil Fawlty. However, I'm quite terrified of the thought that the "nest of vipers" (his terrifying wife, Sybil) is or was running around on the loose. She was actually interviewed once, and defended her husband's memory vigorously. Reportedly, he was not "the neurotic eccentric that John Cleese made him out to be." It's really very amusing in its own right; one imagines a sharp-tongued Scottish tartar rising up and batting the interviewer with a tartan tea-cozy for his impertinence and correcting his pronunciation of "liqueur."

As per usual for legendary British comedies, there were a surprisingly small number of episodes - only 12. Each one of them opened with scenes of the hotel and the denizens, therein, ending with the sign in front of the property. For some reason, the letters on the sign were always askew, and always re-arranged in an anagram... as if some unlettered person had encountered them fallen in the grass and had stuck them back up on the sign in a tearing hurry. In at least one episode, a Horrible Childe of some sort is seen adjusting it, so it may have been meant to be a schoolboy prank aimed at a most incredibly easy and satisfying target.

Believe me, "Flay Otters" is one of the more inoffensive and least rude of the bunch. Just you consider the alternatives and you shall quickly come to the same conclusion.

In other news, as you may have noticed Mr. B and I have returned to dear old Bristol from our South Seas adventures. He has returned to his secret lair in the cellar and I am re-installed behind the bar, ready to serve patrons (and patronesses) their favorite tipple.

The mind boggles rather at the changes seen in the back garden - fortunately, the neighboring property is sadly neglected, but fortunately vacant and so there is plenty of room for expansion. I've just been down to the estate agents' to finalize matters.

My dear dim Merrikan friend has threatened to visit in future; must remember to book that month's holiday in Torremolinos as soon as I know the dates.