Pop (Goes the Weasel)

And a weekend of things that I've only heard about in the last six months but really should have known about for ages.

Mothers' day and three generations of selfindulgentnonsense headed down to the British Wildlife Centre. You heard of that? Well you should. It's ace. It's a zoo but all the animals are local. None of this elephant lion nonsense. Here the apex predators are badgers.

It meant I got to see those animals that, to date, I'd only seen from a passing car. I saw a badger doing a snuffle, a weasel looking like a tiny, teleporting meercat and an ADHD stoat. Plus some harvest mice, which are tiny.

Saturday was the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Now you've heard of that, right? Turns out Bermondsey has gentrified whilst I wasn't looking. Who'd have thought? Best beer of the mile - Brew by Numbers. Best discovery - smoked lager.

Stuff I've been Reading - March:

Stellig - David Almond
The World Made Straight - Ron Rash
Sharp Teeth - Toby Barlow
Help - Simon Amstell
Siege Mentality - Christopher Brookmyre
Swingtime - Zadie Smith

Nice Puns

I wasn't sure what to make of Nice at first. I mean I liked the way there were signs for things like "Nice helicopters", that made me smile, but getting into the city itself, it just seemed really resorty. And resorty in that seedy resorty way of, as soon as you are off the seafront then the whole place is a bit unpleasant. But then you find yourself in Place Massena and you realise that it will all be alright after all.

Had a day trip to Monaco. I thinks it's fair to say that Monaco is not Nice. And that works both ways. The setting is spectacular but the man-made additions are just ugly. For somewhere so dripping with wealth you kind of expect everything to be a bit more cared for.

Had a coffee at the Monte Carlo Casino. Sneered at the super yachts in the marina. Wandered Monaco-Vieux with its sub-Corniglia streets amd figured that the country probably isn't for me. Box ticked, back to the Nice streets.

Stuff I've Been Reading (Feb 19)

Books read:

Drunk Folk Tales - Beans on Toast
Straight out of Crawley - Romesh Ranganathan
The Portrait - Antoine Laurain
Fox8 - George Saunders
Carra - Jamie Carragher
Tom's midnight garden - Philippa Pearce

When I read the Polysyllabic Spree I was travelling, so my book choice was largely limited to what I could find in book swaps. Which made taking Nick Hornby's recommendations a bit less straightforward. The only book I remember reading as a result of the Polyphonic Spree was Stuart A Life Backwards. Having access to the Internet whilst reading this follow up is dangerous - I now have eight books on the go. Which is ridiculous.

It was a surprisingly autobiography-y month. Three of them, all from people roughly my age. Which is a bit weird. Not wholly sure why I read the Jamie Carragher one, it was recommended to me a decade or so ago but I have no idea by who. The only person it could have been has assured me it wasn't him. Hmmm.

I found the Beans on Toast book the most relatable. It felt like hearing your mate's anecdotes down the pub. Something which the Carra book just didn't quite pull off.

Everyone loves a non human narrator, right? And I'm fairly sure Fox8 was the first book I've read narrated by a fox. Which is obviously ace. Plus George Saunders. And it's only little so you may as well read it.

Not sure how I hadn't read Tom's Midnight Garden before. Apparently it was voted second best children's book of the last seventy years, after His Dark Materials. I really enjoyed it. Which I guess shouldn't be a surprise.

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At the start of the Nick Hornby book he talks about how books would never have the same cultural impact as songs, as (paraphrasing) they take too long to read, so (generally) by the time you've read the latest book it's not that new anymore. In a similar vein, I was chatting to Ollie from Hopsters about how beers were like music used to be, how you could get excited about trying something new. How a limited edition Tiny Rebel and Deya collaboration NEIPA was like finding a rare b-side back in the nineties, beforemusic became so easily accessible. With that in mind...

Beers supped:

Yeah yeah yeah - Magic Rock x Wylam
Skeletory - Northern Monk x Deya
Putty - Verdant
Tiny Rebel birthday collaboration beers
It's this way Tony and Juice Campbell - Brew York
Caracolillo - Watson's
Chasing mirrors through a haze - Wylam
Little Urchin and Wormburner - Time and Tide

There are some big names in there, right? I think Wormburner was my favourite.

Bonn Chic, Bonn Genre

First time out of the country in five months - which I think is the longest I've been in one country in a decade - so a good time to reignite that winter trip to Germany thing.

I went to Cologne a few years back. It was the first time I'd seen the padlocks-on-a-bridge thing. At the time I thought it was something different, something to remark upon. Now it's remarkable in a whole other way. There are so many padlocks - no more than the amount you're currently thinking. Double it. Still more.

The other things I remembered about Cologne: 1. everyone wears fancy dress as a practice for the crazy days and 2. they eat their sausages raw. Both of those things were very much in evidence.

Aside from that I eas disappointed by how little I saw before, there is a whole load more city than just the old town. There's a sculpture garden where they have massive fried eggs; there's a botanic gardens where they have purple lawns; there's a river walk where you get to see crows pecking eagles. What's not to like?

Bonn on the other hand just came across as Cologne light. It probably didn't help that everything was closed but so much was just a rubbish version of Cologne. Don't get me wrong, it was a perfectly pleasant city. It just wasn't Cologne.

I've been reading "Stuff I've been Reading" by Nick Hornby. Much like the Polysyllabic Spree before it, it's made me want to catalogue everything I've read. Hmmm...

No Leeds

So let's kick 2019 off with a combo of two things I've been meaning to do for a while.

About three years ago I got told by a seven year old that I hadn't travelled much because I'd not been to Leeds Castle. Not that I take teasings from children seriously, but we can't be having that, right? So Leeds Castle. Boom. It's a proper castle with a moat and a whole heap of history. It always worries me in places like that with regard to how little history I know, especially from way back when in 100 year war times.

People have been saying Colchester Zoo is one of the best zoos in the country for a few years now. Back when I was a pup this was a standard day out, but I don't think I've been since I was twelve. It's changed quite a bit and is impressive in both its size and its selection. I'm still just not quite sure what I think about zoos. Still, the otters seemed happy.

The year of growing up

It's New Year's Eve and I'm in a dentist's waiting room. I broke my tooth on a particularly tenacious pork scratching on Christmas Eve. Turns out breaking a tooth on Christmas Eve puts a bit of a spanner in the mixed metaphor of drunken gluttony I had planned for the last week. Ho hum.

So 2018. That was a year. A whole heap of firsts, some of the real biggies: saw my first badger; moved in with a girlfriend for the first time; first dining in the dark; first family holiday as the adult; first Grand National; first mortgage; first jellyfish sting. Boom.

And the way I drink beer has changed. Turns out I'm a beer snob nowadays. The other week I had a Doom Bar which used to be my go to, but it now seems to taste of boring. So beer of the year? Realistically it's Magic Rock's Ba De Mole but that doesn't count as that's a real special occasion beer. Whilst I feel bad not mentioning House Party (or Pogo or Baladin's Open Amber or Inhaler or Dennis Hoppr or Clwb Tropicana or Even Sharks Need Water), the two beers that get a mention are Watson's Amarazaka which was unexpectedly brilliant (as are the whole Watson's range) and Hatherwood's Twisted Knots which is such good value that it just trumps everything else.

Theatre of the year? In a year when I didn't really see any theatre, it turns out I still saw quite a lot. A Very Very Very Dark Matter made a last ditch attempt, but it was always going to be a Hamilton year.

Music of the year? People have been saying how this has been a great year for music, but I've not been certain. The only new album I've really liked is the new Spiritualised, and that's mainly because it sounds like an album I really liked fifteen years ago.

Book of the year? I'd endorse any of the four from a couple of posts ago, but The Power might just take it - how 2017 of me?

Eye watering moment of the year? I think it's s about to begin. Wish me luck...

Winning at Christmas

Ooh, I had a really Christmassy weekend. That's a sentence that you wouldn't have got in this blog three years ago. But I did. I watched The Nutcracker, ate Christmas dinner street food (that's a roast dinner wrapped in Yorkshire pudding - how comes I've not eaten that before?) and dressed as Father Christmas.

And I won a race.

Yes, yes, yes. I know that those Santa Runs aren't supposed to be competitive, they're just a bit of fun. Yes, they're just a festive photo op; a spectacle of Father Christmasses. Yes, it should be all about raising money for charity. But you're just saying that because you didn't win. I did. It was a race and I won. In your face other Santas.

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To end on a less festive note, I'm still feeling sad about Pete Shelley.