Great British Beer Festival - Tuesday

Had to get up at 6am yesterday to get the train to Kensington Olympia for the Champion Beer of Britain Briefing Meeting, which was to be held at 9.30am. Just as well I did, for there was some confusion over badges. Arrived at the famous Gate B, the staff entrance. My bag was searched and tagged, then I wandered up to the Staffing Office for a badge. But, shock horror, I should have been given one at the gate! They didn't have any judges' badges at Staffing for some reason, and referred me to the Press Office, which was locked. After a while someone found some visitor's badges and I acquired one of these. Didn't get an actual badge till 10 minutes before the debrief, reason being that some of the badges had printing errors, like Raplh McTell's 2004 (sic) version :-D and had to be reprinted at the last moment.
To my delight I was chosen to taste the Golden Ales, a brand new category of golden, hoppy beers of less than 5.3%. I love hops, me. Doug Fish, a fellow branch member, was given Best Bitters to judge. The other Golden boys and girls were Chris Smith from XFM, Keith Bott from Titanic Brewery, Fiona Shoop from Fresh Magazine, Nina Bates from Flying Firkin and the chairman Phil Roberts from Exeter and East Devon CAMRA. We did comment we were maybe such a girly panel (Keith had a pink shirt on) as Golden Ales appealed especially to women!
To explain the rules: there are 6 tasters to a table for the category tastings, usually with the two CAMRA people at either end. The tasters are usually from different backgrounds - some brewers, some suppliers, some beer writers and some MPs/DJs etc with no beer tasting experience (and therefore less prejudices!). Seven beers are tasted from each category. The CAMRA tasters try to let everyone have a say and discourage people from guessing the beers etc. Marks are given out of 10 for appearance, aroma, taste and aftertaste. The top 3 beers on average score win Gold, Silver and Bronze in their category, and the Gold medallists (9 of them this year) go forward to the final panel to find the Champion Beer of Britain.
The first beer up was brown rather than golden, which was a bad start, and had a serious haze on it which was another! There was some discussion with the Best Bitter tasters, who had a rogue golden beer amongst their brown offerings, but apparently there were no changelings and we'd been given the correct beers.
However the next beer was absolutely superb - golden, flowery and citrussy, with a fantastic hoppy aftertaste. The fourth beer was very nice with a delicious aftertaste. The fifth absolutely reeked of sulphur and tasted sulphury as well, overwhelming and hop or malt character which might have been present. A shame, I thought, if it were in better condition it might have been a really good beer.
We all agreed that we weren't quite sure whether to go for the second one, so we ordered some more of it, just to make sure ;-) Number four was another contender so we tried a bit more of that as well. Then Phil handed our score sheets in.
After a quick dash to the Ladies we adjourned to the buffet whilst the Final Panel sat to judge the Champion Beer. There must have been fierce arguments (not just Ralph McTell and David Davies, heh heh) because the announcement wasn't made till 3pm! Also on the final panel were Nigel Bardon DJ and 4 CAMRA bods, including the ever-popular Roger Protz.

The results:
Champion Beer of Britain: Crouch Vale Brewers Gold
(our nomination won! Quite right too)

Second: Grainstore Rutland Panther

Third: Woodforde’s Wherry

Mild Category
Gold: Grainstore Rutland Panther (Rutland)
Silver: Brains Dark (Cardiff)
Bronze: Elgood’s Black Dog (Cambridgeshire)

Bitter Category
Gold: Woodforde’s Wherry (Norfolk)
Silver: Holdens Black Country Bitter (West Midlands)
Joint Bronze: RCH PG Steam (Somerset)
Belvoir Star (Leicestershire)

Best Bitter Category
Gold: Harveys Sussex Bitter (East Sussex)
Joint Silver: Mighty Oak Burntwood Bitter (Essex)
Joint Bronze: Timothy Taylor Landlord (Yorkshire)
Olde Swan Entire (West Midlands)

Golden Ales Category
Gold: Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (Essex)
Silver: Jarrow Rivet Catcher (Tyne and Wear)
Bronze: Oakham JHB (Cambridgeshire)
(I love all these beers so I was well pleased with the outcome)

Strong Ale Category
Gold: Hanby Nutcracker (Shropshire)
Silver: Bullmastiff Son of a Bitch (Cardiff)
Bronze: Fuller’s ESB (Fullers)

Speciality Category
Gold: Cairngorm Tradewinds (Inverness-shire)
Silver: Young’s Waggledance (London)
Joint Bronze: Daleside Morrocco (North Yorkshire)
Ridleys Rumpus (Essex)

Real Ale in a Bottle category
Gold: Durham Evensong (Durham)
Silver: Young’s Special London Ale (London)
Bronze: Titanic Stout (Staffordshire)

Shame that Triple fff Pressed Rat & Warthog didn't win, it was absolutely superb at GBBF, but the trouble is, it's not a classic mild...I wouldn't change it for the world though!
Met up with Martin, Jenny and Roy from East and Mid Surrey, Julie and William from Surrey/Hants Borders, and also bumped into loads of friends as one does including the Lash Brothers, Kath Gammon and Dan Barr (who kindly gave me a huge bundle of beermats he'd won on the tombola).
I won a GBBF 2002 t-shirt, just a BIT too big for me at XXL (think I'll give it to Bill) and a Battersea Beer Festival sweater (size L, much better). I ate a very nice pork and chive sausage hot-dog with spinach instead of onion, then got more beer - but I forgot what I'd bought!! It was definitely time to go home so I caught the 18.17 train back towards home.
Was so drunk that I walked home, went for a lie-down till 10pm, then realised I'd left my bike at the station! Had to get dressed again and go and get it!! I'm such a lush :-)

London to Cambridge Bike Ride 24/07/05

Bill took me by car to the start of the ride, the M25 wasn’t that busy of a Sunday morning and it didn’t take long to sort the bike out, so I started at about 9am. At the start there was some argy-bargy in the peloton, with the male racing-bike riders trying to get past the girlies and MTBs by rudely snapping at us and pushing! And this a charity ride that isn’t supposed to be a race!!
I was still very wary of my new cycling cleats, after having got one shoe stuck to the pedal yesterday, and having to walk through Halfords with one shoe on and the other still on the bike to get it removed :-[ So I was freeing myself in plenty of time for junctions and along the crowded gravel track through Lee Park.
I knew the weather was going to be bad – so I wasn’t that worried when, just a few miles from the start, it began to rain. I put my pac-a-mac on, and my gore-tex helmet cover, and kept going. By the time I reached the second food point (never stop at the first one!) it was raining quite heavily, and the riders were crammed into the tea-tent trying to shelter. I had a cup of tea, a banana, a doughnut and a pee, and also asked the mechanics to sort out the brakes on my front wheel, which were loose and in contact with the tyre.
The route was rather undulating, not as flat as I’d been expecting. There were some pretty villages that the route took us through, such as Roydon and Clavering, but with the raindrops on my glasses and the steam from my breath, I couldn’t really appreciate my surroundings.
By the time I got to Ickleton I was completely saturated, right down to my undies. I was cycling past another official food stop, the Red Lion, when I saw a sign ‘Beer Festival and BBQ’ – bingo! I grabbed a seat, queued for the loo and got myself a beer (Tom Wood’s Bomber County, lovely). The queue for the food was quite long, in the rain again (I’d stupidly left my coat on the chair) but the cheeseburger was huge and only £2.50. A funny team of cycling guys in the pub – all with Foska tops on and one wrapped in a tin foil cape!
Then it was only 10 miles to Cambridge but I was knackered by then. I pushed the bike up the last big hill not because it was particularly steep but because I couldn’t face cycling it! The rain was now very fine but still heavy, some people had their lights on so that they would be visible to the cars, as the road into town was quite busy. I was merrily following a cycle path into town and saw a sign that said ‘cyclists please dismount’, but could not be bothered to struggle out of the cleats. The cars coming out of the side road were stationary so I cycled behind a big BMW – only to nearly get run over by a car trying to cut round it on the left (where there was no room to get through anyway)! I had to grab the back of the BMW to stop myself – bet the driver was not at all impressed! However despite their drawbacks the cleats provided excellent grip in the rain, I think I’ll keep them on the bike for now.
I made it to the finish line at Midsummer Common, Cambridge at about 3pm – huzzah! I soon became cold once I’d stopped, and just wanted to get back home, so I did not stop to enjoy the beer tent and massage, and got staight on the lovely warm 15.30 coach.
The coach’s windscreen wipers broke down in the rain on the M11, and I thought I’d be stuck there – but 4 lycra lads jumped out and fixed it, to loud cheers from the rest of the coach! Got back to London and found my bike, which had been a bit battered in it’s lorry, – will have to get the gears fixed now. :-( Next time I will take the train. Thanks to lovely Bill for coming and picking me up again!
Can’t say I enjoyed it but it was certainly an achievement – cycling 50 miles in the rain!

Puss Cat – Good News

Good news about the cat that Bill ran over, she is now reunited with her owner. We had a phone call late on Friday just as we were about to pop down the Prince of Wales with Simon and Jane, it was the cat’s owner who was already at the pub! The message we left behind the bar on Sunday had worked. Bill told the man where the cat was, and he then asked his wife to go and pick her up from the vets, but he was still in the pub when we arrived. He was really nice about it, luckily. He explained that the cat (called Womble) liked to follow him to the pub, and was used to living in a cul-de-sac where cars drove more slowly and had time to get out of the way. Poor Womble, I hope she’s learnt her lesson now!

Redhill Beer Festival Meeting 20/07/05

It was a hot evening and I thought I’d take the opportunity for a longer cycle ride before meeting up with Kath in town, so I cycled along Route 21 to the Inn on the Pond, where I had a lovely half of Harveys Best, sitting outside watching the sun setting over the North Downs. Was late to meet Kath though – she’d told me 7pm in the Sun and I thought she’d said 7.30pm. She didn’t seem too annoyed though. Had a mediocre half of W J King’s Summer something-or-other there before heading off to sup the outstanding Harvey’s beers at the Garland. Martini the cat greeted me with a loud meiow, always nice when the owner recognises you! On the beer front, the Armada and Tom Paine were particularly superb.
The meeting really dragged but progress was seemingly made – at least there were no troublemakers, in contrast to Cardiff meetings of old! 3 of us from the old days of Cardiff Beer Festival were there (me, Kath, Martin) out of only 5.
Smooth journey home for a change, with Martin as far as Reigate.

Steve Knightley at Forest Folk, 18/07/05

The little scout hut at Boarhunt was packed, a rare occurrence.
Bill and I were almost drumming our fingers through the floor-spot acts, even though the last one was 2 members of the Reivers who were brave enough to play a Show of Hands song! Steve was fantastic (as regular readers would expect) – his gigs are somewhat different when he is without Phil, more introspective and confessional. He talked a little about the Cuatro, which is quite similar to the Ukulele, wonder if I could one day play Steve’s version of Widdecombe Fair on it.
Free strawbs and pizza slices at half time, the only moan would be the queue at the bar again with locals obviously being given precedence. The Ruddles County was a bit rough, according to Bill, who doesn’t like it anyway. Forest Folk is still one of my favourite venues though.

Guifest 2005

Superb weather throughout – I got sunburnt on the Saturday though which was not pleasant. I’d assumed I had sufficient base tan and therefore didn’t need to put on sun cream! Bill laughed though, he’d used sun cream and had not burnt, despite being much fairer.
Friday : The Twelve Sullivans played an excellent set, but were half an hour earlier than in the programme. They were giving out free Guinness providing you downed it in one during one of their Irish drinking songs (I cheated and sipped most of mine before).
The Pogues were the headliners of Friday. There was some speculation as to whether Shane McGowan would be joining them, as he had apparently been double-booked for a gig with the Popes, and also had to cancel a lot of gigs due to ‘stomach problems’ (a euphemism for being paralytically drunk?) However Shane was there, and was sober enough to sing and walk just about! He kept wandering back and forth with a huge bucket of water, presumably the band had given it to him to help him sober up. Maybe when he wandered off stage there was somebody pushing him back on again! The rest of the band were very skilled though and the crowd had a great time with old faves like The Irish Rover.
Saturday: Paul Weller was the headliner, and being a local boy (from Woking!) he was very popular. He is very mellow these days, and only played That’s Entertainment from his Jam days whilst I was there. You Do Something To Me is a great song though. Got sunburnt, sunstruck and blisters on Saturday, so wasn’t in dancing mood anyway!
Bought a little red Ukulele (my Grandad Naylor would have been proud) but needed a tuning whistle which the stall didn’t supply. Hope to have fun with it in future though. Amazing how many musicians stopped to chat to me whilst I was strumming it! Embarrassing!
Sunday: Probably the most fun day, with Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain to kick off. Daniel Bledingfield was surprisingly good, at least he writes his own stuff and can sing . Shame about all the screaming 13-year-old girls! Lulu was as good as ever at 55, looked fab. Men were shouting ‘I love you’ to her! Was surprised that she wrote The Man Who Sold The World, that’s one of my favourite songs. Preferred David Bowie’s version though.
I took part in the World Record for Air Guitar, shame Bill didn’t want to put his name down. We air-guitared to Sweet Child O’ Mine accompanied by 2 world champion air-guitarists - one dressed as a farmer and the other as Slash from Guns N Roses!
Bill listened to headliners Status Quo, who were, well, Status Quo. I wandered off to see Hayseed Dixie but couldn’t get near enough to hear them, then visited the local band’s stage to listen to some heavy metal merchants. Popular with the lads though.
Couldn’t ask for a better weekend, £75 well spent I say!
On the way back from Guilfest a cat ran out in front of the car and Bill unfortunately hit it. There was a loud bump and we were horrified to see the cat still as death in the middle of the road. I ran back to the cat, meanwhile another car passed over it without hitting it and picked the cat up in my fleece so that it didn’t get run over again.

Whilst Bill found the emergency vet’s number, the cat came round and tried to stand up, but I spoke soothingly to it. I picked it up like a baby and took it round some of the houses nearby to see if anyone recognised it, with no luck.
There was an anxious 6-mile drive to the vets, the cat looking around confusedly from my fleece but not meiowing or struggling. Thankfully, when the vet checked it over there were no broken bones, just a few cuts and bruises. We are now waiting to see if anyone claims her.

Westerham Brewery Visit

Keith from East and Mid Surrey CAMRA had emailed me details of the Westerham Brewery Open Evening - £5 drink as much as you want sounded pretty good to me! The event started at 6.30pm, and it was easy to get to the brewery by train after work to Edenbridge and then cycle to Grange Farm in Crockham Hill. I thought I’d get a snack in Edenbridge on the way up, but there didn’t seem to be any fast food near the station.
I soon found out why Crockham Hill was called Crockham Hill, and had to push the bike up into the village! Still no takeaways to reward me, so I cycled on to the brewery, and was relieved to see sausages sizzling away on a big barbie round the back.
The beers were great and there was a large range on offer, served in glass jugs. I tried Summer Perle, British Bulldog, Black Eagle SPA, Little Scotney Ale, Grasshopper, 7X and 1965 Special, but Summer Perle was my favourite.
I met some lovely people there – there were 2 people from Maidstone CAMRA and some well-educated bikers (much like my friend Simon) from Biggin Hill who kept me entertained, they were joined later by the Vicar of Biggin Hill. This led to a rather drunken conversation on whether God exists, whereupon the Vicar told me there’s no real ale in Hell. Time to worry I think!!
The lady on the desk, I assume Robert Wick’s wife, was also very interesting and knowledgeable about the brewery. Whilst she was standing there alone for most of the evening, you couldn’t get near Robert to ask any questions, but then people often overlook us women!
I also tried the sausages, which were made with Westerham beer by Priory Farm, and had won a Silver Medal. Delicious!
Wobbled back to the station and made it home somehow!

Priddy Folk Festival - 10/7/05

Priddy good one!
Just a little village festival, with a lot of the profits seeming to go back to the community - which is how it should be. THe atmosphere was very laid back. Beer from Hidden Brewery, also cider from local producers. Nice bacon sarnies too.
Wandering Soles were good, Steve Tilston http://www.steve-tilston.co.uk/ on fine form and Seth Lakeman Trio http://www.sethlakeman.co.uk/ excellent. Out in the (much cooler) club tent, Christina Crosby and Andrew Bazley were both very good, the former being a Joan Baez type and the latter being an excellent blues-guitarist.
Loscoe State Opera http://www.loscoestateopera.com/ (don't worry they're a far cry from opera!) were the surprise of the event, being much like the Levellers but with a flute and an accordion. They did spiced-up versions of traditional songs and went down a storm, a great way to finish off the festival.

Abbotsbury Family Festival 2005

First we stopped off in Dorset to see Bill’s Dad George, who hadn’t been well, and to take him and girlfriend Eileen out for lunch. There was a slight detour down the Bride Valley, as Bill couldn’t remember where the pub was! Luckily we came across it in Litton Cheney. It was a Palmers pub, called the White Horse, and served good, cheap food – shame about the beer quality though.
George and Eileen seemed to enjoy their meals and the scenic ride. We caught up on family news as well, before heading back to Abbotsbury Gardens to meet up with Other Val and Matt. Also bumped in to Darren from folking.com, who was sitting just in front.
There is a running joke at Abbotsbury Folk Festival that Steve Knightley is in fact a rain god, and if he sings Tall Ships (plenty of rain lyrics including ‘so we look for a storm in the sky’) he can bring on the bad weather. This year he was forbidden to do so, as last year it absolutely tipped it down right on cue!
However he did sing The Preacher (‘she was running through the rain’) and Widdecombe Fair (‘we waited in the rain, but the boy never came’) and that was enough to bring a couple of light showers.
The next band was Karine Polwart’s band. Karine has a very powerful voice with a strong Stirling accent, and sung some interesting songs. One to look out for in future.
Next was a turntable artist from Afro Celts. The music he played was good but without any song titles, and rather loud. It would have been nice to chat to each other without having to move away from the speakers!
Next, thankfully, Messrs Spiers and Boden, celebrated step dancer/singer and amazing accordionist! They are a duo that seem to get better and better (much like Phil and Steve) – and had us all singing along.
Lastly, Show of Hands to finish. Steve played a couple of new songs, which were superb – The Dive (not about Nettlebed but a father-and-son diving team) and Roots (about politicians/media killing folk music). This time no rain! Another fab day out.

London's Burning

Well, today we had our very own 9/11, but we were oddly stoical about it, in total contrast to the Americans. People at work just said 'Shocking, isn't it' and 'It makes my stomach go cold'. The only people who showed any high emotion were the foreign students, one of whose boyfriend was due to be in London sightseeing (but got stuck in lovely Redhill instead).
I was worried that it would take a long time to get home and that the trains would be absolutely packed. But the 17.14 was only a few minutes late. Was relieved that Rachel, John and Chinese Chris were OK, not all that worried about Clive - only the good die young. Again the mood on the train was oddly subdued, no-one even mentioning the disaster till Chinese Chris said, 'Bad news' and it took me a few seconds to work out what he meant. He knew some people working near Edgware Road, so I hoped they were OK. Some people whinged a little about the inconvenience. But it was as if it was bad taste to pay any attention to it.
The older people are immured to bombings because of all the IRA bombings we had a while ago. And we are a very stoical, resillient country.
Hubby has now gone to a meeting in Woking, not allowing the b*stards to get him down, in his own words. He has had only one apology for abscence.
We Brits are great eh :-)

Farnham Library Gardens Tea Party 2/7/05

Doesn't sound wildly exciting does it? Well it was a fete supposedly designed to get people to volunteer for various local charities - as a result not many people turned up! But luckily Bill had forwarded me an email from Darren Beech, the folking.com guy who organises the Farnham Maltings folk club, to say that Jo Quinn and Paul Taylor from Mary Jane would be providing the musical entertainment along with some others. And it was free!
I fancied a cycle ride that Saturday, as Bill was away visiting his Dad in Dorset, so I cycled to Farnham via the Blackwater Valley Path. Got a bit lost and ended up as the track ran out in Tongham, so I cycled (with a lot of willpower) past Hogs Back Brewery under the A-road to Runsfold then into Farnham. I was a little late for the 1pm kickoff but as it happened Penelope Keith (who was due to open the fete) got stuck in traffic too, so they hadn't started the music.
Andy Stedman, a local singer-songwriter, was first up, with his guitar. He apparently "offers an indie calm with floating melodies, delicate vocals and strong lyrics" - personally I found it a bit boring, nothing I hadn't already heard. Nice clothes though. I wandered around the fete, tried some free cake, entered the local conservation group's quiz and failed to win any decent booze on the tombolas.
Next were Jo Quinn and Paul Taylor. Jo has a superb voice and is a good actor too, which makes her performances stand out. A few of the worthies sat and listened to their set, and they got lots of applause at the end.
Next were a band led by Naama Hillman, whose style I didn't like that much - too poppy. By this time I was hungry, the fete not including the usual BBQ stall, so I strolled across the road to Cafe Piccolo and had Spinach, Cheese and Rice Soup, very nice too.
Arrived back just in time for Siansa an Irish group, no harpist this time but a flautist, an electric fiddle player, a bouzouki/guitar player and a uillean piper. These were very good and had the largest audience - some people's kids even danced to the fast jigs. I had won a can of Boddingtons and was happily sipping it and tapping my foot to the rhythm. When I ran out of beer Darren Beech kindly shared some of his with me "as you're a regular"!! What a lovely guy.
I really wanted a CD - but had spent all my money on the soup and charities! I went over to Darren and asked how long he was staying till and if he'd save me a CD, he said yes no problem and so I stayed till the end of Siansa's gig. Cycled fast into town, grabbed some money out of the cashpoint, cycled back again! Very happy with my CD, would love to see Siansa again at the Maltings in November - hope it doesn't clash with anything.

Beer Festival Meeting in Redhill

On Tuesday I thought I'd attend a Redhill Beer Festival meeting, as I'm supposed to be organising the Products and Membership table. Kathy caught the minibus with me, which saved me hanging around town on my own.
Firt port of call was the Sun, for some dinner (not 'tea' as some heathens might call it). We decided on the 2 for £6.25 option, Kathy had Chicken Burger (actually a fillet of chicken in a bun) and I had Chilli and Nachos, both fine and good value. We passed on the beer though, the range wasn't great that night.
Next I took Kath to the Hatch, as she hadn't been there before. A bit of a walk from the town centre but worth it. The Goldings was good and the Spitfire even better - just a tad expensive at £2.70 and £3.00 a pint!!
Then back to the Garland with its comprehensive range of Harvey's beers. Martini the Cat gave us a friendly welcome, gatecrashing on our meeting, still nosey at 20 years old! The beer was as good as ever, the Tom Paine being on particularly fine form. Sat and listened to the meeting, my only contribution being to ask for 2 tables-worth of space to be included in the site plan for me. At about 9pm a violent storm distracted us with loud booms and hailstones against the windows. Kathy and Sally seemed to be running the show fine, with Nick from SHB being very helpful.
I left shortly before Nick, but was dismayed on reaching the station to see that all the train had been delayed due to signalling problems, the result of the storm. Decided to play it safe and stay over with Kathy on the sofabed in the Bungalow, very cosy it was too, but I was dying for a shower in the morning. At least I had a change of clothes in my locker at work, the way that us chemists do.
Hope Nick made it back OK, will ask him next time I see him...

Oysterband Big Session Festival, Leicester

Phew it was HOT! And not just the music!
We arrived at a very strange b&b that seemed to be run by a cross between Jimmy Saville and Larry Grayson, who insisted we were 'good people' - well... The housekeeping wasn't up to much, the breakfast was large but only served between 7 and 8am (a bit mean at the weekend, we thought) and there was no shower, only a bath. Still, the garden was nice and the beds comfy.
Val and Matt drove us up, and were camped with the Oysterband yahoo-group. Bill knew them all but I didn't - wierd! Sarah Smith was also there, blossoming nicely if a little sleepy at times!
DeMontfort Hall was a superb venue for such a festie - nice big hall (built 1915), plenty of field space. More beer in the beer tent next time though, guys!
The gigs were mostly Oysterband with one or two other bands on every now and again! Eliza Carthy's set was a little more downbeat than normal, maybe she just wanted to play slowies because of the heat. Rev Hammer and Mark Chadwick were very relaxed - I joined Dim, Wonderhorsie, Rosie and friends at the front for that one - only trouble was, Rev's voice wasn't that good and he didn't seem to want to give the vocals to Mark very often. Rev later hogged the mike from JJ when he guested with the Oysterband for 'Drunkard's Waltz' - what an ego!
Justin Sullivan's set in the Hall was quite gloomy, and the sound was bad - went to catch Show of Hands in the Tent but it was packed, I only heard muffled singing from a distance. They should have swapped locations really.
Whapweasel were indeed one of the best Ceilidh bands I've seen, but it was far too hot to be ceilidhing really. Bill and I danced 2 sets at a time, then had to rush back to the table for lots of water.
I also met Cousin Wayne down town, it was great to chat to him again. We went for a drink in Brucianis icecream cafe, a bit of a nostalgia trip for me as Grandma used to take me there as a kid. We reminisced about our departed grandparents and Auntie Mari, I caught up on news of Wayne's community work, Cousin Shaun's band etc. Could have talked all day! Afterwards I did some shopping, bought much-needed sun hat and sandals. Leicester is fab ;-D

Southampton Beer Festival

Well I WAS planning to have a quiet night in last night! Arriving home I realised I didn't have my keys with me - Bill Badger had borrowed them (because they had bike keys on them) to cycle to Guildford on Wednesday night, and hadn't replaced them in my bag. Bugger!
Was just walking round the house when I spotted a half-naked man in a car. It was Patrick, an old friend from Cardiff, getting changed before going to meet Bill at Southampton Beer Festival. I explained the situation to Pat, he agreed there was nothing to do but accompany him! We headed off to Farnborough Main, met up with Johnny P at Basingstoke when we changed trains, and the three of us chatted and caught up on all our news.
I thought Bill would guess straight away that I'd locked myself out, but he just assumed I'd fancied a beer or two ;-D Bill had had a few to drink already, and reccommended some good ones - Westerham Black Eagle, Oakleaf Hole Hearted and Dark Star Landlord's Wit to name a few. I also tried Enville Old Porter and Ringwood XXXX Porter - very nice too!
Ate a really nice Chicken Korma from the Guildhall canteen, £5.50. I also won some jelly-babies on the tombola, but they don't really go with beer.
Met my sister Shirl later and blagged her a cheaper ticket, as she was only staying for a half. She tried the Sam Adams Lager, which she drank very slowly! We sorted out holiday plans for August - North Wales seems likely. Then it was off for the last train back to Farnborough.
Fantastic evening - if somewhat unexpected!

Booze Tour of Belgium and France

Yesterday it was Simon's birthay and so to celebrate he and Jane, me and Bill went across to Belgium in Simon's Volvo estate, to buy lots of Belgian beer, French wine and to have a meal over there as well.
We left Simon and Jane's house at 9.15am and had a clear run to Ashford for the Eurostar, which we boarded about 10.30am. On the train we ate our pack lunches and Simon very kindly shared out a bottle of champagne! Very civilised.
First stop was Cite Europe for wine, cheese, choccie and sausage - we bought 5 bottles of wine, all red. Got a (relatively) cheap Chateauneuf du Pape, I look forward to sampling it on a suitably special occasion. Simon bought a motorcycle jack, an unusual souvenir but apparently it was a lot cheaper than it would have been at home!
We had some problems getting back on the motorway as one of the slip roads was closed, and we had to go back the way we'd come a little before heading the right way. The 'deviation' (diversion) signs were quite small and you could not see the arrows till you were right next to them, so we nearly caused a few accidents trying to get into the right lane at the last minute!
Eventually we were on our way to Belgium. We stopped at Noel Cuvelier's beer shop in Abele, just over the border, and were in there for over an hour as Bill seemingly looked up every single beer in Simon's 'Belgian Good Beer Guide', which we'd cunningly bought him as a birthday present.
The next idea was to sample some draught Belgian beers so we headed for Poperinge (famous for its hops)and the Palace Hotel, which offered draught Hommelbier, St Bernardus Tripel, Kerelsbier and Maes as well as a huge range of bottled beers. A friendly bar with lots of Belgian breweriana. I tried the first 3 of the draughts, then feeling tipsy got back in the car to Veune where Simon knew a good restaurant. Unfortunately he couldn't find the precise one he had in mind, but we tried the Ibis and found it was pretty good! We had 4 course meals - I had foie gras, asparagus, duck and meringue tart - washed down with Hoegaarden. Coffee to finish, which came with marble cake and little Toblerones, superb.
Headed back to Calais and the ferry, congratulating ourselves on our 'haul' finally getting back home around midnight. Great day, looking forward to next year's trip!

Glastonwick Beer Music Poetry and More Beer Festival

This year the festie, organised by Atilla the Stockbroker, was held at Shoreham airport and we were fortunate to get lifts down and back with Other Val and Matt. The weather was sadly a bit blowy with occasional rain (usually when queuing for beer at the outside beer tent!) but otherwise the atmos was great. There were loads of people there from Surrey/Hants CAMRA, as well as Glyn, an old friend from South Wales, but did not spot any boardies from The Alternative Levellers Messageboard, where I 'live' online.
Got there at about 2pm and started drinking beer - there was a long queue for the beer tent as there was only a small hatch and 2-3 people serving. Kevin and Other Val decided to go to the lunchtime music session - apparently David Rovics was very good - whilst I continued drinking beer and eating Val's party-eggs!
After the lunchtime gigs at about 5pm Val drove us into Brighton, almost too late to browse through the North Laines (my spiritual home) - couldn't resist the posh choccies in 'Montezuma'. We ended up, inevitably, in the Evening Star on Surrey Street, one of my all-time favourite pubs. Dark Star Expresso Stout - outstanding!! Shame I missed their mocha stout at the festie. Hurriedly ate some fish 'n' chips from the pier before heading back to Glastonwick for more beer and the evening music.
First up was Jim Bob, an ex Carter USM member. He was awl right, a lot of people were singing along to his songs so I guess they must have been old hits, I was never really into Carter USM.
Then all the Carter USM fans disappeared and all the Adverts fans appeared! Silver fox TV Smith took to the stage with his guitar and played some of my favourites like 'Thin Green Line', 'David Gilmore's Eyes', 'Lion and the Lamb', and 'One Chord Wonders'. He seemed to be having a great time, and played 'Bored Teenagers' as an encore 'because you're a crowd and I feel like pleasing you!' Indeed he was in such a good mood that he signed my 'Red Sea Crossing' CD and posed for a photo with 'News and Ale' for Other Val!
The band I'd been waiting for however was McDermott's 2 Hours. An Irish folk-punk band, band leader Nick Burbridge was one of the main influences on the Levellers and wrote 'Dirty Davey'. I got a front spot as all the Adverts fans left, and met a lady called Liz who was in need of a dance partner! So we pogoed right in front of Nick and Matt - we attempted an Irish reel but was afraid of sending Nick flying which would have been RATHER embarrassing. I did throw my beer all over my face as I was pogoing, hopefully I wiped it off before any of the McDermotts saw me! They played mostly fasties with the odd slowy to give me and Liz time to get our breaths back, the craic was out of this world. Was singing along, as many of the words as I could remember, I do like songs with a message.
After the gig I noticed a 'Live at Ferneham Hall' CD which the McDermotts recorded at Fareham and Gosport Folk Festival (see previous posting) so I bought it to see if I could hear myself. Then quickly sneaked back into the hall to see if the guys would sign it. Chased after Ben Paley the fiddle player first, who had trouble remembering his name - he'd obviously tried a few real ales! Matt the bassist signed second and shook hands with me, he seemed rather shy. Then asked Nick and he was happy to autograph and chat about the difficulties of playing with no monitors. Then he said he'd spotted me singing along and thanked me (much to my surprise) saying it made all the difference to the atmosphere. Then I shook hands with him and he gave me a whiskery kiss on the cheek as well!! I shyly said thanks and hurried over to see Dil the drummer. Dil was even more chatty - he put a 3-fishes symbol on the CD as well, and when I asked him why he said it was an old family emblem (not the arms of Kingston-upon-Thames as I'd thought). Strange, these people from Pembrokeshire!
Could have stayed and talked to the band all night, but Other Val, Matt, Bill and Doug were waiting to go home so I skipped back to them to boast of my hobnobbing and kissing activities! Best beerfest ever by far ;-D

Battlefield Band and Guests, Norden Farm

Hi there, sorry I haven't posted for a while - have been ill, but am better now ta.
Went to see Battlefield Band and guests from Uzbekistan in Maidenhead - just with Bill this time. Battlefield Band kicked off the evening with a few of their fans' favourite numbers, and a song about Iraq. A couple of young Scottish dancers - John Sikorski & Donal Brown, dressed in black jeans and t-shirts. Wot no kilts - I'm sure the ladies in the front row were disappointed! But the way they whirled each other around at high speed was pretty impressive.
Then the Uzbekistani band came on - ABDULAKHAD ABDURASHIDOV on the Nay (flute type thing), AKHMADJON DADAEV on the Gijak (fiddle type thing) and vocals, ILYAS LUTFULLAEV on Dutar (two string mandolin) and kushkar rubab (guitar type thing) HUSAN NOSIROV on Doyra (bodhran/tambourine type thing). They were wearing traditional Uzbeki robes which were black with gold embroidery, available from their stall for £200! Their music was so exotic sounding, a bit Arabic, a bit Oriental, a bit Eastern European - like nothing else I've else heard. Then came on the Uzbeki dancers, Saida Mansurhodjayeva & Nargiza Khodjakhanova in the most amazing dresses and with very long hair in plaits. They looked like princesses in their brightly coloured, low cut, gold and sequin embroidered, flowing dresses and gold headdresses. One of the dances was very sexy - apparently they'd performed it at Edinburgh Prison where it went down a treat with the inmates.
After the break both the Scottish and Uzbeki musicians played each others' songs and the dancers attempted a Scottish/Uzbeki crossover routine!
The encore was even more impressive with Husan playing 3 Doyra drums at once, the (rather large) fiddle player in a dancing duel and a bagpipe duel!
Fantastic evening - just what the doctor ordered!

Paperboys, West End Centre, Aldershot

Went to see the Paperboys at the West End Centre with Bill, Val and Julie. Not many people there, I don't think it justified standing-only tickets. Most people weren't dancing anyway (although I did spot Val giving a little wiggle!) I was sat down as I was feeling a bit faint, having blagged a chair from the roadie.
I liked the Paperboys' crossover styles of Celtic, bluegrass, Cajun, Latin and more, all delivered with bags of energy. The flautist was the outstanding musician of the team, thought the (blonde) violinist was a bit run-of-the-mill, probably just in the band for sex appeal! Front-man and composer Tom signed my Molinos CD, and was happy to chat about his music and the aims of the band. All in all a very good night.

Rory McLeod, West End Centre, Aldershot

Ken and Other Val joined us on the candlelit table at the West End Centre for Rory McLeod's gig. Poor Rory seemed to give a hurried performance with a lot less chat and more songs than he did last time, perhaps he's got fed up of being told to 'hurry up' or 'get on with it' by hecklers in the crowd, or being 'hooked off' by venue staff anxious to get home! Personally I like his stories as much as the songs. Rory played a lot of my favourites such as No More Blood For Oil, Too Old For the Orphanage, London Kisses, What Would Jesus Do and some new ones to me, such as Emperor's New Clothes and the Miner's Picket Dance. His encore was a trombone tune which didn't work very well as it was 'out of tune'!!
Rory seems like a top guy, and likes to meet the people from the audience at break time. A group of young girls seemed pleased to talk to him - he seemed pleased as well! Married man, girls, I'm afraid!!

Curry Nite

Yesterday Ian the Minister came over to stay. I had trouble getting back in the evening due to a cancelled train - but got to Farnborough in time to meet Ian and Bill Badger leaving the Tumbledown Dick. The boys had been expecting to try Hogs Back beer, which was advertised in large letters outside the pub, only to be given halves of vinegar. At least they only ordered halves! Johnny P arrived at about the same time as me, then we all headed off to the Swan, where we had much nicer beer (Elgoods Black Dog Mild in superb form, also some very nice Pride of Pendle from Moorhouse).
We had to drag ourselves away at 9.15 for our curry appointment in the Gurkha Kitchen. The poppadoms were so good Ian ordered another round on top of the free ones you get whilst you wait. We went straight on to the main courses, Ian and Bill going for Chicken Tikka Massala, John for Hot Chicken and me for a medium Nepalese King Prawn curry

Evening Wedding Reception

Andy and Gill's evening doo was at the Alton Grange, which was a lot posher on the inside than on the outside. The CAMRA contingency didn't have places at tables, as we weren't at the lunch, so we commandeered the lounge bar (with much rearranging of pot plants and comfy chairs). Real ales were available from Triple fff and the buffet was very generous, so we were more than happy. Bob arrived in a suit, we remarked upon the unusualness of this sight! Val had changed into a lime green top and black trousers, Julie had a black outfit with purple 'party cardy'. Didn't see much of Andy, think the boys were buying him drink after drink! Gill was bopping away still in her beautiful wedding dress, having to hold up the train. She insisted that we dance with her, who were we to say no? The DJ played the usual dance selection of 60s, 70s, 80s stuff with a bit of modern pop, he finished far too soon though. Highlights were Jules and Val's lesbian slow dance to Robbie William's 'Angel', Val and Nick waltzing to Wham!, and Bill and me high-kicking to 'New York, New York'.
A good time was had by all!

Andy and Gill's Wedding

This afternoon we went to Andy and Gill's wedding in St James Church, Rowledge. The church was ever so cute, and it was a lovely service, with a good organist and choir as well. Both Andy and Gill looked great, very relaxed, and very much in love. Outside the Church it was sunny but a bit breezy - various people had to hold Gill's train and veil to stop them blowing around. There was a CAMRA Pals official photo, with Other Val, Matt, Julie, Nick, Hannah, Hannah's boyfriend, Bill and myself with the bride and groom in the porch of the church, I hope nobody blinked! I took a couple of photos on Bill's camera, they will appear in Valerie's Gallery at some point, when I can get the @&*$ing thing to work!!
Then Matt drove Other Val, Julie, Bill and myself to the Sandrock where we had a pint before heading back home for food and maybe a change of clothes, ahead of the evening doo. Then we get together with some other CAMRA-ites who have been pub-crawling all afternoon, that should be lively!

Election Fever

Bill and I cycled down to St Peter's Church to vote - yes the Liberals were still handing out sweeties. Saw the Tory incumbent for the first time as well, chatting amiably with the Liberal hopeful. No sign of the Labour guy, he has probably resigned himself to losing Farnborough South.
Was tempted to vote Monster Raving Loony as he the only one I'd 'talk to in a bar' (Billy Connolly's definition of an electable person) - he's the landlord of the 'Dog and Partridge' in Yately.
But in the end I did the right thing, I voted Liberal. Gordon Brown says the War in Iraq was fought for economic reasons and I believe him. Gordon Brown wants me to vote Liberal!! I don't want to belong to a country that pours out the blood of its soldiers, not to mention that of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, for cheap oil. When Gordon Brown takes over Labour Party leadership, then I'll vote Labour again, like the good socialist I am.
That's not the only reason of course. Here are the 10 good reasons to vote Liberal from their website:

WE OPPOSE: Putting targets first
WE PROPOSE: Putting patients first
Faster diagnosis so your NHS treatment can start more quickly


WE OPPOSE: Tuition fees & top up fees
WE PROPOSE: Scrapping student fees
Further education affordable to every student


WE OPPOSE: Compulsory I.D. Cards
WE PROPOSE: Spending the money on 10,000 more police
Funded by scrapping compulsory I.D. cards


WE OPPOSE: Selling your home to pay for care
WE PROPOSE: Free personal care for the elderly
No one forced to sell their home to pay for care


WE OPPOSE: Ignoring climate change
WE PROPOSE: Cleaner transport & cleaner energy
Cleaner transport, cleaner energy and a cleaner environment


WE OPPOSE: £1.5 billion on the child trust fund
WE PROPOSE: £1.5 billion towards reducing class sizes
Spend the £1.5 billion Child Trust Fund when it matters most


WE OPPOSE: Means-testing pensioners
WE PROPOSE: £100 extra per month starting with the over 75s
A million pensioners off means-testing


WE OPPOSE: Hidden tax increases
WE PROPOSE: Only one tax increase - on income above £100,000 per year
Only one tax increase on income over £100,000


WE OPPOSE: Unfair council tax
WE PROPOSE: Local income tax, saving typical households £450 per year
Local Income Tax is both fair and affordable


WE OPPOSE: Bush & Blair on Iraq
WE PROPOSE: Never again
It's time to restore trust in government

I agree with all of these.
Shame there was no Green candidate, that would have been my second choice.
Vote Tory? Nevvah!!

Oxtale

Just a quick post tonight...we went walking today around Dunsfold (of the Seven Ponds) loosely based on a walk in 'Walker's Britain' - for more details see Bill Badger (my other half). It was a hot day, and Bill was very careful to take precautions against sunburn with sun cream and a hat. I was less bothered, being a brunette, but drank a lot more water. The heat and my heavy winter boots made it rather hard going (that's my excuse!) and we had to cut the walk short - but only by scrambling up a very steep hill.
We stopped off at Budgens in Ash Vale on the way back, and Bill spotted some oxtail reduced to £1 so he bought it for the evening meal (I fancied curry, but still). The cookbook advised casseroling it, so Bill baked it in a casserole dish with some mushrooms, no sauce. Boy was it tough to eat! I had to pick it up and gnaw the meat off the tailbones, my gums are still hurting now. It just tasted like scrag ends of beef, very fatty, not really worth the effort. I will only eat oxtail in soup from now on. Still, good story to shock my veggie friends with ;-)

Real Ale Wobble Around Alton

Phew! Have just got back from Alton, where Bill and I have been cycling on this lovely sunny day.
We loaded the bikes onto the back of the car and headed off for the Chawton Park Wood car park in Medtead and the start of the cycle ride. We had planned to do a 15-mile published ride along bridleways, but the first bridleway we came across was very muddy and slippery so we decided to modify our route to only use roads! Maybe with proper mountain tyres we could have coped, but not with semi-slicks.
First we took the minor road into Medstead, then northwards towards Bentworth. Time for a drinkee already, we visited both the Star (Ringwood Best in fine form) and the Sun (good half of Cheriton Pots from their wide selection of beers) at Bentworth, and ate our sandwiches beneath a tree. Then down a rather hilly single-track road to Alton, where we visited the French Horn, supped some lovely Hook Norton Best and gazed at the funfair opposite the pub on 'The Butts'.
We were still feeling fit, so we decided to extend our route via the Selbourne Arms in Selbourne, so we headed up the B3006. The road looked deceptively flat on the map but we were surprised with some relentless upward slopes! We were well deserving of our Itchen Valley Pure Gold when we arrived (the best beer of the day, in my opinion). It was also pure joy to sit out in the Selborne Arms' beer garden with the cherry-blossom and bluebells out, and the birds singing. We didn't want to leave.
The last stretch back to Medstead involved a hilly road up to Newton Valence, another steep hill on the other side of the A32 towards Four Marks (I pushed my bike up most of it) and a short stretch of the A31 before turning off down the wide residential road to the Chawton Park Wood carpark again.
It must have done me good because my legs were all wobbly when I got off the bike, and I had to sit down for a bit and recover! A lot of work needed I think before I can do the London to Cambridge in July!

Eleanor McEvoy, West End Centre, Aldershot

Bill and I had seen Eleanor McEvoy at Fareham and Gostport Folk Festival, so we knew we were in for a treat!
The support act was Tristan Seume a very talented guitarist, reminiscent of Paul Downes. However half an hour of acoustic guitar with no lyrics did send me off to sleep a bit. Perhaps he should ask Eleanor to write some lyrics for him.
At last Eleanor came on stage (despite rumours of fog in Dublin) and gave a stunning performance. She seems to me like a cross between early Sinead O'Connor and Thea Gilmore. She can play fiddle to a very high standard as well as acoustic and electric guitar, her songs are highly emotionally charged and uplifting. The stories behind the songs are always entertaining as well. Sone of my favourite songs were Whisper a Prayer to the Moon (sadly unavailable on album in the UK - WHY NOT!!??!), The Rain Falls Down (a song about being dumped by email), and the ironically-named You'll Hear Better Songs (Than This) - now out on single - buy it!! She also covered Chuck Berry's classic Memphis Tennessee - a wistful, slowed down version.
The audience at the West End Centre were very appreciative and there was a long queue for CD's - Eleanor kindly signed mine, and we had a little chat - agreeing the gig was a lot less fraught than at Fareham, also a very good one! I hope she tours round our way again soon.

Holiday Part 2 - Scotland and back

A long drive from Manchester to Dumfries in Scotland, where Robert Burns came from. Lots of museums there, all mentioning Robert Burns and his family, curiously omitting any references to his mistress. Perhaps the religious Scots prefer to think of him as a hero of the working classes, and idealise him somewhat. Found a reasonable B&B on spec, and were treated to Peruvian music at breakfast – very uplifting.
We climbed up Criffel mountain the next day. The path was very boggy and we had to pick our way carefully, till we got to the more rocky areas nearer the summit. At the top the wind was bitterly cold, so we lingered only for a couple of photos before making our way down again. Next we had a look at the ruined Sweetheart Abbey in New Abbey, founded by Devorgilla, Lady of Galloway, in memory of her husband John Balliol (founder of Balliol College Oxford and ex King of Scotland). Devorgilla is buried in the presbytery with a casket containing her husband's embalmed heart (they must have ripped the heart out of his body to do that - a bit sick?)
Then on to our B&B in Kippford, Roughfirth House. I can recommend this place highly – it has amazing views over Rough Firth, Almorness Point and Rough Island. The pub in town, the Anchor Hotel, served good food and excellent beer from the Sulwath Brewery. We spent a day walking around the area, doing a loop up to Castlehill Point and back through Rockcliffe, stopping at the excellent Cottage Tea Shop there for coffee and a light lunch (I had homemade mushroom soup – Bill had whisky flavoured ice cream!). Next day we explored Castle Douglas and decided to inspect the Sulwath Brewery Shop – also meeting the owners and getting an impromptu brewery tour. The lake in Castle Douglas was nice to look around, and you could also purchase locally-made ice cream from the Warden’s Office (alas no Whisky flavour).
We were a bit reluctant to leave in the end and may well go back there to explore the area further!
However the bright lights of Glasgow were beckoning. We checked in to our B&B (huge room) near the Tennents Brewery, then headed off into town to meet the minibus to take us to Fyne Brewery, at the top of Loch Fyne. And what a great trip it was! The minibus took us along most of the length of Loch Lomond, and we saw some amazing views of the loch and the mountains. Then we saw the tip of Loch Long before arriving at the start of Loch Fyne, The Brewery was at a small farmhouse in a truly beautiful setting. The owners had moved there from Alresford, not far from myself and Bill! There were 4 beers to choose from, and we were told to just help ourselves – Piper’s Gold, Vital Spark, Highlander and Summerled. The owners also brought out pastries containing haggis, curried egg or smoked salmon!! We were told later that they’d refused to accept payment from CAMRA for the visit so it was a truly generous welcome. It was my idea of heaven – sitting outside in the sun supping beer and eating pastries in good company.
Bill took photos of the Brewery and I took a photo of the farm’s Highland Cattle but they looked a bit fierce – didn’t go too near. Then the equally stunning trip back, and a commotion when the driver refused to stop at a good pub on the way back, saying the minibus had only been booked till 7pm. These jobsworths!
Bill went to the CAMRA AGM on Saturday and Sunday, and I went shopping. Was particularly impressed with Buchanan Street and Argyle Street (Bill not fooled by my arty pretence when I said I’d visited the Buchanan Galleries!) Also went with Bill to the Gallery of Modern Art and the Transport Museum, both very good for free.
We visited as many pubs as we could get to (the underground was on strike, and Rangers/Celtic playing each other) – my favourite was the Babbity Bowster but I have to admit that the Deuchars IPA in the Samuel Dow was the best beer of the holiday. There was also a folk club meeting at the Samuel Dow, which Bill and I joined – we won a bottle of wine in the raffle! Had a good curry in Sauchiehill Street with Julie and Nick, but the best meal in Glasgow that I had was the smoked venison salad at the Babbitty Bowster.
Bill drove all the way back, reluctant to grant me a pee stop till he’d got over half way :-[ We stopped for lunch at the Plough in Bignall End, Audley (near J16 of the M6) – a very good range of beers including one from Townhouse. I had a lovely Lamb Rogan Josh there as well.
Bill then drove all the way back to Farnborough but still had the energy to take Simon and Jane to the Sandrock, Wrecclesham for a few bevvies before dropping the hire Ka back to Kendalls. What a star! :-*

Holiday Part 1 - North England

Hi folks, sorry I haven’t posted for a while! Lots to sort out after my hols. Bill and I were registered for the CAMRA AGM in Glasgow, so we thought we’d make a week of it by touring around the North of England and South Scotland as well, and hire a Ka to do so rather than take our very old VW Polo.
First we’d booked a very nice B&B in Fenny Bentley, called Cairn Grove. We booked a table at the Bentley Brook Hotel, a pub famous for its homebrewed ale, and had a nice meal there, which included chicken stuffed with black pudding. Next day we went walking in Dovedale. The walk started well, as the weather was sunny and the path easygoing. At Milldale Bridge we found a little snack bar, and ate a couple of pasties, which the local ducks were very interested in. We visited a couple of pubs in Alstonefield and Hopedale, then headed back along the top of Dovedale back to the B&B.
Then as we approached Ilam Heights, we were confronted by 2 fiercely barking dogs on the other side of a stile from us. The owner was there, calling them to come away, but the dogs took no notice. Bill climbed over anyway and we headed down the public footpath with the dogs still barking at us – then as I walked ahead I heard Bill give a yell! The Collie dog had bitten him on the leg, drawing blood. When the owner was confronted, he apologised, but Bill was angry and shaken. He was so put off that he lost the path back towards Fenny Bentley and we had to walk a much longer way through Ilam to get back. Then to cap it all it started to rain, and we both got soaked. Very glad to see our cosy B&B again!
In the evening we went to 2 pubs of character, the Black Horse in Hulland Ward, where due to staff shortages I had to pull our beer (but we were given it for free!) and the Barley Mow in Kirk Ireton, where beer is still served from gravity through a hatch.
Next stop was to visit our friends Ian and Kathryn in Manchester. Ian is a close friend of Bills from University, now a Methodist minister. It was strange to be walking down the street and hearing little old ladies greet Ian, thinking of him still as a ‘typical student’ At least he wasn’t wearing his dog collar - that would have been really be unnerving!! Ian took us to the Lowry Gallery which I enjoyed very much, then the boys went to see the War Museum whilst I slipped into the Lowry Designer Outlet Centre :-D Bought some surfer trousies for £5 from Trespass – bargain!
Kathryn joined us for a little while in the evening, she too seemed to be settling in well which was good to hear. We went out to Ian and Kathryn’s local pub for a meal, then back to the guest room at the (?) manse. Nice to have a huge house loaned to you by your bosses! Next morning off to Scotland as Ian had a funeral to take - not the best bit of the job I suppose.

Sarah Grey and Keiron Means

Other Val fancied seeing Sarah Grey and Keiron Means down at Dorking Folk Club yesterday, so Bill suggested we all meet up at a pub in Dorking for dinner before the concert started. I suggested the Kings Arms, as the Christmas Meal we go to there is always good. I took the 18.14 to Dorking and ordered basket meals for everyone – adequate at £5.50. Val wasn’t that impressed with her ‘trio of sausages’ - all the same fairly cheap looking type! But my burger was fine. She enjoyed the Welton’s Nice Pair though (!) and Bill and I liked the Cottage Southern Bitter. We also tried the Surrey Yeoman, ex Hogshead, purloining the leather sofa and supping some lovely Hogs Back TEA.
Sarah Grey and Keiron Means are an unusual mother/son band. Sarah plays banjo, Keiron guitar, and both sing. Sarah is American, Keiron half-American and they both live on Skye. I expected Keiron to be a bit of a mummy’s boy - he seemed very manly ;-) although Sarah was obviously the leader. Their repertoire consisted mainly of Appalachian songs, many derived from songs that immigrants had brought over and given an American twist to, for instance ‘Gypsy Davey’ became ‘She’s gone with Brady’. I’m not really a fan of Banjo music, and most of the songs sounded too similar to me, but Val and Bill appreciated the concert more. The best bit as far as I was concerned was Sarah’s telling of the stories behind the songs.
On the way back, I was so tired I fell asleep in the back of Val’s car. I hope I didn’t snore too loudly!
Another interesting development on the train – I asked Finance Lady if Clive had been hassling her as he pointedly said ‘good morning’ to her and not me the other day, ‘good morning’ being a bit of a wind up to me as well (long story). She said no, she was at school with him! And she gave me his surname as well!! Woe betide him if he hassles me again, I can give his full name to the BTP. Superb, thankyou lovely Finance Lady ;-D

H M Bottom Inspectors

On Thursday morning, with great trepidation, I took the really strong laxative I had been prescribed to clear out my system ahead of the colonoscopy on Friday. It was amusing that the stuff was called ‘Fleet’ – had the pharmacologist been to Fleet in Hampshire?
The stuff took effect after an hour and was pretty violent, but not painful. However at the end of the day and after the second dose I was feeling ill and exhausted, having only drunk clear liquid all day.
Thank goodness Bill relented and gave me a lift to the hospital on Friday morning – it might have been very embarrassing on the bus! The operation itself was fine, I was given a sedative and spent the time asleep, not really aware of what was going on. The consultant said they hadn’t found anything serious, but the nurse said I might need a couple more operations – so I don’t really know what they found. I guess I will find out when I see the consultant next.
Went for a drink afterwards at the Plume of Feathers in Crondall. Bill had the Ruddles County, I think, whilst I had diet coke and crisps. Solid food at last!!
Saturday was pretty quiet – spent the day doing housework, watching telly and surfing the net whilst Bill did the next bit of the Greensand Way. On Sunday Bill cooked a marvellous Roast Pork with trimmings – well worth the wait! We took Simon and Jane down to the Sandrock in the evening, where I sampled Enville White and Cheriton Pots, both superb. Other beers on offer included Bathams Bitter, Ringwood 49er, Hopback Summer Lightning. The Sandrock was quite busy for a Sunday evening, it’s nice to see the pub is building up a bit of trade.
Lovely day today. Shame I’ve got to be in work!

Sunday Lunch with the Rellies

On Sunday Bill and I went out with Bill’s father and girlfriend, George and Eileen, (both in their 80’s!) and my Mum and Dad to the Gaggle of Geese, Buckland Newton, somewhere inbetween where the two sets of relatives live. First we stopped off at George and Eileen’s to drop off their Easter Egg, catch up on news from the extended family, and nag George to get a hearing aid (pardon?)!
The welcome at the Gaggle of Geese was as warm as usual, and the Butcombe Bitter was excellent, but the service was a little slow due to staff shortages (the landlord was most apologetic). Everybody had the Roast Beef apart from me (I had steak), and the pub even did small portions for the oldies and charged us a bit less, which was very good of them. The steak was very tasty, with fresh mushrooms and crispy onion rings, homemade chips and salad. The others seemed satisfied with their roast meals – there were no leftovers! For dessert the Aged P’s had apple pie and cream, whilst Bill had spotted dick with custard, and I had banana split (kidding myself it was more healthy!) I can recommend the food and beer there to anyone.
Mum seemed OK, except that she was very quiet and looked a little upset during the meal. When we got back to my parent’s house she started weeping and wouldn’t say why, so Bill and I thought it was best to leave early so as not to stress her too much. At least my Dad seemed happy to see us, showing off the new plants in his garden and talking of moving house again (Dad loves moving house, he would move every 2 years if he could afford it!).
Stopped off at the Weyhill Fair near Thruxton on the way back and sampled some Ramsbury Beer, brewed in the Kennet Valley. Delicious! We were glad to see that the takeover of the pub by Fullers hadn’t changed the pub much. Food looked good value too. The Weyhill Fair is set to remain a regular stopover pub on the way back from Dorset!
Oh well, back to work now!

Greensand Way, Part 2

Was much relieved that Clive did not play any practical jokes on me for April Fools Day - either he has mellowed or he is afraid to do so now I've got a few friends on the train. Surely I can't be the only one that sees he's an idiot?
Went to Badminton with my colleagues yesterday - boss in shorts, what a frightening sight!! (P45 on it's way for that, I'm sure). I lost, but then the sports centre lights were shining on my glasses. That's my excuse anyway!
The Pope has died, it's just been announced. Poor old man, he suffered ill health for a long time. Now we have all the excitement of the Conclave. I have just been reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, which is a bit of a coincidence, so now I'm extremely knowledgeable about the process of Papal election. Hopefully the Conclave won't be quite that frought though!
Today Bill and I went walking, as the weather was pleasant. Bill picked the Greensand Way from Shamley Green to Holmbury St Mary, as there were lots of hills and so good training for the Pennine Way. The views from the ridge through Hurtwood were amazing. We stopped halfway at the Windmill (or W, according to the sign), a trendy wine bar type place which was a bit different for us! Bill had a glass of Merlot, I had a glass of Cab Sauv, and we sat on the wooden balcony outside the bar admiring the Mediterranean-style decor and views across Ewhurst to Blackdown. What the bar staff thought of my scruffy cords and Billy Bragg T-shirt I don't know though!
Wine is not a good walking drink, and I felt very sleepy for the next 6 miles or so till we got to Holmbury St Mary. We had 3 hours to kill till the bus came, so we tried the Kings Head (King Horsham Best, Greene King IPA and Old Speckled Hen, all in excellent condition) and the Royal Oak (tired Adnams Bitter). Then an enjoyable bus ride back to the car. Photos will soon be available for Valerie's Gallery!

Fox on the Run

Yesterday, I thought I’d get up early and cycle to North Camp station. But I’d forgotten to put my alarm clock with the hour change at the weekend! Cue my rush to get dressed, and find the cycle lock before jumping on the bike to Farnborough North.
I did a little grocery shopping in Redhill before unlocking the bike and catching the 17.44 stopping service. Despite my best efforts not all the shopping would fit in my backpack. By the time I’d reached Ash it was raining heavily and coldly, and it was very gloomy. All the cars had their headlights on, but had I remembered to pack my lights after taking them off the bike in transit back from Fareham? No, of course not! At least my pack had its dayglo waterproof cover, good one Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative!
I cycled up the road from Ash to North Camp, very wary of traffic, not being able to see very well because of the droplets on my glasses. There I made the decision to brave the mud on the track of the Blackwater Valley Path home, rather than the cars.
Lindy-bike and myself became soaking wet and plastered with mud - I only had my work clothes on, being in too much of a hurry that morning to sort out lycras. As I neared the Coleford Bridge Road I spotted a fox, and chased it up the path a bit before it jumped across the stream to avoid me. It sat looking at me from the far bank as if to say ‘It’s a muddy human in the rain on one of those bike contraptions! She must be mad!’
When I got home Bill had to fetch the doormats to put under the bike before it made the carpets dirty, as I went to change my clothes. Still after Bill’s homemade Spag Bol I warmed up nicely. No cycling for me till the rain goes away again!!

Fareham and Gosport Folk Festival, Easter 2005

Back from Fareham! What a fantastic weekend. The weather, company, music and pubs were all great. There were too many bands to review so here's a few awards!
Overall best band of the festival: Show of Hands (Steve's voice a lot better than a few days ago, thankfully)
Best t-shirt: McDermotts 2 Hours with Steve Bell's cartoon fox
Best English artist and Levellers fan: Deborak Peake (skinny cow)
Best Irish artist: Elena McEvoy (better late than never)
Best Welsh artists: Ffynnon
Best Scottish artists: Julie Fowlis & Friends
Band that I thought were going to be crap but were really good: Eliza Carthy and the Ratcatchers
Band that I thought were going to be great but was disappointed: Sharon Shannon Band, runners up Broderick
Best band I'd never seen before: Ffynnon (and not one mention of rugby!)
Worst compere with the worst jokes in the world: George Wilson (but we are grateful for the effort he puts in to running the festival)!
Pub of the weekend: The Hampshire Bowman (although the Shire Horse wouldn't pose for a photo)
Beer of the weekend: Harvey's Porter back at the Prince of Wales yesterday!

Steve Knightley and Martyn Joseph, Swan, High Wycombe

Just a quick posting today…yesterday I had some fun on the trains again. The 07.26 train was cancelled so I had to get the 08.00, which was running late because it had to stop at every station, which it would not normally do. I went and sat in First Class, knowing that the ticket inspectors would not venture forth. However there were disadvantages to not having a ticket. As I walked down the steps at Redhill, Clive walked past, smirking. When I saw the queue for tickets, I realised why! It looked to be about 30 minutes long. I queued for a little while, but then thought I’d try my luck on the back gate. My luck was in! The guard knew I was a regular and let me through. Some railway staff can be nice!
Went to see Steve Knightley and Martyn Joseph at the Swan in High Wycombe last night. Of course we went for a little drinkee in the Bell first. Two pounds eighty a pint for Fullers Porter! Outrageous!
The Swan (ex town hall) was a strange venue. Inside was painted white, with a few grey panels. The ceiling was very high, and the hall did not stretch back very far – it was a bit like sitting in a huge cube. The acoustics didn’t seem that brilliant, also Steve’s voice was not on good form – the poor guy looked like he had a bit of a cold. Martyn was helping him out a bit though.
Martyn was very well behaved, only mentioning the rugby a few times (“well at least you managed to beat the Italians” he said). The banter and teasing between Steve and Martyn, who are obviously really good friends in a laddish sort of way, are what makes the concerts really good fun. The music is usually quite drepessing!
As well as the old favourites, such as Please Sir, The Flood, Widdecombe Fair and a few covers such as Stuck in a Moment by U2, they also played some new material about George Bush and Tony Blair and the low oil prices achieved by armed conflict. Quite how that went down with the residents of High Wycombe I don’t know! A few of us fans sang along to Country Life and Are We All Right. Also lots of CDs and Make Poverty History wristbands (see link in the top right hand corner) were sold so I think the guys were quite pleased.
That’s all for now – I’ll post again after Easter and tell you how Fareham and Gosport Folk Festival was!

'Drunk In Public' at the Adge, 18/03/05

The nearest the Levellers come to playing to my home, the Agincourt in Camberley! It is a good venue as well, nice big dance floor and lots of bar space. Was pleasantly suprised to find the Adge was serving Hogs Back TEA and Hop Garden Gold from partypins - but it ran out quite quicky. Get a couple of firkins next time guys!
'Drunk in Public' (acoustic Levellers, without bassist Jeremy and drummer Charlie but with Rev Hammer) didn't start till quite late, as they were all next door having a Chinese meal. But the atmos was good, and I met up with a lot of the local boardies from the Levellers' fanclub.
The set was quite similar to DIP sets that I'd heard previously. As the band play sitting down it's harder for them to play the Levellers' faster numbers (which is most of them). The Revered Hammer usually contributes a few songs but I don't like his ones so much and his voice is too Elvissy for my liking.
Anyhoo the boys played Julie, Men-an-tol, Robbie Jones, Carry Me and even One Way of Life all the way through for the encore, which was great! Usually One Way doesn't get played seriously, perhaps the band are a bit sick of requests for it.
I got a front spot whilst Other Val, Julie, Kev and Matt lurked nearer to the bar in order to have a chat. Matt got caught up in the mosh pit and got into all sorts of trouble, it seemed! I was relatively safe at the front, next to Angie's daughter. I took some photos of the gig using Other Val's camera, you can see them on her blogspot
We girls also had our picture taken with Jon, the fiddle player from the Levs! He stuck his tounge out though. Anarchists, eh? ;-)
A fantastic evening, hope DIP come back to the Adge soon!

Joint Social of SHB and EMS CAMRA, 11/03/05

The pub crawl got off to a bad start – I turned up at the Plough in Guildford at about 11.10am, and the boys were still waiting outside! The landlord and bar staff were ‘running late’ and hadn’t opened up the pub. However, when he did open the door for us, there were nice pints of Fullers London Pride waiting for us in a proper pub atmosphere. The crawlers present at the start were Mr Badger and myself, Tony and Social Bob from Surrey/Hants Borders, and Keith and Rob from East and Mid Surrey.
Next it was on to the Keystone, ex Cannon, just around the corner from the Plough. It is a very smart pub with leather sofas, trendy décor, healthy meals etc. Again, the pub wasn’t really open but the staff said we could pop in for a drink while we were waiting! The beers on offer were Black Sheep Bitter, St Austells Tribute and Courage Best. The Black Sheep was excellent, others attested that the Tribute was in good nick as well. Keith and Rob seemed very pleased and surprised at the Keystone’s transformation!
Lastly in Guildford we tried the White House by the river. Again a very smart looking place (it has to be refurbished regularly, as it gets flooded every few years) the Fuller’s Chiswick was on good form. It was also serving Pride and ESB, with Jennings Cumberland as a guest ale. There was a lovely view of the river as we sat by the window – far too cold to sit outside, of course.
Bob then decided to leave us, as he was unsure of transport back to Woking. The remainder of us set off by bus for Shalford, where the Victoria awaited. We were pleased to find Triple fff beer there, in good condition.
Next stop was Shere where we visited the White Hart, a Chef n Brewer place with cloudy beer, and the Youngs pub up the hill (can’t remember the pub’s name…the Wellington perhaps? Things were getting hazy by then!
At Abinger Hammer we tried the Abinger, bit touristy but the beer was on good form. At Westcott we tried the Fullers pub and the Crown, both very good. The Compasses at Gomshall was excellent, really good range of beer. For the hard men (like Keith!) there was a concurrent pub crawl in Dorking! But Bill and I wimped out and took the train home.

Billy Mitchell, West End Centre, Aldershot 3/3/05

Apologies for the late posting!
Billy Mitchell was of course the lead singer of Lindisfarne after the death of Alan Hull and before the band split up last year. He’s now touring alone – just him and his trusty guitar! His set consisted mainly of cover versions such as Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Secret Garden’– just songs he’d always fancied singing, some folk, some rock and some country. He played a few Lindisfarne songs that he never got to sing, such as ‘Meet Me On The Corner’ as well as songs that he’d written himself, such as ‘Happy Birthday Dad’ and ‘Born At The Right Time’ – but not ‘Fog on the Tyne’!!
He has got pretty good taste, and Bill and I really enjoyed the evening. Malcolm from our local was also there with his daughter.
Billy was standing at the bar with a Guinness after the gig – so I bought a ‘Best of Lindisfarne’ CD and went over to ask him to autograph it. Billy was friendly to talk to, he was a bit disappointed, I think, that not many people had turned up for the gig but then he WAS up against Jules Holland who was playing in Aldershot! Unfortunate. I said how much I liked his song about his Granddad – and then felt all embarrassed, as it’s a bit of a kiddies’ song :-[ Billy is only little but he has very hard eyes – you woudn’t want to heckle him or anything, he’s probably had a bit of a hard life up there in North Shields. So I was wilting a bit under his gaze as well!
Will soon be seeing Rod Clements, also at the West End Centre – so another autograph for my Lindisfarne CD!

Battered and Bruised

What they don't tell you about laparoscopy is how painful it is afterwards! I feel like I've had a good kicking. I'm still walking around doubled-up and I've got two lovely purpley-yellow-black bruises. I had to phone the doc yesterday for some stronger painkillers, so he suggested taking ibuprofen on top of the paracetamol-based tablets that the hospital gave me.
I haven't yet gone back to work, and I haven't been able to get up to anything interesting beyond playing on my playstation, beating Bill at scrabble, and of course surfing the net.
Hang in there readers, I'll soon be on my feet with something more exciting for you! Hopefully later this week.
PS Happy St Davids Day to all my Welsh readers!

Laparoscopy

Checked into the Woking Nuffield yesterday at 10.30am for my laparoscopy, it was pretty much as I imagined it, being a lot like a health spa, not very much like the kinds of hospital my poor Mum has been in recently.
I got a room to myself with nice comfy adjustable bed, remote control TV and ensuite shower and toilet! How the other half lives! The nurses were all friendly and polite. I had a bit of a wait for my op which was at 3pm. The anaesthetist could only find a small vein, so it was quite painful for a few seconds till I passed out. Then woke up with oxygen mask on me and it was all over!
The nurses told me that there had been an 'incident' during the op, that my blood pressure had dropped for some unknown reason before thankfully climbing again. Funny, I had a premonition that things would go amiss. Pain had also broken through, and I had to be given morphine. Whee-hee!
The consultant showed me colour piccies of my insides - fascinating, it's a shame I couldn't keep them! There was indeed white strands of 'old endometriosis' which she lasered away for me, otherwise everything normal. I have 3 stitches which will be taken out next week.
I am still in pain now, and having to walk doubled-up like an old lady. Hope I'm OK for work on Monday.

Seth Lakeman Trio, Farnham Maltings

See also Bill Badger's blogspot!
Seth Lakeman was performing with his brother Sean on guitar, and Ben Nicholls on double-bass. Val said she went for Seth, whilst I expressed a preference for young-Jack-Dee lookalike Sean! Bill jokingly said he fancied big Ben (more of a Hop Back logo lookalike) - he was feeling left out of the conversation!
They performed songs from Seth's recent album, Kitty Jay (I won a signed copy in the raffle!) and also a few from Western Approaches including The Keeper, Captain's Court and the Plymouth drinking song Ye Mariners All. He declined to tell us the story about Steve Knightley's hair though. Unfair!
Seth Lakeman has a wonderful, distinctive husky voice and is a fine fiddle player (he also played ukelele) and has written some great songs. I thought all the uke-led songs were very fast paced and tended to sound the same - but maybe on repeated listening the differences would be more noticeable.
There is a poor little 2-spot ladybird in here with me, I daren't put her outside as it's still threatening to snow. But she is crawling all over the keyboard as I type, which is annoying!

Interesting Train Journey

It had snowed overnight, and when I woke up this morning everything was covered in about 6mm of snow. Aah!
I left home in plenty of time this morning, for a change, carefully navigating the level crossing at Farnborough North, which hadn't been salted and was quite slippy.
I met Finance Lady, who is very friendly and has chatted to Sean and I before. Sean wasn't there though. She was in a very good mood as she was on her way to a big Financiers' Dinner in London. She was still chatting to me in Guildford, when Loud Eric and his friends got on, and they sat all around her in the bay of 6 seats. Unfortunately Loud Eric is prejudiced against me, as he is also friendly with Clive (he held up the Croydon train for Clive yesterday). So poor Finance Lady was trying to introduce me to all these people, and Loud Eric was trying to hide behind his Daily Mail and ignore me!!
I thought maybe I should warn Finance Lady that there's malicious gossip going around about me, but a friend advised me not to mention it, but to let her make up her own mind. I just hope she doesn't snub me like Solitaire did, that would really hurt. That ***** cowardly Clive, is all I can say! Why can't he insult me to my face, if he's still got a problem with me?
Anyhoo work went well today which cheered me up again. I also received my LiveStrong bracelet in the post, thanks to Shirl for posting it and her friend Alison for selling another one to her!
I also received my Bike Events magazine. I'm really tempted to do the Stroke Association ride across the Thames Bridges. Although it's only 32 miles, less than the London to Windsor which I did last year, it's a cause that's dear to my heart as my Mum had a severe stroke aged 59, and both my grandmothers died of stroke. But there are others that appeal - will have to discuss it with Bill...

Show of Hands and Oysterband, Reading Guildhall

Again I was feeling very ill, having spent most of the day in bed. Luckily I'd previously opted for seated rather than standing tickets, as with Oysterband I feel an enormous compulsion to dance (but Show of Hands are almost impossible to dance to). These are my two favourite folk bands, as you will have guessed from the links section, so my expectations for the evening were very high.
Bill and I took the train up to Reading, and were sat near some other Oysterfans which it turned out Other Val knew; does she know everyone? ;-)
We met up with Other Val and Julie, and later Matt, in the Hobgoblin, as other Oysterfans from the web group had arranged to meet up there for a pre-concert drinkee. As it is a very good real ale pub we weren't surprised to meet Quentin (a regular at the Prince) and Ken Wildman in there, but were suprised and delighted when Alan Prosser, James O'Grady, Lee Partis and the sound man from Oysterband walked in!! James was looking even tastier than the Potton 'Village Bike' I was drinking (don't say it!). Had a brief chat to Alan about the acoustics and bouncy stage in the venue. Hobnobbing with the stars, eh!
Show of Hands kicked off the evening, playing some of their classics like Santiago, I Promise You, The Setting/Mary from Dungloe, Galway Farmer and Cousin Jack. Phil stunned everyone with his frenetic fast-fiddling, Steve's voice was on good form. Everyone was very appreciative even though it's a much slower style of music to Oysterband. I missed Steve and Phil's jokes and stories though, they didn't really have time for much of that.
Then came the Oysterband whose trip to the pub had obviously put them in the party mood! Although the sound wasn't as perfect as Show of Hands, they belted out the fan's favourites with their usual joi-de-vivre and energy, and the front row were pogoing like mad. Other Val acquired the set list at the end, you'll have to see Eric the Cat's blogspot if you want to read it, but I remember My Mouth, 20th of April, Wayfaring, English Rose. The Hal-an-tow loudly-requesting crowd were there, but JJ told them it was too early! I seem to remember the A Capella gospel hymn and Rise Above being the first encore, and SOH's Country Life (with both bands)and Road to Nowhere being the second encore. I must admit I was doing a bit of chair dancing by then, probably frightening Matt!
A very uplifting night, just what I needed to perk me up.

Johnny Dickinson - Dorking Folk Club

Other Val kindly agreed to drive us to Chanticleer again for Johnny Dickinson, a blues guitarist from Morpeth in Northumbria. The poor lad had driven 700 miles to get to the concert in Dorking, and had 700 miles to travel back to the Borders for his next gig! It was just as well there was a largeish crowd of us there.
Johnny is a very skilful guitarist and did lots of clever slidey stuff, and a few folk songs like Black Jack Davey, all sung in an American accent. Blues guitar isn't really my thaang. I was feeling very tired and ill anyway, so the slow, low-tuned guitar numbers were sending me slowly to sleep on the club's lovely soft sofa. I think if you were a real guitar enthusiast you'd appreciate Johnny Dickinson a lot more.
The ale in the Friends Provident Club is very good, I've just reccommended it to my friends in the local CAMRA branch. The Fullers London Pride was some of the best I've ever tasted, and the Welton's was, well, Welton's.
I think if Neil continues to book these top acts, Bill and I should join. If only Dorking weren't so far away :-/

Bum Deal

...yes, the post you've been waiting for, Val's visit to the proctologist!!
Thanks to Joan and Pete giving me a lift to the station on the way to Pete's driving test, I managed to get home in plenty of time and had a shower before cycling to the hospital. I was seen almost immediately. Mr Singh wasn't quite what I expected, being a tall, elegantly dressed man of about my age, and not wearing a bow tie, just an ordinary, pink one! He asked me questions about my rear end in a very professional manner, but his nurse was a disapproving-looking older lady, which I found quite off putting!
Again I won't go into the gory details but he had a bit of a rummage and had a look up there with a periscope thingy, but could see nothing wrong. But, as he explained, that was just the first four inches of bowel. So I will need a colonoscopy to check for endometriosis, which I'm fairly convinced I've got. What fun. And I won't cycle over for a proctology appointment again, I'll tell ya!

Muller Love - Valentines Day Curry!

As Bill hates to celebrate Valentine's Day on the actual day, and as we'd had our romantic meal the night before, I decided to join Robert Muller, his wife and some of my colleagues from work for a curry on the 14th!
Robert had obtained the work minibus for 18.30 from work, 18.45 from Redhill and the meal was booked at the Ruchita in Earlswood for 19.30, all very efficient! Four of us went into Redhill first - the 3 Spanish people, Maria, Andres and Paula, went shopping while I went to a cashpoint, then we went to the Garland, the Harvey's pub. I suggested they drink the Armada ;-) but for some reason they chose Carling instead. I had a half of the Extra Double Stout at 9% - black, treacly and deadly. The Spanish girls tasted it and made faces, it's definitely an acquired taste!
Then we took the minibus from Redhill to the restaurant with me in the front giving directions. I went wrong a couple of times but we made it in the end.
Soon after we parked, a rough looking bloke came and parked right up against the back plate of the minibus. Robert said 'nice bit of parking' to him and he got annoyed, some of us thought he was going to throw a punch at Robert, but Willmer, the tall Venezuelan, was on hand to protect him! Robert diplomatically moved the minibus to the station carpark.
We went into the Old Chestnut for a drink before the meal. They only had Courage Best, so I had half a Guinness. It had been refurbished but was still essentially a locals pub. I left to go to the restaurant but couldn't find my handbag - went back to look on the bus, not there - back to the pub again and found it, phew! It was on the back of a chair, someone else must have come along later and put a coat over it.
Was relieved to get into the restaurant and order some food. We had poppadoms and chutneys to start, but Andres overdid it with the lime pickle, finding his too hot. Willmer loved the lime pickle though, and I agreed, it was great! The main courses took a while to arrive, and they'd got my order slightly wrong, but I was happy enough with Chicken Tikka Massalla. Andres, a curry beginner, had Lamb Massalla which he liked, and Willmer had Chicken Jalfrezi which he found good but hot. I enjoyed being the curry (and English language and culture) expert for the night! Everybody had plenty of food and nobody could face dessert. We split the bill in a civilised way, at £15 each which I thought was very reasonable. The waiters brought a long stem rose for each lady on the table which was a nice touch.
Robert dropped some of us off at the station again, and I had no trouble getting the last train back to my loving husband (he picked me up at Farnborough North at about 23.45).
Many thanks to Maria and Robert for the unusual Valentines meal! Everyone enjoyed themselves, a fun night out!

Rellies and Romance

At the weekend Bill and I went to visit my sister, Shirl on Saturday. It was just as well we were staying away as the $?£*! roofers had left big flaps of roofing felt sticking out of the roof on Friday night, and noise of flapping kept me awake even downstairs >:(
Shirl took me shopping in Southampton whilst Bill attended his CAMRA meeting. I didn't buy much due to being broke. Shirl had lost my LiveStrong bracelet in the flat somewhere - we both hunted high and low for it but to no avail. O well. Bill and I had gret fun with her boyfriend's Karaoke Playstation game - you have to sing along to various tracks and it gives you marks for singing the correct tune, holding the notes etc. Shirl, Bill and I were very closely matched, but Shirl the best. Shirl cooked us Spag Bol, then we headed off to the Waterfront to see the filn 'Sideways'. Bill and I thought it was very funny, especially as we'd just been to a wine tasting, and it was about a vineyard-touring stag week! Shirl enjoyed it less though, maybe she's a bit too young for all that middle-aged angst.
Next day we headed off to Dorset to see my father-in-law and his girlfriend. Both seemed in good health, happy to chat about what the grandkids, nephews and nieces were all up to. We met up with my parents for Sunday Lunch in the Hunter's Moon, Middlemarsh - happily Mum was well enough to come out. The carvery looked very good, less impressed with the chicken and bacon salad. Treacle Pud was excellent though.
Then back to my parents for a chat - but Mum was very quiet, and after a while started weeping. I'm glad seeing her daughter cheers her up so much! Perhaps she just gets upset because she knows I'm going away again at some point. Poor Mum.
Lastly on Sunday we went out for an early Valentine's meal at Wings Cottage in North Camp. It was £13.50 for 3 courses so good value, the food was excellent as always, good service, house wine (Aussie Shiraz/Cabernet) good too. There was a big family party there, also other couples but it wasn't too noisy. Thankyou Bill you're wonderful xxxxxxx!!

Fairport Convention, Basingstoke Anvil 11/2/04

As you can see it's a while since I've updated the blog! Got back home on Friday to see Bill waiting for me with the car door open. He'd heated a pasty for me and I had to eat it in the car. That was my supper!
Fairport's support were Simon Mayor and Hilary James. Despite looking like Richard and Judy, they proved to be very accomplished and witty folk musicians. But Fairport were excellent! It was the first time we'd seen them away from Cropredy.
Their current lineup is Simon Nicol (acoustic and electric guitars), Dave Pegg (bass and mandolin), Gerry Conway (percussion), Ric Sanders (fiddle) and Chris Leslie (fiddle, bouzouki and mandolin). Only Simon was in the original band! Richard Thompson will be back on his own at Cropredy 2005. Dave Swarbrick is still very poorly, but has new lungs now and they are said to be getting used to him! Saw Ashley Hutchings, their original bassist, recently of course.
They played lots of my favourites including Matty Groves, Walk Awhile , Si Tu Dois Partir and Steve Tilston's Girl on a Nut Brown Mare, as well as lots of songs from their new album Over The Next Hill (yes, they've heard all the don't-forget-the-'next' jokes!)
Can't wait till Cropredy now!

Wine Tasting Evening at the Prince of Wales

Yet another blood test at Frimley Park Hospital in the morning. I had paperwork to prepare and had to cycle over there, plus there was a 1 hour 15 min wait. But at least this time the nurse believed me that there were no good veins in my arms, and she went for the hand straight away. Why don't they just take blood from the hand in the first place? It doesn't ache quite so much.
Then cycled back to Farnborough, and had just about time for a half of Ringwood 49er (delicious) before heading back to work. Annoyingly, I had to change at Guildford which wouldn't have been the case last year, so was a little bit late coming back. But at least I managed to purchase an almond croissant from the coffee stall to keep me going.
After work, I did some shopping in Sainsbury's and picked up the bike ready to go on the 18.13 back to North Camp, as I would have missed the 17.13 anyway. Clive arrived after me, and surprisingly left his bike next to me on the platform while he went into the waiting room to keep warm. Cheeky git! But at least he propped his bike in a different doorway and refrained from bitching loudly about me with Posh Girl, his usual crony for the journey home.
Anyhow to the Wine Tasting. We were given lists of the wines to be tasted (numbers and red/white) and had to guess the country of origin, and sometimes a key flavour or grape variety, also to rate the wine 'wow!' or 'yuk!'. We started off with white wines, which Bill and I hardly ever drink, so we were struggling, only guessing 1 out of 7 (different wines). Meanwhile the bar staff brought thai snacks, also cheese and biscuits. Next came the reds which we were better on, but we were getting rather p*ssed by then so we didn't really care!! The landlord had saved the best till last, and we both rated it 'wow!' so at least we both have expensive tastes! A cracking evening, thanks Peter the Landlord!
Bit hung over today though...:-/

Pancake Day

Today was the Tsunami Appeal raffle at work, not actually organised by us but by one of the companies that share premises with us, a children's home charity. I gave 1 1/2 bottles of wine and managed to win back one of them! I was quite pleased as most of the other presents were unwanted gifts. I also won some rose-scented drawer liners, the kind of thing my Mum used to use.
There were some funny prizes such as Jordan's autobiography (claimed by Martin, to thunderous applause), a belly dancing kit (won by Debbie, but she doesn't know it yet) and best of all a pink bottle of Chardonnay in a pink fluffy slipper!! I was hoping to win that to give to my gay friends, they'd have loved it, but Sarah from the Brewery won it instead, also to much applause.
Bill had forgotten Pancake Day, and I couldn't get hold of him on the phone to ask him to go to the shops. I just about had time to get pancake mix ingredients from Marks and Spencers in Guildford before catching my 'connecting' train, but Bill dashed out for yet another CAMRA meeting before I had time to make them! Probably just as well, for they turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I was intending to use Delia Smith's recipe but I had forgotten to get butter. Instead I had to make do with buttermilk spread which tasted fine in the pancake mix but was useless to fry with. So of course the first pancake stuck firmly to the bottom of the pan making it impossible to toss even with a skillet. Result - a soggy mess! Next I tried frying a pancake in vegetable oil which resulted in a neat but slightly chip-tasting pancake. A case for loads of sugar and freshly squeezed lemon, but somehow I didn't fancy a third one. I hope Bill has better success with them when he comes back from the pub ;-)

The Cecil Sharp Show, Central Studios, Basingstoke

Cecil Sharp was a 'collector' of folk songs, cycling around the country in Edwardian times, stopping when he saw gypsies, stonebreakers, shepherds etc. and asking them to sing for him. He is commemmorated by the famous Cecil Sharp House, the headquarters of the English Folk Dance & Song Society which also contains a library of the 'collected' folk music, mostly from Sharp's travels.
Sharp was a bit of a character, sometimes rubbing people up the wrong way, but the Show (Ashley Hutchings playing Sharp, with Emily Slade singing some of his collected songs) portrayed him as a humorous, laid-back veggie type, not exploitative or know-it-all but serious about preserving song (and dance) traditions in England and the Appalacians. Although sometimes nervous about going to 'mean streets' or rough pubs to meet local singers he didn't come across as snobby, but seemed to have a lot of respect for working people. But how much of that is Ashley Hutchings rather than Cecil Sharp I don't know!
Emily Slade was on great form, probably the best I'd ever heard her. She has matured so much since her first album, she just gets better and better!
The evening was very interesting and entertaining, it was a shame only about a dozen or so had turned up for it. I hope Emily and Ashley have better audiences elsewhere.

Badminton Nite

Thought I'd go along to Badminton this evening with some of my colleagues, as I haven't been for quite some while. Friday night is a bad night, really. Usually Bill has already organised some concert or CAMRA event to go to, or we're on our way to a weekend visiting friends or relations. Plus most of the time I'm too tired after a week of work.
I knew I was unfit as I struggled towards Donyngs Sports Centre with 3 heavy bags! As I was the worst player I was paired first with Peter, who organises the Badminton courts and is the best player. Ellen and Sarah, both very good, on the other side of the net. I thought I'd be hopeless after long abscence but managed to return a few shots. However I'd forgotten a lot of Pete's tips, such as serving deep, and was a bit lazy letting him do all the running around! We won (due to Pete of course).
Next I was in a Ladies Doubles match, me with Gill, against Ellen and Sarah. Ellen and Sarah won, me playing quite badly I felt.
Ellen and I played each other next. Ellen had had an injury, and was being kind to me, hitting the shuttle where I had a fair chance of reaching it, otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have got any points at all! Ellen still won convincingly.
Lastly it was me and Pete against Ellen and David, we won again. Strangely I only ever win when paired with Pete!
I worked out that with the new train timetables there was time for a swift half in the Red Lion afterwards. Unthinkingly I ordered a half of the Greene King IPA, then on the first sip remembered why I always drink the Guinness there!! I didn't have any chips to go with my half pint of near-vinegar but there were crisps and mayonnaise, a Badders Nite Speciality introduced by me!
All in all a fun evening - I just wish I could persuade people to go just a little bit further to a pub that looks after their cask beer. O well!

The Amazing Mr Smith, Dorking Chanticleer Club

Yesterday Other Val, Bill and I went to the The Amazing Mr Smith at the Chanticleer folk club, at Friends Provident Social Club in Dorking. Other Val seemed impressed at the luscious surroundings and comfy chairs of the Social Club. She is learning how to play the melodeon and Neil, who runs the folk club, gave her an impromptu lesson during his floor spot, a little to her embarrassment (Val not easily embarrassed).
The Amazing Mr Smith was a bit of an odd mixture. Some of his musical gags were more for kiddies (he admitted to touring as a children's entertainer), such as the 'home-made' balalaika which was just his guitar with a huge orange triangle stuck to it with velcro. Some of his gags were decidedly adults-only, such as the harp with strings made from condoms, and the Northumbrian pipes made from a catheter :-/ And some of his acoustic guitar tunes he introduced as 'serious' although I noticed the occasional 'avant-garde chord' crept in. I wouldn't go out of my way to see him again, but it was all right for one evening.
The atmosphere at Chanticleer is always nice, and the real ale was in excellent condition, even if only Brains SA and Fullers London Pride were available. Neil and Martina had just returned from a holiday in Kenya and had brought back some goodies like South African wine and bush tea for the raffle, but we didn't win, we never do there!
Worked hard today, managed to get quite a lot done. Lovely Robert Muller, a fan of Val Addiction, gave me half of his Aero, so I promised to say how wonderful he is on the board! So there you are Robert, but that's all the compliments you'll get for this year now!! ;-)

Old Friends in Reading

Now where was I? After seeing Shirl off on the train on Saturday, I was at a bit of a loose end so I thought I'd go shopping in Reading. My friends Mike and Darren live in Tilehurst, so I texted them to see if they wanted to meet up at some point. Darren phoned back to say they had company - my friends Michael and Paul that I used to know from work in Maesteg!!! I was delighted and set off to see them on the next train (as there was 1/2 hour wait at Farnborough North I snuck into the Prince for a swift half of Triple fff 'Pressed Rat & Warthog', very nice too).
Met the boys in Waterstones, then we showed Michael the John Lewis department store. Paul told me David Morgan's in Cardiff is due to close! I don't really understand why department stores have gone out of favour, except that the staff are so snobby.
By then the guys were hungry so we went to Jongleurs, which had lots of 2 for 1 offers on food and drinks. They all had white wine spritzers and I had 2 pints of San Miguel, we chuckled at the gender reversal. Then on to Revolution vodka bar, one of Darren's favourites. I bought everyone white wine spritzers again, and Darren and Mike bought vodka sticks (pallets with 6 different flavoured vodkas on them). I was sipping Hoegaarden and sipping different vodkas, of a lunchtime, getting totally smashed! Then I had to scoot round Sainsburys before going home, not surprisingly I forgot a few things.
It was great to see Michael and Paul again, and catch up with the gossip from Maesteg. Got me missing other friends again. Will have to emal some of them and ask them how they're doing...