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!

Decline on the Irwell Rivierra

We decided to have a couple of pints in Manchester.  First stop was the new Oxford in Salford, A great bar with a good selection of real ales, plus a massive selection of continental beers.

 Although Loren seems more interested in the pub sign...


Next stop was the Kings Arms on Bloom street. This is a fine looking brick building, and it is criminal what the planners have allowed, by completely surrounding this building by gaudily coloured "modern" crap flats.  Whoever allowed this should get a new guide dog.

Another great pub is the Salford Arms The food looked tempting, but I thought I would wait until later.

Back in towards the city we called in at the Mark Addy.  For many, many years this has been a favorite of mine, however it has just changed hands, there is no food on, and the beer is terrible.  Nothing wrong with the beer as such, except that it has been on for way too long. 
Real ale doesn't appreciate sitting around for weeks and weeks. I saddens me to see such a great bar go into decline.

further down John Dalton Street, we called into another bar to get some food.  After ordering the pate, I was told that "it will be a while as the pate isn't defrosted yet".  Never mind, we will go somewhere else!

The Cheshire Cat was mad busy, with great beer, and the City Arms likewise. A last call into the Market Tavern and the best pint of Tetleys in the North West.