The Right House

So here we are in sunny D.C! It’s a very bright day though and on the first day I was really struggling with the sun and had forgotten to pack any sunglasses. An early visit to Hudson News at Union Station the following day soon put that right. The flight went very well, and the only problem we had was battling through the doors of the airport at Washington Dulles. Despite being one of the biggest airports in the world and has its own tram system, it still hasn’t installed automatic doors in its domestic area, leaving passengers to get slammed by doors by careless people in front of them. The first item on the agenda was a guided tour where we visited the US Capitol then hopped onto a bus which took us to the Treasury, then we were guided to Donald Trump’s house, though I was slightly disappointed as they let me stand on the closer side of the road that time.

Army Pals

It’s not every day that you get recruited on a pub crawl with the British Army. All I was intending on doing was delivering some magazines to a local pub followed by a visit to the bar to see what ales were on offer. Two people were waiting to order, and I wonder if they thought I was trying to push past them when I walked straight up to the handpumps. So I let them order and they asked me to recommend an ale. I said I’d personally choose the pale one as it was one that I hadn’t tried before so they bought a pint of it and asked for a taster too. Then they pay for the drinks and hand me a pint and asks me to join them in the beer garden. Well, it’d be rude not to. It turns out that they were all from the army reserves and they were having a send-off for two of their squaddies who’d got called up to the Gulf. I ended up singing along with them to karaoke on a mobile phone which is probably on YouTube somewhere. I found it hard to walk away from their hospitality and ended up at the next pub with them well singing a song about a lemon tree. Eventually they started on about their past services to each other so I found it a great opportunity to say my goodbyes and leave before I got drafted.

The Burst

How the hell have I ended up with 672 photos of me at my bedroom door on my phone? I’m not even doing anything interesting. The only thing I can think of is that I was trying out a selfie stick at the time. But it’s not the first time that it’s happened. When I’ve been taking pictures of stationary objects, the same thing has happened; albeit not as many photos were stored. It’s then hard to view each of these photos individually, so I’ve got no idea what the purpose of this function is. If I was to pick out an exact moment when everyone had their eyes open, it would be very useful indeed. But this is one bloke standing in the doorway. And it didn’t feel like I was pressing the button down at the time; though perhaps a third party product may have thought otherwise. Hopefully there’ll be fewer storage issues now that I’ve finally got around to removing these unflattering photos.

Breakfast Wrap at the Moon & Bell, Loughborough

This was a busy town centre Wetherspoon pub that was full to bursting and clearly needs to expand. It’s very closed plan and has lots of alcoves and little booths which tend to get in the way of each other. As I was first off the bus, I decided to get a pint first and worry about seating later. Unfortunately, I let someone before me put in a very large order which required the changing of a barrel as well. Once I’d got seated, I put my phone to good use and ordered the breakfast wrap which came quite quickly, though I’d wished I’d ordered a side of baked beans with it as well. Conveniently, my friend ordered a large breakfast but wasn’t a fan of the hash browns or mushrooms, so I used that to my advantage. Our table was down the aisle away from the bar but past the toilets, and we found that everyone was constantly trying to squeeze past us. They did have a very nice exhibit paying tribute to the publishers of Ladybird books though.  

My Room

My room is my sanctuary. It’s my lair where I can scheme and plot, but I should also be able to relax here. The trouble is that I have very little room for anything. I’ve got three piles of clothes with no room to sort them and probably need a good iron. I’m constantly sorting through what I’m wearing and what I plan to wear throughout the week then either change my mind or I’m told that it’s not suitable for the environment that I’m visiting. I’ve got a pile of papers from projects from years ago that I need to shift through. I’ve also got old VHS tapes under my bed and in the drawers that I’ve got no idea if they work or not. All I need is some time and space in a reasonable daylight period where I haven’t got someone constantly giving me assignments. And if the door’s closed then people should at least knock before they barge in. I’m not a consultant.

It's Down to You

"Nothing will work unless you do". -Maya Angelou

Wishing won’t get it. You’ve got to realise that things aren’t going to be done for you. You’ve got to keep the pressure on, even if it means constantly asking someone to do it until it’s done. It might take time for you to realise this, and you might have to go and bang on a few people’s doors to rally some support in order to get what you want. And it might not be an enjoyable process, but you have to see a way to meet your goal and follow it through. And if you don’t keep yourself busy, life has a way of throwing things at you to make sure that you’re occupied and that you’ve got plenty of problems to deal with. In short, you need to find your calling and spend every minute of energy you can working towards it. Because if you’re not prepared to put the effort towards it, no-one else will.

Nethergate Mary's Ruby Mild at the Rising Sun, Redditch

Ruby beers are becoming more popular nowadays. They ten to be of a fuller flavour. In years gone by, there were attempts to make red beer, and in fact some breweries who like to lean towards American recipes still do. Personally, I find that these beers tend to be a bit watered down, unless they have a nice smoky taste like Weatheroak’s Redwood beer which is sadly no longer brewed. Here, then, is the latest compromise; a nice blend with a bit of sugar to separate it from the old brown nutty beers which used to look so murky. Mind you, this beer could be murky enough to be out of a dog’s arse. But he’s got a hat on, so let’s hope that he has some sense of class. He might even had had a cigar in his mouth at some time and had to have it removed for political reasons.