retiredmartin

February 2023.

I know you love maps, so here’s two.

Of course you already KNOW where Sleaford is; it’s where the Sleaford Mods come from (wrong !, it’s Grantham and Burton).

This must be the first venture into North Kesteven where I’ve failed to work Jason’s work into my blog title, but then I don’t actually know ANY Sleaford Mods tracks, just how they sound.

Bless them, the lovely Lincs CAMRAs had given me TWO (2) new ticks a short walk from Sleaford station, neither of them under the town heading in the Guide.

I’d never heard of Holdingham before, despite regular stops at its McDonalds on the long slog across the A17 to see Curry Charles.

It’s 2023. Two rude women in their late twenties from the Isle of Wight can win a Grammy for best album, so it’s only right that a Greene King Flaming Grill with the word “Whopper” in the window,

and a line-up to irk the purists in the Jolly Woodman.

Harshly, I assumed Matrix IPA was one of Greene King’s crafty beers, but it’s actually brewed 10 miles away near Newark.

I’d already decided you drink IPA in a Greene King pub. The only question was, did I dare order a Family Feast for Four just for myself ?

Don’t be daft.

Yes, a family pub, where you bring your used tubs of chocolate. For what purpose, I don’t know. Makeshift growlers.

The gentlefolk had departed (bar the two lads on mobility scooters); the after-school trade yet to arrive. I had a multitude of TV screens to myself. Neil Robertson really has the most magnificent haircut, doesn’t he ?

The soundtrack harked back to a gentler time, when snooker was, for a moment, our national sport;

The beer ?

For just £2.99 (paid in cash, to the delight of the barmaid) was a cool, creamy NBSS 3.5. And you’ll know I struggle with “Ipper”, as I though it was called in the Free Press back in the late 80s.

I mean, lacings don’t lie, do they ?

Well, they do, to be honest. Will told me that. But never mind.

I left to the sound of “Baby I Love You”, rejoicing in the knowledge that in 2023 CAMRA were still picking pubs on beer quality rather than range and fittings.