Manchester Munchies

Having picked up my Son from his digs in St Andrews and loaded all his clobber into the back of the car we headed back down South. Rather than doing the trip in one go I decided that we'd stop off for the night in Manchester, it's a city that I know fairly well as my parents lived there back in the 80's. I was keen to see how it had changed and both my Son and I were eager to sample the night life and watch the England match that was being played that evening. First stop when we arrived was our lodgings for the night, a hotel in Salford Quays, and having freshened up after the long drive down we hopped on a tram (didn't have those in the 80s!) and headed into the centre for some refreshments.

I took him to a place I'd heard good things about, a craft beer and Indian street food joint called Bundobust, they have a couple of venues in the city and we settled into the Piccadilly one for some scrummy food (see picture above) and a couple of their delicious in-house ales. The food is all vegetarian but to be honest we didn't even notice, the tastes and textures were delicious, I particularly liked their Tarka Daal which was layered on top of some flavoursome basmati rice, yum! The beers were pretty good too, we had a couple of small session IPA's.

After our supper we decamped to The Marble Arch Inn, which is an old Victorian era pub situated on the Rochdale Road, it has a tiled interior and retains a lot of the original features (see picture above), a lovely space. Fortunately they also had some post-Victorian gadgets too, like a big TV so that people could watch the football! England managed a draw but unfortunately the effort was pretty lack-lustre, a view with which most of the people in the pub concurred, anyway at least the beers were on good form and we had a couple of pints before strolling back to our digs for the night. My favourite scoop of the evening was a pint of "Turing Test" (nice Manchester reference) by Marble brewery, who own the pub, a delicious IPA full of tropical fruit flavours from an obviously huge dosing of American hops, and unlike the footy, very satisfying!

While strolling back through the city and walking off our evening's consumption I noticed how the skyline of Manchester had drastically changed since I was last there, the city seems to have gone from "dark satanic mills" to Dallas with loads of steel and glass towers all over the place, an amazing transformation (see picture above)

We walked back to Deansgate and hopped on a tram back to the Quays, while waiting at the station I snapped the picture below, not the Manchester I remembered, but an impressive vista on a warm Summer evening never the less!

After a solid nights sleep we got up early and headed out for a coffee before setting off for the M6 and home, we walked over to Media City UK which is located in the Quays. It was a bit of a strange place, not many people about and as we sat and supped on our flat whites I snapped the picture below.

All in all a nice evening in Manchester, shame about our national sport, but I guess you can't win them all! Anyway, we both decided that we'd like to revisit the place to explore more deeply sometime, definitely something to put on the bucket list. After an uneventful four hours of motorway slog we arrived home around 2pm, happy to have landed and eager to veg out on the sofa and decompress from our travels.

Cumbrian nights

I just spent a couple of days this week driving up to Scotland and back to pick up my Son from University (and all his stuff) He's finished now and is moving back home pending (hopefully) a job in London later in the Summer. I decided to break up the journey by driving up to Penrith in Cumbria and spending the night there, then the next morning driving on up to St. Andrews to pick him up. I chose Penrith because it's about the right distance up the country and right next to the M6, it also has a well known craft beer bar there that's owned by the Fell Brewery of Cartmel (Lake District) that I was interested in trying. Arriving around 5pm I checked into the local Premier Inn and headed out into the town to explore. 

Penrith is a medium sized market town on the edge of the lake district national park and you can easily walk around the whole place in about twenty minutes. I snapped the picture of the main square (above) just before picking up some fish and chips for supper which were much needed after the long drive up from the South. After food I relocated to the Fell Bar in the centre of town and perused their ample tap list for a couple of beers to try before retiring to my room to watch Scotland in the Euro's.

I chose a stout (left) and one of their cask session IPA's (right) The stout was great, really rich and creamy with plenty of chocolate and coffee flavours, pretty good for only 4% ABV! The session IPA weighed in at 4.3% ABV and although it looks hazy in the picture I snapped this before it had settled out, I'd forgotten that in the North of England the pubs tend to use sparklers to aerate the beer as it's poured, it was actually quite clear in the end. Both pints were very good and as I left I grabbed a can of a beer called "Firebreak" (picture below) to take back to my hotel and drink while watching the football. All the beers I had were very good but Firebreak was probably the best of the Fell Brewery bunch that I tried, a NZ IPA it had a fantastic white wine and citrus flavour, very typical of NZ hops like Nelson Sauvin, one of my favourites.

As it turned out Scotland could only manage a draw against Switzerland but all is not lost as (at time of writing) they have another match in hand. After the tense game, a couple of pints and a tiring drive my thoughts turned to sleep and the Scottish border which awaited me early the next morning.

Anticipation

Tried this new beer from local producers Siren last weekend, it's a "DDH" or Double Dry Hopped IPA called "Expressions" that showcases Citra hops. It's delicious, fruit, cream soda, slight bitterness on the finish and perfectly carbonated, a really well balanced ale. Even better this is going to be a series of beers that "express" different hops over time, if they're all as good as this then can't wait to try them!

Saturday Treats

It's our last weekend before the kids return from University and breach the peace for a couple of months! It'll be nice to see them and catch up on everything but our quiet Saturday evenings with a nice bottle, some tasty food and a movie or two will be disrupted, or at least changed in character. So, to celebrate another year done, last weekend we opened a special bottle I'd been saving for about 20 years. A 2002 vintage Chateau Leoville Las Cases, the grand vin from Bordeaux, France. It was magnificent, one of my all time favourite producers and wines, deep layers of dark fruits, vanilla, liquorice, ink, smooth integrated tannins and a finish that lasts for a weekend, this wine could easily go another 22 years and still improve! A wonderful bookend to the 2023 academic year!

Midweek Mirth

Jesus and Mo falling into the logic trap again! Personally (based on the evidence) I could imagine a supremely evil God much more easily than a supremely good one on this particular planet, and I'm not even a battery farmed chicken nor a victim of child abuse..

Excitement mounts

Lot's of excitement is mounting in the craft beer bubble about this pale ale. It's from Cornish maestros Verdant and is a cask version of their classic beer, "Lightbulb" By all accounts it's absolutely banging. I believe the Sutton Arms in Clerkenwell are going to have a cask of it to crack open this week, must find an excuse to be in London this week then...

Appealing to your demographic

I had the opportunity to pop into the Nags Head in Reading last Friday afternoon for a cheeky pint while waiting for a train and was musing about how that particular pub is so successful when many around it are closing. I think the answer is plain to see, do one thing and do it really well. The "Nags" is a beer pub, it caters for people who are interested in beer of all stripes, it has around 30 on at any one time to choose from and frequently has the most sought after breweries on tap. The proof of the pudding for me was provided in the gent's toilets (see picture above) what pub do you know that publishes a list of beers that it has in it's cellar above the urinal in the loo! Now that's attention to detail and ultimately appealing to your demographic!

Razors to live by..

 

• Occam’s Razor – The simplest answer is often the right answer
• Hanlon’s Razor – Don’t attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity
• Sagan’s Razor – Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
• Parkinson’s Law– Work expands to fill the available time for its completion
• Hofstadter’s Law – Contradicting Parkinson’s razor, things usually take longer than we think
• Anchoring Bias – The first thing we see or learn influences what we think next
• Pareto Principal – 80% of results come from 20% of effort
• Eisenhower’s Matrix – Urgent things are not important, and important things are never urgent
• Gall’s Law – Complex systems that work invariably evolve from a simple system that worked
• Dunning-Kruger Effect – Unskilled people overestimate their ability, experts underestimate
• The Halo Effect – When you like 1 thing about someone, you think everything about them is good
• Hawthorne Effect – When people know they’re being watched, they work harder
• Sayre’s Law – People often argue the most about things that matter the least
• Chesterton’s Fence – Don’t change something until you understand why it’s there
• Sunk Cost Fallacy – Keep doing something because you’ve already spent time or money on it
• The Streisand Effect – When you try to hide something, it often gets more attention

A bunch of "truths" that are pretty consistently correct in our everyday Human interactions and endeavours..

Where angels fear to tread

While flying up to Scotland last week I managed to snap this picture from the aircraft window (above), the effect is called a "Glory" and is an optical phenomenon caused by sunlight interacting with tiny water droplets in mist or cloud resembling a saint's halo around the shadow of a shape. In this case the shadow is that of the plane we're flying in, either that or clearly I must be blessed in some way :) 

I also managed to get a decent shot of all three bridges over the Firth of Forth (above) with a nice backdrop of the hills and the sun shining in between the clouds, Scotland is really quite picturesque!

Friday Smirk

Jesus and Mo, reading between the lines as usual! As Hume once said "the only way that we can judge between two empirical claims is by weighing the evidence. The degree to which we believe one claim over another is proportional to the degree by which the evidence for one outweighs the evidence for the other." We'd be wise to listen to what that particular wise man once said IMO.

Gateway drugs

 

Snapped in Scotland last week, this is the West Port Gate to St. Andrews town, built in 1589 it's a substantial stone semi-circular archway into South Street which is now home to both the Brewdog bar and also the St. Andrews brewing company tap room (called "brewco" by the locals) both good spots to hang out and enjoy some decent craft beer and pub food.

While in the town we grabbed a couple of beers in the Brewdog bar (I get a discount for investing a few years ago) and on Sunday afternoon I snapped this picture (below) while waiting for my Son to arrive and join me for a pre-dinner pint.

The ruins opposite the bar are what's left of the Dominican Friary of St Mary which dates from the late middle ages (pre-1500s), it has to be the most historic sight from a Brewdog bar in all of the country! The protestant reformers in 1559 largely destroyed the friary and kicked the monks out, all that's left now is an empty shell sitting opposite a craft beer bar full of tourists, such is the nature of history.

London Stories

A flag flown from a Spanish ship during the battle of Trafalgar. Belonging to the San Ildefonso the flag fell into the possession of the Royal Navy when she surrendered, it was later hung in St Paul's during the state funeral of Nelson in 1806. The flag is now housed at Greenwich in the National Maritime Museum there and is shown on rare occasions, as per this photo.

Grad Dad

Just spent a lovely long weekend in St. Andrews, Scotland for the graduation of my Son who finished his degree this year. It wasn't the warmest of weekends but fortunately not too wet either so the event went without any hitches or last minute changes of venue, and the new grads were able to parade around their quad accompanied by a piper (as is the tradition there). 

Later in the evening my Son and I snuck off on our own to smoke a couple of Montecristo cigars and sink a couple of cold beers to celebrate the event in our own style, all the while chatting about wisdom, the universe and the meaning of life etc.. I snapped this picture of the famous West Beach (above) as the sun set over the highlands (we sat on the bench in the foreground in order to consume our legal drugs), it was beautiful and a nice moment that I will treasure. 

I didn't get too many photo's from the actual ceremony itself but I did grab this one from a video as my lad was being awarded his degree (above), apparently the red cap being lowered onto his head is from some bloke who lived in the 16th century, anyway he seemed to enjoy himself and we had a great celebration with some of his mates and their parents afterwards, much wine, beer and good spirits flowed!

Tuesday Titter

J&M this week, pointing out that what happens when you die is more or less the same thing that happened before you were born, so don't worry and enjoy your life, it'll end before you know it.

Fast Show

So, do you like milkshake Ted?

Follow the bear

 

I noticed something strange in the Crafty Taproom in Marlow when we visited a couple of weekends ago, needing something cold to cool down after a long walk up and down the river I opted for a Pilsner. The branding was for Hofmeister (see above), a mass produced lager that was very popular in the 1980s and brewed by Scottish & Newcastle (later purchased by Heineken), it used to be pretty crap. However, fast forward to 2017 and the brand was bought from Heineken by a couple of Englishmen who have relaunched it and are now contract brewing the beer in Germany (Schweiger) The new Hofmeister is being positioned as a small production, artisanal "craft" lager and is imported from Bavaria, the ingredients are sourced locally and the strength has gone from the original 3.2% up to a more respectable 5% It was delicious, I wish them luck!

Prague Stories

 

On the platform at the main station in Prague you will find the statue of an Englishman. His name is Sir Nicholas Winton and he's famous for organising the evacuation of 669 Jewish children from Prague only six weeks from the occupation by the Nazis of Czechoslovakia. Interestingly there's a connection with Maidenhead (just up the road from where I live) as in later life Winton lived and died nearby the town, there's another statue of him on the platform at Maidenhead, I snapped a picture as I went by on my way to London the other day (see below)

The need for speed..

Average train speeds in European countries, sticks in the throat a bit that trains in Italy are faster than ours!

Philosophy Friday

 

Here's an interesting thought, we live in a society where you can be arrested for dumping a milkshake on Nigel Farage, but, nothing happens to you if your company dumps a million gallons of shit into the river Thames. I wonder what the ruling would be if someone dumped a million gallons of shit on Nigel Farage, in the interests of  political science someone should definitely find out..

Cute

Managed to get a closer view of one of the baby Moorhens today on my walk, so cute!

Friday Smirk

Love this little snippet. The back story is that the dog is usually walked by the Husband and he always takes it into the pub that his Wife was passing (hence all the laughter coming from the camera man in the pub) Obviously the dog likes a tipple in the pub (and probably a packet of crisps to keep him quiet!)

New Life

Spotted these little critters in my favourite little pond while on my walk today. They're Moorhen chicks looking like tiny black balls of fluff! They must have only hatched a few days ago. Amazing that this little piece of water has spawned so much new life this year, you can see the back story here..

D-Day

A small selection of WWII vehicles (and people on-hand to talk about them) in the town square today to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, nice touch.

I'll be back..

My Son was home last weekend and we found ourselves at a loose end on Friday evening so I decided to take him to the new Siren bar in Reading for a pint and a catch-up. Like me, he's followed the Siren story for a few years now and was interested to see how their flagship establishment was shaping up so we hopped on the train and headed into town. The bar was busy with after work drinkers, lot's of guys and gals in suits, probably grabbing a quick beer before heading over to the station to catch the train home (it's only 2 minutes to the station) it was nice to see the place buzzing with people and dishes of food seemed to be flying out of the kitchen at a rate of knots!

It was a good vibe and so we decided to stay a while, to keep us going prior to dinner we ordered some bar snacks. The food was good and came really quickly, some salted squid and cheese croquettes, a good start. The beers were on point as usual for Siren so we had a couple before heading back to the station around 6pm, but before we left I showed him the list of investors that is hung up on the wall next to the bar. I invested in the brewery a few years ago and also participated in the crowd funding round that helped fit out the new bar, so my name was there (see photo above), a nice little touch, we shall return!

Norman Tower

Delightful walk down the Thames path on Sunday, the Sun was out (unusually) and the temperature just about perfect for a stroll along the river. In the picture is All Saints Church at Bisham a lovely spot for a Norman tower and ancient graveyard.

Midweek Mirth

 Lactose meets intolerance?

B-Line

 

While out walking yesterday I noticed a man and his dog about 30 yards ahead of me suddenly duck down and start running away for no apparent reason. Slightly puzzled I stopped and looked around, above my head was a massive swarm of bees, it looked like there were millions! I engaged reverse and jogged back the way I'd come! I could see that the bees were headed toward an oak tree in a field adjacent to the path I was on so I waited until the sky looked clear of them and headed forward at a somewhat brisker pace. 

A near miss I think, if it weren't for the poor chap in front of me I think I'd have blundered straight into the heart of the swarm, the bee god must have been smiling on me!

Sorted!

Vladimir Putin finally solves the trolley problem, sorted!

Prague Stories

 

While walking around Prague last week we came across this little shrine and monument, bullet holes can clearly be seen in the wall and clearly it was something commemorating an event during the second world war. In 1942 the cathedral (Saints Cyril and Methodius) in the picture above was the last stand of six Czech resistance fighters who held out in the crypt of the church surrounded by 800 Nazi troops. The soldiers (trained by the SOE forces) were agents involved in the assassination of SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich (an architect of the Holocaust) and after a fierce gun battle two were killed and the rest committed suicide to avoid capture, a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made during that time. 

Sunday Smile

Mickey Mouse government, moi?

Czech Escape - Part 4

 

We spotted some interesting sculptures while walking around Prague, here's a Spitfire body with the wings of a butterfly (above), not sure what the symbolism means but you don't see this kind of thing on the outside of a shopping centre very often! Below are a couple of bridges, including the famous Charles Bridge (furthest from view) taken from high on the hill above the city.

There are many river crossings in Prague, you could almost say it's a city of bridges and much like London they all have a certain character of their own, I think we did all the main ones while we were there and walked a total of 68 km, not bad for a couple of oldies. 

While we were there (and by pure chance) the Czech Republic were in the final of the World ice hockey championship, which was being hosted in Prague itself. In the old town square they had erected a huge TV screen and broadcast the match live to an adoring and very loud crowd, we watched for a while and soaked up the wonderful atmosphere and then retired to our hotel to catch the last 20 minutes in our room. Fortunately CZ beat Switzerland 2-0 and so everyone was in good spirits until the wee small hours, a memorable night! You can see the pre-match excitement building in the picture below..

We loved Prague, it's a beautiful city with friendly people (contrary to popular myth) It's a city of gothic architecture, bridges, museums, ornate buildings and beer, lots of it! 

If I were to sum up our best experiences I'd list them as follows (in no particular order)

- Pivovar Vinohradsky, brewery, large taproom and restaurant, world class beer and excellent food!

- Old town pubs, great atmosphere and very reasonable prices (£2 for 500ml of Czech Pilsner)

- Technical Museum, despite not having a computer exhibit, generally heaven for tech fans

- Lasagneria, restaurant in the Prague-2 district, they just do Lasagne, if you like that then it's lush!

- The Karlin District, cool vibe, great restaurants and top craft beer bars

- Prague Castle, worth the trek up the (long) hill, lots to see, history, cathedral, art etc..

Things to watch out for..

- Taxis - generally not good value (and some positively sketchy) check out public transport instead

- Places that insist on cash only (usually its a scam around exchange rates or sketchy)

- City tax, 50 crowns per person per day, 5 days cost us 500 crowns, ensure you have cash left over!

- ATMs, everywhere, but don't use unless essential, the exchange rates are criminal!

- Usual big city stuff, i.e. people trying to flog you stuff on the street etc..