Dry

We arrived back from Cornwall on Saturday, popped to Moor and on Sunday spent a lovely afternoon playing games in Marthas but it was already apparent the Best Beer Buddy had picked up a virus - we just assumed it was a cold.

Our original plan was to travel back to Eastbourne on Tuesday, but on Monday he felt a bit worse and did a COVID test (there were a couple still sitting in a drawer).

Immediately it showed a positive result. Oh.

I popped over to the supermarket to get essential provisions and we planned to hunker down - assuming that I'd also succumb.  Travel out of the question.

Thankfully - and probably in no small part to vaccination programmes and previous experience of the dratted bug - it's not really been too much worse than "a cold" would have been but it's meant that going out to the pub has been off the cards.

He's now perked up and I don't seem to have the same symptoms so we're going to make a little trip outside shortly.

I'm ridiculously excited about that...

Travels

 We hadn't had a holiday for a couple of years but the gift of having two places we call home means we don't miss it as much as we might otherwise do.

We're keen on holidaying by public transport - travelling light but knowing there are decent facilities at the other end.  As a result we decided on Falmouth.

We had some knowledge of town from previous visits but we couldn't say we were familiar with it in any detail.

On our last visit we discovered two pubs:  Beerwolf Books and The 'front.  The former trendy and different, the latter a proper pub.  Both were due a revisit.

Our journey down was a little disrupted, but not so badly that we were seriously inconvenienced.  It's such a lovely journey from Bristol with only one change - in Truro - that it's a very stress-free affair...even when the train was 16 minutes late into Truro...and our change-over period was 15 minutes (sigh). Still, the trains to Falmouth were every half an hour and the weather was dry - if a little chilly.

From the train station, the place we were staying was a good half hour walk through the "front" area and up quite a hill.  So we went straight to the apartment, unloaded, took a good look at the lovely river view and headed to the nearest pub - The Boathouse. It was nice but clearly more food-focussed so tables in the main area were booked out.  We realised we wouldn't be able to eat there so we had a pint (Treens - very nice) and decided to find Beerwolf.

It was as fabulous as we remembered it.  Lively with all sorts of people - lots of students and lots of seating options.  We nabbed a nice table and grabbed a couple of beers - 4 or 5 cask offers and about 6 keg ones. We were on holiday.

When we came to leave, we weren't quite sure where to go and find food but we'd seen a tiny indian restaurant in the same yard as Beerwolf so we thought we'd just ask...

...they fitted us in.  What an absolute delight! Interesting food, decent wine and not stupidly expensive.  The couple that owned it were lovely and the young members of staff friendly and seemed genuinely to enjoy their jobs.

I've never been anywhere quite like it and would happily spend way more time there.  Actually - we went again on Thursday -  this time booking to make sure of a table.  The short menu had completely changed (except the dhal and cumin rice, thankfully).  The staff also seemed to remember us.

We went back to the flat full and happy.

Sunday the weather was really grotty so we hunkered down inside but at lunchtime we braved the rain to grab a pasty, take a walk down the high street (busy, despite the weather) and then went to the 'front where bringing your own food in is positively encouraged. It's a lively place - right on the quayside and typically has about 6 cask beers and 2 keg ones.  It's certainly basic, but enjoyed by a wide range of people. We played cards (Regicide) and enjoyed a few beers before deciding that we weren't sufficiently hungry to seek a restaurant so we went back via a shop with some wine, soup, pate and bread.  It did the job.

I guess the other highlights of the week were The Moth and Moon which was lovely - if a little chilly.  Again with great staff and excellent beer, and the Verdant Seafood bar.  I'd been really keen to go there but had expected somewhere...well, bigger! It was in a tiny lane and was two small rooms.  No prebooking so you really take your chances.  We stuck our head in and asked if there was room for us, we were greeted enthusiastically and quickly settled in the back room.  Obviously the beer is tremendous (and available in 2/3rds measures) but the menu was a real revelation.  It's all small plates and lots of things I might not usually order but was amazing. 

We ate at another indian (/Nepalese) restaurant, ate more pasties, fish and chips and a little independent seafood restaurant and I have to say we didn't even come close to exhausting the available food options (butcher, fishmonger, and a huge range of restuarants).  One day we took the ferry to St Mawes, did a walk and ended up at the St Mawes hotel (I'd stayed there about 20 years ago) and they had good cask beer on.

We even went to a lovely cafe-bar on our way back to the station for the journey home for a brunch and noticed they had local real ale on (the same one we'd had at St Mawes) - whilst we drank coffee...

On the journey home we mused that we might have expected to have to drink St Austell and Sharps beers but that we had drunk Treens, Penzance, Tintagel, Forebird, St Ives, Verdant and beers from a little further afield and hadn't set foot in any of the tied pubs - not that they would have been bad, but they'd never be a first choice.

In a town of less than 22,000 residents (clearly boosted by second-homers, holidaymakers and students) the range and quality of places to drink and eat is absolutely astonishing - especially given the apparent demographics of the locals.

All the places we went, most of the punters were drinking beer.  Pubs always had a mix of working locals (builders, fishermen, bar staff, etc - footwear = functional walking boots); posh locals (check out the Musto outerwear, Timberland boots or deck shoes), visitors (like us) and families (some posh, some hippy). 

I got the feeling I could live there and enjoy the place in a completely different way - so much so I wondered how they're doing for digital inclusion...

Stagnant

 The BBB was a bit under the weather this week.  Although feeling a bit better by the time I was working on Wednesday, when I asked him if he felt out to coming out to meet me somewhere, he said he was feeling OK, there just wasn't really anywhere he really wanted to go.

...and that sums it up sometimes.

There are lots of nice places we go in Eastbourne - partly out of habit and partly out of the urge to sit somewhere other than home with a pint and chat about the day (or play a game, or something) but almost none of them would cut the mustard in our other home.

Conversely both BBB and myself had the same thought when he said there was nowhere he wanted to go.  Apparently, our immediate thought (despite being on the opposite side of town at the time) was that were we in Bristol there would still have been a myriad places we'd feel enthusiastic about going to.

We extended the conversation at the Crown, yesterday.  He was much better but I seem to have picked up a low-level virus, making me feel a bit blah.  We were a little disappointed in the guest beer - it wasn't bad but it was another pale ale (think Timmy Taylor Landlord which we'd had the night before).  We didn't really want to go anywhere else but it hadn't been an entirely satisfactory pub visit.

I'd been thinking that as it had been a sunny day then a bus trip over to Brighton would be quite nice - but sitting on a bus for over an hour just to go to the Evening Star somehow didn't feel quite right.

Again, we mused on why that might be in Eastbourne and how different it might be if we'd chosen to live in Hastings instead but we live where we live and it works...even if the beer offering is less than optimum.

We'll live in hope for now...

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...!)