Pubs are Brilliant!

 We trekked back from the Shire yesterday.  Making the flat ready for a couple of friends, we left a little later than usual but it was just as well as the train we would normally have got was cancelled anyway.  So, our journey was very much:  walk-train-walk-tube-change tube-walk-train with pretty much no hanging around anywhere. We arrived in Eastbourne about 4pm and it was raining so we decided that maybe a trip to Ninkasi would be in order.  

Weirdly, as much as I absolutely adore the fact that all our favoured beer places in Bristol are perpetually lively I really fancied a quiet corner to sit in and, at 4pm on a Friday, Ninkasi had it (The Crown would most definitely have not).

The irony of Arbor beer being one of the keg offerings didn't pass us by, but no matter.  We were half way through our second when TechResort director-buddy, N, came in and asked if he could sit with us.  

We moved to a more sociable spot and had a chat.  We'd already identified one potential opportunity when director-buddies from his other company arrived to meet him to travel onto a gig.

We all sat together and chatted and, inevitably, talk turned to digital exclusion and how it's not a black and white thing.

Their company does software testing and they told us they often tested public sector websites for accessibility.  

This ultimately lead to a suggestion that we should work together specifically on testing platforms where the audience will have a large contingent of people at risk of digital exclusion (for one reason and another).

I guess this will be a slow-burner but this just shows how important the pub is for bringing people together who wouldn't normally necessarily meet in the right context to forge relationships like this.

It's especially important for people like me who aren't natural socialisers in other contexts.  The pub rocks!

Living in a 15 Minute City

 There's been a lot of recent mumbling about the concept of the 15minute city.  The theory is that people who can walk for 15 minutes to access local services are likely to have a better quality of life.

A lifelong non-driver (a few years as a motorcyclist which finished some 37 years ago) this concept is not alien to me.

We bought this flat principally because I wanted easy and safe access to the train station at all times of day and night because I was travelling a lot by train (Bristol-Hitchin-Eastbourne on a very regular basis) as we consolidated our lives...

The proximity of the Barley Mow was definitely a consideration as we had enjoyed many a pre-train evening there and that need would continue.

However, at the time that was more-or-less the extent of nearby facilities (at least of which we were aware) save, perhaps, the shops and stuff in place mainly for the lunchtime-worker-audience...oh, and the 'spoons.

Ours was a the first residential new building and was still a little separated from the nearest newish (c1990) development and further still than the older Victorian and early C20 houses.

Now - there are numerous block of flats, so-called "co-living" spaces all around us and the area has definitely livened up.

If I drew a 5 minute walk circle around the flat that area would now include:

1 Starbucks (was previously here)

3 independent/small chain cafes

1 deli

1 brewery with regularly open taproom

1 Sainsbury's

1 Greggs

1 sourdough bakery (in one of the small chain cafes)

1 pasty/sandwich/other savouries shop

1 long standing sandwich shop

2 street food markets each week.

2 pubs (the aforementioned Barley Mow plus the 'spoons)

1 mainline train station (with attendant shops of last resort)

1 Deliveroo counter (no I don't really understand it either)

1 chain pizza restaurant/wine bar

A homeware/garden centre/DIY shop is a huge loss to the area (for me at least) but there have been very few reductions in facilities as a result of the development.

I don't have the time to list all the facilities within 15 minutes of our home but would include things like

2 more breweries and their taprooms

Something in excess of 20 pubs and bars

A variety of ethnic food shops and convenience shops.

half a dozen places to eat in the evenings and 5 or 6 takeout places

This circle would also border on the main shopping centre (take that as you will).

Within a one-mile radius (20 mins walk) the range is extraordinary.

Who on earth would willingly do anything other than walk - or, use the bus - in this city where roads were mainly designed for carts and the post-war road additions have only served to sever old connections and encourage people to live out of, and drive into the city.  Madness.

If we stay here for a about 2 weeks and want to drink excellent beer every day and only face a walk of 1 mile in either direction, we still wouldn't have to make a repeated visit to anywhere if we didn't want to.  How awesome is that?

Talk about yer people of habit...

 Yesterday, we wre waiting a delivery from Yodel.

Our usual time for popping out for a beer (4.30 - 5pm) came and went.  In Bristol, we don't drink at the flat very often at all.  We love that we only have to amble short distance to have beer where it's supposed to be had - the pub, or a taproom.

Weirdly, both of us got really twitchy as we tracked the delivery van coming oh-so-close and then nipping off to other places before finally landing at our address at 5.45.

Was it too late to go to the nearest places which are usually very busy by that time on a Thursday?  We decided to risk it, put coats on and pop to the 'mow.

As we approached we heard jolly voices of people sitting outside (it had been raining most of the day) and that brought further trepidation.  We crossed the threshold and Lo! loads of space - including a spot next to the fire.

Immediately we relaxed, grabbed a lovely couple of pints and settled in. Oddly, not 5 minutes after we'd sat down, than the place started to fill up.  It was exactly like what would have happened if we'd arrived around hour before, but out by an hour...almost as if everyone was waiting for us.

Weird.

Today, we both acknowledged how the imposed shift in timetable had made us edgy whilst knowing how silly it was.  Maybe that's what getting older is for other people too...being disproportionately freaked out by something that we can't control.

Anyhow, there are Amazon parcels to collect today so that might take us in a different direction.

Birthday Beers

 So it was a nearly a random day of the year that happened to coincide with the diamond anniversary of my birth.

I mused on the fact that I've been a beer drinker for approximately 37 of those years and I can confidently say that good beer is so easy to find, that it's not so much a special occasion or treat like it once was - at least not in most places I go.

Even Eastbourne which was once a "you can have anything you like as long as it's Harveys" kinda town has its bright spots of interest.  The Crown which once had regular beers of Harveys (obvs), 6X, Spitfire and Youngs Special with just a nod to modern beer styles with Dark Star Hophead now usually has Harveys (well, yes), Timmy Taylor Landlord and two other local brews (quite often Gun or Kent, but frequently other breweries) and when we first starting going there, the Hophead was lovely but there was no element of surprise.

Most of the other pubs are so-so in their beer availability (mostly representative of no real freehouses in the town) but there are a couple of tap/bottle rooms which are keg and can kinda places (and really nice with it).  But I still think Eastbourne is dragging behind other local towns, sadly.

Anyway...back to the just before my birthday thing...I've always associated Harvey's Star of Eastbourne with my birthday since we once went to the Victoria after work on my birthday and there it was - it was love at first slurp. So this year, on Wednesday (T-1) I was working and suggested I met the BBB at the Hurst in the hope that it would be on there (definitely the most consistent Harveys pub in town).  Not only did they have that, but also Prince of Denmark (7.5% dark and chewy).  Let's just say I was a little squiffy by the time we left. 

On Friday most people might have expected me to go to the Eastbourne CAMRA beer festival but, these days, it's really not my thing at all.  Big room, lots of noise, loads of people and includes either lunchtime or late evening drinking - neither of which are our preferred way of things.  When I was younger and beer was much harder to come by - good beer even more so - a beer festival was a real treat:  a chance to try beers from all around the country and learn of new breweries.  Now they just don't feel like the thing I really want to do.

Instead, we defected to St Leonards/Hastings where there was a tap-takeover event taking place in a load of local pubs.  There were 6 in St Leonards alone but we wanted to concentrate on the 4 closest to the station.  Heist we already know well, the others - not such much.

Collective Fictions which is a bottle shop/tap room is tiny and hosting Polly's.  We started there.  Quirky and you have to be prepared to share tables (there are 3 inside, 2 outside and bar seating) but really enjoyable.  We moved onto The St Leonard pub just up the road.  They were offering Iron Pier and mainly on cask.  It's a proper pub and if their usual beer offering similar at other times, I could definitely be tempted to go back.  We were then joined by colleague/pal and she suggested that eating would be a good idea so she took us to a Sri Lankan place on the seafront which was magnificent and served portions that didn't knock us out.  We toyed with going off to the Piper but got waylaid by Heist who were serving "Simple Things" beer (never heard of them, very nice).  We started fairly weak but our last beers were 6.8% and 7% - the friend who says she likes beer but gets drunk very easily declared the 7% DDH the best.  Oh dear.

So we only managed 3 places but it's really nice to know that we are aware of a couple more places in that area so next time we're working over there...we could try somewhere other than Heist.

OK, so it's still a beer festival but it feels much more like going to the pub and that's all to the good.  If only we could find places in town that might be willing to organise something like this in Eastbourne... (no, I'm too busy...!)