Not letting perfection become the enemy of good

 I'm a recovering project manager (there, I've said it).

I've spent quite a lot of my time on corporate projects where the members of the project team are fixated on perfection.  Honestly, it's really good to have high standards but sometimes you have to get the job done to "is it good enough" standards.

So, too, with beer-drinking for us.

On Saturday we'd arranged to meet some friends we don't see all that often.  They like a beer, but they're not quite as fanatical as we can tend to be.

They had a prearranged thing late afternoon (right when we'd normally be going to the pub) so a compromise was required.  I did a bit of surfing around and realised that the Landsdowne pub in Clifton was probably the most suitable place on a Saturday evening which was also convenient for them in the circumstances.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous - since we'd not been there for years and we weren't that impressed by it at the time.  But it seemed to have "local beer" promise.  So we went with it.

At 4.15 we landed there after a little walk around the village and it was pleasingly quiet.  The cask offering was two from Good Chemistry and one from Moor plus Doom Bar and London Pride.  We both went with the Moor and the lad grabbed a seat.

We bemoaned the beer choices a little, but it was nicely cool, fresh and well-kept.  We muttered that it wouldn't be a regular haunt for us.

Hoardes of people (mostly students) came in, ordered beer and got swallowed up by the garden and the room upstairs.  It was impressive to see.

Older adults came in, ordered food and drinks.  People came, people left and all the while the pub felt lively rather than busy.

By the time our friends arrived we'd ordered our second and we had a good time catching up -  and doing a lot of moaning about insurance and dreary business things.

For the last pint the boy switched to Moor Festbeer on keg and I reduced my quantity to a "half of the same".

After the friends had dropped us back home, and we set about making a very quick late dinner we both agreed it was fun and though it's not a pub we would normally choose it did the thing very well and suited the circumstances.  Sometimes, it doesn't need to be perfect - good will get the job done.

Basketmakers' Rules

 My Saturday usually starts with coffee, a biscuit, and reading Boak and Bailey's weekly update - and so it was today.

What particularly caught my attention was the bemoaning of the (poor) use of seating (specifically benches) and tables in pubs.

The BBB and I frequently allude to "Basketmakers Rules" in our conversations about how people use the communal space in a pub.

If you've ever been to the Basketmakers in Brighton - especially on a 3pm kick-off home game Saturday - you'll recognise it.

Basketmakers is a Fullers pub that does good food and it's in close proximity to both "The Laines" and the part of town that has the buses that goes to Brighton's home ground.  As a result, when you arrive between noon and 12.30 on a matchday you enter via one of two doors and you'll usually be confronted by packed full tables (a mix of home and away fans, and other folk) and the casual observer might write the venue off as "nowhere to sit".

Hold your nerve.

There are usually a few free (tall) stools at the bar.  Go and get your beer, and perch on one of these.  Be casual, but remain vigilent.

In my experience within about 5 or 6 minutes a gaggle of people will finish their drinks, put their coats on and make to leave.  If they catch your eye, or you theirs, there will be a signal to take over residence of the resulting space.  Usually with a smile, often with a quip - it's how the pub works.  You sit, taking up as little space as you possibly can (no coats and bags on extra stools here, please).

If your party is smaller in size than the outgoing one, you make it absolutely clear that the remaining space is up for grabs.

Even if there are first time visitors (for surely, some of the throng are), they get the gist really quickly.  On the rare occasion that a "spreader" tries to claim more space than is necessary, someone will inevitably wade in with a cheery "Is anyone sitting here?" (hint: treat this question as rhetorical) and fill the space.  

The pub really benefits from having built-in benches around much of the perimeter and then countless  round cast-iron-leg-dark-wooden-top tables with oh-so-many stools.  It's a system that's worked for a couple of decades, I'm reliably told by the men who have been going here on matchday since they were very much younger men than they are now.  Even a change of hands (old landlord retired) hasn't appeared to dent the model.  

Even though, these days, I tend to avoid crowded pubs and bars - if there's an opportunity to meet our friend, M, who lives in London but is still a season ticket holder on a matchday - we don't have to "choose" a venue - we'll see him at the Basketmakers between 12 and 12:30.  And we'll enjoy it.

Related to the Basketmakers is the complementary post-match venue:  The Evening Star.

One time home of the Dark Star Brewery, it also seems unchanged in nature - or quality of offer.

Being within 2mins walk of Brighton Station also makes it the natural choice of venue for away fans going home after the match.  It doesn't do food, and it doesn't have loads of small round tables.  It has a few large tables and a couple of sort of booths with a goodly number of low stools.  Nevertheless, good quality sharing of space happens.

Within 30mins of the final whistle, the pub is full (tip:  if you're not watching the match get your beer in before this window of arrival).  Unlike the Basketmakers, there's loads of room for standing drinkers - and boy do they use it. But - if you want or need a seat one will become free sooner or later as long as you're prepared to share.

I've only once been given the evil eye when wanting to share a space but even then the culprit is a grumpy regular and even they knew sharing is required.

These pubs have greatly influenced my own attitudes to use of space in pubs - and on the (occasional) benefits of chatting to a stranger over beer.

They have also given me the ability - even in pubs I don't know - to cheerily approach a space that looks like it's mainly being taken up by coats and bags and ask "d'you mind if I sit here?"

On holiday in St Ives this led to a couple of jolly conversations about board games.  Fun times.

 

 

 

 

Games in the Pub

 We singularly failed, whilst on holiday, to play any board games.  We played Regicide (app-aided card game) a few times but that was it.

Partly it was because none of the pubs we went to had quite the right combination of lighting, beer, tables and ambiance.  Partly, it was because we spent a LOT of time staring at the tide coming in and out.

So, back in the shire we doubled down on our attempts.  Sunday, we took games to Martha's (as per) and got a chance to play a whole new game - Splendour Duel.  It felt like it might be tricky but we soon got into the swing of it.

Yesterday, we were back to work and so I spent the day catching up on emails and Teams messages.  By 4.30pm, I wanted an easy pub trip so off we popped to the Barley Mow, and we took Splendour with us.

It was moderately quiet in the pub and we had a nice little corner on a suitable table.  The beer, as ever, was lovely and so a relaxing evening ensued.

We drink (even) slower when we play games so the extended time in the pub doesn't translate to more drinking.  

Since the earliest days of playing Zombies! in the Half Moon in Hitchin we've refined our approach and we have several really good pub games:

Jaipur

Lost Cities

Biblios

The Mind

Chrononauts (when you have a little more space)

Sail

Lost Expedition

Island of Trains

Splendour

...and we suspect "Crew" will also work but we haven't tested in a pub yet.

We've also learned that it's no good trying to learn a new game in a dark and noisy pub (as happened with Island of Trains) but having a game you know really well in your bag or pocket when conditions aren't ideal is a really good thing. (for us, this is Regicide:  one pack of cards, one mobile phone with the scoring app on it and one 3D printed phone stand).

The combination of great beer and a good game when we're not in the mood to just chat makes for a perfect evening out.

Watching the Tide

 Our "real" holiday was St Ives.

We both love Cornwall in the autumn and, of course, we travel by public transport so St Ives is always on a list of possible places.  We'd not been for a good few years and it looked like a few more interesting beer venues may have opened up - last time we went we mostly drank St Austell beers (absolutely fine, but not exciting).

We rented an apartment overlooking Porthmeor (pronounced porth-meeeer, as I was gently corrected) beach which I was a little worried would be one of the busier areas because of the whole surfing thing but it was that or on the harbourside.

As it turned out, it was the perfect location.  Distant enough from the thronging hoards on the harbourside (even in October) but 5 minutes walk from all the main features.  Not only that, but it so happened that we arrived close to a full moon so the tides were properly high and satisfyingly 'splooshy'.

For the most part, it feels like some of the pubs don't really need to push the boat out too much in terms of beer or food offering.  This was more pointed in the venues immediately on the harbourside.

The arrival of Verdant, St Ives and Mine, together with Firebrand and Atlantic has definitely had a beneficial effect on the range of beer - but the old stagers 'Sharps' (aka Molson Coors) and St Austell still seems to dominate.

The only previous time we'd had St Ives Brewery beer - Meor -  it was in the bar at the St Mawes Hotel, last year.  It was a decent, if not particularly memorable pint. So when we walked into the "Union" pub an hour or so after arriving in town, and ordered a couple of pints we didn't have high expectations - but at least it wasn't Doom Bar.

Actually, it was lovely.  It was clear that St Mawes Hotel didn't have it at its best.

An attempt at "Seafood" as advertised in Hub was thwarted - there was no seafood - just burgers.  This becomes something of a theme - BBB not being very keen on burgers.  Still, the consolation prize was Lightbulb on keg.

All in all, the beer offerings have notched up but we were quite disappointed in the food (or specifically fish) offerings.

The Loft offered a fairly short but lovely menu - we went there twice and I had the chowder both times.  It also offered a decent house white.

We had great fish and chips, lovely pasties but all the other offerings either didn't suit us (burgers, chicken wings being two things the BBB never leans towards) or just wasn't very nice (small plates seafood promised much but delivered nothing).  The contrast with the food offerings in Falmouth was quite stark.

The only pub/bar in the GBG is the Pilchard Press micropub.  It sounded like it might have been one of those micropubs that a couple of owd blokes set up for them and their mates and tolerate other visitors.  This proved not to be the case, though.  True, you have to navigate a slightly rank laneway between a pasty shop and a thai restaurant but it rewards the visit.

When we first arrived I despaired of getting a seat but Basketmakers rules were in full evidence.  It has one lager and 3 other beers on keg with 4 - 6 beers on cask, chilled by probes.  In short, it's a lovely place - just a bit too dark and little more crowded than is ideal for games but the beers were absolutely top notch.  Over a few visits we drank Penzance (thankfully still as good and clear as before death of the origial brewer), Atlantic, Firebrand and St Ives beers - all great, all in perfect condition.  It's also clear that it's a place much enjoyed by locals.

Surprise finding was the "Art of Brewing" shop which has 4 keg taps and about the same number of seats.  They also had a fridge of loads of their beer which we availed ourselves of.  Turns out the guy serving knows Hastings, Lewes and Eastbourne.  Small world indeed.

Other notable venue would be Beer and Bird - good local beers on cask and keg and really friendly, chilled staff who didn't mind us playing Regicide at a table in the corner.  They also gifted us a bowl of dirty fries which were surplus to order requirements.  We followed this up with another round, and a bowl of mac n cheese and when I brought to their attention that they'd undercharged me they gave us a further discount because we brough it to their attention. 

The Sloop has upped its beer game considerably but the food rather underwhelmed.

All in all we loved the holiday - and our last evening was spent in our apartment with some cans of beer from Art of Brewing and some supermarket-bought pasta whilst watching the tide coming in.

That said, we both observed this morning as we sat on our sofa in the flat, with coffee and catching up with Match of the Day...it's just so much more relaxed in our own place.  It might be why our regular excursions to Bristol from Eastbourne are really quite holiday-like but with the none of the compromises of a rubbish TV, blunt knives in the kitchen.

I am missing the sound of the tide coming in, though...

People (or rather, door) Watching

 I'm on the wind down to a proper holiday but, because of various things bubbling around at the moment, there are a few things I really need to get sorted before I go because it'll be really hard for anyone else to pick them up effectively.

So, by knocking-off time yesterday, I wanted beer and I really wanted "fucking hipster" (ie Keg, hazy, hoppy) beer.

Although it's not the BBBs favourite venue, he was happy enough to go to the Left Handed Giant brew-pub.

We knew it would be busy, and we were a little later striking out than was ideal, so we were braced for the idea that there would be nowhere to sit.

As it was, we were pleasantly surprised to see that there were quite a few perfectly good spaces to sit.

He went and grabbed a spot, and I fetched the beer.

Though it was noisy, I found the hubbub quite relaxing.  What was less so, was the icy draught that swept through the building everytime the door was left open.

We ended up watching to see how people behaved when going through the door.

- parties with more than 2 people tended to hold the door open for the person behind, and each subsequent person pushed the door a little more open until the point that it stopped trying to close.  Most of the time, the door was then left open.

- If there were many people both coming in and coming out this was more likely to happen.

- Every now and again someone close to the offending door would get up, and close the door and sit down again - only to have to do it all over again.

- Just one or two people noticed that the door had locked up when they had come in - and then made an effort to close it.  I wanted to award those folk gold stars.

This is our form of people-watching.  We have "views" on the proper way to be in a pub.

We weren't completely condemnatory about behaviour, though.  As people with our own quirks we could completely understand that some people aren't as relaxed as us about going into a drinking establishment - maybe that you hadn't been to before, or in order to meet someone - it would be easy not to notice the door when you're a little anxious about making your entrance and looking for a friendly face.

It was, though, a distracting evening - and that's what I really wanted.

Today I'm tieing up more loose ends before we travel tomorrow...

Fallback Plans

 The immense benefit of being an old baggage who is, theoretically, semi-retired is that we don't need to have very rigid plans in place for anything.

We do have things we "generally do on..." things that are sort of week wayfinders but mostly we get to march to the beat of our own drum.

Because  a certain football match (no, not Bristol City vs Cardiff) was scheduled for Sunday at 4.30pm, rather than Saturday 3pm, there was the possibility of footage being shown on Sky Sports.  If we go anywhere in Bristol for such events, we tend to go to King Street Brewhouse.

So, on Saturday afternoon I asked him whether he wanted to see the match.  He hmmm'ed a bit and said he wasn't sure.  We usually (there we go, "usually") go to Martha's on a Sunday afternoon and play games, and we had a few games we wanted to try.  So, instead, we went round there on Saturday.

We got completely absorbed in our beer and games and, as a result, came back much later than usual.

Mind you, the pair of us arrived back convinced it was Sunday.

Today, the possibility of football was available but now the time approaches, the weather has arrived and the boy isn't keen.  Looks like we'll lurk close to home and mostly try and avoid the rain.

This is one of the definite advantages of being older - I'm not sure it quite makes up for the knackered joints, and the inability to remember names as well as I used to but, you know, silver-lining...

Pilgrimage

 Loaded up with full-sized rucksacks, we stomped down to the Station on Tuesday morning.  Apart from a slight balancing problem on the tube (which ended without disaster) the trip was without incident.

The trek across London was efficient enough that we arrived at Paddington just as the 1.30pm train pulled out of Platform1.  To be honest, although this leaves us with a 30-min wait for the next train, it's just less stress and huffing around whilst we try and find appropriate seats.

And so, just after 3.30pm saw us landing in the flat and doing the "hello, we're home" ritual. All was well.

Absolutely no debate whatsoever about the next step: Barleymow.  Every.  Time.

Because of all that's going on with work, and the sheer embuggerance of it I'd been a bit anxious about travelling to Bristol.

My lovely staff reassured me they'd be fine.

The second we sat in our usual seat in the pub and had the first swig, a load felt like it slipped off.  The BM is very much like home and the second we settle in, it feels like no time has passed since the last time.  It's just like Narnia...but less evil and with less religion.

 It's not that the work job's done - it more that we're halfway to a proper holiday (St Ives) where I turn my comms off (with the exception of SMS for emergencies).

Books have been ordered, new games have been gifted, B&W film and a new rucksack are being purchased on Monday...and then it'll feel like a stroll to the end of the week.

Meanwhile we've spent pleasant evenings in Martha, Kings Head and Moor and we haven't yet settled on today's venue.   Choices, choices...