After watching a lot of the ceremonies leading up to the Queen’s funeral on television, I headed out for the Cov game, wanting, but not expecting to see a good game. It wasn’t so much I was bored by it, far from it, I was very much unthralled by it all, I did want some kind of reassurance that life was still out there and would get back to normal though. Well, what passes for normality anyway. Thing is with the average normality, just as you start getting the hang of life, something always comes along to upset your apple cart. (Maybe if I gave away the apples to the owner of a cider press, I would be able to either sell my cart, or at least use it for something else.) I rocked up at the Welly, where Hereford Gary was already working through the different guest ales list. He’s not a beer ticker, doesn’t post what he drinks on a media website, but he does seem only ever to have halves of beers. Usually two at a time. That’s not to say he drinks them simultaneously through straws, or even takes alternating sips. He’ll drink one half, then the other. We chatted about the previous Wednesday’s game versus the Buggies, and how good it was, before extolling the virtues of Preston and how good an away day it is to him. Heartily encouraging him to go up next time we play at Deepdale. After that, it was a steady procession of the usual suspects through the door, but with a rare home game appearance of Taffy. All still had that derby day winning feeling, whether they’d been to the game on Wednesday or watched it on Sky. From the Welly, it was round to the, yeah, you’ve guessed it, Colemore. (Bored yet? Keep reading. Just have the Prozac to hand.) Hey, you’ll never guess where we went next? Oh come on, how did you guess it was Kilda? It could’ve been somewhere else……well it could, it’s just that it wasn’t, that’s all. For some unknown reason, Taff has got a nose for the more unusual crisps and snacks. Seems to see them a mile off, and makes a beeline for them. After, getting some really posh crisps last time we were both in there, I was determined to buy them this time. Just as I approached the bar, this packet of crisps landed on the bar in front of me. He’d read my mind and beat me to it. Reading my mind is not something I’d recommend to absolutely anyone. If I describe it as a nuclear minefield of twisted dark thoughts, I think you might get the idea. If I wasn’t me, I wouldn’t go anywhere near reading it without an extensive course of therapy in place for afterwards. Other than being with the rest of the ale trailers, the one reason I like going in Kilda, is the ever changing, different, exotic (Yeah, exotic. Now that’s surprised you, hasn’t it?) beers on sale. My eyes were drawn to a marmalade beer with an abv of 10%. It wasn’t the high abv that attracted me, but the anticipated taste of liquid marmalade. Wow, I’m not kidding you, it was gorgeous. It was like a liquor you’d have at Christmas, and it really did taste like marmalade too. The sad thing, is it won’t be on next time I visit the place, and I possibly won’t ever see it again. It was a split decision as to where to go next. Halton Turner were holding a beer festival and most wanted to head there. Much as I like beer festivals, since they moved premises, Halton Turner have been hit and miss, at best. Something that has disappointed me, as before they moved, I rated their beer. I know with a festival, you get the chance to taste other breweries beer, but it wasn’t enough to entice me there. Instead, as the majority headed for H &T, I carried on to Bob’s. I wasn’t to drink on my own though, Ian Lake turned up, as did Mikey, as did Russell. After he’d visited the festival, even Daryl joined us. He informed us that both Spoons and Ade had been at the festival. Much as I think the world of Spoons, I wasn’t sorry I’d missed out on Ade, one of the most ingratiating, though pedantic people, you’ll ever have the displeasure of listening to. And his voice does go through you. Think of the one sound you hate the most in life, and multiply it by ten. All good things come to an end in life though, as it was time to interrupt a great day’s drinking, by ruining it with watching Blues.
When I said earlier, I wasn’t expecting a good game, but wanted one, I meant that after two great away results in ascending order in terms of performance, I was waiting for that ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ back to reality, kind of match.
We did start quite brightly. Then Bacuna had a great chance that he smashed way over the bar. If he’d have been more composed, concentrated on scoring instead of making it look spectacular, then the rest of the match could’ve been completely different. Tedium took a firm grip of the game. So much so that me, Leo, Steph and Justin filled the time by comparing the virtues of both different chocolate bars and biscuits. For the record, a Jaffa Cake, is not a biscuit, it’s a cake. A cake is soft when it’s fresh, a biscuit is hard. If not eaten, a cake goes hard, a biscuit goes soft. Buy a packet of Jaffa Cakes, open them up straight after you’ve paid for them, and you will find that they are soft. I rest my case, your honour. Maybe had the dismissal of Coventry’s Gustavo Hamer been fifteen minutes earlier, it might’ve made a difference, but the truth was, the away team were happy defending for a point, and the home team hadn’t any ideas on how to unlock that defence. I suppose you could take positives from the game, but only if you truly are an optimist. It was for me, my fourth 0:0 draw of the season and we were still only in September. Chess is starting to look like an exciting game to go and watch.
It was back to the Dog after, and keeping with the theme of the day, the beer selection wasn’t exactly inspiring. I joined Russell, Taff and Mal. Russell was back from Cornwall, so that was the topic of conversation. Well it wasn’t like there was much to talk about with the game. Cornwall is a county I’ve only ever been to on holiday, and the last time was fifteen years ago. I would like to go back down there again, because it is a beautiful county with some quaint little places, but it’s a rugby union county and not a football one. There’s dearth of ground hopping opportunities. Yes I know that’s narrow thinking, and I should expand my hobbies, but I’m on poor wages. You do what you like best. Now if I could just win the lottery……..
It's a long long way 