November 2024. Hounslow./numberc Well, I’ve pretty much completed the central London GBG pubs now, the ones with a letter/number combo, leavings some tricky ticking in what Russell Grant insists is Middlesex, which is a bit like Stockport saying it’s in Cheshire. 25 minutes, but a long 25 minutes sandwiched between folk taking their life’s clothing… Continue reading PRIDE DRINKING OK, I SUPPOSE, IN ISLEWORTH

November 2024 – Gospel Oak. One new GBG tick in the bag by 3pm, my first for a fortnight, and a route mapped out for my second an hour later. London ticking is the best ticking. Time to explore that mysterious bit between Camden and Hampstead, a place of contrasts, and curious fonts, and undemanding… Continue reading St. Dominic’s Priory, a preview.

November 2024. Gospel Oak. Camden. Just over an hour after catching the first train out of Cambridge I was pulling up outside my first London GBG newbie of the day in mysterious Gospel Oak. On a bad day it can take an hour to drive from Waterbeach to Addenbrookes and find a space in the… Continue reading BASS CLICKBAIT IN GOSPEL OAK

November 2024. Camden. On Tuesday my attempt to visit Mum in Addenbrookes was thwarted at the front door. 3 days of ward quarantine meant I could only speak to Mum via the phone. Time for a break. At 13:44 I was standing at Cambridge station. At 14:44 I was on board a bus headed for… Continue reading CAMDEN PUBS SEEN FROM THE NUMBER 46

November 2024. Rye Harbour. Oh. There’s more of Mrs RM tour diary. She clearly dislikes the bus as much as I do, though any journey that gives you blog material like “Glad I’ve got “extra” on my bum” is surely worth the £2 fare. The options back at the harbour aren’t great, just the Sheps… Continue reading “High Hopes Silver Lining”

November 2024. Rye. While I stay in Waterbeach and dream of crossing the county border, Mrs RM is down in Rye for the month, with proper WiFi and Harvey’s Sussex. Jealous ? Me ? “Do a pub crawl of Rye and send me pics, I can enjoy it by proxy, like my own readers do”, I… Continue reading A RYE PUB CRAWL BY PROXY

November 2024. Cambridge. A daily trip to Addenbrookes and back is an invitation to explore lesser known Cambridge, and I know some of my readers will be absolutely dying to know what a formulaic suburban Greene King local with modest food trade is like in 2024. Exactly as you’d expect. Bright, clean, dull, cheery. A… Continue reading GREENE KING IPA IN CAMBRIDGE. IT WAS GOOD. HONEST !

November 2024. Cambridge. After visiting Mum in Addenbrookes, I needed a long, long, chilly walk. Oh, and a pint in the Kingston, one of the Mill Road Run’s yo-yo pubs. Don’t pubs look gorgeous at dusk ? The Kingston only re-opened a year ago, and though the price list isn’t completely accurate, the pub itself… Continue reading BASS IN THE KINGSTON ARMS. THE MORE YOU DRINK, THE BETTER IT GETS

November 2024. Waterbeach. On the Wednesday morning, just as I was heading down to Rye to see Mrs RM for the first time in a fortnight, Mum had a fall in the bathroom. No bones broken, but immobile. Fifteen calls and five hours sat in a parked ambulance outside Addenbrookes* later, Mum was in a… Continue reading THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE SUN