retiredmartin

THE FACTS

Forty-three (43) new GBG pubs in February, which sounds a bit dull but much of the month was what we call tactical ticking that allowed me to clear TEN counties (don’t start, Mudgie)

• Surrey
• Kent
• Greater Manchester
• Staffordshire
• Merseyside (for a second time)
• Cheshire
• Warwickshire
• Oxfordshire
• Wiltshire
• Nottinghamshire

Leaving my GBG map looking better than it has any right to on 1 March.

The tricky bits all require boats or flights, of course, but with six months left before GBG21 plops on the mat and takes me back to 85%, I dream of reaching 96% or better by the end of August.

HIGHLIGHTS

My haircut from Matt was clearly the highlight of the month. To even things up with the fatherly attention I’m taking James to Hillsborough on Wednesday night. City’s win in Madrid has rather reignited the season.

I enjoyed exploring Runcorn and exploring the original bridge to Widnes before it reopens. It doesn’t take much to excite me these days.

Loads of Dire Straits heard in pubs this last month; are they the new Ed Sheeran ?

The best live version of a China Crisis song came in Witney;

WOW MOMENTS

The purpose of this section is to encourage Dick Southworth to get back fighting fit so he can get back over here and experience pubs as good as the Pelican in Devizes.

The moment when the Young Ladies join the Old Boy for a joint rendition of “Life On Mars”

I’d hate you to think pubs are all about karaoke, but the Regent in Walton was astonishing too. The fact I was on my 5th pint in both cases was purely incidental.

PUB OF THE MONTH – White Star, Liverpool

A sentimental choice, and not a new pub, but it really restored my faith in Liverpool as a pub city. Getting Bass in a John Smiths glass was the icing on the cake.

BEER OF THE MONTH

Wadworth’s Henry’s IPA, championed by Paul Mudge, dismissed by me till now, superb in Wiltshire last week.

MARCH PREVIEW

I’m leaving Mrs RM at home to wash dishes for a few days while I tirelessly attempt to finish Lancashire and make inroads into That Cumbria which Si has just discovered.

Then there’s a Big Burton Bass Day Out with the Old Codgers on the 6th. Come and say hello after the 5th pint of Bass.

Mid month, floods and plague permitting, I’ll be taking the new campervan for a run down in Dorset and Devon, working out which pubs are most likely to be unexpectedly closed when BRAPA arrives.

Gigs in Manchester tonight (Big Thief) and Hackney (Maria McKee) on the 31st with some local stuff in between. I reckon the McKee album out this month will be a year’s highlight, and I’m sure you can’t wait for my track-by-track review.