Not All Those Who Rhondda Are Lost

I've spent a fair amount of time in the Valleys over the years but have never really explored the area, partly not wanting to be a poverty tourist but mainly common-or-garden laziness. Read drunkenness.

Turns out its all quite scenic. All those tiny settlements are full of faded industrial grandeur with topography that lends itself to views. Merthyr Tydfil is postcard pretty, who would have thought?

In nature news, I saw a stoat kill a rabbit. That's the first time I've seen a proper mammal-on-mammal kill. I didn't even get that on safari. Go nature.

Tied up in Notts

What do you know about Nottingham? Robin Hood, Notts Forest and that's about it? Time for some learning.

Nottingham takes its craft beer seriously. Not certain if it is significant when compared to other cities, or whether I have just become more attuned to it, but it was definitely noticeable. I mean you expect it in Brewdog, or a pub called Six Barrels but Rock City? I thought that that would be like any other rock club I've been to where they are just serving two for one blue WKD. But no, Punk IPA as standard, with Wild Beer and Tiny Rebel if you knew where to look.

Some other Nottingham things:
The Dragon would have been just another pub, although one with a good people watching scene, but it had a scalextric race track in a secret room at the back. Who even knew that was a thing?

Pizza Storm was Subway for pizzas. Not sure how it hasn't existed before. It was ace. Although fairly sure I'm not the only one whose natural tendency is to go over the top. Maybe too many people want all the toppings and they just have to spend all their profits on rolling people out the door.

Stopped at Melton Mowbray on the way back. The pork pie and stilton combo was accompanied by a folk festival. Which was nice.

Mushroom Mushroom

And a couple of firsts for the weekend:

1. Is a bona fide first; a something that I've wanted to do for a whole load of years first. I saw a badger. After spending last summer and autumn failing to get onto a badger watching session, a big old brock just ran across the road in front of us, like a massive, monochrome rat.

2. Brown bread ice cream. I didn't know it was a thing until it was given to me, and what a thing it is. So super tasty. Add brown bread ice cream to your bucket lists now.

IKB

I've never really been one for stately homes. At least not in England. I've been to a fair few abroad but - after a childhood where I was regularly dragged around National Trust properties - I've been to maybe two as a grown up, and they were both for weddings. 

I broke that duck in a big way this weekend. Blenheim Palace. The so-called greatest palace in the UK (which seems a bold statement) and jeepers creepers was it expensive? Do all stately homes cost that much? Holy moly. 

They lured me in with art, there were a lot of Yves Klein's blue bobbins scattered amongst the history. I enjoyed the juxtaposition plus wondering what you would have thought if you had just been there to see eighteenth century old stuff. 

Talking of juxtapositions, after exposure to the aristocracy we camped on a pig farm. The Pig Place had pigs, beer and bacon and generally was somewhere that suited me much more than the Woodstock estate. 

Also went to Oxford proper for a look at them there dreaming spires. I never knew Oxford had a castle - it's like I learned nothing from His Dark Materials.

Black Pudding

We did one of those dining in the dark things. You've heard of that, right? It's a pitch black room and you don't know what you're eating, so it means that you spend more time appreciating the flavours. Or not realising that you are spilling food down yourself. Or stealing Steve's wife's wine from the table next door, because she's just going to assume that it was Steve. That's a joke, Steve, you sounded like you were bigger than me...

It was pretty disconcerting, I'll tell you that for free. You get led to your table in an unsteady conga line and snake round the table shedding people as they get to the chairs, occasionally leaving people stranded in a solo abyss, hoping that their partner will be brought back.

Your table is carefully laid out so that things can be found again. Turns out, in the Country of the Blind, making a conscious effort to remember where you put things is essential.

The food was ace. Not certain that it was better for not being able to see it, but it was definitely weirder.

Winkle Up

I went to Hastings again, and again it was ace. Is there always a happening in town? Maybe. This time the happening was a Fringe Comedy festival. So a heap of Old Town venues had their back rooms overrun by London comedians, like a tiny, work-in-progress Edinburgh. 

Did some of the Hastings culture bits this time: Jerwood Gallery, Castle, Winkle Museum where they had a pressed heron and a story about the Queen's golden winkle. What more culture do you need?

Double Dutch

I've been a bit quiet of late. Turns out the New Normal takes a whole heap of readjustment. And a whole heap of time. 

A couple of things to mention:
Red was pretty good. Despite it being all about Rothko rather than a stage version of the Bruce Willis film - now that is something I would like to see. 

The Albert Hall is a venue - I saw Walk Off The Earth play there. Must be hard for a band when all anyone wants to hear is other bands' songs.

But mainly. I went to my first beach wedding. It was in The Netherlands. Beaches in The Netherlands? Who would have thought. Mighty fine beaches they were too. A beach wedding in The Hague, with twenty four hours in Amsterdam as dessert. That's not a bad weekend is it?