The last trip out of the year, which produced a nerve-settling eight ticks to end the month (though not the year) ahead of BRAPA. I know you think us pub tickers live in a commune near Halifax from which our ticking taxis depart each weekend, but in truth I’ve got Baa Baa sticking needles in… Continue reading BEAMISH – PATIENCE REWARDED
BOXING DAY OBSERVED AT THE WORLD’S OLDEST FOOTBALL GROUND
Enough of awards and retrospectives, back to the blog. Tuesday 28th December, another day stuck at home, another Bank Holiday. Boxing Day (observed), as the Vistaprint calendar would have it, since 26 December fell on a Sunday. Americans don’t have Boxing Day, of course, they’re all required to work 364 days a year to pay… Continue reading BOXING DAY OBSERVED AT THE WORLD’S OLDEST FOOTBALL GROUND
THE 2021 AWARDS ISSUE – MOTORING, MONKEYS & MATILDA MANN
I’m not one to look back, in anger or in joy, but according to that Patronised contract that Dave reminds me of I’m legally obliged to bring you an annual awards issue that won’t be as good as BRAPA’s. And unlike Simon, who works full-time, I’m far too busy to go through all my year’s… Continue reading THE 2021 AWARDS ISSUE – MOTORING, MONKEYS & MATILDA MANN
DECEMBER ’21 STOCKTAKE + JANUARY ’22 PREVIEW
It seems I don’t always do a separate December review, but as you know I like order, and it gives me a few more hours to think about the awards issue. HIGHLIGHTS A more exciting travel map than a year ago, anyway, even if it looks a bit squeezed into the middle. I did see… Continue reading DECEMBER ’21 STOCKTAKE + JANUARY ’22 PREVIEW
THIS IS THE K.I.T.
It’s just dawned on me I have to actually write the 2021 Review, it doesn’t produce itself spontaneously out of thin air like the whole of creation apparently did. Looking at my “liked” Spotify tracks the first one is this positive track encouraging us to hold on till the pubs re-opened by This is the… Continue reading THIS IS THE K.I.T.
SALT BAO
One day left to catch up with the blogs AND write my famous 2021 Awards Post (or at least Part 1/14). I’d nearly caught up, but I’ve just done another dozen pubs in Durham and Edinburgh, because you don’t save pubs from the comfort of your home. This must be December 27th, a fifth day… Continue reading SALT BAO
BOXING DAY – BALTIKA & BELGIAN BLUE
Boxing Day is “traditionally” the day that blokes go to football while their wives clear up the mess from Christmas Day and make up an inedible casserole from turkey and Brussel sprout leftovers. You can guess what the retiredmartin household thinks of “tradition”. Talking of football, saw this on the Manchester City Blue Moon forum;… Continue reading BOXING DAY – BALTIKA & BELGIAN BLUE
THE QUEENS SPEECH, OR A PINT IN THE BLAKE?
You left us on Christmas Day just as we’re about to be kicked out of our new Sheffield local and forced to watch the Queens Speech and eat Long Clawson cheese all afternoon. In desperation, I scoured the Facebook pages of the nearest GBG pub. Well, well, as Jimmy Saville used to say. Open till… Continue reading THE QUEENS SPEECH, OR A PINT IN THE BLAKE?
CHRISTMAS LUNCH
3 days off from pubs after my birthday, with trips to see the families and deliver presents. Christmas Eve in Tunbridge Wells, where the in-laws decreed it’s not safe to visit pubs. They’ll be first to complain when they’re all shut. At least on the way down to Kent we’d stopped over at Cambridge’s brutalised… Continue reading CHRISTMAS LUNCH
PAISLEY – PINTS, PIES & A HARD-WON POINT
The last post from my epic birthday (22/12) and the Pub of the Day, an award that will be on display in the Paisley Art Gallery until 23 July. The Wee Howf (stop E) was just a short hop from the crowded Bull, just past Church Hill. The best pubs are the ones you can’t… Continue reading PAISLEY – PINTS, PIES & A HARD-WON POINT
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