You left me in an alley behind the Harp on Lockdown Eve. I had a crumpled bit of paper in my pocket, but after five pubs I was starting to feel that doing all 21 that I needed to complete London was, perhaps, a stretch too far. Certainly on pints. I know it’s TECHNICALLY possible… Continue reading JACKALOPE
TOP 100 PUBS – THE HARP
Leaving the Princess, I consulted my artisanal map for my last day’s ticking before Lockdown 2. Four down, with two close by somewhere in Marylebone, which I always spell Marleybone. I almost fell at the furst hurdle; but I feared the wurst if I followed a Pride with curry, so started one of those long,… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE HARP
DO THE STRAND
Panic ye not, I’m not doing a Ferry-esque dance over the Thames, merely a retiredmartin rush as the impact of that Volcano coffee suddenly means I need the loo. Like Newcastle, London’s bridges are its real treasure. If you look very closely you can probably see BRAPA and Colin about to upset someone in Southend.… Continue reading DO THE STRAND
WATERLOO WOBBLE
Lockdown (2) Eve. Onto Pub No. 4, as I moved level with BRAPA on eight November ticks (but can I edge ahead ? The tension !). Another 20 minutes from the Ring, past Waterloo and over the Golden Jubilee Bridge (never knew they were called that) to Strand. A bit of dawdling on the way,… Continue reading WATERLOO WOBBLE
SOUTHWARK PORTER
Pub No.3 on the Great Lockdown (2) Eve London Crawl coming up, after a short hop from Borough to Southwark, though I never really know where Southwark starts. Or stops. Bing Maps has some strange ideas. Wiki doesn’t have an easy-to-read Southwark map, and the Deserter book witters on about the Bishop of Southwark “incident”.… Continue reading SOUTHWARK PORTER
KEG COMFORT IN BOROUGH
Well, at least I now had one tick to take home from Lockdown Eve, even if the terror alert brought an abrupt halt to the day (it didn’t). On to Borough, as I entered a 3rd hour of walking (1:30 at retiredmartin pace). I stopped to admire a child playing with one of the dolphins… Continue reading KEG COMFORT IN BOROUGH
HANGING AROUND – WAPPING WRAPPED
“Enough of the walking, give us a pub !” I hear you cry. Here it is; Bit of a beauty, and I can’t believe I haven’t been in the Prospect of Whitby before, having wandered round Wapping a few times. Having set off from King’s Cross at 10.10 last Wednesday Google Maps had told me… Continue reading HANGING AROUND – WAPPING WRAPPED
“And the whisper room that winds around St Paul’s”
“And the lights on the bridgeWilliam Blake and the gridAnd the whisper room that winds around Saint Paul’sSir John Soane, found me in his parlor all aloneWeeping at the beauty of it all“Maria McKee, Right Down To The Heart Of London, 2020 When Lockdown hit hard in March I turned to my melancholia for comfort,… Continue reading “And the whisper room that winds around St Paul’s”
A LAST HURRAH
Lots of short posts for you, in case I run out of material before December. November 4th 2020. The last day before Lockdown 2, with no idea how long it might last, and whether there’d actually be any pubs to return to. Disastrously, I’d allowed young BRAPA to score more GBG ticks than me in… Continue reading A LAST HURRAH
THE KING OF UPPINGHAM
The last week before Lockdown 2 was a frantic attempt to bag as many GBG counties as possible, targeting (in the words of Management Consultants who’d charge $30k a day for this stuff) the low hanging fruit like Rutland. You might think you’ve heard scant detail about Rutland (53rd on my list of favoured counties),… Continue reading THE KING OF UPPINGHAM
