Flat broke

In an attempt to beat the Credit Crunch, Brendan, the landlord from the Rabbit and Ladder, recently ploughed all his savings into property. He did this under the advice of my barrista (sic) Dan Tang who assured him of two things 1) in the long term property only ever goes up 2) now is the perfect time to purchase the entire top floor of an apartment block close to the Olympic stadium in Beijing. Dan had even arranged for the Chinese shot-put team to rent the rooms from Brendan.
The atmosphere in the Rabbit and Ladder has been a little tense recently and there’s also been a marked increase in the price of beer. You see both of Dan Tang’s assurances were blown out of the water in one foul swoop when the shot-putters all ran to the balcony simultaneously to get a better look at the beach-volleyballers warming up. Unlucky Brendan, but as the old saying goes; ‘What the good Lord giveth, the Chinese Takeaway’.