We had a committee meeting of the Numismatic Society last night. It was difficult to tell it apart from a group of elderly men having a meal. The average age must have been 65, the average hair was white and the eldest member joined the society before the rest of us were born.

It is the 75th Anniversary of the society this year and the conversation was mainly about ex-members, including a fair number who have stopped collecting and joined the choir invisible. Against that background, one of the younger members tried to start a conversation about recruitment of younger people and the future of the society. Most of the members were too deaf to hear him so a potential moment of tactlessness soon passed.

And that is about all that happened at the meeting. It only meets once a year and is not the most active committee I have ever been on, I must admit. At one time I would have had a go at livening things up but I can’t really be bothered.

I did, however, have a very nice Steak and Ruddles Pie with gravy, a small portion of chips and a tiny blob of mushy peas. It was an adequate portion, but, as you may detect, one that fell slightly short. The pie was excellent, and large, so I wonder why they feel the need to make themselves look mean by skimping on the cheap bits.

Ruddles, for those of you who don’t know, was once a great British beer formerly brewed in the county of Rutland. It’s a bit annoying that the Greene King pub chain has taken Ruddles over, plundered and pilfered its good name, altered the recipe and is now using it to add luster to its steak pie.

They call it marketing, I call it another reason I hate the 21st Century.

British West Africa 1/10th of a Penny