retiredmartin

April 2024. Derby.

I left the Dead Poets after an hour of Bass and The Boss in a happy mood, suddenly aware I had no idea how to get back to Derby for the train home. I have no idea how Simon finds his way home after six seven pints.

I decided to walk, 2.3 miles in 35 minutes to catch the Duffield train,

and a quite wondrous walk it was through the Amber Valley as the rain held off for an afternoon.

What’s that Tetley livery on that shed in Milford ?

Do they do it in Bass ? Actually, not sure I want to look in my garden shed, been locked for 2 years.

I found myself Duffield’s only passenger, enjoying the conductor’s commentary on the Matlock-Derby leg;

“Sorry folks you WERE on time but they let the BIGGER train go in front of us“. That’s capitalism, right there.

That delay meant I only had 16 minutes between trains, which by coincidence is the EXACT amount of time necessary to spring through the barriers to the Alexandra and back with a pint in the middle,

and even if it isn’t, well, I wasn’t doing the Brunswick or Vic again so soon.

This is another of Derby’s classic station pubs; I stayed here for £30 twenty years ago and the breakfast alone was worth that. If you had more that sixteen minutes between trains you could read all these reports from the Derby Declarer.

But today you can only stop to read the beer board with complicated colour coding;

that’s a minute wasted.

OK, Bass or Pedi would be nice, but you can’t really argue with that choice, can you ?

You’d go for the 6% one called Grumpy Nuts, I guess;

but Lenton Lane have been stars on the bar of late and the clip says “intense”, which someone called me once.

I know folk come here for the beer, but again there’s a real mix of pub life at the Alex; the chap next to me has a mug of tea,

and again boozy couples and groups of mates mean a busy weekday afternoon trade.

The beer’s so cheap (unless you’re from Sheffield or Alfreton) I can afford to artisanally (?) match it with a flake.

In truth, tasty but a bit thin (the Porter not the flake), and as I look up to see my train leaves in 6 minutes I have my second mad dash of the day.

All this pubbing sure keeps you fit.