Big Day Done

 I'm really not up for making a big fuss around this time of year - for lots of reasons I just don't really get it.

I think that gets on my wick most of all is the incessant advertisement, articles and lord knows what that happens from October onwards.  Oddly, though, this year I've felt the pressure less than usual.

We've done our usual pub trips - Barley Mow, Moor, Volly, Small Bar and - in a special effort - the Arbor Brewery Tap.  The Volly was weird - in that when we arrived there was loads of interesting beer on the board but after the second one, they'd almost all gone off.  Still we enjoyed the saunter around there and took film cameras with us.   We popped over the road to Small Bar and had an imperial stout instead.

We took games to Marthas and enjoyed the lively atmosphere but when we went to the Barley Mow on Thursday to meet a local pal, the place was not only rammed but very noisy - clearly lots of people had been there for much of the day.  Sigh.

We'd picked up cans of beer wherever we could because we knew there would be nowhere open on Christmas Day and the rain (and the prospect of crowds) preventing us venturing out on Christmas Eve, as well.

Most fun trip was to Arbor - simply because the tiny taproom isn't usually open.  There wasn't a huge choice of cans but there were 4 beers on keg (pints/halves only) but hey.  And the walk, which is just over a mile but feels more remote was really pleasant.

So it's Boxing Day and, once again, almost nowhere is open (Volly appears to be but we haven't made firm plans to go out yet) but the world will be getting back to normal as the days start to lengthen noticeably.  

There may be some venturing at some point to avail selves of sales but we'll be keeping things low key.

I'm very lucky that the Best Beer Buddy is generally happy enough to not make too big a deal - our major food nod being batches of sausage rolls and the occasional mince pie.

Quite looking forward to going to the pub when it's relatively quiet now...

...back again

 All our plans had been a bit disrupted by our various days of illness and that had a knock-on effect on our travel back to Bristol to spend Christmas here.

We were a bit concerned that trains would be hugely busy so we did the belt and braces things of booking some seats just in case it was horrible.

As it turned out the trains were pleasant and our journey was easy.

We arrived at the flat around 4pm and, once again, revelled in the luxury of not having to port huge amounts of stuff between our homes.  Travelling with just a couple of small bags makes things so much easier.

By 4.30 we were in the Barleymow, a couple of pints in hand and a seat near the fire.  What could be better?

Today we've taken delivery of shopping and some more stuff will be delivered tomorrow just to prepare for our festivities which are our typical low-key affair.

Later, we're going to wander over to King Street -  we've not been there since the searing heat of the summer so it'll be interesting to see what they've got on offer.

Spoke Too Soon

 We did go to the pub on Thursday - and it was lovely.  It wasn't as busy as we'd expected but it was pleasantly lively, warm and (of course) the beer was brilliant!

Such a lovely way to and this particular stay in Bristol - even though we knew we'd be back very soon.  I had a bit of a disturbed night of sleep and quite the headache but I put it down to my enthusiasm in beer drinking and when woke up I felt fine and we made for a train...

...but, by the time we'd got on the Eastbourne train at Victoria, I was starting to feel decidedly under the weather.  Turns out I hadn't dodged the bullet after all...

So we jumped in a cab, and got home as soon as we could.  The rest of the evening was a wipe out for me - only the chance to decline dinner, drink a cup of tea and watch HIGNIFY before needing to go to bed.  A test before bed proved it was, indeed, the C-word so I resigned myself to another 5 days confined to quarters.  At least we have plenty of good beer in the fridge.

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!