6th March 2020
This will be my 3,000th post, WordPress reminds me.
I’m getting fed up of WordPress stopping you posting comments on Starbucks and Zappa and the correct word for cobs. It also won’t let me use the letter “a” in my posts without thumping the keyboard, but that may be the crumbs.
Quite how I a construct a post out of my 20 minutes waiting in Milton Keynes for Matt to arrive from Manchester (1hr 37) I’ve no idea.
So here’s a picture of the daffodils outside our house on my morning walk to cheer you up. Note how flat they are in the Flat Fens. Hopefully they’ll still be there the day before Mothers Day.
And here as a special treat is the art underneath the A14.
I was only telling you last week I’d finally done with the A421 that trudges through MK’s 373 roundabouts for a while.
But Mrs RM spent the weekend recuperating, so not only did I miss the Old Codgers trip to Burton but I had to make a 9pm mercy mission to the dullest place on earth.
It takes just over an hour to get to MK’s Nighttime Quarter. It’s down this alley.
The Nighttime Quarter is called “Nighttime Quarter” and is based around the plainest square in the UK.
Slug & Lettuce, Las Iguanas, BrewDog, Subway. All have bouncers and everyone is aged 23.4 years old and wearing clothes from 1994.
It’s 9.45pm. Matt’s train is 10 minutes late, a disturbance at Burton or something. I nip in the Wetherspoons for a half.
Last time here in September ’18 the lunchtime session comprised jolly middle-aged (get me) blokes called Terry watching the racing.
On Friday night EVERYONE was here, which is why Spoons are often the best bet for unpretentious £1.49 pints.
Old fellas in suits, the entire 19 year old population of Bletchley, and the local CAMRA branch waving vouchers and cooing about the latest microbrew tick.
At least 3 people ordered the Dark Fox from Featherstone in the 20 minutes during which staff gamely battled with the WiFi dropout scuppering contactless payments and foreigns students forgetting whether their girlfriend wanted ice in her Guinness.
I followed the CAMRAs lead. It was great; cool and rich (NBSS 3.5). One of the very best Spoons, you know.
If you could get Brass Castle beers in there for £1.49 a pint I’d book the Travelodge and make night of it.
retiredmartin 
“a disturbance at Burton” starting with an argument about the itinerary for Chester !
Anyway, very well done. Here’s to the next three thousand.
LikeLike
Love the Hancock paraphrase quote 👍
LikeLike
Probably popped into Brewdog for a Globe Artichoke sour
LikeLike
Does one give flowers to their mother if their father is a florist??
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes. My mum was also a florist, by the by.
LikeLike
I haven’t done 3000 posts yet! But mine take more than 20 minutes to compose 😉
LikeLike
I think BRAPA has probably done 3,000 posts worth but his are often 3 times the length of mine 😯
LikeLike
But BRAPA has more of a social objective, namely the compulsory provision of pissoirs every 100m countrywide.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done indeed! As the mighty TSM said, here’s to the next 3000….
LikeLiked by 1 person
If I do a 1000 more I’ll probably be able to complete the Beer Guide though.
LikeLike
I refer you to your blog title…. “ On *permanent* exploration of places, pubs, people and new music“
You can never stop! Your fans demand it!
LikeLike
It’s a fair cop.
LikeLike
theres a Brewdog in Milton Keynes now ? wow suddenly craft beer doesnt feel as hip anymore, MK felt like a beer desert last time I was there, with a Beefeater steak restaurant as one of its GBG entries, thats how bad it is there for beer, thats why that ‘Spoons is popular for cask drinkers, it was certainly the best of the ‘Spoons,& least resembled a double glazing showroom or shopping centre, and the next best place selling beer I found was technically considered to be in Bletchley. but a Brewdog in Milton Keynes…blimey
LikeLike
Yes, and it was a Draft House for a little while before BrewDog bought them.
There’s a Brewhouse and Kitchen the other end of the shops, as well. That and the Midsummer Bvd Spoons the only central GBG entries.
LikeLike
“MK felt like a beer desert last time I was there” – that’s Central Milton Keynes but I do remember the Countryman pub that gave a free pint on showing a rail ticket indicating that’s how you got there.
I’ve known some decent pubs further out including the Victoria and the Prince Albert in Bradwell.
And I got round all the Wolverton pubs in the summer of 1973
LikeLike
Yes, there’s OK pubs in the surrounding villages like Bradwell but even then they’re not great.
LikeLike
The Nighttime Quarter follows in the great tradition of British names, such as the Third Programme, for the then BBC’s third radio channel.
Makes you proud.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, but what are Milton Keynes’s other three Quarters ?
LikeLike
John Lewis, Sainsbury, that ski slope thing.
LikeLike
A newish reader leaving congrats on post 3000.
Suits in a ‘spoons eh! What, no Wet T-Shirt Nite?
LikeLike
Thanks Mark.
Good spot. Yes, the fact you get suits in Spoons at 9.45 on a Friday night says a lot about their widespread appeal.
LikeLike
3000? Quite the achievement, and delighted to have been along for a couple! Here’s to the next 3000.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Historians of the future will find a rich seam of material in those 3000 posts.
Funny how both the brewdog and the Brewhouse used to be spoons.
LikeLike