An Early McDonalds #mcdonaldsmutterings2

Just when you think the world is quiet, it gets quite busy. I got up very early in the morning in the hope of slipping away quietly, and decided that the easiest thing to do would be to grab breakfast from McDonalds by the train station as there was a good chance of it being very quiet before 7am. What I forgot about was the fact that it was early Saturday morning and many of the Friday night revellers were still hanging around. Some had even attempted to spend the night there, but luckily the staff were on hand to move these vagabonds onto the street. There was a large family at the till who were clearly having problems deciding what to order, but even though this branch of McDonalds looked old, they still had some kiosks installed. But what should have been a quick wait took over ten minutes. People who had ordered after me were clearly receiving their orders before me. In didn't mind when it was just coffees but when people started to receive breakfasts before me I naturally started to feel a bit annoyed. My number had disappeared from the screen and I was just about to start complaining when I got served by a lovely young girl. I wonder what time they start in the mornings?

Goddards Fuggle-De-Dum at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms, Liverpool

The Philharmonic Dining Rooms is the pub of all pubs. We walked past it a few times during our stay in Liverpool, and in most cases the crowds were spilling out onto the road outside. It was only on Sunday that we managed to venture in, and it’s easy to see the attraction. It’s built like a castle with balconies and a golden and black painted ornate gate acts as a door. Inside, a circular bar is set into a tiled lobby, which is perfect for those who want to prop up the bar. Surrounding this are private wooden-panelled rooms set for the more intimate; with a larger room for the public at the end. But the grand finale is the dining room itself; a huge ten-foot room with chandeliers; wood carvings and decorated in gold as if you were in Buckingham Palace itself. There’s also a buzz about the men’s toilets; as the urinals are circular in nature and are decorated in marble. It’s a shame that the beer selection is tied; this pub really needs to break free for it to earn its true potential. 

Lock-Up

I'm locked out! Not out of my hotel room, not out of my house or not even out of my car! I can see my car through the railings but I just can't get to it because it’s locked in the car park. It's great that it’s kept safe and secure and that I don't have to pay any parking, but it's kind of put a halt on my early start to head up north. In an attempt of common sense I've tried to call the security firm that manages the site but unfortunately my phone’s ran out of juice. Foolishly, the only wire that can charge my phone is in the car; I'd somehow took the charger but not the cable. So I’m sat outside with no other option than to sit in a bus shelter and wait for opening time, but how long that will be is anyone’s guess. And a bunch of guys wandering around asking for directions have said that I’m all right.

Liverpool Organic Ale at the Hole in Ye Wall, Liverpool

This pub was our last venue on our Dale Street tour, and it was rumoured to be the oldest pub in the city. It’s also fascinating to see that this pub has survived considering the venue next door is also a pub which occupies the street corner. Surely at some point it might have made sense to merge the two businesses, even if the pub’s interior prevented knocking the building through. Inside, cosy would be the best adjective to describe the interior of this pub. There’s just a small room at the front and a corridor with a few bar stools. The bar continues into a larger area with an ornate snug which we shared with a group from Poland before our singing helped them to make a gracious and friendly exit. The pub is named because it’s on the site of an old graveyard so the beer is kept upstairs for hygiene reasons and is fed through a wall rather than from a line from the cellar.

On the Trams

I quite enjoyed my commute back into Birmingham last night. A friend had asked me to walk back with her as she didn't fancy walking through the underpass system on her own, and we had quite an entertaining journey. We had a drunk to watch in front of us who was slowly wobbling to and fro across the pavement and was getting closer and closer to the road. We then turned a corner and headed up the hill towards the station and at one point we’d lost him when he wandered into an indoor car park. I had half expected a car to appear roaring up towards the pavement, but luckily he had other things on his mind and we heard a trickling as we wandered past the entrance. But it was great to catch up with my friend on our short journey, and we managed to talk about Scotland as well as beer which was fun too. 

Black Edge Gold at the Caledonian, Liverpool

Feeling peckish, we decided to head over to the Caledonian as we'd heard good things about their food menu and how cheap it was. However, when we arrived we found out that food service had finished for the day and that they weren't serving evening meals. This was a great shame on their part as they could have made a mint from the whole weekend. Nevertheless, we were there for the beer too and we all got ourselves a quick half while we thought over our next move. The pub was reasonably busy because of the football and there was also live music planned for later in their upstairs room. And somehow another pub crawl had managed to catch up with us; this time it was a guided tour for the older CAMRA members who weren't able to use maps or modern technology to plan their way around. And there were loads of them. The queue at one point was out the door so in our best interest we decided to give them room and make our own way onwards. 

Birmingham Beer Festival

I've quite enjoyed Birmingham Beer Festival this year. As well as working behind the bar, I’ve also been entrusted to run the festival games stand and as well as the merchandise and membership stand. I seem to have regained the gift of salesman, encouraging people to have a go at rolling the barrel and parting with their cash to buy old t-shirts. I've volunteered in a novel number of ways and have hoped that I've earns my wages in beer more than some, as they are usually very generous when it comes to offering beer tokens. But there seems to be less sponsorship at these events, and you have to wonder how much money they need to make in order to break even. Are they overspending on volunteers; especially since this year the bottled beer stand was allowing tokens instead of cash. Fewer and fewer volunteers seemed to know what CAMRA’s policies were or what to do in some situations. And that's very worrying if they're not training their own volunteers. 

Burscough Mere Blonde at the Belvedere, Liverpool

After some photographs it was time to hit the pubs and we decided to make a beeline for the Belvedere. Here we established a base while we worked out what everyone was doing and where would be a good place to meet up later. The pub itself was extremely crowded and we just about got around the door to order a half and scan the Cask Marque certificate. Outside though there was plenty of room and a few benches were out outside in the small square that the pub was in for us to spill into. And we made it just in time as a ghost walk was just beginning by the local history society, and we even got a free performance by some of the actors who were just arriving and automatically thought that we were on their tour. After giving him a good audience we thought it best to move on before their real customers arrive to crowd out the square as well. 

Rock and Roll! #dreamdiary11

I'm at a rock concert! It's a great venue but it seems to be on the road of a council estate and I can’t actually see the band! It's a bricked structure and every corner or (church) seems to lead to someone’s front door. Nevertheless, the music carries on and the event is well stewarded despite being outside people's doorsteps and the music’s volume gets quieter as the evening heads into night. People are either standing in small groups drinking beer or, like me, they’ve overindulged and are swaying from side to side in time to the music. Some people have overdone it and have been left to sleep it off in a dark corner. But most people are appreciating the death rock. The air is cold yet the atmosphere is warm because of the number of people present, yet there's plenty of space for those who want it. And there seems to be no complaints from the neighbours. 

Burnsbrough Claro at the Augustus John, Liverpool

We’d had an exhaustive and intense during our mid-afternoon meeting. A lot of the information that the floor demanded wasn’t disclosed by the chair, which led to a lot of disruptions. The meeting then broke for workshops; but it wasn’t made clear that pre-registration was required, and the list displaying which workshop was happening in which room had been removed. Many of us had stormed out in frustration and headed for the nearest pub which just happened to be the Augustus John. This small student-led pub was ill-equipped for the storm of beer fans coming through its doors, and once again it was only due to our pensioner friends that we managed to secure some seats. There was a good scrum at the bar and some of the rebel rousers had even pushed their way through and got served before we did. This was all to the bewilderment of the locals who just wanted to sit down and eat pizza before enjoying the football coverage.  

Bogus Brittania

I'm in a Birmingham hotel! I managed to book it fairly cheap at the last minute, all to save myself a few minutes in being able to help out at the beer festival. When I checked in there was a small queue but the staff seemed to deal with each problem quite quickly and I got checked in in no time. I didn't even need to show any ID. Going up, I shared the lift with an American who'd suffered rail delays from Weston-Super-Mare. I couldn't help thinking about Faulty Towers. The corridor was a little run down but my room had a nice sturdy door. Inside the room was fairly well furnished, but I have a view of the wall of the opposite building and the air conditioning just seems to rumble and rumble. The bed is tiny and half the electrical sockets are for a different continent. I'm still debating whether to risk the breakfast buffet or go around the corner and have a traditional fry-up. 

Meet the Brewer: Weatheroak Hill

Weatheroak Hill Brewery was established in 2008 and brews on the site of the Coach & Horses pub which is a few miles outside of Alvechurch. The pub itself was once owned by the Cadbury family, and its past forty-five years has been down to the hard work of Phil and Sheila Meads and their family of three generations. Head brewer Rob Walker has a great passion for brewing.  He’s been a home brewer for nine years and has also brewed at Ambridge in Inkberrow and at the Black Tap’s one barrel plant in Redditch. Rob began brewing at Weatheroak Hill in February and produces seasonal specials alongside six core beers at the six-barrel plant. He uses a large variety of world-grown hops such as Cascade and Warrior to brew Dark Mild, Icknield Pale Ale, and Gold. One of Rob’s regular beers, Cofton Common (4.9%), is based on a lager recipe and uses an ale yeast at low temperature with Vienna malts and a German hop named Tettnang. He loves to experiment and has produced some fantastic seasonal specials including a Halloween-themed mild fused with rum and orange (Afraid of the Dark 4.2%) and a coffee-flavoured mild named Espresso Italiano. Weatheroak Hill’s Christmas beer will be a pale ale brewed with a New Zealand hop named Sticklebract. Rob brews weekly for the Coach & Horses and also brews for the free trade on request. Bottling has also begun at Weatheroak Hill and are on sale at the pub and Rob hopes to get them into local shops in time for Christmas. 

What the Camera Man Saw

Many weird and wonderful things have been spotted in the background of news reports. It’s well documented on YouTube; from sports fans longing to get a glimpse of fame during their celebrations to local yobs acting up in the background often with the reporter losing it as a result. Modern broadcasters are often able to blur out the background to create more focus on their reporters while protecting the public as they pass by; but if you look close enough you can still see the outline of people going about their daily lives. I once saw a highway maintenance van nearly run a couple as it made its oblivious way down a pedestrianised high street. The truck calmly carried on while the yonder woman held back the elderly man then stopped to comfort him. Once the man had been told what had happened, he shook his fist at the offending vehicle. Of course, the newsreader was oblivious to all this as she was facing the camera, but I wonder if it caught the attention of the cameraman. 

Decanter

A new shop specialising in beer, cider wines and spirits has opened on the High Street of Bromsgrove. Decanter Spirit opened in late September and stocks a range of bottled ales from local breweries such as Sadler’s, Teme Valley, Shakespeare and North Cotswold. The beer range is quite small, and not much is being done to market the shop other than a Facebook page. Being an independent business, you would think that they would have a website up and running so that people can view their stock list or product range; but there’s no such item currently available. The owner doesn’t seem to have any business sense and doesn’t greet customers as they enter the shop, so they may not be running for long. There’s a large selection of bottled ciders as well as specialised spirits such as rhubarb-flavoured vodka, a large variety of fruit-flavoured gin alongside whiskies, brandies and glassware. Decanter Spirit can be found opposite Loretta’s Bakehouse and next to the British Heart Foundation charity shop. I wish them well but they need to expand on their offering and perhaps offer evening party nights to tempt me back. 

The Downing Street Cat

There’s a new prowler on Downing Street. It’s not a corrupt politician or a paparazzi journalist desperate to make their first scoop; it’s the Downing Street cat. If you keep your eyes on a political TV news report, you may see it sitting on the doorstep waiting to come in. the current cat is very indecisive. It’s unsure whether to venture in or not when the door is left open for it to come inside. The Downing Street door has the same rules as Doctor Who’s TARDIS; it must never be fully left open otherwise people can get a glimpse of its inside structure. And it must be hard for the Downing Street cat to acknowledge all these new faces; especially when a change of leadership is involved. But the cat is the perfect spy for the inner workings of government. If its collar was chipped then anyone could listen in. what if the cat fell into the wrong hands while out on the prowl? Is there a security officer dedicated to tracking its movements? Or perhaps the cat has its own network already set up and is placed to ensure that our feline friends are at the top of the game when it comes to learning our nation’s political secrets.

September Social (3)

Mansfield was our next destination, which took us to the Olde White Lion in the heart of the town centre. This pub proved tricky to find as it was hosted in a natural cave at the end of a yard, with two seating areas inside and a second bar upstairs. The pub had also undergone a recent change of management, so after a swift half of Blind Tiger from the Springfield Brewery we decided to move on.

Heading south, we soon reached the village of Arnold on the outskirts of Nottingham, and our destination here was the Robin Hood and Little John. This is one of Arnold’s oldest pubs and is over 250 years old, and in the past it has served as a coaching house. It’s currently owned through a partnership between Everards and Lincoln Green breweries, and there were ten real ales available during our visit. This lively community venue has lots of brewery memorabilia and details the history of the local area including pubs and breweries past and present. As we were leaving the village, we managed to get a glimpse of the old Home Ales Brewery building. 

The Runaway Runway

Well done to the BBC for their in-depth coverage of Britain’s new runway. I could not agree more. Quite frankly; to put a new third runway at Heathrow would only create more traffic chaos in the skies and would only add to the city’s pollution. Moving it to Birmingham makes much more sense. Firstly, it reinforces the government’s claim that the Midlands is a regional powerhouse for the country. It will create thousands of jobs for local people who are already able to commute there through the excellent transport links already available. Secondly, it will make the concept of a HS2 line seem more plausible. A purpose-built station could even be incorporated into the new part of the airport. The airport is operating under capacity compared to the overcrowding at Heathrow and there’s plenty of land surrounding Birmingham that isn’t being used; perfect for expansion. But to keep the third runway in London is a backwards step. It demonstrates that the country still needs its close links to its European neighbours and that it’s not yet ready to let go.

September Social (2)

Thoughts now turned to food and our earlier delay at Nottingham Trent meant that we were slightly behind schedule. To catch up, we headed north into Bleasby and arrived at the Waggon & Horses. This pub overlooks the village green and dates back to 1832, and on our visit this freehouse offered beers from the Blue Monkey Brewery. These beers were also featured in their good value pub meals; and the steak and ale pie, fish and chips and sausages and mash were heartily enjoyed by all who partook of them. There was also a great deal on miniature casks which tempted a couple of members.

Our fourth stop was only a few miles away and turned out to be a true gem. The Final Whistle in Southwell is formed from an old railway line and has lots of railway memorabilia, including a miniature station complete with a section of track. The pub was bought by Everards in 2010 but has a great range of guest ales from other breweries as well, including two house beers brewed for them from Ashover in Chesterfield. As we took our seats in the first-class lounge (no upgrade required!), we were invited outside to watch a sword-dancing team perform in the beer garden. Based in Nottingham, Sullivan’s Sword performed several dances for us with their longswords and let one of our enthusiastic members join in at the end. 

Hotel Heaven #dreamdiary10

I’m in a Liverpool hotel! It’s a cute little corner room on the first floor of a stone-built pub, with not too much outside noise and has an excellent view for people-watching. As I venture out, the staircase which previously led up to my room has vanished, and the only other door in the hallway has a number three on the front which seems to be another person’s room but with no other choice, I open it to reveal a wooden staircase leading down a bright red-walled stairwell. At the bottom of the stairs there is a bed but there’s also a stand displaying swimming equipment. As I look around, I seem to be in some sort of department store. I take the lift up to the next floor and discover a swimming pool in its centre. The floor after that has a bar with a glass floor with a view of a giant snooker table; only it’s covered with obstacles like a crazy golf course. Excited, I decide to find my friends and challenge them to a game; but they’re all asleep in a dorm. I return to my room to find a note on my door asking me to return to reception as my bags are there because I missed the deadline to check out. 

September Social (1)

Redditch and Bromsgrove CAMRA’s September Social was a coach trip to explore the villages around Nottinghamshire. Organised by the branch’s Social Secretary Mark Collinson, the trip gave members the opportunity to visit seven interesting venues that would normally be difficult to reach on their own.

After a grand tour of the Nottingham Trent Bridge Cricket ground gates, we got our Paul-Paul set up and we soon arrived at the Poppy and Pint in West Bridgford. This former British Legion Club is now owned by Castle Rock Brewery and offered five real ales from their range alongside another seven guest beers including those of Salopian and the Tiny Rebel Brewery. The staff were very friendly during our visit and there was a great community vibe. As we left, we worked out that one of the items mounted on the wall was a full-sized disassembled snooker table!

Our second stop was to meet the Marquis of Granby in the village of Granby itself. This cosy two-roomed pub is a taphouse for Brewster’s and has a house bitter brewed by the Grantham-based brewery just twelve miles away. The four guest ales were also from local breweries including Magpie Gold, a beer from the recently upgraded Magpie brewery in Nottingham. 

Partners Blonde at Peter Kavanagh's, Liverpool

One of the quirkiest pubs in Liverpool is the Peter Kavanagh. It's independently owned and was constructed by an eccentric businessman in the late nineteenth century. From the outside it looks any other pub but once you're in, you'll be amazed. There's murals on the walls of famous people that Kavangh admired, including Charles Dickens, and this famous landlord of himself even has caricatures of himself engraved into the armrests. As we were arriving, the present landlord was giving a tour of the pub, demonstrating the unique design of the tables including a built-in ashtray and a flippable table to play chess or checkers. These tables are so unique that they’re worth thousands of pounds on their own. It had been a long journey to get to this pub, but we had to undertake the journey to deliver some t-shirts that I’d carted up from the Midlands. As it was our last pub I'd ordered two different halves, but I'd somehow managed to knock them over as I wobbled back to our table. That was the perfect time to take on some water and avoid the beer for the rest of the evening. 

Liverpool Metropolitian Cathedral

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral is one of the biggest cathedrals in the country. It’s quite a modern structure with its water tower-styled crown on its top and it’s made entirely out of concrete rather than of traditional blocks of sandstone. But this modern structure has little history other than it was built to recognise Liverpool’s status as having an arch-bishop, and it’s not even in the layout of a traditional church. But it’s good to see that this a church for the people as it makes its availability as a community venue to host small music gigs, beer festivals, and even university examinations. It’s ironic that we just walked around it and used its steps as a plinth to take a group photo. But we did use it to idolise us; just as the arch-bishops did. We never got a chance to look inside as the pubs were calling. But then again, perhaps that would be a good thing as we’d already started on some beer.

Jasmine's Jazz #dreamdiary9

Jasmine opened the door. ‘This was going to be great’, she thought, ‘A real bunch of musical refugees. This will certainly wake the tribe up and do some good.’ ‘Come in, come in’, she said. Leave your bags in the hall and take a seat.’ She then dashed upstairs to wake the others.

‘Sam and Jake looked at each other. They knew that their bags hadn’t got any musical instruments in them whatsoever, just their belongings. The bags were the only things that they could find to carry their things in when they were evacuated from the school. No-one on the border had asked to see their bags since the need to leave was so urgent. However, here they were, and it was too late to do anything else. All they could do when the time came was to shrug and admit defeat. They slowly lowered their bags onto the floor and entered the sitting room.

Mike's Escape

I'd nearly escaped. I'd got all my clothes on and had made it halfway up the road before they found me. I only wanted to pop out for a pint. I knew that the two different shifts would be touring the house together discussing who needed what and how so-and-so was feeling so when they headed upstairs they wouldn't notice me slipping into the garden. There'd been a storm the night before which had blown the nice crooked, which gave me the perfect opportunity to slip through the gap and onto freedom. But they’d spotted me somehow; the afternoon shift must have been just after going home; and had sent the evening shift off after me. I was so close to sipping some amber nectar; but they dragged me back through the doors saying on no account was I allowed outside on my own. I said, ‘Tell you what fellas, why don't we just go out there for a drink and it’s on me? I'll make sure that you're covered.’ ‘Sorry Mike’ they replied, ‘Our jobs would be on the line if we focused too many resources on just one person’. 

More corruption in Football

So England has lost another football manager. To be honest, I didn’t even know that we’d lost Roy Hodgson, though it was understandable after England’s dismal performance in the Euros. Sam Allardyce is now known to be England’s most successful manager; having won all of his games during his 67 days in charge. So where has this dodgy guy come from; and why has he suddenly felt the need to encourage further corruption in English Football? Once again, our national sport is in charge of the rich who just want to keep it running as a business rather than a leisure activity, and there’s no passion left in the spirit of the game. Rumours are now abound that Arséne Wenger should be recommended for the job, as at least he’s in charge of a successful team, even if half of them are foreigners. But it’s been speculated that he’s been enjoying himself too much at his own team and doesn’t want to leave or manage both posts; especially since half of it is named after himself. It’s probably because the pay is better.   

It's not all Gloom for the Greyhound

Members of Bromsgrove District Council voted to stop the bulldozers from demolishing the Greyhound in October. Concerned residents of Rockhill and members of the Redditch & Bromsgrove branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) gathered at the council’s planning committee meeting to voice their views over the proposed development.

Many people were concerned that permission to demolish the pub could be granted without the need of a full planning application. Representing the developers, Mr. Morris said that the demolition was necessary to improve the road in the form of a roundabout. However, no such plans for the construction of a roundabout were available at the meeting.

Redditch & Bromsgrove CAMRA’s Pub Officer Martin Hancox said: ‘The pub should be saved. It’s a viable community asset and has been very popular with customers in the past; serving food and supporting a local darts team.’ Pubs Preservation Officer Cy Day added: ‘I can only say that the people currently responsible for the Greyhounds have tried to take a shortcut to demolish this much-loved pub’.

The decision means that a full consultation must now take place, and the council must also vote on an application to list the pub as an asset of community value, of which Redditch and Bromsgrove CAMRA submitted to them in September. Councillor Luke Mallett (pictured rear middle) said that the committee have made the right decision.

The site of the Greyhound dates back to the nineteenth century when it was known as an old quarryman’s pub. 

Out of the mouth of Babes

The nation has been shamed. Brooke Blair, a five-year-old girl from Coventry, has spoken out against the Prime Minister because of her lack of action in helping the homeless. “You should be out there, Theresa May, biscuits and helping to build houses”. She’s since appeared on social media and has been interviewed by the press to hear of her aspirations to become the next Prime Minister. It’s natural that children should be curious about the world that they see, and upset about the unpleasant unfairness in our world. The fact that Brooke is practically telling off the Prime Minister demonstrates how intelligent the next generation of children will be. But while this attraction will only inflate her ego, it also puts the rest of us to shame. Because in less than five years, Brooke has raised issues that many campaigners have struggled for years to highlight in the press. It goes to show that the people in power aren’t working hard enough to help the homeless; and clearly there is much more to be done.

Chesterton Mill

While driving through the southern part of Warwickshire one night trying to deliver to a village with the wrong postcode, I came across a windmill on a hilltop in a field. As I got closer, I saw a wooden board near a gate suggesting that it was open to visits and I decided that it would be a great place to try and find a walk. On one weekend, when I’d failed to get up early enough to do anything, I decided to check it out. Of course, I left it far too late to do any proper planning and ended up printing a dodgy map off with just a blue line to show for the roads and footpaths. When I arrived, I parked opposite the windmill and decided to explore that first in case the weather changed, and I was also hoping that there would be some information available about local walks. This wasn’t the case; there was some general information about the history of the mill but signs made it quite clear that the footpath to the mill was clearly designed for an in/out approach. My next plan was to download the route to my phone which would be more accurate but no route could be found. In the end I decided to follow the road for a maximum of two miles looking for a footpath. I found one in ten minutes in the right direction which headed through a field but it turned out that this was too soon. Although I’d managed to half my mileage I’d also missed out on a lot of water features. But at least I got out there.

Wake Up Robbie

I’ve just heard the latest Robbie Williams song. It’s terrible. The main backing beat is a tinny drum with big bass that sounds like someone’s been bouncing a basketball around the recording studio. The main chorus seems to be of the Red Army marching through Red Square. Amazingly, it is called Party Like a Russian but it’s just so dross and dull, and the lyrics echo the format of an earlier song called Too Gentle. Chris Evans thought that It was amazing, but perhaps that’s because he’s watching the video of the Russian dancers, or maybe it’s because Robbie is making a guest appearance on his show next week. The trouble with established artists is that when they run out of novel material they try to sell themselves on their name alone and hope that this is enough to ride on the next wave of pop sales. Having heard this on the radio, I’m not going to rush out and buy it, and for Robbie’s sake I really hope that this isn’t one of his feature tracks on his new album.  

The Adventures of Mike Sharrack #sharrack1

Mike looked at the picture on the wall. ‘Yes, I remember.’ he said. ‘It was when me and the captain were touring the U.S after we’d won the war. Most of the squadron had got pulled back to Britain but we were asked to head over and help with the training on the next batch of privates. Anyway, it was the first full day of our tour and we had a few days leave before we started work and the victory parades were still in full swing. We’d done a march with a local homecoming parade and we’d been dismissed for the day and there were people giving out free food and beer for everyone in the force. So there we were drinking away when all of a sudden this group of local lasses started to walk up to us and sing. They’d thrown their clothes away and were coming up to us to congratulate us for our efforts; it was great.

I am the Cider Drinker

I’ve been treated like royalty. I’d been asked to find a judge for a local cider competition, and not being a cider fan myself I’d asked a few experts but found them to be unavailable. So not wishing to disappoint them, I put myself forward. It was a rainy day and I’d decided to take a lazy morning and wondered if I was too late and that they’d wanted to start and finish earlier. I’d got some home-grown pears that were slightly hard and I was hoping to press them into juice. As the shredding started, I realised that I’d brought nowhere near enough, so they ended up being added to someone’s apple juice. But I called away between the pressing and the pulping to start judging ciders. What I didn’t realise that there were eight ciders to judge in addition to the six commercial ones on sale; and that my results were broadcast as part of the entertainment! So even though I didn’t get any pear juice it was great fun as I had a discount on some cider to take home, a banana loaf to take home and a charity tombola basket which will serve well as someone’s Christmas present.