Whisky

I’ve never liked whisky. More accurately, I’ve always hated the stuff. Mates have tried to educate/convert me for years, with no success.

A while back, someone told me to try it with a bit of water added. I didn’t see the point, since surely that would only make it a little less vile.

Somehow, we agreed to attend a whisky tasting night at the Green Dragon in Whitby. It was a tasting session with a difference, but the poisonous liquid was still to be involved.

I was dreading the evening (it happened last night), but am very fond of imperial stouts, which were to be paired with the whisky.

The stouts were great, beautiful even. The weakest was over 14% and they were all out of the ordinary. The whisky was made more bearable with the addition of water; one was even almost nice.

It was a brilliant night, though.

Idles

Idles were pretty good tonight. Last night now.

One of the best live bands I’ve seen.

Interpol & Nick Cave

Somehow, I’ve managed to double book gigs again. While, both were booked a long time ago, I need to be more organised about these things.

Interpol’s in town, but Nick Cave’s Manchester (where we saw him last time, before Covid). I saw Interpol in Edinburgh last year, so decided on Nick Cave.

The gig’s tonight.

Then, yesterday, I came down with a bloody awful bug. I can see it’s going to just be a 48 hour thing, but that obviously means I’m going nowhere today.

The silly thing is, there’d always be a chance I’d be ok for tonight, so Interpol might have been an option. If I hadn’t given the ticket away.

The last George Gently

This is becoming a habit; an addiction. So, in the 60s, pavements were paved with paving stones. At that time, tarmac was a road thing.

And the wall in the picture is pure 80s.

And did I mention PVU windows and doors?

Maxwells

We’ve relied on this local DIY shop since we moved to Gateshead.

You could get pretty much anything from the place. We’ve bought plaster, cement, tile adhesive, wood, plywood, chipboard, silicone, bolts, screws, nails, paint, varnish, padlocks, and a door (we’ve certainly missed something).

We’ll so miss Maxwells.

More George Gently

This is becoming addictive. The metal sheeting with holes simply didn’t exist in the 60s.

1990s I think.

UPVC windows weren’t really a thing then either.

George Gently

While feeling tired after a shift a few days ago, and not wanting to put any real effort to find something on TV, I defaulted to Netflix.

I randomly picked George Gently, about which I knew absolutely nothing, it having passed me by when it was aired on whatever channel it was aired.

I’d not previously known that the series was set in the Northeast, in the 60s. It’s not particularly good, or indeed bad, but I’ve continued to watch now and then because it’s easy viewing. And, perhaps, there’s the northern nostalgia.

It must be pretty difficult creating 1960s scenes sixty years after the fact.

Here’s an example. From memory, plastic drainpipes didn’t exist in 1964; at least not in the Northeast. And those boxed-in external meter cupboards didn’t start appearing until the 70s. The house door’s not very clear in the picture, but I’m pretty sure that’s an 80-90s door. I could be wrong.

And now an Italian army surplus jacket from the 80s. They were quite fashionable, being more modern than most surplus in the 80s.

Rust

I’m sure I’ve written about rust in the past. But when you’re daft enough to buy an old van, that’s what you get.

So, a few years ago, we had a scrape.

And then we opened a bar, so we didn’t check on the van often enough. The cover had blown off that particular corner in a storm and the damaged bit was exposed for a few months.

Which resulted in.

It looks bad, but it was a lot worse. Fortunately, panels are available.

Needs a bit of work, but …