Before we move on from the Half Moon in Hitchin, here’s another (less controversial) photo of that party. The inflatable unicorn doesn’t look any happier I’m taking a photo of her, does she ? We’d enjoyed a lovely hour or so with Hitchin John, reminiscing about back alleys and forgotten boozers, but we were struggling… Continue reading MEMORIES
Author: 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.
DOING IT IN HALVES
Hitchin John is always great company, and the only thing I can say against him is that he lives in Hitchin, which never has new GBG entries. He should move to Stockton-on-Tees and we could meet up every month. Still, despite the thrill of the tick it’s always nice to pop back and do a… Continue reading DOING IT IN HALVES
WELCOME TO HITCHIN
Simon spends what seems like a month in North Wales and crams it into 2 blog posts; Mrs RM and I spend an evening in Hitchin (zero ticks) and you’ll get at least three posts out of it. I reckon 400 words, 8 photos and a map is about the limit for my readers; you’ve… Continue reading WELCOME TO HITCHIN
PUNK’S NOT DEAD
Stop No.2 on the Sheffield Tramlines Festival Fringe was the Frog & Parrot which I’d skipped to avoid embarrassing myself in front of BRAPA in June. BRAPA would never embarrass himself while drunk, right ? Oh look, there’s a bloke reflected in the mirror taking surreptitious photos on his phone in a pub. The Frog… Continue reading PUNK’S NOT DEAD
NERVOUS PILLS AT THE WASHINGTON
I have two main rules for choosing my gigs; Where possible, only listen to music written that very morning. Give bands that play their old stuff a wide berth. NEVER watch a band that starts songs “1, 2, 3, 4”. Avoid any gig where the audience members are wearing “Friends” T-shirts, ironically or not. So… Continue reading NERVOUS PILLS AT THE WASHINGTON
CASK KIDZ
If you can’t use your children to promote your own blog, what use are they ? Both of our lads came over for the Sheffield Tramlines Festival last week. They must have been desperate for something to do, as the line-up struck me as old skool. In a bad way. Mrs RM went with the… Continue reading CASK KIDZ
JULY ’21 STOCKTAKE + AUGUST PREVIEW
Pubs are back ! OK, they were sort of “back” on April 12, and then a bit more “back” on May 17, but July 19th was when those bar codes and perspex and one way stickers were binned and we could finally order our beer at the bar, consigning the evil of table service whereby… Continue reading JULY ’21 STOCKTAKE + AUGUST PREVIEW
BACK TO BEATNIKZ
Eagle-eyed readers (probably just Leon) will note I had a notional 24 minutes between trains at Manchester, though you can knock 5 minutes off that as people are so SLOW getting off the train and out of the station. Don’t they know there are pubs to be saved. Any sensible person would have popped in… Continue reading BACK TO BEATNIKZ
“We’re no stranger to ticks. You know the rules and so do I”
I asked the ticket inspector if I could break my journey home in Newton-le-Willows. “It don’t bother me, mate” he said, in that charming Woollyback lilt. I knew you could, bit I always get a bit freaked out when your journey involves multiple train companies. But no-one cares. Except Tom Irvine. And not many care… Continue reading “We’re no stranger to ticks. You know the rules and so do I”
BOW-LEGGED AND TICKLESS
Playing up to my exclusive Mark Crilley audience today, as I cut my losses on the Wirral and head back to the ‘Pool of Life (not all of it the life you want to see, to be honest). It was 18:42, my itinerary to finish Merseyside Guide ticks via Newton-le-Willows that night was looking tight,… Continue reading BOW-LEGGED AND TICKLESS
