Message for Halloween

What with Halloween here this weekend I thought I'd show some solidarity with our Australian cousins, can't beat a bit of Ozzy directness :)

Midweek Mirth

This one will appeal to all you programmers out there..

Craft Mexican

A delicious pint of The Kernel, Citra pale ale in the Craft Beer Co. on Endell street last night to wet our whistles, followed by a slap up Mexican feast with the kids in our favourite TexMex spot in Covent Garden (see below), a thoroughly good time had by all.. (feeling very full today!)

Lightbox lunches

Went up to town yesterday as it was my Wife's birthday and we wanted to do something fun during the day and then meet up with the kids for dinner later on in the evening. We opted for a steak sandwich for lunch at the inimitable Eagle pub in Farringdon (highly recommended) and then we wandered up to Kings Cross to take a look at the Apollo Moon Mission show running at the Lightbox. It was great although we sat too close to the front screen (there are projections all around you) and both of us ended up with aches in our necks! Anyway, the show runs for around an hour and covers the various Apollo missions to the Moon (the Moon landings) from 11 to 17, the launch sequence of the Saturn V is spectacular, I've watched it many times but it never gets old. It's all narrated by Tom Hanks and shows footage taken from the surface of the Moon that I'd never seen before and since the projection surfaces are so large it's kind of like being there, cool!

Thai castles

Went to Guildford today to meet up with family for a nice lunch, we arrived early and had 20 minutes to kill so we took a walk around the castle there (see above) I hadn't seen it up close before but it's an impressive structure, originally built by William the Conqueror (or one of his barons) as a Motte and Bailey it was significantly enhanced and enlarged by Henry III becoming a "palace" in the 13th century it was eventually neglected and became the town gaol from the 16th century, now it's just somewhere to kill time before eating Thai food, what a strange mistress history makes.

Old dog, new tricks

I tried this little beauty while making dinner this evening, an old classic (Soundwave) from Siren (since 2013) but updated with a new hop (Nectaron) verdict, it's banging! Familiar but new, a marketeers wet dream! This may well be the start of a new thread in the craft brewing story, i.e. re-releasing old favourites with new hops, sounds like a bubble to me :) 

Deal treats

A lovely pint of The Kernel's dry London Stout with Centennial and Citra hops, an absolutely stonking beer and, unlike many premium stouts these days, only 4.5% ABV a real treat for the senses without the overhead of a ton of alcohol. Really nice to see a London brewery being distributed down on the Kent coast and one of their highly sought after brews too!

Friday Smirk

Jesus and Mo pointing out the obvious, again.. There's so much overwhelming evidence that ALL religions are man-made that even a child can see through most of them.

Timekeeping

This exquisite little object, made from Silver and Gold is a personal sundial and dates from early medieval times. It's exhibited at Canterbury Cathedral which we visited last weekend, it was discovered during excavations of the Great Cloister in 1938, experts estimate that it dates from the 10th century, which if true, make it the oldest known personal timepiece in existence, quite a thing!

It's difficult to make out in the hasty picture that I snapped (above) so there's a close up below, nicked from the interwebs..

It's quite a sophisticated instrument and because of the positional nature of sundials it only works accurately in Canterbury! It functions via the insertion of the pin into the various holes, according to the time of year, and then by holding the object up via the chain facing the Sun, the shadow of the pin points (roughly) to the current time of day. The inscriptions on the sides of the dial are in Latin (obvs) and translated mean ‘Health to my maker, peace to my owner.’, I love the way the craftsman who made it got an eternal plug for himself in there! 

The maker is reputed to be St. Dunstan (909-988 AD) who, not only was a talented Silversmith was also a senior English clergyman who eventually became the Archbishop of Canterbury and also served as a minister of state to several English kings, he sounds like a pretty handy bloke to have around!

Perfect Rainbows

The best kind of rainbow is not the one that shows the full spectrum of visible light (as above) but the one that you see whilst not getting wet! The one in the picture was particularly fine as the rain was off in the distance and we'd just got home from a walk in time to avoid it!

Kings & Queens

The tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral who died in 1376, an impressive memorial, full armour typical of the period and intricately sculped. Son of Edward III and heir to the throne he died before his father and never made the top spot. Edward of Woodstock (Duke of Cornwall) was however well regarded by his English contemporaries as one of the greatest knights of his age, winning some pretty famous battles like Crecy, Calais and Poitiers during the Hundred Year's War with France, sounds like he was a pretty handy bloke.

Grey Day

Two points of summer colour against the backdrop of an Autumn sky, doubt if these beauties will last much longer..

Tuesday Titter

A comment on the state of our rivers and oceans, we really could and should do better..

Kentish Weekend

Visiting friends in Kent this weekend and popped into Canterbury for the day on Saturday. We'd never been before so we took the opportunity to visit the Cathedral, the picture above shows the shrine to martyred Thomas Beckett who famously fell out with Henry II in a squabble over power and was murdered by four of the King's knights on this spot in 1170. It's a lovely old building and we enjoyed soaking up the history as we sheltered from the rain falling outside.

When we got back to Deal (where we were staying) from Canterbury the Sun had come out and we took a stroll along the beach front. Above you can see Deal castle, built by Henry VIII in 1540 in order to protect from invasion from France, and a bit like HS2, it cost us plebs millions but never saw action.

Fall

Them leaves they are a falling..

Weekend Wickedness

Saw this spoof the other day and it made me smile. Oliver is a bit "holier than tho" on telly these days, way to wealthy and happy for his own good, especially for someone who has five kids! Or maybe it's all just a façade? Or, maybe we're just used to our celebrities having constant scandals and he's an odd one out, who knows, anyway, we buy his books like everyone else so fair game..

Friday Smirk

Another excellent J&M, an example of the pot calling the kettle black me thinks..

Monkeys in shoes

Some say that to repeat the same action over and over again and expect a different outcome is the definition of insanity.

I tend to agree, particularly when you apply this rule of thumb to a whole species. Our Human species does this all the time, an example of this are the news stories coming out of Gaza and Lebanon at the moment! They put me in mind of an experience we had while visiting Cambodia earlier this year (see picture above) A rather grim reminder and memorial to the people that were the innocent victims of the "Killing Fields", a pointless slaughter, among many, usually consummated in the name of God, greed, power and/or political certitude.

When you look at these remains you must (and do) ponder the only viable question any compassionate Human being would have, why and what was all that pain and suffering for? In the end you realise that we're all just monkeys in shoes, half a chromosome away from chimps. I somehow think that whatever the rights and wrongs of the current Middle Eastern situation, and there are many on all sides, we will get to the end of it sometime in the future and ponder that very same question.

Ghostly gardens

I passed this house on my lunchtime walk yesterday, the amount of Halloween stuff they'd put out was amazing. Now I'm not a great fan of Halloween, I don't mind the scary stuff and love a good horror film, but I don't much care for the imported "Trick or Treat" thing, never really saw the point of it, typically American, an unnecessary embellishment on a perfectly adequate pagan festival IMO. Anyway, no doubt the people who live here are big fans, let's hope we don't get any gale force winds in the next couple of weeks or the whole neighbourhood will be sharing in the "fun"... 

More Germans

Had another Oktoberfest beer at the weekend but this time it was a darker Marzen, which means it was made with traditional lager yeast but included a higher proportion of roasted malts in the grist. The result is a more toffee forward beer a little less dry and crunchy than the Pilsners around at this time of year. 

Monday Mirth

The contradiction that is middle-America...

Fresh

I don't often have German wine, it's a bit of an unknown entity for me, but we had pork for supper last night and so I opened this little number from Muller Catoir. I've had this bottle for around 10 years, I didn't mean to keep it particularly but just never got around to cracking it open, it was gifted to me by my Son's German pen pal when he visited us back when they were both schoolboys. I'm pleased  to report that the aging process has been very kind to this wine, it was delicious, a lovely apple and peach forward Riesling with a wonderful fresh acidity and concentration, a really great wine, I must look out for more!

An old friend

Popped open one of these last night (Chateau de Sales, Pomerol) as we had some lovely cheese from Neals Yard to polish off and this plush Pomerol went very well with them. Interestingly, this was the first "serious" wine that I ever bought, if I remember correctly it was from Majestic (the wine shop) in around 1996. I remember at the time it felt hugely expensive and exotic as at the time (you had to buy 12 bottles in those days) it was £10 a bottle.  Now it's a fraction under £30 which I guess isn't too bad for roughly 30 years of inflation, anyway, it was a great wine (for the price), Merlot dominated (as most Pomerol's are) smooth and silky with a moreish red fruit upfront attack that fills the mouth and then a shallow curve of a finish that lasts half a minute. Recommended.

I love "brown"..

Waiting for the train this afternoon and popped into RG1 the Siren bar in Reading. Had this new beer called "Follow me to the Fields", a brown ale sprinkled with some American hops (mosaic and strata), very tasty, on cask too (hence the foamy head) which is unusual and very welcome, an 8/10 very nice indeed!

Got a light?

Aurora visible from all the way down here in the soft-south yesterday evening, clouds have (predictably) moved back in today so probably not viable to see tonight, ah well, we take what we can get!

Friday Smirk

The ever insightful J&M pointing out the inherent need for human beings to feel like they belong to a tribe and how that feeling generates a sense of security from which to mock (and attack) other tribes.

Midweek Mirth

I know we live on a blustery little island but 4064 mph gusts? Perhaps someone at the Met Office has been watching stuff about hurricanes a little too avidly, although I bet this has put the wind up a few people...

Fleeing the nest

My Son moved out of the family home today and I gave him a lift to his new abode in Camden, London. He's sharing a flat near to Chalk Farm station which is right next to Camden Market and the Canal etc. It's a nice spot and he's sharing the flat with a mate, slightly daunting for them both but with the number of pubs and clubs around there I'm sure they'll have a blast, and now that he's earning money working for a law firm in town, he'll hopefully not need me to fund his entertainment any more ;) 

Just next to his flat is a bridge over the railway and if you take a stroll over it you come to Primrose Hill high street, and the entrance to the park land there, at the top of the hill (it's quite steep!) and after a sweaty slog up the path you are rewarded with a wonderful panorama of London, I snapped the picture above from the platform at the top of the hill, a top spot for reflection!

Non-German Glugs

It's that time of year again, every beer producer worth their salt is producing an "Oktober Fest" version of their house lager. In the picture above there are a couple I tried this weekend from non-German producers, on the left a collaboration between three breweries, two American and one Swedish then on the right hand side we have a UK Fest bier from Leeds based Northern Monk. Both very good, excellent levels of malty bread notes and crispness on the front end. Nice noble hoppage and the Omnipollo (LHS) a delicious lime/citrus vibe, I think lagers have come on leaps and bounds in this country and elsewhere since the horrors of the 80s and 90s (i.e. Coors, Carling and Stella) long may the trend continue.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it..

I got an email from my local brewer Siren yesterday and it said that since I am an investor and one of their best customers (not sure that's a good thing?) then I had been invited to try a new beer before it is released to the general public. The beer in question is called Juice Krush and features some new hop varieties that impart a massive tropical fruit hit with ample dankness and hardly any bitterness to speak of, just a tiny bit on the finish. It was nice and I dutifully posted a favourable review on Untappd, mission accomplished, may there be many missions to come!

London Stories

Spent an enjoyable day up in town yesterday (Thursday) as it was my birthday! My wife and I had lunch in Bermondsey (Casse-Croute) and then wandered over the river to Covent Garden and met up with our kids who are both living and working/studying up in the smoke these days. We enjoyed a drink together and then decamped back over the river to the Cut (near Waterloo) for some tapas (pining after Sevilla) before jumping on a train home. The early evening light was very Autumnal as you can see in the picture (above) that I snapped while traversing Waterloo bridge on the way to supper (we even sat outside!).

Brew World Cup

Brew World Cup 2024 - TBH all of these guys deserve to win, but I'm going to stick my neck out and predict Verdant for the trophy!

Truth

Yep, at least this is true..

London Stories

Wonderful painting of St Pauls and Ludgate hill from 1889. Of course the railway bridge isn't there anymore as it's been moved underground between Blackfriars and Farringdon. I remember doing a project once in Farringdon street (in the foreground) in the mid-nineties and being annoyed at the building noise from the construction of the City Thameslink line under where the bridge is located in this picture, you wouldn't even know it's there now.