Christmas at Prestwich

It's not that warm selling beer and mead at Prestwich Christmas market
I have finally got mobile blogging working though

Technophobia

I have finally taken the plunge, brought myself out of the dark ages, etc.

I have retired my ageing "push-button" mobile phone after only about seven years use, and got one of these touch-screen thinngys.

I have spent two days taking photo's of the inside of my hand, while trying to talk to someone...
I have spent two entire lifetimes copying all my contacts to the new phone...
So this was supposed to be my first post using my phone....

  ..but the blogspot APP doesn't work !!!

Back to the PC then.

I acquired some nice rubber matting for the front and rear decks from ebay, and a quick trim with the Stanley knife...

 It is quite bouncy and puts a bit of a spring in your step ...

On the way to work on Sunday night I had a couple of pints in the City Arms, a great little pub hidden away off St Peters Square.

It is good to see that some of these old pubs with tons of character are still surviving in Manchester.

Stripes and the blue beer

Ian has now finished the main painting on the boat, and has moved on to the coach lining. It comes as a shock to realize how many rolls of masking tape are needed.

 This is what happens when you fall off the ladder while painting stripes!

Once the tape is removed, the boat is looking great.

 

We ran the bar at Bury beer festival again, and all the beers ran out.  Great news as after working the bar for 2 12 hour shifts, it is far easier to carry empty casks out of the place on the Sunday.  The Costa Del Salford and the Decadence were, of course, the first to run out but the Stouts and the Mild also sold very quickly.  People do drink dark beers!

I found some blue children's swimming goggles on ebay for 99p, and we set about confusing some of the customers.  We set up at the end of the bar, and first we tried fitting the goggles to a half glass, then a pint glass, and finally we found the best fit was a commemorative glass we had at the back of the bar.
Next I went over to the supermarket and got a nice piece of Blacksticks blue cheese, and we had a pint of beer, wearing goggles, looking at a piece of cheese. Several pictures later, and we have confused everyone at the bar.

Saturday we set about brewing the next new beer.  The run-off from the mash tun was a sort of golden orange, which we didn't want, however once the wort had been boiled, the special malts we had included turned the beer to a superb red colour

 Lashings of Amarillo hops, half an hour laying out the new clip, and we are away.

 

I can't wait until next week to taste it!

Funny lift

On Sunday I finished all the holes in the ceiling for light fittings, and the speakers for the lounge and dining room, sorry, saloon and dinette.  Ian had now done the borders on the sides of the boat and we were rapidly approaching the coachlining stage.  Looking good.

I then spent a happy few hours priming the ceiling.  I used Acrylic primer which is good, but the fumes are interesting!  Rather than sleeping on the boat with these fumes, I grabbed the rucksack and headed off to the Old.
A quiet night in the Old, and interesting that Yates have a Green Hopped beer available so late in the year.  The massive portions of excellent food in the Old soon had me done for and, following a not too comfortable night in the tent, decided that my mat has a puncture, and it is maybe time to get another.
Monday morning.  It is great to wake up, cup of coffee, and look out on this stunning scenery...

 

Off to work - pick up some beer from Cumbrian Legendary Ales, Dancing Duck and Off beat ready for Bury Beer festival next weekend.  Next stop Stoke on Trent. I managed to get a ticket to see I'm sorry I Haven't a clue at the Victoria Halls in Stoke.

 

  I was up on the balcony so almost had a birds eye view.

 One joke stolen : "A pedestrian passing by Port Vale football ground noticed the team were having a kick around with a Hedgehog.  Unfortunately, by the time the RSPCA had arrived the hedgehog was winning 11-nil."

Tuesday night and, last minute, I got a train into Kings cross.  Just behind kings cross  station is Kings Place, by the canal basin, where I saw the delightful Rachel Sermani ("How's the Marshmallow unicorn doing ?") with Miss Irene Rose in support playing some exceptional music.

While I was there the control panel on the lift made me laugh.

Shindlers Lift!

Still in pot still again

Up in Glasgow, I had a pint in the Horseshoe bar, before heading to the Pot Still.

This has got to be one of the largest selections of malt whiskey available in a bar.

In the morning I had a wander around Glasgow for a while.  I found a small Cathedral and  Castle together, called St Mungos.

There are occasional buildings in Glasgow with murals on the walls...

 ..and some old buildings and pubs...

 ..and the occasional clock tower in the middle of the road.

I was judging beer at Drygate Brewery, which is attached to the Tennants plant.  This is what you get when you have a six figure budget for your brewery.

Roll out the barrel, and Paint it Blue

We went down to the National Brewery Centre at Burton on Trent for the Barrel rolling championship.  One of the striking things I found about Burton on Trent, the brewing centre of England, is the closed pubs...

  ..and another...

 ..and another...

This is a sign of the times I suppose, but it is still sad.

The bar was set up in a record time, so we retired to the Burton Bridge brewery tap for a couple of beers, followed by a great chinese. The festival had a few people but was not as busy as I had hoped.

 

 On the Saturday the barrel rolling championship was under way, and Charlie had bullied me and Lady P into entering - despite me assuring her that I was terrible at it!

Anyway, I managed to miss (just) the row of historic vehicles, hit the barrier, hit the skip, hit the SIBA offices, hit the Paddock scaring off the shire horses (not so big now are they!!), I hit the fence several times, nearly went out of the yard and through the KFC drive-thru, and eventually finished the course. 

I should have a certificate as I think I have now proved that I am the worlds worst barrel roller!

 Lady P did much better, and got an award for third place

Back home recovering, I finally fit the Kitchen doors and Drawer fronts.  The kitchen is looking quite reasonable now.  Another couple of coats of Danish Oil on the worktops and the grain has lifted, so I need to flat it down with some polishing paper and start again!

Ian has finished the roof, and the paint job is looking better every time I look at it.

Bazen D'etre.

East Coast seem to get a lot of slagging off.  I use trains a lot and find they are the best of all the train companies.  They are also I believe the only non-privatised company. Profits from the East Coast are used for the East coast. Profits from the others often goes abroad, subsidizing foreign rail travel from over inflated UK rail tickets.
Whenever I have travelled first class on Virgin, the food has consisted of a bag of pretzels, or some other indigestable crap. East Coast food is excellent.  I never used to like an omelette until I had the Cheese omlette that comes with the great East Coast breakfast.

Todays East coast dish is breast of chicken with sauteed potatoes and green beans...

 

   ..followed by black forest gateaux with cream.

You know what you can do with your snack box Virgin...


Meanwhile in Bolton, Siobhan has trouble removing bags from a bundle!

There was a huge crane at the boatyard today to pull a barge form the canal.  This is what £250k gets you. 

 

On Sunday at the brewery we had Richard and Jude Bazen playing classical music rearranged for piano and mandolin.  The setlist was printed out onto flyers, but in cryptic form. Sometimes I could work out the cryptic clue when I heard the music, but only sometimes!

Nottingham Marina

Wednesday I was in Nottingham for the Midlands Beer judging. This year I got a cheap booking in the Holiday Inn at the marina.  Maybe next year I will bring the boat down!

It was a nice walk down the canal into Nottingham from the marina, down through the area known as Tinkers Lean.

This area has had a lot of new development, mainly flats as this is now a University town. 

There is still a lot of history here though, including the old British Waterways buildings.

Back at the boat (remember the boat ?) I had a trial fit of the Dining Table.  This is held up with a leg made of two peices of wood clamped together until I can devise a way of building a folding, or a telescopic leg.  This will enable the table to drop down and provide a, slightly short, 5'10" double bed, for any shorter guests I may have stopping over.

While the table is up, I will celebrate by having some tea sat down at the table!