FOUR MONTHS OFF, FOUR MONTHS ON, FOUR WEEKS OFF ?

And then the fun was over.

Only now do I read that Waterbeach’s pharmacy-turned-cafe is now a pizzeria with Vedett (pronounced as in the Steeleye Span Christmas hit) on draught had finally opened that night. And closed at 10 the same evening.

So I haven’t really got much to moan about.

No pubs since November the 4th, none till the 2nd December (and that’s if we’re lucky).

If you’re in England, of course. In Wales, you CAN visit the thirty pubs I need in Glamorgan, as long as you eat a raw leek with each pint or something.

Never mind the “Dress like BRAPA” kit put together by Matthew yesterday;

I’m seriously contemplating dressing as a Dragon to sneak into Wales under cover of darkness.

Interestingly, these are the lowest weekly Covid rates per 100,000 people (I’m East Cambridgeshire),

and these are the rates where my targetWelsh pubs are.

Yes, there’s 21 times as much plague in Merthyr as Waterbeach. What can I say ?

Still, a month off the booze (I don’t drink at home) will allow my liver to prepare myself for the big catch-up in December; perhaps I could get sponsorship for Dryovember and use the funds to buy myself that sexy looking Russian vaccine. I like the the look of Sputnik’s 5 injection mechanism.

See the source image

I’m sure the next 16 days will fly by, but feel free to suggest topics to blog about, folks.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

47 thoughts on “FOUR MONTHS OFF, FOUR MONTHS ON, FOUR WEEKS OFF ?”

      1. The every day story of how a local, but not particularity exciting beer, got turned into a national brand/bland (delete as appropriate), whilst being dumbed down several notches in the process!

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  2. This is your opportunity to do Orkney (level 1, pubs open to 10.30 pm). So long as you tell the Authorities you’re travelling to a bar mitzvah.

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  5. Unless Wales is closed to visitors from England, and the principality’s hotels are all shut, why not take a sneaky trip across the border? Think of all those plague-infested pubs you could tick. They’ll keep a welcome in the hillsides, you know!

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      2. Does this mean that Welsh hotels are refusing bookings from anyone with an English postcode?

        There must be ways around this; give a Welsh postcode, as long as it’s not Merthyr Tydfil, and pay using untraceable cash, rather than by card.

        Give it a go, although we can’t promise we’ll be able to visit, when they incarcerate you in Harlech castle!

        Liked by 1 person

      4. T’other Paul,
        Given that there’s an English (Shrewsbury,SY) postcode all the way across mid Wales to Aberystwyth much of the principality must be at a standstill.

        Liked by 3 people

  6. Stafford Paul, postcodes are obviously no respecters of national boundaries, so why should a bone fide traveller/pub ticker, not get away with a bit of skulduggery?

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      1. As local authority boundaries and unpopular and misunderstood maybe they should be replaced by postcode areas.
        Then Stockport would be totally independent of Manchester and Cheshire and assume responsibility for all those lovely hills in the top left quarter of the Peak District.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Martin,
        Yes, and then you’d have 121 ‘GBG Counties’.

        The biggest by population would be
        1st Birmingham 1,904,293
        2nd Belfast ( all Northern Ireland ) 1,772,429
        3rd Sheffield 1,358,186
        4th Glasgow 1,183,614
        5th Manchester 1,167,414
        6th Nottingham 1,163,617
        7th Newcastle upon Tyne 1,162,976
        8th Cardiff 1,005,305

        The smallest by population would be
        114th Harrogate 138,214
        115th Galashiels 112,644
        116th Kirkwall 53,132
        117th Llandrindod Wells 50,225
        118th London WC 35,745
        119th London EC 33,956
        120th Outer Hebrides 27,663
        121st Lerwick 23,086

        Liked by 2 people

      5. Martin,
        South of Shrewsbury (SY) there’s only Swansea (SA), Cardiff (CF), Newport (NP) and the tiny Llandrindod Wells (LD) so yes, that does take Cardiff over a million inhabitents.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. As long as all future posts contain tables of stats then lockdown will fly in. Covid info a welcome addition – wonder if you could develop county maps/ highlighters for them.

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  9. “FOUR MONTHS OFF, FOUR MONTHS ON, FOUR WEEKS OFF ?”

    I do believe that’s called ‘ratcheting it up’. 😉

    “And closed at 10 the same evening.”

    Ouch! Or should I say… bloody wankers (not the pharmacy-turned-cafe obviously). 😦

    “none till the 3rd December (and that’s if we’re lucky).”

    Actually, I think the correct phrase is ‘as long as you behave yourselves’. 😉

    “Never mind the “Dress like BRAPA” kit put together by Matthew yesterday”

    Matthew is definitely… innovative. 😉

    “I’m seriously contemplating dressing as a Dragon to sneak into Wales under cover of darkness.”

    Even in the dark that red would stand out a mile away! I’d say carry a shillelagh and if anyone asks, you’re an Irishman looking for the shortest route home.

    “Yes, there’s 21 times as much plague in Merthyr as Waterbeach. What can I say ?”

    You’ve been tagged by GLADZ me lad.
    (Greater London Area Danger Zone)

    “(I don’t drink at home)”

    *faints*

    “I like the the look of Sputnik’s 5 injection mechanism.”

    I was wavering before but now I’m definitely anti-vaxx! 🙂

    “I’m sure the next 16 days will fly by, but feel free to suggest topics to blog about, folks.”

    Repost highlights of the first six months, when I was AWOL. 😉

    Cheers!

    Liked by 1 person

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      1. Restrictions vary by province, sort of like in the US with regard to each state. Every province is responsible for how to deal with this, similar to how each province deals with its own healthcare, schooling, drinking age, driving laws (including licensing etc.)

        In my part of British Columbia (BC), everything is open, including bars and restaurants. I think gatherings are still limited to under 50 everywhere in BC. I’m on Vancouver Island, where we’ve had 6 deaths since this began and currently have 2 in ICU but no other hospitalisations. The population on Vancouver Island is just shy of 900,000. It’s different in the greater Vancouver area. They currently have an ‘order’ in place that started Nov 7th and ends Nov 23rd. Limited contact, yada, yada, yada. Restaurants are still open but no more than 6 to a table and they have to be from the same household or ‘core bubble’ (whatever that is). Mind you, the greater Vancouver area has been responsible for 277 of the 290 deaths in BC (population of about 5 million). So, like every big population area, they have the majority of the problems.

        Ontario and Quebec, being the largest provinces population wise, have much stricter rules. I think masks are mandatory in Ontario everywhere, including outside! (where I live it’s just some of the stores and businesses where masks are required, as well as the hospital of course!).

        In Alberta, where our two boys live (and our grandson!), the rules are stricter in major population (and surrounding) areas, but none at all once you get outside of those. My wife and I are booked to fly there for Christmas (staying in our own AirBnB). Eldest has no problem with us visiting over the holidays. We’ll probably have Christmas dinner at his in-laws house, unless the ‘core bubble’ thing or whatever changes by then (sigh).

        I drive my wife’s lunch truck every weekday. I’ve been driving right thru the Covid thingy. Interact with about 30 people a day, face-to-face, as they pay for their purchases, either by cash or card. No one has ever worn a mask. 😉

        Hope that helps.

        Cheers

        PS – for what it’s worth here’s the info for all of BC (interactive)

        https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/a6f23959a8b14bfa989e3cda29297ded

        And for the province of Alberta:

        https://www.alberta.ca/maps/covid-19-status-map.htm

        Liked by 2 people

  11. I never realised that South Cambridgeshire entirely surrounded the City of Cambridge. And it has the only Dutch civic motto in Britain 🇳🇱

    The Welsh “circuit-breaker” obviously a roaring success, then. Seventeen days of being unable to buy socks from Tesco was really worth it.

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  12. If you’re after ideas/requests how about your guide to pub tick-ery – dos and don’ts, how to go about it, what to watch out for, that kind of thing. Or how about creating your own perfect pub – perhaps taking elements from your favourite ones?

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  13. I’m sure you could come up with a personal Moon Under Water – Bass & Plum Porter on the bar, open 24h if a micropub, near a station that has toilets on all platforms used by trains to York, etc etc.

    But how about a more serious one using your experience to help the pub trade at a time of existential threat? There must be all sorts of things that you’ve come across in your travels that could be more widely used to either make pubs “better” and/or generate more trade. They’re not very good examples, but I grudgingly like the way all B’n’P pubs have an official walk on their website, and I know a pub that has a weekly knitting group called Stitch & Bitch.

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    1. All sensible points. I particularly like the idea of a “Good ideas for pubs”. I grudgingly admire Brunning & Price; they know their market. It’s not me ;-0

      NB – “a station that has toilets on all platforms used by trains to York” – I fear you confuse me with young BRAPA. I’ll take it as a compliment !

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      1. Yep, I have elderly relatives who I guess could be described as gentlefolk of Cheshire, and they think their B’n’P is the bees knees.

        No confusion with BRAPA although I could have made it clearer, I assume you would wish your drinking companions at the Tickers Arms should not be…inconvenienced…on their journeys home.

        Liked by 1 person

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