beer and skittles

alternative skittles and beer

1. UKidiomaticpluralplural onlyFun times; pleasure and leisure.

   Being a soldier's wife isn't all beer and skittles.

   1911, Anthony Hope, chapter 22, in Mrs. Maxon Protests, page 259

   3 more examples

   Well, well, we must bide our time. Life isn't all beer and skittles—but beer and skittles, or something better of the same sort, must form a good part of every Englishman's education.

   1857, Thomas Hughes, chapter 2, in Tom Brown's School Days

   His plight reveals a truth that's often obscured by the envy of newspaper readers; that it's not all beer and skittles in restaurant-critic land.

   2012 March 24, John Walsh, “The perils of reviewing restaurants”, in The Independent

   Such highly intensive deployment left little wriggle room, something with which Dunster is all too familiar. "It hasn't all been beer and skittles," he says dryly.

   2022 October 5, Nick Brodrick, “Pendolinos: a huge role to play”, in RAIL, number 967, page 41

   Synonyms: peaches and cream, bed of roses, bowl of cherries, sunshine and rainbows, beatitude, bliss, delectation, delight