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We Demand A Puppies' Vote!
Oct. 21st, 2018 10:21 pmThe third weekend of the month is always pretty intense as it tends to be Brewdog's Collab Beer Fest. This year, they have definitely gone for quantity over quality as there were 52 bars participating, although it is worth noting that there were only 48 beers to try as four failed to make it through customs. This was significantly higher than the 35 last year and I must admit that the vast majority of them were pretty average, with a few clearly being rebadged versions of something that had already been done (either that or the breweries had already released the collab beer as a badged version of their own product). We tried 38 in the end - 22 on Thursday and 16 on Saturday - with Thursday being the day that we went to Shuffledog to meet Brett. He did tell us that his parents were visiting but I did think he would be back later on. This turned out not to be the case so we only got to see him briefly before dinner, with him disappearing at 6:45pm. Afterwards, it was just me and Wolfie and we decided to start first with the international bars and then go backwards alphabetically through the UK ones. We were sharing halves - so only trying a quarter of a pint of each beer each - meaning we sped through them and it was good trying the different flavours.
We were going to go out on Friday but we decided to give our livers a rest, knowing that Saturday was meet day and we would be returning to Brewdog once again. However, I was pretty torn as Saturday was also the People's Vote March in London. I didn't want to skip the meet, particularly as one team member had only just quit, but my heart was telling me to go to the capital. After discussion with Wolfie and Cosmo, who told me that the meet would be covered regardless, I decided very late on to head to London. This cost me £112 in total but it was definitely worth it, with me getting the 08:45 train down there and the 16:03 train back as I had promised to do more Collab beers and meet up with Stray and his potential new flatmate too. This gave me about five hours in the capital, where I met up with Patter at Leicester Square and Stonewolf outside The Dorchester where we ended up to start the march. I had been looking for the Remainiacs team but alas I could not find them, but it was a convenient place to start the march. We had no idea how big it was on the ground, but we knew that it must have been huge judging by where the helicopters were circling and the fact that we set off a full hour later than we had done in June largely from the same position. This only gave me about forty minutes of actual marching time, with me needing to dart off as we got near Regent Street asI had to get the 16:03. Stonewolf and Patter went on, but only got to Trafalgar Square as The Mall was completely full of protesters, meaning no-one got to hear the speeches. It was only on the train that I read the stunning turnout of 700,000, largely because the cellular networks couldn't cope with so many people in such a small area. The march was as jovial as ever but I did feel a slight edge, with some frustration bubbling, while the placards had their usual witticisms. As is often the case we got chatting to a number of people, including a nice elderly gentleman who lived in Brussels and went to the opening of Jo Cox Square last month. It was great talking to him and going to the march was definitely the right decision. Whether it will make any difference, I am unsure, but hopefully it will emblolden Remain-leaning Conservative MPs in particular to back the pro-European cause.
Piccadilly Circus tube station was rammed on my way back, meaning I ran to Leicester Square instead, where I managed to get on a packed tube bound for Kings Cross. To be honest, I knew I was cutting it fine as I wanted to be on the march as long as possible, but fortunately everything ran smoothly and I just about managed to catch my train. The first class experience was good, with free tea, cakes and sandwiches - a blessing as the only thing I had had to eat that day was a poached egg on bagel for breakfast - but I was alarmed to see you now have to pay for alcoholic drinks. You never had to do this under Virgin so if this is the sign of the railway being publicly owned then bring them back into private hands I say! As I mentioned, I had to leave London early as I had promised Stray we would meet his new flatmate and go drinking, so it was quite disappointing that when I got to Shuffledog shortly before 6:30pm, they were pretty much planning to leave. However, Axle and Skavi were both still around and we had a pleasant hour chatting with the both of them, with the croc showing me the handbook he has received from HM Government of all the useless crap you need to know to pass the British Citizenship Test. I'm an educated guy but a lot of it even I don't know so I have no idea how it's diagnostic of anything. Granted, it's all interesting stuff but why you would quite need to understand RA Butler's Education Act of 1941 and its effects on British Schooling I don't quite know. Anyway, Skavi stayed around for another half once Axle had left and afterwards Wolfie and I finished the Collab beers they had had and went to little Brewdog to sample a few more. Here, we were told which ones were selling out so we nabbed those quickly and noticed some pictures on the wall of animals drawn in the style of pieces of fruit. We quite liked these so decided to purchase a fox and a squirrel one, which I will pick up tomorrow.
Wolfie has an exam tomorrow so he didn't want to get too drunk, particularly as he has started to develop a cold too. This meant we left the bar before the last bus on Saturday and Wolfie spent all of Sunday at home revising. Meanwhile, I went out with Arcais, Adia and Taneli for an afternoon of geocaching on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in the Kirkstall and Armley Park areas. This was Taneli and Adia's introduction to geocaching and I think they were quite impressed. It was certainly a fantastic day and we had a good laugh looking for a range of caches, most of which were hidden in trees. Indeed rummaging through the autumn foliage was exciting but not without hazard, with me drawing blood on two occasions due to prickly rosebush and holly thorns. The autumnal colours were particularly striking and the warmth of the day made it rather pleasant. We also saw quite a few doggo friends, including one tied to the H rugby posts in Armley Park who loved being petted and whined as I went away. We spent a while in this park and more time on the canal, just casually searching and chatting. It was very chill. Afterwards, we bid Adia adieu at Kirkstall Forge station before the three of us headed to Ambrosja, the Polish restaurant in Bradford. We hadn't been here in over two years and they have spruced the place up a little in that time - although the food is as homely as ever. I had forgotten just how good and how cheap it was. I had the zurek in the bread bowl followed by pierogi ruskie, while we also had the lard and bacon artery clogging smolec as a starter. The food was stodgy but really great and we really should go back there more often. Bradford on a Sunday night was as dead as it normally is, but it was certainly a brilliant end to a brilliant weekend.
We were going to go out on Friday but we decided to give our livers a rest, knowing that Saturday was meet day and we would be returning to Brewdog once again. However, I was pretty torn as Saturday was also the People's Vote March in London. I didn't want to skip the meet, particularly as one team member had only just quit, but my heart was telling me to go to the capital. After discussion with Wolfie and Cosmo, who told me that the meet would be covered regardless, I decided very late on to head to London. This cost me £112 in total but it was definitely worth it, with me getting the 08:45 train down there and the 16:03 train back as I had promised to do more Collab beers and meet up with Stray and his potential new flatmate too. This gave me about five hours in the capital, where I met up with Patter at Leicester Square and Stonewolf outside The Dorchester where we ended up to start the march. I had been looking for the Remainiacs team but alas I could not find them, but it was a convenient place to start the march. We had no idea how big it was on the ground, but we knew that it must have been huge judging by where the helicopters were circling and the fact that we set off a full hour later than we had done in June largely from the same position. This only gave me about forty minutes of actual marching time, with me needing to dart off as we got near Regent Street asI had to get the 16:03. Stonewolf and Patter went on, but only got to Trafalgar Square as The Mall was completely full of protesters, meaning no-one got to hear the speeches. It was only on the train that I read the stunning turnout of 700,000, largely because the cellular networks couldn't cope with so many people in such a small area. The march was as jovial as ever but I did feel a slight edge, with some frustration bubbling, while the placards had their usual witticisms. As is often the case we got chatting to a number of people, including a nice elderly gentleman who lived in Brussels and went to the opening of Jo Cox Square last month. It was great talking to him and going to the march was definitely the right decision. Whether it will make any difference, I am unsure, but hopefully it will emblolden Remain-leaning Conservative MPs in particular to back the pro-European cause.
Piccadilly Circus tube station was rammed on my way back, meaning I ran to Leicester Square instead, where I managed to get on a packed tube bound for Kings Cross. To be honest, I knew I was cutting it fine as I wanted to be on the march as long as possible, but fortunately everything ran smoothly and I just about managed to catch my train. The first class experience was good, with free tea, cakes and sandwiches - a blessing as the only thing I had had to eat that day was a poached egg on bagel for breakfast - but I was alarmed to see you now have to pay for alcoholic drinks. You never had to do this under Virgin so if this is the sign of the railway being publicly owned then bring them back into private hands I say! As I mentioned, I had to leave London early as I had promised Stray we would meet his new flatmate and go drinking, so it was quite disappointing that when I got to Shuffledog shortly before 6:30pm, they were pretty much planning to leave. However, Axle and Skavi were both still around and we had a pleasant hour chatting with the both of them, with the croc showing me the handbook he has received from HM Government of all the useless crap you need to know to pass the British Citizenship Test. I'm an educated guy but a lot of it even I don't know so I have no idea how it's diagnostic of anything. Granted, it's all interesting stuff but why you would quite need to understand RA Butler's Education Act of 1941 and its effects on British Schooling I don't quite know. Anyway, Skavi stayed around for another half once Axle had left and afterwards Wolfie and I finished the Collab beers they had had and went to little Brewdog to sample a few more. Here, we were told which ones were selling out so we nabbed those quickly and noticed some pictures on the wall of animals drawn in the style of pieces of fruit. We quite liked these so decided to purchase a fox and a squirrel one, which I will pick up tomorrow.
Wolfie has an exam tomorrow so he didn't want to get too drunk, particularly as he has started to develop a cold too. This meant we left the bar before the last bus on Saturday and Wolfie spent all of Sunday at home revising. Meanwhile, I went out with Arcais, Adia and Taneli for an afternoon of geocaching on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in the Kirkstall and Armley Park areas. This was Taneli and Adia's introduction to geocaching and I think they were quite impressed. It was certainly a fantastic day and we had a good laugh looking for a range of caches, most of which were hidden in trees. Indeed rummaging through the autumn foliage was exciting but not without hazard, with me drawing blood on two occasions due to prickly rosebush and holly thorns. The autumnal colours were particularly striking and the warmth of the day made it rather pleasant. We also saw quite a few doggo friends, including one tied to the H rugby posts in Armley Park who loved being petted and whined as I went away. We spent a while in this park and more time on the canal, just casually searching and chatting. It was very chill. Afterwards, we bid Adia adieu at Kirkstall Forge station before the three of us headed to Ambrosja, the Polish restaurant in Bradford. We hadn't been here in over two years and they have spruced the place up a little in that time - although the food is as homely as ever. I had forgotten just how good and how cheap it was. I had the zurek in the bread bowl followed by pierogi ruskie, while we also had the lard and bacon artery clogging smolec as a starter. The food was stodgy but really great and we really should go back there more often. Bradford on a Sunday night was as dead as it normally is, but it was certainly a brilliant end to a brilliant weekend.
