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Canal Mills and Eurovision
May. 13th, 2018 10:52 pmFriday was an incredibly busy day on account of work, which was made additionally fraught by the fact we had an evening event planned. It often seems to be the case that whenever I have something planned on a Friday evening work gets in the way, and so it proved here although arguably it was to our advantage. I worked from home in the hope of getting the bulk of the editing done swiftly, and indeed we only left about an hour later than we had intended, with our destination The Canal Mills Beer Festival.
We had been to the event before, but it has now moved from its traditional November date to early May. This may explain why it wasn't overly busy as there was little queue for food and finding a seat was incredibly easy. That's not to say it was quiet either, indeed it was almost the perfect attendance, but it did seem noticably smaller than previous years. Last time we were there we were coming off of food poisoning we picked up in Georgia but there were no such issues this time, and we managed to sample a wide range of good food and tasty craft beers. Lervig and Black Lodge I think were my favourite breweries, with the latter trying to persuade us to visit their home town of Liverpool for the city's craft beer festival in late July. The good thing about the event was that although most of the breweries we knew and were amongst our favourites, there was always one or two beers we hadn't tried from each of them, meaning we got a nice range of different drinks to try.
The food was also good - Japanese style soft buns, a tasty burger and some halloumi fries where you only got about five of them for £5. Still, they went with the beer and the atmosphere was very friendly, with some chilled out drumming music in the background. It was a very fun event and we spent an enjoyable three hours here, with Wolfie deciding he had had enough shortly after 10pm. This saw us get the penultimate bus home, at the same time as my mood significantly crashed. I imagine it was the stresses of the day getting to me, but my current self-harming streak was back and Wolfie wasn't in the most diplomatic of states to talk to. I didn't do anything in the end but the conversation was rather clunky and left me somewhat isolated. We did go to bed in each other's arms, but I subsequently woke up, fully clothed, and headed downstairs to watch some television, not going to bed until after 4am. So it was a mixed day in the end, but the event itself was great and I'm glad we went.
Saturday was one of the highlights of the year - Eurovision - and we hosted our traditional party. It was quite full this year, with 11 people coming around, including Tonks for the first time. I told everyone to arrive between 4-6pm, not realising the event started at 8pm, so we did have a fair bit of time to kill before the programme. Stray and Luna came around slightly earlier, meaning we got about an hour of guitar time in, which was very useful as they offered me some excellent tips and techniques to improve my playing. Taneli was the next one to arrive shorly after 5pm, and the others flooded in after that. Everyone brought piles of food but very little in the way of drink - Stray aside who brought a whole keg - so Stray, Taneli and I drove down to Bargain Madness at Owlcoates to stock up on supplies. For some reason we bought more food, including tasty pork pies and snausage rolls, when really we should have been getting other stuff. Oh well.
Once we had made it back home, we decided to put on the YouTube and show Marcus 'Salad Fingers', which he found suitably disturbing. I am not sure poor Krazoa was a fan either, but some of us really enjoyed the dystopic surreal nature of the show. After this, I reacquainted Adia with the Squatty Potty commercial (for haemerroidal lords and ladies) while Stray got to see The Duck Song again. Shortly after this, we ordered pizza from Papa John's and they completely messed everything up. The first delivery driver was stopped by the police for some reason and delivered the pizza cold, so he said he would get fresh ones for us before apologising. The second delivery came about fifteen minutes later while ten minutes after that, a third knock on the door saw more pizza arrived, which we just sent back. We had piles of snacks littered around the front room as it was.
The show itself started at 8pm and it was before then that we started on the kegs of beer. I thought the quality of the music was high but there wasn't a really outstanding track. Graham Norton's condescending comments about the Hungarian heavy metal act were somewhat disappointing, particularly considering it was at least novel in the competition, while the Australian commentary describing the stage invader during the United Kingdom's entry as 'a cockhead' was absolutely hilarious. It was a shame for SuRie and finishing 24th out of 26th was harsh for an upbeat and decent song, albeit one that was not all that memorable. It was the same case as last year really. Similar to 2017, I completely disagreed with the winner too. Israel's entry was absolutely terrible and although I understand that the message behind it may have propelled it to its success, I didn't like the tune and chicken noises really do not make a good song. Second placed Cyprus's song was also somewhat poor, meaning that I was completely out of tune with the opinions of my fellow Europeans on this matter.
My friend Pinky was in Portugual at the event, and I do admit I felt a little bit envious of her as it's something I have always wanted to attend. She did mention this back in December but at that time, I had my ex-girlfriend's wedding slated for this Saturday, but this was postponed. I don't think I'll travel to Israel to see it, but perhaps I will get the chance the year after. Watching on TV was fine though as is hosting a party, although I do get a little frustrated with the noise around me as I do like to listen to the songs and in particular Norton's ascerbic commentary. A few people around last night were a little too noisy for my liking and I did get a little frustrated, but of course I want people to have a good time too. I was also berated for being 'a political twat' by someone who does not follow me on Twitter because I made a link to Brexit, which I thought was somewhat harsh. Still, I defused this by getting into conversation with them and we did have quite a nice chat about heavy metal and other genres of music. It was definitely the right way to approach this.
After the event Adia headed off, with Luna and Markus heading shortly afterwards, but not before I showed them the Nutribullet commercial with David Wolfe, which is probably my favourite half hour of television ever made. It's so warm and yet cheesy, with strange little segments that when put together create thirty minutes of genius. I have actually TiVoed it, it's that good. After this, I put the Crystal Maze on, first the furry episode and then one with some pricks from Pizza Hut as it provided good background fodder while we just talked. Krazoa and Absolute headed to bed about 1am, Tonks headed off about 2am while Wolfie went upstairs shorlty after that. This left Taneli, Stray and I watching TV, with me introducing the deliciously dark 'Jam' by Chris Morris to them as it was on Gold before Stray trumped us with Tattoo Fixers, a truly terrible yet charming show where a group of Hackney tattoo artists amend really bad tattoos. The ones on last night were a crayon on someone's bottom cheek because she can store pencils in her bum crack (it was turned into a rose) and two women who had both tattooed the word 'Cunty' onto their feet. It was all rather strange.
Sunday was a sunny day, but having had a rather late night, we didn't surface until around 11am. Washed and dressed, the six of us remaining (Krazoa, Absolute, Taneli, Stray, Wolfie and myself) headed down to Cafe Barthez in Pudsey, the greasy spoon place that has become our breakfast replacement for Wetherspoons as I now boycott that brand. This has actually become a happy event as Cafe Barthez is a fantastic local business, run by a sweet Italian guy who was extolling the virtues of the Samsung Galaxy over the iPhone. Going here has become a post-Eurovision tradition and it's a shame that we only ever really visit once a year. We really should go back more often. Anyway, the lads had their usual big breakfasts, I had my typical beans on toast with a cup of builder's tea and we had a good chat about Eurovision and other fun stuff.
It was time to say goodbye after this - with Krazoa and Absolute needing to get back for Sunday lunch (and having successfully avoided the road closures surrounding the Leeds Half Marathon) while Stray needed to head home to model Senegalese soldiers for his video game. Taneli drove him back but with no other plan for the rest of the day, we decided to meet up with him at Chevin Park above Otley, where we went for a walk along the ridge overlooking the town. It was a perfect day for a stroll but it seemed that everyone else had the same idea as the traffic was bedlam getting up there. However, in its expanse, there weren't that many people around and we had a good stroll on the hilltop, traversing woodland in one direction and meadows in the other for about an hour and a half. We got an ice cream halfway through and once we were done, we went to the local pub, but with no outdoor seating available, we decided to skip a beer and head into Otley instead.
The last time we were here, there was a car boot sale on and it was rammed, so it was more relaxing to see it a lot quieter today. We parked in the Sainsbury's and had a gentle meander round, seeing the charming tower clock on the market square and the Navvies' Monument, built to commemorate the navvies who lost their lives building a tunnel on the Leeds to Thirsk line between 1846 and 1849. We then had a walk down by the river, seeing the old lido which was closed in 1993 but that they are now trying to restore. It reminded me a little of the go karting area at the BLFC hotel, but with that con taking place this week and me really missing it, that may have just been the time of year it was. There were pedallos out on the river alongside a man selling life jackets, while beyond the closed down lido there was an outdoor play area that Taneli told me used to be a swimming pool. Indeed the Archimedes Screw on which we saw a number of children playing was where the pool used to be and its outline could still be seen on the ground. Walking by the river was fun, with the houses there being particularly attractive, while Tittybottle Park always raises a laugh.
After this, we headed back into Otley, calling off at North Bar Social, run by the same people who do North Bar in Leeds. They had a more modest but similarly excellent range of beer on draft at this rather cosy place, and I picked up some blue cheese and red wine meat sticks which were delectable. The beer was excellent and it was fun just sat outside, albeit in the shade as the bar was at the end of a narrow alleyway. There were a couple of yappy small dogs who were perhaps barking a little too much, but ultimately it was a very nice end to the day. We haven't seen Taneli too much this year and when we have, it's largely been for specific events such as the Richard Herring gig a few weeks back. It was good to spend time with him and catch up properly over the course of a number of hours, so it was very definitely a day well-spent.
He headed off from Otley back to his home and Wolfie and I headed home. Stuck for a food option, we decided to park up and walk down to Grumpy's, a fantastically named pizzeria in Farsley, about two miles from where we live. I had to do a little work first, but Wolfie needed to clean his car windshield so this was all slotted into place nicely. My work didn't take long though and after a pleasant half hour walk in the sun, we arrived at the pizza place. One huge advantage is they also serve craft beer and we got a couple while we waited for our food, with the owner of the bar telling us that they had had a huge rush on and it may take a while. We were just delighted to see the place busy and with nothing else on tonight, we were happy to wait. We had been here once before, but hadn't been for a while, so it was good to get the chance to try more of their excellent pizzas and to be fair the wait wasn't too long. It was also worth it, as with the pizza we also had roast potatoes and feta, with the saltiness of the cheese really combining well with the vegetables. The pizzas were as great as I remember them and they now have garlic dip too, which was a new addition.
As we were finishing our pizza, a small yappy dog sat on the table next to us (with his owners) and he did spend a lot of time barking. He was a cute little chappie, but was naughty. We decided to grab two more drinks here - sharing them as we do - before heading back home via the off licence in the town, which has since reopened as a huge craft beer emporium. It certainly was impressive and with a loyalty card scheme, a place also worth visiting. Anyway, in the end it was an incredibly fun and busy weekend albeit one where I have piles of already opened snacks in my house and my waistline has been punished significantly already. I may take some of these into work tomorrow because I don't think I can eat all of this.
We had been to the event before, but it has now moved from its traditional November date to early May. This may explain why it wasn't overly busy as there was little queue for food and finding a seat was incredibly easy. That's not to say it was quiet either, indeed it was almost the perfect attendance, but it did seem noticably smaller than previous years. Last time we were there we were coming off of food poisoning we picked up in Georgia but there were no such issues this time, and we managed to sample a wide range of good food and tasty craft beers. Lervig and Black Lodge I think were my favourite breweries, with the latter trying to persuade us to visit their home town of Liverpool for the city's craft beer festival in late July. The good thing about the event was that although most of the breweries we knew and were amongst our favourites, there was always one or two beers we hadn't tried from each of them, meaning we got a nice range of different drinks to try.
The food was also good - Japanese style soft buns, a tasty burger and some halloumi fries where you only got about five of them for £5. Still, they went with the beer and the atmosphere was very friendly, with some chilled out drumming music in the background. It was a very fun event and we spent an enjoyable three hours here, with Wolfie deciding he had had enough shortly after 10pm. This saw us get the penultimate bus home, at the same time as my mood significantly crashed. I imagine it was the stresses of the day getting to me, but my current self-harming streak was back and Wolfie wasn't in the most diplomatic of states to talk to. I didn't do anything in the end but the conversation was rather clunky and left me somewhat isolated. We did go to bed in each other's arms, but I subsequently woke up, fully clothed, and headed downstairs to watch some television, not going to bed until after 4am. So it was a mixed day in the end, but the event itself was great and I'm glad we went.
Saturday was one of the highlights of the year - Eurovision - and we hosted our traditional party. It was quite full this year, with 11 people coming around, including Tonks for the first time. I told everyone to arrive between 4-6pm, not realising the event started at 8pm, so we did have a fair bit of time to kill before the programme. Stray and Luna came around slightly earlier, meaning we got about an hour of guitar time in, which was very useful as they offered me some excellent tips and techniques to improve my playing. Taneli was the next one to arrive shorly after 5pm, and the others flooded in after that. Everyone brought piles of food but very little in the way of drink - Stray aside who brought a whole keg - so Stray, Taneli and I drove down to Bargain Madness at Owlcoates to stock up on supplies. For some reason we bought more food, including tasty pork pies and snausage rolls, when really we should have been getting other stuff. Oh well.
Once we had made it back home, we decided to put on the YouTube and show Marcus 'Salad Fingers', which he found suitably disturbing. I am not sure poor Krazoa was a fan either, but some of us really enjoyed the dystopic surreal nature of the show. After this, I reacquainted Adia with the Squatty Potty commercial (for haemerroidal lords and ladies) while Stray got to see The Duck Song again. Shortly after this, we ordered pizza from Papa John's and they completely messed everything up. The first delivery driver was stopped by the police for some reason and delivered the pizza cold, so he said he would get fresh ones for us before apologising. The second delivery came about fifteen minutes later while ten minutes after that, a third knock on the door saw more pizza arrived, which we just sent back. We had piles of snacks littered around the front room as it was.
The show itself started at 8pm and it was before then that we started on the kegs of beer. I thought the quality of the music was high but there wasn't a really outstanding track. Graham Norton's condescending comments about the Hungarian heavy metal act were somewhat disappointing, particularly considering it was at least novel in the competition, while the Australian commentary describing the stage invader during the United Kingdom's entry as 'a cockhead' was absolutely hilarious. It was a shame for SuRie and finishing 24th out of 26th was harsh for an upbeat and decent song, albeit one that was not all that memorable. It was the same case as last year really. Similar to 2017, I completely disagreed with the winner too. Israel's entry was absolutely terrible and although I understand that the message behind it may have propelled it to its success, I didn't like the tune and chicken noises really do not make a good song. Second placed Cyprus's song was also somewhat poor, meaning that I was completely out of tune with the opinions of my fellow Europeans on this matter.
My friend Pinky was in Portugual at the event, and I do admit I felt a little bit envious of her as it's something I have always wanted to attend. She did mention this back in December but at that time, I had my ex-girlfriend's wedding slated for this Saturday, but this was postponed. I don't think I'll travel to Israel to see it, but perhaps I will get the chance the year after. Watching on TV was fine though as is hosting a party, although I do get a little frustrated with the noise around me as I do like to listen to the songs and in particular Norton's ascerbic commentary. A few people around last night were a little too noisy for my liking and I did get a little frustrated, but of course I want people to have a good time too. I was also berated for being 'a political twat' by someone who does not follow me on Twitter because I made a link to Brexit, which I thought was somewhat harsh. Still, I defused this by getting into conversation with them and we did have quite a nice chat about heavy metal and other genres of music. It was definitely the right way to approach this.
After the event Adia headed off, with Luna and Markus heading shortly afterwards, but not before I showed them the Nutribullet commercial with David Wolfe, which is probably my favourite half hour of television ever made. It's so warm and yet cheesy, with strange little segments that when put together create thirty minutes of genius. I have actually TiVoed it, it's that good. After this, I put the Crystal Maze on, first the furry episode and then one with some pricks from Pizza Hut as it provided good background fodder while we just talked. Krazoa and Absolute headed to bed about 1am, Tonks headed off about 2am while Wolfie went upstairs shorlty after that. This left Taneli, Stray and I watching TV, with me introducing the deliciously dark 'Jam' by Chris Morris to them as it was on Gold before Stray trumped us with Tattoo Fixers, a truly terrible yet charming show where a group of Hackney tattoo artists amend really bad tattoos. The ones on last night were a crayon on someone's bottom cheek because she can store pencils in her bum crack (it was turned into a rose) and two women who had both tattooed the word 'Cunty' onto their feet. It was all rather strange.
Sunday was a sunny day, but having had a rather late night, we didn't surface until around 11am. Washed and dressed, the six of us remaining (Krazoa, Absolute, Taneli, Stray, Wolfie and myself) headed down to Cafe Barthez in Pudsey, the greasy spoon place that has become our breakfast replacement for Wetherspoons as I now boycott that brand. This has actually become a happy event as Cafe Barthez is a fantastic local business, run by a sweet Italian guy who was extolling the virtues of the Samsung Galaxy over the iPhone. Going here has become a post-Eurovision tradition and it's a shame that we only ever really visit once a year. We really should go back more often. Anyway, the lads had their usual big breakfasts, I had my typical beans on toast with a cup of builder's tea and we had a good chat about Eurovision and other fun stuff.
It was time to say goodbye after this - with Krazoa and Absolute needing to get back for Sunday lunch (and having successfully avoided the road closures surrounding the Leeds Half Marathon) while Stray needed to head home to model Senegalese soldiers for his video game. Taneli drove him back but with no other plan for the rest of the day, we decided to meet up with him at Chevin Park above Otley, where we went for a walk along the ridge overlooking the town. It was a perfect day for a stroll but it seemed that everyone else had the same idea as the traffic was bedlam getting up there. However, in its expanse, there weren't that many people around and we had a good stroll on the hilltop, traversing woodland in one direction and meadows in the other for about an hour and a half. We got an ice cream halfway through and once we were done, we went to the local pub, but with no outdoor seating available, we decided to skip a beer and head into Otley instead.
The last time we were here, there was a car boot sale on and it was rammed, so it was more relaxing to see it a lot quieter today. We parked in the Sainsbury's and had a gentle meander round, seeing the charming tower clock on the market square and the Navvies' Monument, built to commemorate the navvies who lost their lives building a tunnel on the Leeds to Thirsk line between 1846 and 1849. We then had a walk down by the river, seeing the old lido which was closed in 1993 but that they are now trying to restore. It reminded me a little of the go karting area at the BLFC hotel, but with that con taking place this week and me really missing it, that may have just been the time of year it was. There were pedallos out on the river alongside a man selling life jackets, while beyond the closed down lido there was an outdoor play area that Taneli told me used to be a swimming pool. Indeed the Archimedes Screw on which we saw a number of children playing was where the pool used to be and its outline could still be seen on the ground. Walking by the river was fun, with the houses there being particularly attractive, while Tittybottle Park always raises a laugh.
After this, we headed back into Otley, calling off at North Bar Social, run by the same people who do North Bar in Leeds. They had a more modest but similarly excellent range of beer on draft at this rather cosy place, and I picked up some blue cheese and red wine meat sticks which were delectable. The beer was excellent and it was fun just sat outside, albeit in the shade as the bar was at the end of a narrow alleyway. There were a couple of yappy small dogs who were perhaps barking a little too much, but ultimately it was a very nice end to the day. We haven't seen Taneli too much this year and when we have, it's largely been for specific events such as the Richard Herring gig a few weeks back. It was good to spend time with him and catch up properly over the course of a number of hours, so it was very definitely a day well-spent.
He headed off from Otley back to his home and Wolfie and I headed home. Stuck for a food option, we decided to park up and walk down to Grumpy's, a fantastically named pizzeria in Farsley, about two miles from where we live. I had to do a little work first, but Wolfie needed to clean his car windshield so this was all slotted into place nicely. My work didn't take long though and after a pleasant half hour walk in the sun, we arrived at the pizza place. One huge advantage is they also serve craft beer and we got a couple while we waited for our food, with the owner of the bar telling us that they had had a huge rush on and it may take a while. We were just delighted to see the place busy and with nothing else on tonight, we were happy to wait. We had been here once before, but hadn't been for a while, so it was good to get the chance to try more of their excellent pizzas and to be fair the wait wasn't too long. It was also worth it, as with the pizza we also had roast potatoes and feta, with the saltiness of the cheese really combining well with the vegetables. The pizzas were as great as I remember them and they now have garlic dip too, which was a new addition.
As we were finishing our pizza, a small yappy dog sat on the table next to us (with his owners) and he did spend a lot of time barking. He was a cute little chappie, but was naughty. We decided to grab two more drinks here - sharing them as we do - before heading back home via the off licence in the town, which has since reopened as a huge craft beer emporium. It certainly was impressive and with a loyalty card scheme, a place also worth visiting. Anyway, in the end it was an incredibly fun and busy weekend albeit one where I have piles of already opened snacks in my house and my waistline has been punished significantly already. I may take some of these into work tomorrow because I don't think I can eat all of this.
