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  • Peterborough – Draper’s Arms and the Quiz….

    Peterborough – Draper’s Arms and the Quiz….

    I don’t much like pub quizzes, although I manage not to harbour a grudge against those pubs who hold them, since they do play a part in pub life. And anyway, life’s too short when I can complain about the lack of dark beer in pubs. But, I’ve still yet to discover a Wetherspoons where they run a pub quiz and it’s actually popular, although I don’t deny for one moment that such a mythical beast exists. Indeed, the quiz in the Draper’s Arms, which was littered with inaccuracies (I had to listen in so that I could complain to myself about the situation) was busily attended by four tables (and a man on a stool) and it managed to disturb the entire pub. I noticed four customers walk in and walk out, primarily because their preferred table was in the middle of the fallout area of the unnecessarily loud sound system which had been rigged up.

    Perhaps it’s often more popular, and to be fair, they had reserved off three tables in what appeared to be an unusually aspirational move since the quiz was half-way through and there were still no patrons at those tables. On the inaccuracy front, even I was puzzled by what the “Gatsby Plot was” (I was trying to work out if it was to do with F. Scott Fitzgerald), although fortunately one of the quiz entrants told the pub’s quiz host that it was the Catesby Plot. One table (well, one person at the table, although I suppose that was enough) was cheating throughout by looking at their phones for the answers, so I assume that this quiz isn’t for big money.

    I also looked like I was cheating since I had a laptop on the table, but I overcame that worry. I liked the knockout round at the end where if you answered a question and got it wrong then you lost all your points. A bit like bar billiards I thought. And on that point, perhaps they could get rid of the quiz and replace it with a bar billiards table. Win win.

    Incidentally (and irrelevantly, as is usual with my posts), I have a good record at pub quizzes. Not because I’m any good at them, but primarily as I manage to get on teams with someone who is clever and good at quizzes. That’s the key to winning quizzes, not being clever.

  • Ely – Flying Dustman

    Ely – Flying Dustman

    I’ve never heard about this rail operation before, although that’s no great surprise since the transportation of rubbish isn’t something that I’m an expert in. Anyway, Biffa have two locomotives which operate across the rail network which transport waste around, meaning that at least journeys don’t have to be undertaken by road.

    I have to give credit to the operators for their train name, the Flying Dustman. Others seem equally impressed, as Biffa are encouraging rail users to post photos of the locomotive to post on Twitter. But just posting here will suffice me, but it’s still all a marvellous idea and, without sounding like a train spotter, I saw this at Ely railway station.

  • Norwich Beer Festival 2019

    Norwich Beer Festival 2019

    And that was a lovely two days of volunteering at Norwich beer festival, my sixth year in a row. Always a friendly environment and I was sad to report that I didn’t even get one grumpy customer this year, although I did get the obligatory one who thought that there was unlimited beer for £3.

    And, primarily for my own record since I can’t imagine anyone is in the slightest bit bothered, these were my favourite festival beers.

    Orange Blood by 3D

    Dark Drake by Dancing Duck

    Robin Goodfellow by Papworth

    Mild by Shipstones

    Stain Glass Porter by Star Wing

    Lemon and Basil by Blackjack

    Cinder Toffee Mild by Half Moon

    Hygge Figgy by Brass Castle

    Dark Matter Custard by Turning Point

    Stagecoach by Tombstone

    Blackberry Porter by S&P

  • Norwich – Brasov Romanian Restaurant

    Norwich – Brasov Romanian Restaurant

    The Hike Norfolk monthly meal was this month at Brasov Restaurant on Dereham Road in Norwich, a relatively new dining option for the city which is well reviewed. The welcome was friendly and seemed genuinely personable, despite the meal’s organiser being concerned about the whereabouts of some of the group (I might have arrived fifteen minutes early…..). Anyway, the table for eight of us was ready and the dining environment was clean and comfortable, with quite a modern design to it.

    The whitebait starter, with the fish being at the appropriate temperature and they were reasonably well coated with the batter. They had a pleasant taste and the portion size was perfectly acceptable. The homemade garlic sauce wasn’t though really to my taste, it was very watery and had no complexity to it other than a very strong garlic flavour which was too overpowering for the whitebait. I think I’d rather have had a tartare sauce with garlic flavouring, but nonetheless, the whitebait themselves were fine.

    I can’t claim any attempt at Romanian cuisine with this little effort of mine here…. The Greek salad was though entirely satisfactory, with a decent quality feta cheese crumbled on the top and cucumber, olives, onions, tomatoes and lettuce underneath. The portion size was reasonable and the quality of the ingredients was fine, with the chips being suitably firm on the exterior and fluffy on the interior. The homemade sauce was very moreish (so moreish I ate most of it, forcing Gordon to get more for the table) and flavoursome.

    Some of the others had Romanian dishes of various types and I think there was a view that they were well presented and interesting, although perhaps lacking a little in seasoning. But Gordon, who as usual ordered the most expensive on the menu, was content with his steak. Although he had the same problem with the garlic sauce as I’d had with my starter.

    The staff were also very tolerant of our group, which as usual went off the rails somewhat when Gordon changed the subject to talk about his money. Or, something like that, I can’t quite recall…..

    We weren’t going to have desserts, other than Gordon who messed the friendly and ever tolerant waitress about, but I doubt he’ll read this for some weeks so I can put that. However, the restaurant brought out this dessert for free, a Papanași, which was a doughnut type pastry with blueberries. This was a very kind gesture and the blueberries and the sauce were delicious and the pastry was light.

    These weren’t my beers, I temporarily stole Dave and Gordon’s beers to take photos of a couple of the Romanian options. My ever more specialist beer tastes inevitably weren’t met at the restaurant, although that’s more to do with me than them. Although I do remember from my last trip to Romania, there were some dark beers available, including a dark version of Ursus. I couldn’t taste the difference between the above beers, I have no ability to really differentiate lagers as they all taste broadly the same to me.

    All told, the service at this restaurant was well above average and it felt a welcoming environment, with the staff member being engaging and personable. I get the feeling that this place is a popular cafe during the day, with some intriguing cakes and coffees available for customers. For food, I was content with my choices, the prices were reasonable and the quality of the ingredients was fine. Ideally though, I’d have liked some better quality bread on the table and that garlic sauce was quite punchy. But, it’s another interesting addition to the city’s dining options and I hope it does well.

    And, I have a week in Romania in February, which will be rather lovely.

  • Woodbridge – 2019 Whole Hog

    For the third year running, I thought it’d be a good idea to take part in the Hike Norfolk team who ran (I say ran, it was more of an occasional fast walk) the eight-mile Whole Hog challenge. I’ve given up being concerned about the whole arrangement now, which is testament to just how brave I’ve become. Or something like that. Above is the photo of us somewhere around half-way round, at around the four-mile mark.

    I think everyone was very brave, although I think I was particularly brave, and we got round together with no injuries. Unlike someone else we met on the route who was surprised into taking part by his wife and then promptly cut his hand open during the course. I seem to be pretty much immune to the cold, but it was apparently colder than during the last couple of years, and certainly muddier. Although since that’s the point of the event, this is a positive.

    There are numerous photos of me from around the course that I insisted the course photographer took, including the above. A few people from the group couldn’t make this year’s event who hoped to be there, but I do hope that everything can make it next year. Especially Gordon, who would very much enjoy it.

    And a photo of Liam and if this isn’t an inspiration to his two children, I don’t know what is. It remains to be seen if the little ones (the children that is) take part in the younger version of the event in future years. My only complaint this year is that there wasn’t a free drink at the end as in previous years, although apparently this is because Adnam’s aren’t sponsoring the event this year because of Brexit. I won’t give my opinion of that situation here.

    As for a review of the course, it was all well laid out and there are some changes every year so it doesn’t become to staid. It’s just about the suitable challenge for me in terms of difficulty, because, I have to face the fact that I’m never going to do a Tough Mudder. Even my bravery doesn’t stretch quite that far.

    And, I’ll enter again for 2020, hopefully this time with a joint Hike Norfolk and an LDWA team, in a bid to get my fourth medal.

  • Norwich – Brewdog

    Norwich – Brewdog

    I’ve been slowly working my way around numerous Brewdog outlets across the UK and mainland Europe, having been won over by their beer and food. Although, it’s the service element that Brewdog seem equally strong at, all combining to make this a popular and on-trend location.

    I had reserved a table for James and myself to try their unlimited chicken wings. This allows diners to have as many chicken wings as they’d like for £10, with the staff bringing out more on request and there is also a vegan alternative involving cauliflower. We didn’t really investigate this option, but I’m sure it’s, well, lovely. We managed to arrive early and the staff member at the bar was helpful and suggested that we order drinks and then we could take a seat in the bar whilst waiting to be shown through to the restaurant area. This all happened efficiently and our table was reserved with a clear sign, it was just like being back in Liverpool for my Deskdog experience….

    This is the first plate that is brought out, with something like twelve chicken wings on it. This is a perfectly generous portion in itself, with a blue cheese sauce and the wings looked appetising and well presented. They also tasted of an excellent quality, with the outside being crispy despite there being quite a thick sauce on them. The sauce was also flavourful, with a slightly hot taste to them, mixed in with some honey. The chicken was also tender and they were very moreish. Which is handy. Also, they were served hot and they seem to have been freshly cooked.

    One thing which is quite unlike Brewdog is that they seem to have fixed some rules to this promotion, although I’m not sure what they are. The first rule is the clearest and is that this promotion must be booked in advance, whether on-line or in the bar in advance (although perhaps it’s possible to negotiate with the bar staff and take part if it’s otherwise quiet). With regards to the other policies, I’ve only discovered these rules from reading reviews of Brewdogs across the country, where some people think they have one hour to order, others two hours and others mention no limit. We weren’t told of any limit and nor we were stopped at any stage, so I imagine that the process is a little informal and flexible. James kept going much longer than me, as I’m far too concerned about maintaining my recent weight loss.

    Another policy is that the blue cheese sauce provided with the first set of wings is expected to last the entirety of the promotion. When diners finish their first twelve wings, they can request another portion and then five wings are brought over. This seems sensible and avoids waste, although the staff member varied in pro-activeness in offering more wings. When James wanted more blue cheese, they didn’t mention this was possible only with an extra payment, which seemed unusually unclear for such a precise chain. It didn’t seem worth querying this 50p when the bill arrived, although if they’re going to charge like that, they should perhaps mention at the beginning that only one portion of blue cheese sauce is included.

    Overall, I was entirely satisfied with the whole promotion and the staff were warm and friendly. Service was sufficiently prompt, although it could have been more pro-active for anyone who wanted to plough through a lot more wings, and I’m sure that there are some. But, Brewdog didn’t fail in terms of providing a clean environment, as well as a comfortable and fun atmosphere. All rather lovely. But they should have mentioned the blue cheese sauce.

    And, I don’t want to make this some Man vs Food blog post, but James went through ten more wings than I did (I think I stopped at 22 wings) which was very impressive.

  • Liverpool – Mathew Street YHA

    Liverpool – Mathew Street YHA

    This YHA is located at the end of Mathew Street, located close to the Cavern Club and the heart of Beatles territory. It was operated by another hostel company until just a few weeks ago and it’s now marketed as a “hip hostel”. I mean, that clearly describes me doesn’t it? Hip? Yeah, maybe not. Anyway, they had an offer of private en-suite rooms for £12 per night, so I was tempted by that alone.

    This was, until recently, a four bed dorm room, although it’s now a double room. The cleanliness was a bit skin deep, as visible surfaces were sort of clean, but other surfaces such as under the bed, and indeed, under any surface weren’t at all clean. But, it’s a little hard to complain at a price of £12 per night.

    I think a lot of the decor actually comes from the previous hostel operation, which was itself not that old. From what I can see, the YHA have tried to take over the ‘hip hostel’ theme here, although it’s all a bit muddled now as it doesn’t quite fit with their usual branding. Although that probably doesn’t matter, it’s just providing cheap and cheerful accommodation.

    Mathew Street is popular with stag and hen groups, as I discovered during my three-night stay. Fortunately, I actually like this sort of background noise, although I can imagine it might irritate some guests. I was pleased they allocated me this room though, it was quite enjoyable people watching down the street.

    The building that the YHA is located in is a former shop and there are some traces of the history of its original use, although it’s not all in great condition. I’ve seen some of the YHA’s recent efforts and I think it’s fair to say that they throw cash at some sites, with refurbishments often being multi-million pound projects. I’m not sure where they get all this money from, as some sites now have the appearance of hotels and seem over-spec’ed, but perhaps that’s what customers demand. This YHA doesn’t seem to have had the same love, it seems to just be a takeover of what was here before, with I imagine some changes now planned in phases.

    The whole set-up was very unlike a YHA though, there’s a strange lack of structure to the site, with an absence of food menus visible at the location, although they are on-line. And the prices for the food are, frankly, way out of proportion with the local competition. They’re charging the best part of £15 for a cheeseburger and pint of beer, which might be tolerable in a quiet out of the reach location in the countryside, but they are literally fifty feet away from a Wetherspoons. It was no real surprise that every time I walked by the cafe there was nearly no-one in it and I never had any idea what time breakfast was served, and that menu isn’t available on-line to check (although I did find the breakfast times on-line when writing this). I’m not really sure why the YHA don’t just set up a cheap bar on the ground floor so that visitors can drink there if they want. If they’re determined to offer a mid-price point restaurant on site, they probably need to put menus in the room, or at least in more visible locations.

    Anyway, I can’t complain too much about this stay as it was so cheap and the location couldn’t have been much better for reaching Liverpool city centre. The YHA seemed quite quiet when I was there, but I’m sure it’ll get a lot busier when people get used to it being there, as for groups it’s a convenient and easy option which isn’t too expensive. For the money, it was all very lovely.

  • Norwich – Spice Valley

    Norwich – Spice Valley

    Thanks to the observant Brian, we managed to get seats at the one year anniversary of the opening of Spice Valley, on Magdalen Street in Norwich. I was aware of this Indian restaurant, but it was one of those places that I hadn’t quite got round to visiting. Free food and drink is though always a way to encourage me to visit….

    The decor was modern and bright, with a staff member welcoming customers on entry. Since the restaurant wasn’t charging for food and drink, it was busy, but there was an orderly feel to proceedings and our party of five was promptly seated.

    The restaurant’s generosity included not just free food, but also free drink. There was a wait on the drinks order being taken, but I can hardly fault that situation given they weren’t charging for them, and I’d add that later on they were pro-actively offering more drinks to customers. I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t usually drink Kingfisher, but it was at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature and all that. I understand that the restaurant does sell local beers as well, but their on-line menu doesn’t mention that. If, however,  I discovered that they were selling craft beers, that would be an extra reason for visiting…..

    All very clean and tidy, the dining environment was comfortable and organised.

    It was a little hard to get a photo of the food given how busy it was, but there were some poppadoms, starters and mains. The poppadoms were decent, with some flavour to them, and the onion bhajis and meat samosas were excellent, with the onion bhaji being crispy, but not too hard. I was slightly unsure what the curry was, I think it was chicken korma, with the meat being tender and it had taken on the flavour of the sauce, although it was quite a lightly spiced dish.

    There was nothing at all wrong with the food, although it inevitably wasn’t possible to see how the food would usually be presented because of this one-off service style. And I very much like this whole gesture of inviting customers to have a free meal and drink, it shows that the restaurant is proud of their cuisine and keen to show it off. Since I’m also easily bought, I will likely come back in the near future, so their generosity won’t be entirely wasted on me. One thing that I felt was evident is that if a customer did have a problem, I’m pretty confident that the management would fix it promptly.

    All very lovely.

  • GeoGuessr – Summary

    GeoGuessr – Summary

    OK, that’s the end of our first GeoGuessr adventure and my posts about it. The aim of this was to use the GeoGuessr web-site to get a random place to visit in England or Wales, and then for Nathan and me to just go there. Our first one was just outside St. Osyth in Essex, and the below series of blog posts tell that story (some are more exciting than others if I’m being honest).

    The point of this random and irrelevant series of posts is though to show that there is a story to be had from any adventure. The theory Nathan and I have, which was developed after several pints in the pub (as all best plans are), is that there is history, culture, pubs and excitement everywhere and anywhere. Nathan and I still consider this to be the best plan that we’ve had, which goes to show just what other poor decisions we’ve come to….

    We don’t have many rules, our location just has to be in England or Wales (we’ll go further afield later on) and we will try and get there by public transport. Going by car simply isn’t an adventure, slumming it a bit by walking long distances and getting endless trains and buses is. We’ll try and do it in a day if we can, or a weekend if we can’t get there and back time-wise.

    Our first expedition was a bit of a test case to see if we thought this worked, and we think it did. We’ll do more video next time, but the theory will remain the same. And, so, the question has to be, was there enough of a story about our first location?

    Well, I think there was. In short, we visited five pubs, one restaurant, one artisan bakery, we took two buses, seven trains and walked around ten miles. We were told that we were in a female waiting room at a railway station (a concept abolished decades ago), we got lost, had to run across Colchester, we walked through a field of adders, got confused what dks was on a menu receipt (it was drinks), saw a church, former priory, arguably the most haunted house in the country and saw a rubbish bin by the side of a road that it would be nearly impossible to use. We then witnessed customers barricading a rail replacement coach in and watching the arguments and disputes following that.

    That’s not bad for our first trial run….. For those interested, here’s where location number 2 is for anyone who wants to work it out. BTW, sorry there weren’t more Inbetweeners references in the blog posts, I’ll try harder for the next one.

    Finally, some books about St. Osyth. And if anyone wants to visit St. Osyth, here’s an accommodation suggestion.

     

    It’s All Happening Now

    Diss Railway Station

    Colchester Wetherspoons – Playhouse

    Slight Miscalculation

    Great Bentley Railway Station

    Adders Sign

    Great Bentley to St. Osyth

    St Osyth (Balti House)

    St. Osyth (Longfields)

    St. Osyth (King’s Arms)

    St. Osyth (Red Lion)

    St. Osyth (And We’ve Reached the Spot)

    St. Osyth (The Cage)

    St. Osyth (The White Hart)

    St. Osyth (The Village Sign)

    St. Osyth (Trevor Osben)

    St. Osyth (St. Peter and St. Paul Church)

    St. Osyth (St. Osyth Priory)

    Walk Back to Great Bentley

    Royal Fusilier (Aingers Green)

    Plough (Great Bentley)

    Sandwich

    Great Bentley to Colchester

    Colchester (The Odd One Out)

    Colchester Town Railway Station

    Greater Anglia and the Case of the Missing Bus

     

  • GeoGuessr – Greater Anglia and the Case of the Missing Bus

    GeoGuessr – Greater Anglia and the Case of the Missing Bus

     

    This is part of the GEOGUESSR 1 series of posts.

    OK, I’m going to skip a little bit of our story now, but in short, we travelled on the train from Colchester Town to Colchester, than boarded the mainline train from Colchester to Diss. We were pretty pleased with our day, and all was going well in terms of the train connections and times.

    Then the story gets interesting. And, I’m going to admit here and now that I’m a Greater Anglia fanboy. Most people pick a sports team, an entertainment personality or a television programme. No, I pick a bloody railway company. I seriously need to get out more, or more safely, stay in more. In terms of their operation, they’re a forward thinking and dynamic company, although sadly things seem to have been going askew with their customer service recently (although not with the ground level staff I’d add).

    Now, I’m also going to admit here that I’m not going to upload everything that I have, which includes videos and a larger collection of photos than I realised that I took. The video is of a 67-year old man with heart problems (I know this as he told everyone) who (along with others) physically blocked the rail replacement bus from leaving, complaining angrily and loudly that he has a heart problem and Greater Anglia have repeatedly done this to him.

    I have a dilemma here because journalism runs through me quite deeply and I’m the only one who videoed this, but I don’t want to show a video clip that no doubt the media would willingly run, but which might embarrass the individual involved and does no good for the rail network. And I don’t want this blog to take on the morals of the Daily Express.

    I have informed Greater Anglia of the incident and although I’m satisfied by their response, I’m also not impressed enough to totally ignore this incident. I’m not impressed by the management decisions at Greater Anglia over the last year and I think they’ve damaged the reputation of the rail network with some of their decisions. And also, and primarily, the point of the day was to report back on an adventure, however irrelevant it is to most people.

    So, this is the story.

    The train arrived into Diss on time, with around twenty minutes until the bus replacement got into Norwich. It became clear that one coach clearly wasn’t going to be enough to deal with a train that had around twelve carriages. But, we waited in the line for the coach and boarded because we thought there might be empty seats at the rear of the coach. There weren’t, it was standing room only.

    Now, the coach driver was letting on as many people as could fit. I’m not going to stray into telling a coach operator on what they should do, but I will say that it shouldn’t be for passengers to tell a coach driver that he’s carrying more people than is legal to do so. In the defence of the coach driver, perhaps he was overwhelmed with the numbers and never intended to carry the number of passengers he had already let on.

    So, Nathan and I (along with 30 or so other people) disembarked. I will say, as I sadly follow these things, that the person responsible at Greater Anglia for bus replacement services has said at recent meetings that they’re pleased with how more rail replacement buses now have wi-fi and power points. I’m slightly bemused by this, it simply is no good to worry about that if there are no systems at Greater Anglia to actually remember to put a bus on in the first place. And, I will add, the staff on site said that this wasn’t a case of not enough buses, the service had been forgotten about.

    I’m going to shorten this saga a little by saying that most customers were just resigned to the wait and remained perfectly happy. But a handful weren’t (which is fair enough), and the coach driver was doing his best to deflect the criticism. Most of the complaints being made to him, and another staff member going off duty, were unfair as he wasn’t responsible for this. He came to work to drive a bus, he wasn’t in charge of the logistics of this little operation.

    I’m also going to skate over some of what happened between the passengers and the coach driver. This is partly because at this stage a member of Greater Anglia staff appeared and he was calm, confident and professional. I liked his approach and he called on the bus which Greater Anglia hold in reserve and told everyone that it would be here in thirty minutes, and although that time estimate wasn’t quite right, it wasn’t far off. He also told customers that they could reboard the train if they were cold, as it wasn’t departing back to London for a while.

    However, I can’t miss out from the story that passengers tried to block the coach that was there from leaving, by standing in front and behind it. There was a danger of injury, but none took place, so there’s no point of writing about what could have been.

    And I think this is where I’ll end this part of the story. Rail companies shouldn’t have to be told that if a mainline train isn’t running it’s not acceptable to forget to put a coach on. It was avoidable, but it at least gave me a story for the blog. And triggered a delay repay claim, so that’s a bonus. We also got to go home on a Megabus as well, as that was the replacement coach that was used.

    I think this post is a very fair compromise between not embarrassing any individual (other than me, but I do that nearly all the time with my general stupidity) and not bringing the rail network into total disrepute. And since only about six people will read this, it doesn’t much matter…..