Seafood

 

One of my favourite places to eat and drink, the Verdant seafood bar in Falmouth, great beer, great food, shanties, what more could u need 🤔

Changing Horses

Spotted in Falmouth the other day, the route taken by the Navy messenger delivering the news that the battle of Trafalgar had been won by the British, starting in Falmouth 37 hours to cover 271 miles and 21 changes of horse, amazing. One of the staging posts on route was the little village of Bagshot in Surrey, a well known (locally) coaching stop (due to the disproportionate number of pubs in the village) and the location of the first proper job I ever had.

Tree Lined Victory

Near where we live in Berkshire is a little town called "Burchetts Green", its a mile or two West of Maidenhead and is a typically rural slice of Berkshire, very "horsey" if you know what I mean. Anyway, there's an old stately home there called the Hall Place Estate which is now the Agricultural College that has a wonderful tree lined drive up leading up to the front door. I've been past here a couple of times but not really paid much attention to it however I recently learned that the line of trees was planted by Baronet William East back in the early 1800's and each tree represents a ship of the line of both the French and English Mediterranean fleets that fought each other at the battle of the Nile in 1798. The trees were planted as a memorial and celebration of the conclusive British victory in that engagement.

Some might say that this battle was more decisive than even Trafalgar in establishing the dominance of the British on the high seas as pretty much the entire French fleet was destroyed, including the French flagship, Orient, which exploded in spectacular style. The French suffered greatly losing in the region of 2,000 - 8,000 men, whereas the British only lost around 300, after that point the British fleet more or less had free reign in the Med and Napoleon lost any possibility of limiting our influence in India.

Movie Era's

Not much looking forward to the "Children of Men" era!

Historically Dense

 

Here's an interesting photo I came across on the interwebs the other day, it's a drone shot of Portsmouth dockyard and it packs a serious historical punch. 

On the left hand side in the egg shaped building is the Mary Rose (1511) the flagship of good old Henry VIII that sank in the Solent in 1545. Then, alongside that is HMS Victory (1765), Nelson's flag ship that took part in the battle of Trafalgar whose quarterdeck is where that famous Admiral finally bit the bullet in 1805. On the far right hand side of the picture is HMS Warrior (1860) a Victorian steam powered, iron clad warship. Then in the foreground we have one of the latest additions to the fleet, HMS Queen Elizabeth (2017) a modern aircraft carrier that absolutely dwarfs all of the other ships and which can be loaded up with up to 72 fighter jet aircraft, a floating airport, garrison and town that has a capacity for 1600 people. 

Another interesting feature in the picture is the two long thin buildings in the top half, they are the rope houses where, back in the day, ropes were manufactured. Clearly when ships like Victory were in their prime the Navy needed a ton of rope (Victory needed 31 miles of the stuff!) Along with rope the ships also needed huge numbers of  pulley blocks with which to haul sails up and down using that rope, and in the square building next to the ropewalk was established one of the first automated production line processes in the world in order to meet that demand (and you thought it was Henry Ford's idea).

You could say an extremely historically dense set of buildings and objects.

YEC's

Ah, YEC's you can't reason with them because they can't apply reason to their pet delusion, when people are so invested in something that they can't be wrong, it's time to walk away.

Bears and Woods

Seems like Putin is seriously off the rails at the moment, I know this kind of gangster behaviour is very "Russian" but the tighter a corner he finds himself in over Ukraine and the longer he gets away with stuff like this the more blazon I fear he's going to get.

Friday Smirk

Like much of what goes on in this world, it only exists in the minds of people.

Midweek Mirth

I watched a family of six people on the train into London the other day (obvs on a day out), the entire journey (about an hour) was spent by every one of them avidly gazing at their mobile devices, not a word was spoken until, about 40 minutes in, one of the teenage kids looked up in a panic and exclaimed that their battery was low and did anyone have a charging lead that they could plug into the power socket by their seat. Such is modern life, not really surprising that there's a confidence crisis in many youngsters these days, probably range anxiety!

Elastic Management

Haha, so true, I've seen this so many times! It's also true of people who are promoted into positions for which they don't have the necessary competence. The only thing folks in this situation tend to be able to do is fix things that don't need fixing (i.e. fiddling around with things that already work adequately) or they try to tackle things that have no hope of success, usually because they don't have the insight to be able to see that. Whichever path they take their tenure tends to only be short and just before the point where everyone has to lose face and admit that they're hopeless they move on, then, "sproing" a new bungee boss appears.

London Stories

Interesting to note the things that are missing in this 1935 picture of the London Thames around Southwark and London Bridge. It was the eve of WWII so a lot of these buildings were to be bombed by the Luftwaffe but at this point the docks and warehouses stretch to the horizon. No HMS Belfast of course, she wasn't even built at the time this picture was taken and, after a long career in the Navy, didn't show up on the Thames until the 70's as a museum piece. Southwark cathedral and Borough Market can clearly be seen as can Tooley St. and St. Catherine's Dock although the luxury yachts that are parked there now are pretty thin on the ground in this photo. Mind boggling to think about how much stone and steel has been moved and dirt dug in this small area since this picture was taken, how time flies. 

Above is the same spot snapped in 2023 from the opposite side of Tower Bridge, for comparison, HMS Belfast centre picture and St Catherine's Dock bottom right.

Saturday Westy

New beer for Saturday evening, a Westy from the ever reliable Elusive (Finchampstead) in collaboration with Duration Brewing (Norfolk) This one is your classic West Coast IPA, dank, bitter and citrusy but with the addition of some Vienna Malt which gives it a slightly spicy richer feel, I liked it a lot. Rather spookily one of my good mates, who is currently visiting his parents in Hunstanton (Norfolk) sent me a random text with some pictures just as I was drinking this, he had spent the day visiting the Duration taproom near Narborough and was waxing lyrical about how good their beers were, small world!

Round II

Spent the day up in town (London) yesterday, repatriating my Daughter into new digs in readiness for the upcoming new term at University (she was in halls last year). We managed to find a semi-decent two bedroom flat in Maida Vale that she's going to share with a mate, it's predictably scruffy and run-down but the road that it's in is nice and very convenient for rail, tube and bus services with plenty of shops, pubs and cafes in the area. I snapped this view from her window, a typical West London scene, rows of uniform terraced houses mostly converted to flats, an eclectic mix of people. 

We spent some time there sprucing the place up a bit, hanging some pictures and blinds, sorting out kitchen utensils and rearranging furniture, all the activity generated an appetite so we heading into Notting Hill for some food, a burger and a beer was in order and there were plenty of options. After lunch we popped back to the flat and took various empty boxes and junk back with us, it was a bit weird leaving her there on her own (her mate is out of town ATM) but she was happy to crack on with stuff and after driving into London and back, we had a date with a cuppa and our sofa!

I grabbed this picture as we were walking over  to Notting Hill, amazing how some of these grand old houses look great with a lick of paint!

World Cup

So, the task today is to find a pub that isn't showing the football! - seriously though, good luck England

Building Work

As mentioned in the previous post, I had a quick stop-over in Reading yesterday while waiting for a connecting train and that necessitated a walk through the station area to a nearby pub, I was struck by how much development is going on there these days. As can be seen in the photo, what looks like the tallest building in the town is springing up and is apparently going to be a mix of residential, offices and shops. 

I can't help thinking it's a brave developer who builds new office blocks these days, most of the offices you see around the place are at best half empty if not closed down, especially around these parts (lots of tech and insurance jobs) everyone in white collar jobs seems to "work from home" these days. 

Reading has always been a bit scruffy, hopefully this will add something new into the mix, it's one of those towns that is too big to ignore having excellent connectivity, but doesn't quite have the critical mass to be a serious draw for businesses or punters alike (unlike London or Bristol etc.) I suspect that will change in the next decade or so though.

Friday Chill

So, decided that I'd worked enough this week and needed to chill with a pint of something decent, so, headed into town (Reading, on the way home from London) and installed myself in a pub near the station that serves craft beer (The GreyFriar) while I waited for my connection. I ordered a pint of WhiteTips from Siren (see previous posts) and a packet of cheese and onion Hula Hoops (top gastronomic option) A peaceful, quiet 30 minutes it was, home now and cooking fully loaded Chicken burgers for supper, life is good.

Friday Smirk

As usual J&M hits the nail squarely on the head, also true of the Bible, as someone smart once said “Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”

London Stories

What a difference 10 years can make, here's a shot of one of my favourite areas of London (went to Uni near here back in the 80s) in and around Stratford. The picture on the left was taken in 2010 and on the right 2020, two main changes stand out for me, firstly the huge increase in residential property that's sprung up around the Olympic park on the LHS of the picture and secondly how much the City of London (in the distance on the RHS) has been developed, many more skyscrapers etc. I wonder what the next 10 years will bring?

Midweek Mirth

Never mind about the weather, 100 shopping days til Christmas ..

Rays today

The miserable grey murk returned yesterday and I narrowly avoided several downpours on my daily walk! Here I am pointing to the offending clouds with my industrial strength umbrella. Still, today is looking a lot better so hopefully will get a glimpse of some rays on my stroll.

Second Attempts

We tried a few new ales this weekend (three beer posts on the trot!) To bookend the series, here's the last one we shared on Saturday evening, an IPA from Siren and Green Cheek (Florida). I had this a couple of years ago and thought it was OK but not a big hit at the time so I was keen to see how this recent re-brew had turned out and was pleasantly surprised. Much better than I remember (or maybe my palate has changed?), anyway, much less murky in appearance, piney and fruity with a really slick mouthfeel, fierce bitterness on the back end and really well balanced, a triumph for second attempts!

To the max

New beer to try last night, a "triple" IPA no less by local brewer Elusive. Just as you'd expect pretty much everything in this beer has been amped up to the max, hops, booze, flavour etc. It's a luscious cocktail of resinous hoppy goodness, a really solid malt backbone and a sticky, full body. It's 10% ABV but it's not got the alcohol burn that some TIPA's have, well balanced and just about keeping a grip on everything! A very good beer, reminiscent of the big American West Coast IPA's of yonder years, like Pliny, Racer 5 and Torpedo et al.

Friday Treats

The sun was shining (for a change) yesterday afternoon so we decided to take an impromptu trip into Reading (our nearest big town) So, we walked down to the station and hopped on a train for the one stop it takes to get there. One of our favourite treats is to go to a little cheese and beer shop called the Grumpy Goat, they do some exquisite cheese toasties (see below) in there and always have a selection of top notch beers on tap. My Wife chose blue cheese and walnut and we shared it with a pint of Sundialer from Verdant (Cornwall) a lush drop of tropical murk, the diet of kings!

Hunger (and thirst) satisfied we headed home for the latest instalment of the box set we're currently working through (Succession) happy in the thought that the rest of the weekend is still all ahead of us!

Friday Smirk

Haha, I guess 2000 years worth of sunk cost is a tough one to throw off.

First Man

This is a picture taken in around 1838 by Louis Daguerre of a Paris street scene (Boulevard du Temple), it's famous because it's probably the earliest extant photograph showing a human. The fascinating part is that the street was probably full of people but the exposure of these early plates was so long (10 minutes) that any movement will not have been captured so all the people have essentially been rendered invisible apart from this one chap who is having his shoes shined and would have been relatively still for a while!

Atheist religion

I was listening to an interesting debate between a well known Atheist blogger and youtuber and a Christian apologist the other day and the topic of "Atheist" countries came up and the idea that during the 20th century there were several "Atheist regimes" whose ethical record's were much worse than the myriad of clearly genocidal religious regimes there have been over the centuries! The examples claimed were the Soviet Union under Stalin and Hitler's Germany, both responsible for millions of deaths. I was surprised that an otherwise intelligent apologist would make such an obvious schoolboy error! 

Germany in the 30's is probably the easiest to deal with, several points would suggest that this was, in fact, an extreme right wing regime with religious and/or pagan blood purity mythology at it's core, for example, 

• Religious references in Hitler's "bible" mein kampf.
• Hatred of Jews (a common theme in medieval Christian societies)
• The first alliance Nazi Germany made was with the Vatican

..and the glaringly obvious picture above! It's a German soldiers belt buckle, it says "God is with us", hardly an Atheist rallying call, in fact the Nazi's persecuted Atheists. In any case it is possible to find writings by Hitler that criticize religion and particularly Christianity, but the man was clearly insane so I'm not sure that brings much to the debate.

Stalin on the other hand is a harder nut to crack, he was in fact trained in a Catholic seminary to become a priest before adopting Marxism, he was certainly an Atheist (or claimed to be) in later life and had a distain for religions thinking that they were just childish ways of controlling people. The argument made about Stalin by Christian apologists can be expressed as a kind of simple syllogism, 

• Stalin was an evil murderer
• Stalin was an atheist.
• Thus, Stalin's atheism has something to do with him being an evil murderer.
• Therefore, atheism causes evil.

While it is certainly arguable that communism would be difficult in a theistic climate - making atheism necessary for communism, the apologetic fails because atheism isn't sufficient for communism; fires only start in the presence of oxygen, but no fire has ever said to have been caused by the presence of oxygen. Indeed, (weak) atheism can't be considered sufficient for any action. For this reason, this argument is an instance of the association fallacy being employed between atheism and Stalin.

The concurrent claim that the USSR was an atheist nation is also fallacious. While the Communist Party suppressed religious fervour, it did so only out of jealously of loyalties. The Communist Party demanded loyalty to itself above all others, even above God. Russia has always been an intensely religious nation. They consider the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church to be equal to the Vatican's Pope; or even above the Pope. To claim that Russia became atheistic overnight in 1917 only to emerge deeply religious in 1989 is incredibly ignorant.

Weather woes

Snapped last Friday on the way home from the train station, it seems like the weather has been like this (i.e. grey and rainy) for most of the Summer now with the exception of a dry spell in June! We're taking a week off soon and doing a little "staycation" with the kids, let's hope things buck up a bit or it's going to be lot's of board games and pub lunches!

London Stories

In the early 1900s there were hydraulic platforms between platform 1 & 2 in Paddington station, they were there to connect the inbound and outbound platforms (it was a long walk around otherwise) and rose up when there were no trains present, could do with something like that now, shorten the walk to the Elizabeth line!

Much Mango

Siren did a re-brew of one of their 8th birthday beers, a mango sour in collaboration with Slim Pickens (Florida) back in 2021. It was an immense beer, really pushing the boundary of what beer is, we loved it at the time and my mates and I were looking forward to this rematch. I tried the new beer a couple of weekends ago, I must say that it was a bit "meh", certainly looking the part (see above) and certainly mango forward (a ton of mango pulp was added!) and tart but not as good as I remember, under carbonated and generally a little "flat", a little bit like our Summer this year! Perhaps my palate has changed or perhaps it just didn't seem as novel as it did back in 2021, anyway, I guess you have to have some misses to appreciate the hits, Christmas soon :( 

London Stories

Venice, Istanbul, Paris? Nope, Crystal Palace! A subterranean antechamber under the busy A212 built by those enterprising Victorians in 1851 as a subway station for the remnants from the "Great Exhibition" which were moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham in 1865, the Disneyland of it's time the Crystal Palace and all the amusements it housed needed it's own railway terminus and this stunning brickwork was what was deemed fit for purpose. Over the years it fell into disrepair (finally closing in 1954) but has recently been renovated and reopened, must get down there one of these days and take a look!

Oppenheimer

We went to see Oppenheimer last night, a film I've been looking forward to all Summer, it didn't disappoint! Such an epic, so many stars and very high quality acting, especially from Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. What I hadn't realised is that the film isn't really about the bomb and it's development, obviously the Manhattan project and the Trinity test are a central feature but the film goes on for another hour after the bomb explodes (without spoiling the plot) it's really about the man and how he was hounded into the 1950s by the powerful anti-communist lobby (McCarthy etc.) and Lewis Strauss in particular (head of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission). The whole thing is very powerful indeed, thought provoking and beautifully shot, gripping the whole way through and thoroughly recommended!

Sour notes

My local craft brewer Siren has been at it again, a new month and a new release of three interesting beers. The theme is "sour", which in the case of beer is usually done by the addition of lactobacillus bacteria into the fermentation stage, this reduced the pH of the beer and makes it sour (like lemonade) Of course having a basic sour beer is tasty but a bit boring so Siren have created three flavour themes, a hoppy version using Simcoe hops, a cherry negroni and a whiskey sour, the latter two flavoured using oak from barrels that previously contained spirit. I popped over to their tap yard yesterday and sampled all three (for science) and would rate all of them, my favourite however was the cherry version, I'm a sucker for cherries and it was bursting with them! (see picture below)

Friday Smirk

Big J and big M on the ball as usual, all smart religious people know that reason, knowledge and enlightenment are the ultimate destroyers of faith.

London Stories

If you walk up from Tower Millennium Pier towards tower hill on the left hand side you'll see a rather strange chimney looking structure with the words "Tower Subway" embossed around it. This is what's left of the entrance to the world's first "tube" railway that ran under the Thames linking the North (Tower hill) and South banks (off Tooley Street) via a railway that ran through the (410m long) circular tube. It was completed in 1870 and a cable hauled a wooden carriage from one end to the other along narrow gauge tracks, this didn't last long as it proved very unreliable, after a few months the railway was removed and the tunnel reopened as a foot tunnel. Once Tower bridge opened in 1894 demand for the service waned and it was sold off in 1898. Now the tunnel is used for water mains and communications cables.

Here's what it looked like back in the day,

And this (below) is the unassuming Southern entrance behind the Unicorn Theatre on Tooley St. a spot I pass frequently as my London office is a stone's throw from there in London Bridge.

PS I didn't miss the irony that there's a branch of "Subway" next to the Northern tunnel entrance!

Brass dogs

I snapped this picture back in the Springtime on a visit to Edinburgh, it's Greyfriars Bobby who's a very famous dog in Scotland. He was a Skye Terrier who became known in the 19th century for (as legend has it) spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner, until his own death on 14 January 1872. You can see his grave in the church yard behind this brass statue and pub bearing the same name. It's also the graveyard that spawned the names of many Harry Potter characters as author JK Rowling visited it for inspiration when writing the novels in the city back in the 90s. Below is the grave of one Thomas Riddell (aka Voldemort)

Midweek Mirth

How's Summer going so far?

Thought for the Month

 

So, August is with us already, I don't know where this Summer has gone (it's certainly not much of one so far!) - Anyway, here's a thought from the late Hitch (1949-2011), it's a thought that can't be reiterated enough in my view, it should be emblazoned on the walls of every classroom in the country.