Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Stella Zeppelin.





This is the Stella Zeppelin. Click on any photo to view a larger version. This airship has been flying over my house several times a day for the last three or so weeks. It is nice to see an old fashioned form of transport back in regular use, even if the tourist flights are prohibitively expensive to book as a passenger, and it has been hijacked by the advertising brigade to promote the odious, mass produced Stella Artois additive laced fizzy lager. It is the almost exclusive preserve of the local scrotes, Chavs and dog on a string brigade; I suppose that they drink it because it does not actually taste of very much, and it is relatively strong at 5.2% alcohol. I think that painting an airship to promote the drink is a bit of a waste of time, as the numpties will pour the muck down their necks with reckless abandon without any need for external encouragement or prompting. Stella are preaching to the converted when flying over Erith.

The Zeppelin is due to finish its' tour in a couple of weeks and is then off around Europe. You can see some more photos of it, along with all of my other photos online on my Flickr site.

I am currently imbibing a cool pint of Whitstable Bay Organic Ale from the Shepherd Neame brewery. Bottled, it is nothing special at all, but in draught form it is light, flavoursome and aromatic, and an ideal accompaniment to a summer pub lunch. Nice to have it served in a proper dimpled pint jug too (you can tell where I am Blogging from, can't you!) I have the elderly Linux laptop running, playing an old episode of Round the Horne though mini earphones whilst I sit in the corner of the pub, writing away. I have come to the conclusion that Shepherd Neame are rubbish at bottling their beers; draught they are absolutely wonderful, but with the exception of Bishop's Finger, their bottled versions are rather poor. I am visiting their Faversham headquarters, home of the oldest brewery in the UK at the beginning of October, and I will certainly bring the issue up with the Head Brewer, should the opportunity arise.

I am hoping to purchase a new mini laptop running Linux soon – primarily to aid my mobile blogging efforts; the Asus EE PC 901 Linux edition is a favourite right now, though the model is notoriously difficult to locate right now, as it would seem everyone is after the model at present. If I can locate one, it would be much easier to Blog on the move with a mini notebook PC, rather than the full sized behemoth I lug around for the moment. The Asus is about the size of a paperback book, and will fit into a pocket; at present I have to take a laptop case with me to the pub.

At work, I have a number of bottles of hot chilli sauce on my desk in a cardboard "sauce garage". Anyone from my team is welcome to use the sauces to give their lunch a bit of kick; I have just encountered a new addition to the garage - Dilita Green Habanero hot sauce. Please feel free to add a comment using the link below if you have any suggestions as to other chilli sauces you can recommend.

Local radio station WNKR are celebrating their 21st birthday in a couple of weeks; they started transmitting to South East London and North Kent back in 1987, and they are still going strong.

Since my last moan about how banning activities tends to encourage them, I have taken special note this week of drivers using mobile phones whilst on the move; I would say that a quarter of people I have watched behind the wheel are also using a mobile telephone - something that is supposed to be punishable with up to a £1000 fine - as you can read here. In reality it does not stop offenders, as they have an almost zero chance of being caught. The same holds true for those low lives who continue to drink alcohol on public transport. Unless the authorities can provide Police to patrol on the buses and trains on a regular basis there is no way to stop this illegal activity. It also seems in almost all cases, the scrotes are getting a skin full of Stella Artois, which is exactly where we came in. Who says I don't plan these things!

To finish, a video clip from another kind of Zeppelin.

2 comments:

  1. I love the Stella zeppelin, I find it a real "Bond villain" type of transport (the Cybermen in New doctor Who used airships to).
    Slow and lumbering but graceful at the same time.
    In fact I have told the children that it's the Baron And the Child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang bang queue hysterical screams of faux fear when they see it appear overhead.
    Great fun.
    I'd love to take a trip but I heard it was £300 for a morning so not going to happen. Especially as it seems to mainly fly over Erith and Slade Green Marshes then follow the Thames to Thamesmead.

    Ok probably the best way to see those areas (i.e.: a thousand feet up) but waaaay to expensive.

    Abit like Stella in a pub….

    Mind you APPARENTLY The Running Horses in Erith is now £3.70 a pint so I'm told. I thought £3.10 was pricey when we supped in The Prince Albert afew weeks back but £3.70 in ERITH??
    I object to anything over £2.50 just on the principle that if your out with a tenner or whatever it breaks down into nice even change!

    I actually don't mind Stella.
    Not LIKE just mind.
    I don't like lager anyway but if pushed it's one I would drink.
    Did you know Stella Artois was launched in 1926 initially as a seasonal beer especially for the Christmas holiday market and in May 2008, the UK advertising campaign was run reporting that Stella Artois is only made from four ingredients: hops , malted barley, maize and water. Technically, the process also uses agents such as yeast for fermentation and isinglass for clarification ; "The animal product that we use is Isinglass (fish finings). This is a clarification agent made from certain fish. It assists clarification by attracting the yeast cells causing them to coagulate into larger particles which then separate from the beer, giving the beer a clean and clear appearance." (Interbrew 19-Nov-2003).
    (I love Wikipedia…)
    Anyway I'd like to know WHAT fish they use?? Hang on that means it's not Vegetarian/Vegan approved?
    Hmmm...

    I've found it does tend to be the um...Non-Working Working class who prefer Stella as a tipple.
    I think it's years of 5 For a £5 offers (always known the brand in Off Licences for that offer) that helped push it down market. Mind you perhaps their showing some taste not drinking Carling or Fosters!! As you've pointed out to me before 90% of Beer can rubbish you see on the street is Stella can's.
    Mind you I ended up drinking 2 cans of Strongbow Super (7.5%) on Saturday as they were bought for me so maybe I really shouldn't comment...
    I agree about Shepherd Kneme though their beers aren't great in a bottle, draught; nectar of the god's!

    A new lappy? Why not a Mac?

    AH!
    SAUCES a subject close to my heart.
    I live and die by sauces and condiments. for example last night I had a Curry at home and after cooking my own popadoms I got my Pickles out of the cupboard & fridge I had: Raita (sadly gone off), Mango Chutney, Mixed pickle (EXTRA Hot with peas, carrots, limes etc), Lime Pickle and Aubergine pickle.
    It's just not an Indian without the condiments!!

    Actually my recommendation is Reggae Reggae Sauce, very nice! Actually tastes like a homemade sauce (unlike the Jack Daniel's one I bought recently, had far to much orange juice in it and was to watery for my liking, more like a gravy).


    WKNR is 21? Does that make it 21 years of WKNR-ing??
    LOL!


    Totally agree about using mobiles whilst driving, mind you I think anything that distracts should be banned. Smoking is at the top of my list although I'm for it AND against it.
    For as I can't see how you can spark up, smoke, change gear and drive SAFTLY but against as I don't think the Government should legislate against people in such a controlling way which brings me along to my next point, or rather yours. Drinking on public transport.
    Now I agree it's a good idea to ban it but I will happily continue to drink on buses and trains if the need arises. The day the trains run on time and the toilets are useable I will lay down my bottle or hip flask. Sorry but I agree with the reasons (as you say Stella power tw@ts beering it up) but if your civilised and cause no problems then you should be allowed to have a drink as long as no damage or discomfort is caused to other passengers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice pictures doesn't look like erith though looks really nice like cornwall or somewhere.
    The runners is a graet pub.

    ReplyDelete