The Beer Banana and the Mouth of the South

Joe and I with Ian's patent Beer Banana outside Sidcup Sports Centre during the Bexley Beer Festival on Friday evening. I'm not quite sure what prompted the artwork on the skin, he just whipped the fruit (actually the banana is classed as a herb, but I digress) out of his man bag (like a handbag, but more macho - so I am informed). Click on the photo for an enlarged version - or if you know what is good for you, don't.

A few minutes after this photo was taken, I was in the main hall of the Sports Centre, when a voice called over to me "Oi - Mister Neal!" - it was Andy Walker, larger than life DJ on the excellent land based pirate radio station WNKR. He's normally referred to as the "Mouth of the South" - and not without good reason. We had a long chat covering many topics and mutual friends, and a good time was had by all. I then caught back up with Ian and Joe; we left the festival and got the bus back towards home. We got as far as Northumberland Heath, when the urge for a curry got the better of us and we repaired to the Alika Tandoori Restaurant; I enjoyed a starter of Sheekh Kebab and green salad, followed by Chicken Tikka Dhansak, Mushroom Rice and a Garlic Naan bread. Lovely. Whilst eating our tasty starters, I noticed a small group of pasty faced Chavs through the window (we were seated adjacent to the tinted glass frontage of the restaurant) - they were getting rather rowdy - no doubt spurred on by drugs and sub standard alcohol, like the cheap white cider peddled to them by many local shop keepers. We watched on as a small group set about two outcast Chavs, no doubt from a rival "Cru" giving them quite a pasting - the restaurant Manager came across to us and said "Don't worry about them Sir, we had a few of them try to start a fight outside here just before Christmas - I gave all the waiters Meat Cleavers - once we chased the yobs down the street with those, we never had any further trouble!" Quite. That's what I call effective neighbourhood watch.