‘Today I had a little run out to Blackheath and spent a couple of hours wandering around the Cator Estate.’

I have a couple of pals from Blackheath. One is a wealthy lawyer with another country home; the other is an ordinary working chap. One lived in The Glebe which is a handy location but not madly expensive. He was a legend in his own lunchtime and used to drink in The Railway which I hope is still an OK pub. I remember we went to a lunchtime wine tasting in Davy’s and then crossed the Heath stopping in various pubs en route for a few beers.

Oddbins used to have great charity wine tastings. Two til Five. The trick was to remember you were on the clock and head straight for the expensive stuff and then finish up on the vintage port and malt whiskies. Happy Days!

That is cheap for four pints in a hotel. I do drink lager when it is hot - or at least enquire if the ales are cool before I buy.

I have gone off drinking near the ground. Magpie and Crown or even The Griffin were never overwhelmed in the old days. I even tried The Globe and The Nelson when we moved but they are not really for me. Express used to be Gods Waiting Room - never opened til 6pm on a Saturday. I loved it. Too busy now.

Kingston1an said ‘ He was a legend in his own lunchtime and used to drink in The Railway which I hope is still an OK pub. ’

It looks to have been subject to a character destroying refit in the not too distant past. Now gloomy and soulness, only one draught beer available which had gone yeasty so was exchanged for a lager. Now not an okay pub in my opinion.

Open House London was something me and the missus used to enjoy. A couple of places we visited in Havering no longer appear on the list.
One was a Modernist house in Gidea Park. The owner had carefully and sympathetically restored the building. Some snotty Islington types didn't quite agree because a couple of cupboards were not original. Well they would be really upset now as a new owner has painted the white building in a beige/brown colour, totally unsuitable to its history.

I had a quick look at the Open House website and my impression was that there are not half as many buildings actually open to the public as there were a few years ago. At one time when the event was on you could go to Westminster and go in and out of most of the government buildings and there were also lots more places to visit in the City. There are plenty of talks and walking tours available but they don’t actually involve turning up and being able to wander around inside which was the whole ethos of Open House.

The Goldfinger house on Willow Road, Hampstead is pretty inspirational stuff, the encapsulation of a complete ideology. It's owned by the National Trust and you can book visits for most of the year, or at least you could pre-Covid.

Today another of the Perambulations maps came out for a visit to Highgate Village and a walking tour of modernist houses clustered around the Fitzroy Park area. Very interesting and again a tucked away part of London that doesn’t feature in any guide books and which I would never have visited otherwise. Walked back to Camden for the train and paused for refreshment in Kentish Town. The Southampton Arms, great pint of Buxton Bitter but full of hipsters, then the Tapping Admiral which was fairly indifferent on all fronts.
O’Connell’s Harrington, Brooks blue button down, LL Bean khaki jeans, white plimsolls.

Last edited by FlatSixC (2022-09-10 13:27:06)

Wetherspoons will be open on the Monday Bank Holiday - which will be of no interest whatsoever to most on here. Though I will probably be in a non-spoon pub in Wimbledon for birthday drinks with a pal I have not seen in a few years.

Now it’s Autumn I had Oakham Echo Brown Ale and Oakham Black Magic Chocolate Porter both at 5%. There is an Oakham tap takeover in the topically named Coronation Hall to celebrate their 45 year anniversary. So nine Oakham ales on hand pumps plus others. The pub charges the same price regardless of alcohol strength. So Attila at 7.5% is the same price   - £2.29 - as the Citra session beer. I only drink small  amounts of Attila but it tastes so good that I emailed the brewery to compliment them. Brewed using a technique called krausening apparently.

I had a green sack jacket to which Hard Bop Hank alerted the site. Kingsridge Schlesinger label from West New York. Fits really well. Spoons customers now wearing more layers. The fisherman’s waistcoat is popular with the white haired brigade. Lots of pockets but not too warm and a sporty image for oldies.

Always a fan of these hyper-local South West London detours, Kingstonian. I once had a Kingsridge tweed - it was an unusual green and brown check. Quite nice. Good shoulder, though not the best on cut at the front on the 'quarters' I think they're called. In any case,  sold it on (to H & J) as it was a little on the large size and slightly 'retro' looking. Putting that another way, it's the sort of tweed jacket that would raise comment in wetherspoons in Kingston rather than the kind that wouldn't (which I actually think is most kinds!)

I'm back in the UK and have been frequenting my local pub. It has been good to catch up with some of the regulars but one disturbing thing for me is the increase in 'geezers' getting ' coked up' early evening. The toilets have become overly busy and the noise levels raised. It's putting me off going for a quiet drink and chat. It seems to be everywhere in the Southend area and nothing is being done about it. Lots of aggro and a bad atmosphere all round.

As the lyrics of the Half Man Half Biscuit song go ''What made Colombia famous, has made prick out of you...''

Getting lagered up is one thing, but middle aged geezers coked up is an unbearable experience. Just doesn't work on many levels. Plenty of coke heads out there who love it more than even their own kids. It's a fantastic drug when you're free enough to drive fast while getting your wing-wang squeezed and not spill your whisky. But you do have to grow up and part of that means leaving certain class A, B and C narcotics behind.

It's quite clear and non-negotiable, having a family and a coke habit are not compatible.

Nice ramble around Richmond, Yorkshire and Chichester with the Clifton-Taylor book. AFS would enjoy.

Straight into Chichester Spoons,near the market cross, for a couple of local ales, then a nice lunch in a good Indian restaurant, then the cathedral, Roman walls, brickwork and door features on houses. Asparagus on sale at the end of the day in the market a quarter of the price of Lidl not very good weekly offer.

Clock change means not enough daylight for those sort of visits for a while.