Bexley CAMRA real ale festival 2008.

A happier blog posting for the most part this week; Work colleague and friend Martha accompanied me to the Robin Hood and Little John for lunch on Friday, and then on to meet Ian, his cousin Joe and Alan at the Sidcup Rugby Club for the third annual Bexley CAMRA real ale festival. The festival has, I think this year become a victim of its' own success; my guesstimate is that it has grown in popularity by about 33% each year, to the point at which I think it has now outgrown the venue. It was rather overcrowded and slightly uncomfortable. The fact is was wet and absolutely freezing cold outside did not help matters in the slightest. A good and friendly crowd of people, over sixty premium real ales and ciders, and some high quality home cooked food made it all worthwhile. The grotty and unseasonal weather could not cast a damper on proceedings.

A bonus was meeting up with the excellent chaps from local pirate radio station WNKR - who have been heavily promoting the event on the station for the last few weeks. I have honoured their wishes for anonymity by not publishing any photos of them online here - you also won't find them on my Flickr photo site either. We also met a former Radio Lumberjack fan and anorak from Old Bexley who remembers more about both me and my radio shows on the station than I do! I did not realise exactly how much I had forgotten - after all, he was recalling events of over twenty years ago.

Another radio enterprise with which I had a small involvement was the original special event radio station Offshore Radio from back in 1992 - you can watch vintage (and slightly wonky) coverage from Sky News - and look out for a younger Captain Alex from last weeks' Blog posting in the footage...

http://www.mediafire.com/?snmx1l0py2g

No real word of how the M.V Galexy was pivotal in the supply of Radio Caroline (okay, a small passing mention) and nothing about its' role as a prime location in the seminal British Gangster movie "Get Carter" - but not too bad all things considered.

I recently whinged about the pitiful state of the rebuilding of Erith Town Centre, and its' part in the Thames Gateway regeneration scheme. It would appear that my misgivings are not alone; Lord Richard Rogers has said the same thing, only somewhat more eloquently - you can read his thoughts here.

Here is a trailer for the new series of Doctor Who, which starts at 6.20pm next Saturday.

The other story this weekend.

A midweek posting - mainly to catch up with the other story from last weekend; Ian, his gourmand cousin Joe and I went to the mini real ale and cider festival held at the Brent working men's club in Dartford last Friday night. It turned out to be as much about food as drink - there were artisan cheeses and locally sourced breads, local pickles, home cured meats and all sorts of other nice things to eat, as you can see from the photos above. A good time was had by all and I will definitely go again next year. Apologies for the small size and somewhat dodgy, grainy quality of the photos above. Ian took the shots with his mobile telephone and they are OK for a non dedicated device, but not up to scratch compared with a proper digital camera.

I strongly recommend you read the following article - I wish I had written it, as I so agree with its' sentiments. The Ten Movie Going Commandments. Quality! Do feed back below and let me know what you think.

A quiet drink at Christmas.

I went for a quiet Saturday night drink with Ian, Damien, Alan, Steve and Marc last night; somehow very early in the evening I managed to find myself inadvertently wearing an almost full pint of lager down the front of my brand new Fuller's ESB rugby shirt. It dried pretty quickly, but the smell was not too pleasant - it was lager after all. We started off in the Royal Standard in Upper Belvedere (where the accidental spillage happened) they serve a very nice pint of Fuller's London Pride - not a real ale I am normally that enamoured of, but last night it was extremely pleasant. After this we repaired to the Victoria. This is a pub that I have had some nice times in over half a dozen visits; it is an old fashioned back street boozer that holds Casque Marque certification for its' draft Adnams Best Bitter and Shepherd Neame Spitfire. Unfortunately the pint of Spitfire I was served was on the turn. I took it back and told the landlord. He got a bit sniffy and said it was all right (which it wasn't - it was halfway to vinegar). He did change the barrel, but then pulled me a replacement drink without clearing the pipes first. I reminded him of the stale beer that had to be cleared before a clean pint would come through, so he replaced my drink again - but with some bad grace. I may have words with Bexley CAMRA - the pub has been good, but the landlord does not have much experience and may be getting into bad habits.

You can see some more photos of the evening by visiting my Flickr photo website. Please leave comments if you feel the urge. Once again, sorry work colleagues, for some reason Flickr is blocked by the Websense content management system. You will have to use a non work computer if you wish to have a look.

I just discovered that my former boss, Peter Moore, Radio Caroline station manager accomplished the almost impossible last Monday night. He managed to successfully gate crash the Led Zeppelin gig at the O2 Arena! You can read about his very amusing exploits along with a few photos here. I wish I had been there too.

The long awaited coffee shop has now opened in Erith Riverside Shopping Centre - it has been launched in a very low key manner, and could probably do with a bit of publicity to attract customers.

Robin Hood and the Police.

I wandered into Morrison's this afternoon to be greeted by a number of Police Officers promoting the recruitment of some new Special Constables. I entirely laud this endeavour, though I think Erith is probably the last place that they should be trying to recruit from. The only special thing most Erith residents are associated with is special needs whilst (briefly) at school. I don't think I would be a good Special Constable candidate, on the grounds I think it highly unlikely they would give me access to a Glock or a taser. probably a good thing I hear you think. Before the 1997 total hand gun ban, I was a keen competition pistol shooter - I used to own a lightly customised Glock 17 9mm pistol - now sadly missed.

Mum and I went to the Robin Hood & Little John for lunch yesterday - see the photos above. I have written extensively about the place in the past, so I will not bore you with how great the place is - just try it for yourself; you will not be disappointed - the best in real ale and local home cooked food. They are now also selling beer from the Essex based Brentwood brewery.

Simon has now restarted posting to his excellent Sibonetic Blog, based about the local situation in Plumstead; I for one am very glad to see him back, his absence was much noted. Do check it out.

Apologies for last weeks' slightly tatty blog posting; for some reason Blogger was playing up and the layout of the article left much to be desired. Normal service is now resumed however.

War Department surplus paint.

Above is a photo of me taken at last Saturday's gig. I have fiddled around with the brightness and contrast using my Linux laptop with Picasa, and I have also removed a very bad case of red eye. Thanks to Ian for the original photo. Just out of shot is the main PA system (I was only about a couple of feet from the bass bins and the beer in my glass was vibrating in time with the music).

I have come to the firm conclusion that Bexley Council has some kind of deal going with the Ministry of Defence. The Tunnel of Doom (tm) is now being repainted a second time in what appears to be War Department surplus Battleship Grey gloss paint. Once again the local scrotes and knuckle draggers are plastering the foot tunnel with graffiti faster than the council can cover it with fresh paint. Incidentally I saw a gratifying sight late on Thursday afternoon whilst on my way home. A speeding Police van shot along the pedestrianised part of the new Erith shopping centre and screeched to a halt alongside three other Police cars and another van. It turned out that a smack head had tried to hold up the Pharmacists' shop with a machete - he was after the stock of Methadone they hold. Apparently a staff member hit the silent alarm, and (for once) the local constabulary arrived whilst the crime was still under way. From what I was told by a witness, the Police pepper sprayed the oik and wrestled him to the ground. I got there as six burly coppers were struggling to manhandle the maniac into the back of the van. I trust that exposure to the methods used by DCI Gene Hunt of "Life on Mars" fame will have rubbed off on the local Plod. I cannot think of anyone more deserving of a good kicking than this particularly noisome Chav. On a further note, after last weeks' whinge about the increasingly aggressive Eastern European Roma beggars on the London to Dartford via Greenwich overland train line, I was hassled every day last week. I got so fed up that on Wednesday I reported the matter to the ticket office at Plumstead station. The lady in the office was very helpful and took my details and promised to hand them over to the Transport Police. I then went on my normal daily Dad visit. When I returned later to the station, there was a sight to gladden my eyes. Two coppers in the process of cuffing a couple of the very same Roma career beggars that had been hassling travellers earlier. Magic.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend both WNKR and Enigma 846 have been on the air, keeping the medium wave bands active and interesting. AM Pirate radio is not dead - it just smells that way. Don't forget the Bexley Real Ale festival next weekend.