Lunch on board the Mauthieus

I really enjoyed eating on board the Mauthieus. It’s a little stroll away from the village, but once you’re at the top of the cliff you get a great view of the bay and you can just watch the boats sail bay. The restaurant is an old boat itself, complete with pirate, while the food is prepared in the kitchens on the other side of the road. This can make things awkward when it comes to serving up time; particularly at night. The restaurant even has its own private beach complete with sunbeds, which are free to patrons. I opted for a large mushroom and ham omelette, which cam e with a large portion of trips; while my family went for burgers and my niece went for the meatballs. I was lucky enough to try one; they came in their own spicy coating. This was washed down with a glass of traditional cold Mythos; the Greek equivalent of Carling. Well, you can’t have everything, but we did have to right weather to be drinking lager! 

Captain Vangelis's Special Cruise to Fiskardo

If you are ever in Skala, I would thoroughly recommend a trip on Captain Vangelis’s special cruise. The boat is comfortable as you cruise along the coastline to the ship’s music; and if you get bored you can spot the wildlife in the ship’s glass bottom. I took the Fiskardo cruise and we spotted dolphins just outside Pathos (unfortunately they were too quick for me to get a picture). When we crash-landed into the harbour (a policeman was blowing his whistle and it was unclear who he was directing his attention to), we had an hour to explore the village. I could have done with longer; I found a roman cemetery, a Christian fort; and if I had time I could have also explored the old Venetian lighthouse too. We also took a tour of an underground lake, where Greek guides rowed us into the

caves singing ‘Just one Cornetto’! The swimming stops are amazing, and the on-board waterslide makes it even more fun. I took the plunge just once off the very top of the ship, and really had to take a big jump to be sure of clearing the whole boat. The air whistled past my ears just before I hit the water.

Skala Old Town

One hot morning, we decided to visit the old town of Skala which was up in the hills. This once prosperous village with its church and olive pressing factory was brought to ruin in 1953 in the great Keffalonian earthquake, where many people lost their homes and lives. We had to leave quite early before it got too warm, and our guidebook also told us that we must wear a hat (though Mum never did). After preparing supplies, we started our ascent, passing a holiday rep who was preparing himself for his Sunday morning shift. Along the winding road, we spotted hillside goats as well as remembrance shrines alongside newly built holiday homes. The town’s spring still remains, and efforts to rebuild a second church have already begun. The views from the top were spectacular, and it was a real shame that we were too early for the tavern to open; though a passing party of Germans decided to wait it out in the beer garden. Instead, we returned to the village for breakfast then cooled off with a paddle in the sea.

BBQ Night

Tonight was BBQ night organised by the hotel staff, which meant that we didn’t need to go through the usual evening of window shopping in restaurants for food. It also meant a heavy night of drinking as we didn’t have to venture too far from our beds! I tried a run-based Bossa Nova cocktail; where the colours of the drinks balanced beautifully in the glass. It certainly took time to put together by Michael the barman, but he certainly puts the effort in. We had a traditional Tzaki  for our starter which was served with a large salad, followed by a huge buffet of spicy sausages, steak burger; chicken breast and pork kebabs. The desert was a simple ice cream to refresh ourselves. Then came the dancing, as Chris the manager displayed his amazing talent of Greek dancing; complete with balancing a shot glass on his head and performing in a circle of fire.  

Into the Village

Today was our first chance to discover the village. We rolled down the hill and onto the beach, which was just a short walk from the hotel. The beach itself was quite pebbly in places; which was a shame as I was really looking forward to golden sands. So after a hard morning of relaxing and starting on our tans, we found the crazy golf then hit the high street. The main street was situated on a cobbly hill lined with shops and restaurants either side. Rather than a traditional pavement, the road was lined with potted trees to separate motorists from pedestrians. The side streets had a more raised pavement, but there wasn’t much room to walk on; it was more to get out of the way when a car approached. It was certainly a resort; and the whole village must become a ghost town during the winter as there wasn’t much of a local presence.

Return to Greece

Today is the first day of our family holiday; which unfortunately meant getting up at a ridiculously early time in order to be processed at the airport. But today we had my niece travelling with us; which was actually quite fun. We played bumper cars in the queue for our suitcases while waiting to check our bags in (Mum thought it was quite handy for us to check in on-line, but as we had to queue anyway; this made it seem rather pointless!) We had to wave off the push chair as it was checked into the holding, then nearly lost her at security as she ran off to explore the ‘big room! Once in the departure lounge, we didn’t have a lot of time to get breakfast; but luckily the food was served very quickly and by breakfast burger was very nice, despite being a bit pricey. It felt a bit strange that we had to wait longer for our coffees though. After some more niece chasing at the departure gate to stop her getting onto the wrong plane; we boarded then were told there was an hour’s delay at Kefallinia and all we could do was sit.

Fortunately the airspace cleared half an away later, allowing us to float away on our travels. As we approached the landing, I totally forgot about my ear plugs and sure enough my ears popped to the point of bleeding. Then at Greek passport control we nearly lost Chloe again as she just walked underneath the booth and into the country! We quickly claimed our bags then were herded onto the coach for a quick nap; as apparently our tour guide was not joining us. I was quite surprised at just how narrow the roads were; even en route to the island’s airport! I was just glad that I wasn’t driving. We arrived at the hotel in the early afternoon, and Dad caused a bit of chaos by heading straight to the bar while the manager was trying to get him to stay at the reception to tell him what is available. But other than that, we are here!

The Mission

Today was a mission. After a 5am start at work; I had to make sure that everything was in order for my annual leave away. This included briefing my new manager on what she was required to do while I was absent. Of course, no time was actually allocated for this; and instead of leaving early and cashing in on the extra hours performed throughout the week; I spent a large amount of time in the office describing my various duties. After collecting a trophy to be presented at the beer festival; I had to return home to print the other certificates. Once these were done; I had to deliver the books from the promotional event to the festival; box and itemise them; then drive the certificates from the festival to the gut who would be presenting them. I returned home at 9pm, and only then was I actually allowed to start to pack my suitcase; meaning I took most of my Dad shirts and not my holiday shirts.

Paper Printing

You would think that printing a simple award certificate would be simple. All I wanted was a blue background so that the final print would have bleed right to the edges to fit in the frame. I tried re-sizing the page to print a larger image onto small paper; but the whole image just came off the paper. I tried adding printer marks; but it turns out that my printer is too simple for this task; and that the edges were inevitable. The strangest thing was that I couldn’t even get the size of the edges proportionate to the border. In the end, the only way I got round it was to go to Staples and purchase some blue card (which had to come with other colours of card) and print the certificate with no background colour. Of course, the whole size had to be reset again as the whole A4 was clearly visible inside the frame. Why can’t we make things simple?

On Reflection...

So that was my speech. A half hour slot to explain to people about the workings of CAMRA, what we do as a local branch and why people should get involved. A talk that really should have lasted half an hour but turned out to be just fifteen minutes in front of a listening yet unsupportive crowd. I did get a round of applause towards the end and a chap from Bath came round afterwards to say 'We don't have anything like this round my way!' Hopefully he will be encouraged to start his own chapter. I could have stretched it out to twenty with some great exaggerations on the things that we do; but it's quite hard when there's no-one cheering you along the way. It might also be my voice; something that I still need to work on, as I often get accused of being a woman on the phone. Someone did ask for my name again; but whether it was in jest or they were genuinely interested I'm not sure; I just replied and carried on distributing beer mats. I was also asked by the organisers if I would do the same thing next year or even next month. I said yes initially but not el gusto; not wanting to make a huge commitment to the time required. I did enjoy an excellent Sunday lunch; but the programme of events certainly needs some attention. I was certainly unaware of the Friday evening opening; and had no idea what happened to one of the guest  speakers on Saturday. But it was a good first event; and there is a lot to work upon for the future.

Snoopy Stars as The Great Pretender

This was one of the first books that I bought with my pocket money. At first school we used to have the book fair, where every term the hall would be transformed into an after school book shop, and huge blue cases were wheeled into the hall and opened up to show the latest children’s titles. I think we were given a catalogue a few days before the event as well so that we knew what to expect. I only saw Snoopy on TV and had no idea that he appeared in a newspaper strip or even that he was American. This book focuses on Snoopy’s costume phases as he impersonates various roles and animals, including vultures, the Easter beagle and world-famous grocery check-out clerks! Although the tales are small and not necessarily in sync; they are very imaginative and shows just what a beagle gets up to all day when left alone in the modern world.

Speech Part 4

As well as promoting consumer choice, we campaign for greater appreciation of British beers as part of our national heritage and culture; and seek improvements in all licensed premises and throughout the brewing industry.

We also survey our local pubs and run the annual Pub of the Year competition, which on a local level has been won by the Holly Bush in Belbroughton this year! We use our survey data to create whatpub.com, a directory website which helps people to find a pint of real ale in their area. The best pubs are then put forward into the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, copies of which are available today from the CAMRA stand, along with a great selection of other beer-related books.

Our branch runs monthly social trips for our members. These include brewery visits both near and afar, and also trips to countryside pubs and pub crawls. So far this year our members have visited Cambridge Beer festival and some of its excellent pubs, we’ve sought out the best beer in Banbury, made a visit to Leicester Beer Festival and toured Bishop’s Castle.

Speech Part 3

We also survey our local pubs and run the annual Pub of the Year competition, which on a local level has been won by the Holly Bush in Belbroughton this year! We use our survey data to create whatpub.com, a directory website which helps people to find a pint of real ale in their area. The best pubs are then put forward into the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, copies of which are available today from the CAMRA stand, along with a great selection of other beer-related books.

After much government lobbying, we also abolished the beer duty escalator; defending the cost of our favourite pint when other production costs are on the uprise. You may not think much off a penny off a pint each year, but the cost today may have been considerably more if the beer duty escalator had remained.

Our organisation today has over 170,000 members, with over a thousand of these residing around the Redditch, Bromsgrove and Droitwich area. 

Speech Part 2

In the 1970s, brewery ownership of the Great British Pub was partly responsible for the lack of choice of quality beer. Companies such as Whitbread, Scottish & Newcastle, Courage and Watneys were buying smaller breweries and shutting them down in order to dominate the beer market with their bland products.

With this in mind, the Campaign for the Revitalisation of Ale was formed. Volunteers from all over the country got together to set up local CAMRA branches; where members could meet in pubs to plan protests against brewery closures, and demonstrate their numbers to local licensees to encourage them to put real ale back on the bar.

Our volunteers run beer festivals all over the county, including the Redditch Winter Ale Festival and the growing Bromsgrove Beer and Cider Festival which by the way, starts on this coming Friday! These festivals demonstrate the choice available to the consumer and encourage people to try a variety of different beers.

Speech Part 1

My name’s Paul Richards and I’m the Chairman of the Redditch and Bromsgrove branch of the Campaign for Real Ale. It’s a pleasure to be here with you today sampling some of our finest traditional cask-conditioned real ale and I hope you are all enjoying it.

Our organisation started over forty years ago when the development of lager began to outstrip the demand for real ale; and more licensees opted to sell commercially mass-produced watery beers that were fizzed up and chilled to death to take the taste out of them. Hops were replaced by bubbles. The pub landlord found that these new beers were much easier to look after and had a longer shelf life. And these mass-marketed beers all began to taste the same.   

Many people began to become increasingly concerned about the low flavour of these beers and wanted to see a better choice of British brewed beers at the bar.

The Rocklands keeps on Rocking

Members of Redditch & Bromsgrove CAMRA were treated to a musical delight when they arrived in Redditch to award the Rocklands Social Club with their Club of the Year Award. As well as a beer festival which raised funds towards a Redditch John Bonham memorial, there was also an excellent open mic night led by CAMRA branch member Mark Collinson, together with who supplied acoustics. Mark then introduced the presentation by inviting club officials Kevin Morgan and Matthew Hill onto the stage to accept their award for the second year running. Branch Chairman Paul Richards praised the efforts of the Rocklands Ale Taster Society (RATS) who put together a yearly

calendar of beer and cider-related events including social trips to pubs and ‘Meet the Brewer’ evenings, as well as going to extreme lengths to get the latest brews before anyone else! The Rocklands now goes forward to the next round of judging in the CAMRA West Midlands Region Club of the Year competition.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry’s tale is getting longer, and as his year gets more action packed his deeds begin to stack up; which is reflected in the size of this book. However, the action is as novel and creative as ever. The plot also begins to unfold some more as we learn more about the past actions of evil wizards and the extreme efforts that Dumbledore has taken to protect Harry. The frustrations within the characters really begin to mount up, especially when the elders have to come to terms with divulging information to the troubled teens. But somehow they still remain together to battle the Death Eaters and win the day. Rowling really does pay attention to detail in the actions of her characters and their needs, whether it’s the Welcome Witch on duty at St. Mungo’s on Christmas Day, or the undercover government official with a reputation to protect. The final battle is the most dramatic yet; which will keep you reading until the very last page. 

Dream Diary 2

I have had some very strange sleep patterns over the weekend, mainly because I have had to attend beer festivals in between work. On Saturday I fell asleep as soon as I arrived back home, not waking till 10pm, then again at 1am. Of course, after 1am I struggled to get back to sleep again, but in between I had a very strange dream of chasing a bull into a garage while wearing an orange suit, complete with a pork pie-style hat. I’m then jogging around in a garden looking at tombstones with large daisies protruding from them. After climbing a stile over barbed wire, I’m then face to face with the bull which chases me round in circles. My Dad suddenly cries out ‘Paul’, and I actually wake up, totally unsure if he called me in the dream or in reality. I search the house apart from my parents’ room, but they still remained asleep in their room. Unless my Dad called my name in his sleep and woke me up…

Smiler

The Smiler at Alton Towers is costing the Merlin Group around half a million pounds by being shut each day. And all because a bunch of employees weren't sharp enough to do their menial job by ensuring that the ride was safe enough for the next riders. I fully appreciate the efforts that the park is making to aid its victims. But we're not seeing anything of the average worker who is responsible for the ride being brought to justice for their negligence. So perhaps this will teach the theme park to pay their workers a higher wage in order to make them pay attention; while firing and bringing to justice those who may be the cause of this mishap due to their own neglect of their duties. And now we have to look at the people who watch all of our machines. Because the machines are failing…

10th RambAle Part 3

View of the Malvern Hills

Continuing south through more home-grown footpaths across the fields, we climbed a small incline for a fantastic view of the Malvern Hills. From there it was downhill towards the main road, then onto a narrow downhill footpath. We soon arrived at Holt Fleet, where at the end of a caravan park lies the Wharf Inn. This freehouse is open to the public and offers great views of the river Severn in its popular beer garden alongside three real ales. On offer during our visit was Wye Valley Butty Bach and Fubar, golden ale from the Tiny Rebel brewery in Newport.

Outside the Wharf Inn, Holt Fleet

But as we headed east along the Severn back towards Ombersley, it wasn’t just the beer that was rebelling. A herd of cows, anxious to protect their calf, had just finished bathing, and it took nerves of steel to shoo them off the footpath and into the centre of the field! Once we had edged passed, we were soon free to enter the wood and return to the village, calling in at the Crown and Sandys for an appropriately named beer from Prescott brewery called Hill Climb.   

10th RambAle Part 2

Back into the fields, we headed west back to the main road, and the farmer had done a great job here

of marking the footpath clearly by leaving a great gap between his crops through the field. However, the stiles here still need a little work as we practically had to vault over some of them and our leader made a mental note to bring a footstool next time! We soon arrived at the Leaking Well in Dunhampton where Wye Valley HPA was available in fine form which we enjoyed in the pub’s lounge bar.

After crossing another busy stretch of the road, we headed south-west through more fields and into a hamlet named Northampton. Feeling confused, we then found our favourite stile yet; a set of metal steps complete with handrail and room to turn at the top for a safe descent. A short while later we arrived at the Fruiterer’s Arms, a busy pub where we were greeted with three real ales available from the adjacent Cannon Royall Brewery. Our RambAlers quickly supped up the Fruiterer’s Mild and Comfortable Stout, and also polished off the pub’s homemade sandwiches and delicious pork pies. 

10th RambAle: Part 1

It was a perfect June summer’s day. The sun was out, the air was warm, yet there was a cool breeze floating around the village of Ombersley. Perfect conditions for eleven CAMRA members to visit pubs in the area as part of the tenth Redditch & Bromsgrove CAMRA RambAle!

We started our walk at the Cross Keys in Ombersley village, where we wet our whistles in preparation for the furthest stretch of our walk. On offer was Wye Valley HPA and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, the latter being the most popular beer of choice. On starters orders, we headed north-east across the fields towards Doverdale, passing a large reflective pond popular with fishermen. After passing through a small wood and battling our way through an overgrown field, we crossed a number of stiles including a very helpful set of steps in place. We soon arrived at the Honeybee which was very popular with diners, which also caused us to rethink our lunchtime plans. However, three real ales were available here and were on fine form, including Sharp’s Doom Bar, Old Speckled Hen and Fuller’s London Pride.

Dream Diary

I had a bizarre ravel of travel dreams  last night. My first terror was that I had to get to the airport on time ready for my family's holiday. My family was already there but for some reason I'd been stuck in Bromsgrove. There I was on a bus in Bromsgrove trying to get home to Redditch. It was a Sunday so buses were limited and I found myself boarding a Johnsons bus numbered 14 and the last digit was stuck between 1 and 2 so it wasn't clear where it was going. I had a friend on the phone standing at Bromsgrove Bus Station trying to advise me which was the right service. I got to Redditch realising that I had not done any packing or arranged any foreign currency and I was torn between jumping home in a taxi to pack or head directly to the airport to buy what I need. Eventually I decided to board a train which got me into the city centre; but I could not find a final train to the airport.  

Humans

Channel 4’s new drama next week looks quite inspiring. It’s all about synthetic humans in the regular household; designed to complete domestic tasks. It will be interesting to see just how much labour the machine is asked to undertake. The robotic slave is the next step in our future for the rich elite; but it is doubtful that the common man can afford one as what we witness here. Perhaps that’s a reason for them to take over by making them so readily available. Will the machines copy the humans by creating relationships of their own; with either each other or other desperate humans? There’s a lot of ways in which this storyline can move forward; the machines could just destroy our own relationships or go further and annilate us for the domination of the planet. It will also be interesting to witness Catherine Parkinson in a new domestic role; her next major appearance since the IT crowd.

Battle Los Angelos

At first glance; this film doesn’t offer much in the way of a storyline. There’s a war in Los Angeles; with aliens who are attempting to colonise our planet with tech that’s quite similar to our own. There’s little in the way of a background plotline; it’s all done through speculations by the media, and there are no presidents hiding in bunkers making heroic plans. It’s actually a tale of heroic bravery; showing that despite conflict within the squadron; people really can pull together to save the day and get the job done. It’s all about the marines doing what they can and never giving up despite the odds. There is loss and the depravity of human nature looking to blame each other; which comes up in a strange climax before the end of the final scene. But if the aliens were exchanged for a realistic enemy alongside a more topical battlefield, this would actually make a good film. Because marines don’t quit.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The books are getting bigger, but Rowling’s Premier wizard is still as novel as ever. After an entertaining and scary prologue where we witness Voldermort making his plans for his return to a physical form, Rowling treats us to an entertaining  look into the muggle world from a wizarding point of view. There’s also high school rivalary aplenty as Harry and Ron struggle to cope with the pressures put upon them by the wizarding world, and indeed their friendship is tested once again. The Death Eaters are introduced as they re-emerge to seek their Dark Lord in their attempt to gain power in the world. The climax to the story is again wonderfully inventive, and no-one would suspect the final outcome; simply because of the novel ways in which Rowling’s characters utilise their magic to get the job done. And of course, as well as the detective moments; there’s also plenty of action as Harry battles to survive in the Tri-Wizard tournament.

Good Bottled Beer Guide

It’s great to see the expanding range of beers in our country. But bottled beer is a difficult one. Bright beer has a very low shelf life, making it easy to take round to a friend’s house to enjoy is of course the most versatile of choices; but instead Evans has chosen to limit his selection to bottle conditioned beer. The text itself is mostly a list of what Evans has drunk this year; and there is very little in the storytelling of each beer as the jacket suggests. Neither does Evans supply any personal recommendations. To be perfectly honest; you may as well buy the Good Beer Guide instead as it will tell you the exact same thing; and you can always get in touch with the brewer or a wholesaler to see if bottles are available. Hopefully this guide will be more useful in future editions; perhaps with a more robust guide to on-line retailers or wholesalers available which can be recommended.

In Cold Blood

Dawson’s first outing with Beatrix Rose is gripping yet mesmerising; but also unbelievable. She faces astronomical odds in her encounters with the enemy, and we are given little background material to come to terms with the skills that she is blessed with in order to survive. We are thrust into the plot line of what could be her final hour as she battles with her terminal illness; and that's just alongside the combative action we witness in this title. I also felt that this was way too short to be a stand-alone novel; in that there so many unanswered questions to Beatrix’s background. If this book was to made into a film (and I sincerely hope so; there are loads of action sequences here); it would only last about half an hour. However, the real time information and pace of the narrative is so detailed that it really is addictive. More please. 

Scavengers Space Finale Part 1

Just before the clock reached zero, a screen flickered on a console near the end of the viewing platform to reveal Kent Brockman, the fictional  newsreader from the Simpsons.

‘We interrupt this world domination takeover to bring you this breaking announcement.’ The screen went blank as the opening words of Donna Summer’s ‘I love you always forever’ plays through the speakers. Flint looked round the room at his commanding officers, baffled. They returned the gesture; shrugging their shoulders right back at him. At the words ‘Discovering You’, a single message in a small white font is displayed on the screen. It reads simply; Scavengers Rule.

Through the window into the depths of space, lights flicker on to reveal a long oval-shaped silver zeppelin with large wings and fins. However, Flint’s attention is focused on his cydroids as their feet have started to tap in time with the bass line of the music.

Frasier

I do enjoy watching Fraser but it does have its ups and downs. I prefer the situational comedy that the characters get into rather than the reflective monologues that occur more often. It’s often a self-centred comedy about its chief character and his quest to be a desirable Ladies man rather than of a radio psychiatrist. There are some classic moments that I love such as throwing his father’s chair out of his apartment building or refusing to pay the two dollar parking toll after three minutes of parking. My absolute favourite moment has to be when the brothers agree to open their own restaurant. I think that one of my main problems is that I always watch each episode out of perspective; so I am never aware of which timeline each plot relates to. I have absolutely no idea as to how the series concludes. One day I shall have to watch it from scratch and get my head round it.