retiredmartin

After my tick I had 2 hours to kill till Matt gave me my second post-Lockdown haircut; you’ll have seen the state of it after a month on BRAPA’s blog.

No obvious pre-emptives, but I REALLY wanted to do Fierce Bar, the new Manchester outpost of Aberdeen’s craft kings. that so impressed me 18 months ago, occupying the former Marble Bar at 57 Thomas St still marked on Bing Maps.

Luckily, Quosh loved that idea, he’d been here recently and the staff remembered him (WHO could forget Quosh ?). I like to think they even kept that last table with giant umbrella just so we could nab it before the rain came.

What has been so glorious about the return of pubs is the mix of folk you get on the streets; Hi-Vis, couples, students, Peaky Blinders and Pub Men.

Quosh recommended the 8.5% DIPA to start. Always follow a recommendation.

I can’t remember much else, to be honest. Except the rain arriving. Look! A video.

And Quosh and me remaining cosy and warm while all around us drowned in biblical conditions. Car alarms were set off. A whale swam down Tib Street.

But I know I had the Hibiscus Farmhouse. And the 12.5% Imperial Stout. I know because I wrote “Quosh can’t say hibiscus”.

Look at how good my photos get after a 12.5% Imperial Stout ! The guy with the cap had just walked in the hail to get his mates a takeaway from Al Faisal. What a legend.

A wonderful afternoon, 90 minutes of joy, and when the rain finally stopped I had JUST enough time to nip to Albert Street in the dry for my cut. The sun does shine on the righteous, and the pub ticker.