Category Archives: Pubs

Peebles

We’re just back home after a couple of days in Europe Peebles. I’d never been before and was somewhat surprised to find that it’s pretty gorgeous.

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The locals (in the locals) we met were lovely; there were even a couple of expats northeasterners (one from Newcastle and another from Gateshead).

We were quite intrigued by the Beltane festival, which apparently has its roots in Brussels mediaeval Europe.

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We spent much of yesterday in the capital  Edinburgh. Regrettably, the cool graveyard was closed, but it’s great to see restoration in progress. The view from the hill was still pretty impressive though.

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While in Edinburgh, we had a quick pint (Punk IPA) in the World’s End pub before heading back to Peebles.

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Back in Peebles, we went to the Bridge Inn, after which I saw a familiar creature.

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While I don’t have a picture to hand, I’m pretty sure that such things exist outside Europe in London, by the Thames.

Also, when in the Bridge, I visited a urinal which appeared to have once belonged to Adam Ant.

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We’d have remained stayed in Europe Peebles longer, but we have a date with a goddess in town this evening.
 

Augustines

It already feels a long time ago, but on Wednesday we went to see Augustines at the Academy 2 (which was located in the students’ union, rather than in the Academy itself). We had a walk around town first, of course, calling off at what must be one of the busiest Sam Smith’s pubs in the country.

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And, since the weather was perfect, we made the most of it and sat outside. The Old Wellington, next door, would have been next, but they appear to no longer sell Erdinger.

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And, so we had another pint of Sam Smith’s stout (or, in the case of my second in command, another organic Strawberry beer). The Temple Bar was next on our list, where a person can always find a bottle, or two, of Erdinger.

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The place had been decorated since our last visit, last year.

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We’d have stayed longer, but had to check-in. We still found time to continue wandering around, which left my second in command feeling tired.

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And hungry. So we had something to eat at the Thirsty Scholar, not the best of pubs, but they also stock Erdinger and the food’s all vegan and vegetarian. We had a conversation with the chef, who’d given me some great advice when I’d first switched from vegetarian to vegan. And had told us about a great veggie cafe, Egg, in Liverpool.

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Later, we went for a couple of drinks in Big Hands, before the gig. The bar’s a favourite of my second in command. And apparently, and unfortunately, of my second ex-wife too, since she was also there. However, we were all very adult about it and ignored each other.

The gig itself was great, with an excellent atmosphere. The band seem to get better every time.

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Unusually, I’d taken a camera, since my phone pictures tend not to be so great. But, strangely, some of the pictures taken with my phone weren’t too bad. Apart from the resolution, which I cut down here anyway, there isn’t a great deal of difference between snaps taken with a phone or a camera. The next few are from my phone.

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Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

Thunderbird is very slowly retrieving email from my BT account; I’m now up to 2011. It’s a pain, but progress is being made. In only 27 days I won’t exist in BT’s world. Which is probably not a bad thing.

Today, an average kind of Tuesday, has been my Friday. I have the rest of the week off; originally, to see Augustines tomorrow (technically tonight) night, but we decided to make a week of it.

We aim to meet people in Big Hands around 18:45, but our day will most likely begin in the Temple Bar several hours earlier. And then there’s the Castle; we need to fit that in at some point.

Augustines. Not Rufus Wainwright. So there shall be no cigarettes or chocolate produce. Well, my second in command has nicotine pills so that just leaves the chocolate. And, since, I’m now a vegan of 18 months, the chocolate shall be of the non-milk variety. Preferably chocolate stout.

Broken stick

Yesterday afternoon, in view of the unusually nice weather, my second in command and I spent some time in Ouseburn; the Ship, the Cluny, then the Tyne Bar. We skipped the Free Trade Inn, since it was really busy and didn’t have any obviously fish-free beer.

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Followed by the Bridge Tavern, then, on returning home, the Traveller’s Rest. And then it was time to set up our new ‘computer’, a Hannspree PC on a stick. It’s small, around the size of the Android devices that’ve been around for a while now. It has 2gb memory and 32gb storage, although there’s a micro SD slot too. It manages to fit in a full size USB port and has both WiFi and Bluetooth. The quad core processor seems fast enough too.
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The device comes with Windows, unfortunately. There’s a Linux version (from Intel), but the spec’s not great. Getting it up and running was painless, even after a pint or two of beer.

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I bought the Windows version after reading about the potential to replace the OS with Ubuntu. Which I set about doing today. Sadly, I also managed to trash the device while installing Linux.

The Queen’s Head

The Queen’s Head, just down the road, has never been my most favourite pub. It clearly had a good life in the 80s, judging by the decor, but has since been sadly neglected.

Queens Head, 2010

But, old pubs (I must confess that the above is a five year-old picture from the internet) should have a future; they should have a role in the community. And maybe make a profit too. The Queen’s Head hasn’t been doing very well of late, customers were few in number over the past year or so, then the bar closed a little while back.

Just a year or two ago, the place was really busy, so I don’t quite understand what went wrong. The recession?  But the beer was cheap. Bad (and changes of) management, I think. The Traveller’s Rest is at risk too, I suspect.

You know when a pub is nearing the end when there’s a karaoke most nights. I’m not exactly sure when the Queens actually closed, but it was pretty recent.

The sad thing is that, prior to it’s 20th Century modernisation, the pub was pretty lovely. The top floor is clearly a modern addition, but I’m unclear as to when this was added.

Queens Head, 1904

I have to admit that I’ve been hoping for years that someone would spend a little money and restore the building to its former glory. But that’s not going to happen.

I guess it’s irrelevant now though; the place is closed and there’s an application to convert it to flats.

The Old Cannon, just a bit further down the road, and with a lot more history (just look it up), closed some time before the Queens. It, however,  (and, fortunately) has no rear access for parking, so I’m hoping it may survive.

Breaking free

Yesterday, after work, I visited the City Tavern, with a colleague from work. He drank Bruges, while I had Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Pleasant conversation was had, followed by a quite random text message conversation. While in the bar, we noticed that an employee, possibly the manager, resembled Freddie Mercury on a bad hoovering day. After we’d parted company, texts were exchanged, mostly related to Queen song titles. While this was enjoyable, I didn’t do very well and had to concede defeat.

Stumpy II

Well, as expected, my second in command is now without her special broken foot shoe  And one crutch. She has now returned to matching shoes, although her Ugg boots do appear now to be different in colour/shade. Presumeably, since only one has been worn for some time now.

A minor celebration was allowed. Mostly because my significant other’s breakage was significantly worse than initially explained. It now transpires than an ankle was also broken. While the issue wasn’t highlighted at the beginning of this journey,  I do understand that there may have been a desire not to panic my second in command.

It’s all over now though. We’re now a single crutch household. And, after a week or two, we shall move to a walking stick.

Kind of Augustines II

Memories from last night have been emerging through the day. Apparently, I told Mr McCarthy that my second in command had walked 17 miles on crutches to see him. Obviously, that wasn’t quite true. And he understood that, even found it amusing.

Such claims were largely due to the 6.8â„… Jakehead. I’d only had two or three, then thought it wise to switch to Erdinger. Anyway, I enjoyed nice conversation with Billy. And I’m sure my second in command enjoyed her hugs with Mr McCarthy.

Some other, pretty random, pictures from yesterday.

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Well, I did say they were random. There’s a story behind most of them, but I’m way too lazy to go into that level of detail.

Anyway, It was a great night. There are a couple of full band gigs on sale soon; we quite fancy March in Manchester. And, hopefully, somewhere nearer home.