This post is brought to you by contractual obligation. THE STATS Let me check my spreadsheet…………………………………oh, zero pubs in May. So the world map of GBG ticks STILL looks like this. But other folk have real problems, so I count my blessings. At least in mid-May I got to drive again, visiting all that Fen… Continue reading MAY ’20 STOCKTAKE + JUNE PREVIEW
Month: May 2020
STOWMARKET – WHO ARE YOU ?
Hard to keep up with the blog now, as I’m managing at least one trip out a day and I still have 377 football programmes to analyse in painstaking detail for you. It’s getting tougher by the day to find decent sized places that I’m not bored to tears by, but Stowmarket fits the bill… Continue reading STOWMARKET – WHO ARE YOU ?
50 SHADES OF HEMINGFORD GREY
Shameless clickbait for a genteel Huntingdonshire post that does at least feature sausage rolls, a Cock and several bushes. These publess walks are getting a bit wearing now, but at least the 3 miles from Houghton Mill through the Hemingfords back to St Ives were without Social Distancing drama. The tiny Houghton Tea Rooms… Continue reading 50 SHADES OF HEMINGFORD GREY
SOCIAL DISTANCING THRIVES, IN THE OTHER ST. IVES
Closer to home, our St Ives is now a mere 22 minutes away. I reckon it would have been twice that before the A14 upgrade. The Cornish version doesn’t want you at the moment, and I guess Huntingdonshire’s St Ives isn’t welcoming tourists, either. But there’s worse places to get your unlimited exercise, and a… Continue reading SOCIAL DISTANCING THRIVES, IN THE OTHER ST. IVES
GOLF, GIRTON, THE GEORGE, GETTING OUT OF THE WAY
Golf is back. For some people this is more important than the reopening of pubs, or the Chinese takeaway, or the opportunity to meet your mother-in-law (at a distance) in Tunbridge Wells. If you thought Kentish micropubs loved rules, you should see the regulations that greet gentlefolk returning to Girton Golf Club this week. Only… Continue reading GOLF, GIRTON, THE GEORGE, GETTING OUT OF THE WAY
A WALTZ ROUND THE WALDEN
More local tourism for you, as I again head outside the comfort zone of my home county, and explore posh Essex. Saffron Walden is SO posh that BRAPA had to leave after disgracing himself at the local primary school in 1984 (see below). Here’s where Simon used to keep his collection of Beer Guides in… Continue reading A WALTZ ROUND THE WALDEN
A HOVE TREASURE TROVE
Notice anything striking about today’s featured programme ? No, not the match ball sponsored by Tamplin’s (who ?). Or the cutting-edge murk from Watney’s on sale in the ground. Or the Brickwoods logo which looks awfully familiar. No, it’s our old friend, JE Cooke (Christian names weren’t invented till the Beatles), late of my… Continue reading A HOVE TREASURE TROVE
ELY – WAITING FOR THE BOATS TO GO OUT
Yes, just some pictures of baby ducks in Ely for you. You get the pubs re-opened, I’ll visit them for you. Look how much of Page 123 of the Navigator I’ve done. Perhaps I should start swimming the rivers and colour those in. I popped in to Ely to make sure my parents didn’t fall… Continue reading ELY – WAITING FOR THE BOATS TO GO OUT
KETTERING’S FADED GLORIES
Thousands of years in the future, artificial life forms will read this blog* and wonder; Why folk were queuing to buy trowels from Wilko and take cash out of Halifax ? and, Why a renowned pub blogger had driven 47 miles to to take photos of an unheralded Northamptonshire town with everything closed. I’m… Continue reading KETTERING’S FADED GLORIES
1985 – A TITANIC YEAR FOR THE VALE
Back to the programmes, and back to the Potteries. Why would you ever leave the Potteries ?, except to cycle to Burton-on-Trent. This 1-1 draw in a proper English ground was a grim finale to the 94-95 season but at least I got to stand for a tenner. You can’t do that anymore. The… Continue reading 1985 – A TITANIC YEAR FOR THE VALE