I’m not one for celebrating days (apart from 22 December); treat every day like the best day of your life. So I haven’t been out on New Year’s Eve at midnight for 30 years, since I saw in the year of The Beloved and Fool’s Gold and World In Motion with six IPAs (“Ippers”) at… Continue reading HAPPY NEW YEAR
Month: December 2019
2020 VISION
Tonight I’ll be working on my Stocktake for December (Spoiler: lots of pubs) and the Annual Retired Martin Awards for 2019. If you can guess my PubMan of the year you win two pints of ESB. In the meantime, what does 2020 promise for the pubber. Inspired by Pub Curmudeon’s review of the decade, I… Continue reading 2020 VISION
REMEMBERING RICHARD
It would be amiss at this time of remembrance not to recognise the man who left us in June this year, and my thoughts are with Cheryl and the family. I’ve been looking through my own photos from the year, nearly 8,000 of them on this blog, and realising how they pale compared to the… Continue reading REMEMBERING RICHARD
YOUR 2020 BASS CALENDAR
Starting work on my own 2019 highlights now, and I realised I could milk delight you with a bonus post. Twelve Bass beauties, which a random child could probably convert into a calendar for you if you bribe them with a Doom Bar. Will there be a Doom Bar calendar too ? JANUARY – FLAT… Continue reading YOUR 2020 BASS CALENDAR
IT’S A BRAPA WORLD AND WE’RE JUST LIVING IN IT
On my imaginary desert island (probably Foulness Island in Essex) I’d swap the Shakespeare for the GBG and have a constantly updating BRAPA blog. I might even have time to read BRAPA rather than just looking at the pictures. Luckily Matthew pays more attention than I do; And produced the startlingly good cover for this… Continue reading IT’S A BRAPA WORLD AND WE’RE JUST LIVING IN IT
NO STAGGER, BUT STOCKPORT STILL STARTLES
A few holiday snaps from Stockport. I know how much you like my holiday snaps. Over our 6th pint in Shifnal I’d decided that a night in Stocky was overdue and I’d join local worthies like Old Mudgie on their annual Christmas Stagger. £29 a room, and Mrs RM could come to if she wanted… Continue reading NO STAGGER, BUT STOCKPORT STILL STARTLES
A SEDBERGH SCHOOLING
One more from Cumbria for now, but I’ll be back, as BRAPA said last week. Whither Sedbergh ? Wiki tells me the economy is driven by the schools, which probably makes it the Uppingham of the North. The sports kit shop probably accounts for 22% of local GDP. Like Uppingham, eerily quiet. Unlike Uppingham, spectacularly… Continue reading A SEDBERGH SCHOOLING
HESKET NEWMARKET – GOOD ENOUGH FOR PRINCE CHARLES…
Yes, a veritable flood of posts now that I have internet. The Ultimate Premier Inn WiFi is ultimately little better than the free version, mind. Next up was a pub that’s been bugging me for literally decades since it became the first cooperative in 2003. Prince Charles paid an early visit, rather more successful than… Continue reading HESKET NEWMARKET – GOOD ENOUGH FOR PRINCE CHARLES…
ALL KICKING OFF IN KESWICK
Not really, of course. It only kicks off in Keswick when two septuagenarians fight over the last scone or one of them suggests actually going for a walk in the new boots they’ve bought at 45% off in Mountain Warehouse. Or someone wants to make a return visit to the Pencil Museum, the dullest sounding… Continue reading ALL KICKING OFF IN KESWICK
LICKING THE LAKES (NOT LITERALLY)
I awoke (no pun) to find the Lake District the Number 1 trending item on Twitter. Oddly, it’s not because the Lakers are building a wall to keep BRAPA out, merely that the Lakes are racist or something. So that’s OK. I’m quite diverse, I don’t wear a pashmina or read the Telegraph, and… Continue reading LICKING THE LAKES (NOT LITERALLY)
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