Order, order

 It's been a trying few days.  The boy picked up another bug last weekend which, whilst not awful, wiped him out for a day or so...and then made the leap to me and did the same.  Coupled with this were a couple of tight work deadlines and some frantic activity trying to price up tech kit for work where every penny counts, but longevity is even more important.

So, Tuesday I did want to get out of the house...but I really didn't have the energy to go far.  Before we came up to Bristol we did quite a lot of "we should really make the effort to go to <insert name of pub we haven't been to for a long time>", so I suggested we tried The Bridge which is so close, it's a crime that we haven't checked it out for years.

It had gone through a phase of having beers we weren't particularly interested in - and that's probably the main reason we hadn't been in.

So at 4.30ish we noodled along the floating harbour, under one bridge, over the other and found ourselves in this tiny place.

Initially it was just us, and we'd interrupted the landlord's meal (stew and mash, maybe?). He seemed unfazed and we had a jolly chat about the available beers (him:  QPA, me 4% pale something by a brewery I hadn't heard of...something metally, perhaps??).  I also clocked the nice array of keg beers which seem to be a new feature since we last came.

A couple of blokes came in behind us and then kind of cluttered up the area of the bar whilst one of them held forth about a brewery which was in the keg line up.  I rolled my eyes and gently pushed my way past him.

We settled into the best corner in the pub (I've been coming to this place on and off for over 20 years and it's definitely the BEST corner) and read the gig posters on the walls (possibly also long-term residents of the pub) and did a bit of sleuthing to find out the year that Corn Exchange welcomed John Lee Hooker.

Meanwhile, the chaps had settled in the other side and had, let's just say, spread out a bit.

More folk started to come in and within a moment or two, the landlord came round from behind the bar and asked the chaps - in a way that it would be impossible to take as a rebuke - to take up less space to allow some other people to sit down.  We saw this repeated a couple of times with other space-hoggers - we admired his style.  Obviously it's in his interest for people to feel they can come in...the pub is pretty much full if there are 20 people in it, no matter how well packed they are.  Nevertheless, it's not often you see this in action - we like it.

It was also nice to see a couple of young women in the pub - it's not necessarily the first sort of pub you may think of when looking for a young woman friendly destination.

After our first pint, we went for a pint of Deya Steady Rolling Man - which was lovely.  Then we strolled back but vowing to return.

It'll be a nice addition to our "not far away and a bit cosy" list of places.