Author Archives: garymoore

Kendal Calling

After a terrible start last Thursday, we eventually made it to Kendal Calling. In the (hastily packed) work van. We’re still waiting for a mobile mechanic to take a look at the T2 (that’s booked for Wednesday).

We’d not used the tent since 2022, but it was fine. Some other bits of old camping kit weren’t. But we managed fine. The stock for the bar, still in the van, helped quite a bit (we had an excellent choice of beer).

Quite a lot had changed since we were last at the festival; there were new stages, better beer and a better choice of places to eat.

It was great to see that the festival had evolved. It’s definitely up there now.

Tickets are on sale for next year. If I booked now, I’d get a Campervan ticket. And maybe the van wouldn’t break down next year, so I could actually use it.

But I think I’ll hang on and see if I can get Glastonbury tickets. I’d quite like to go one more time before I hang up my tent.

Obviously, I didn’t take many pictures. And I badly missed Harriet.

Road trip

Well, that didn’t go very well.

Garden wall

I’ve probably mentioned that the garden was one of the main influences in buying this house.

That was a long time ago now, and the garden has changed a lot in the last couple of decades.

However, the rear wall has irritated me the whole time I’ve lived here. I’d understood it to be the remains of an extension to the ‘shed’, which isn’t a shed at all.

It’s concrete, covering what was the original stone wall, which still stands behind it. It’s possibly from the 1960s, when the shed that isn’t a shed was used as a taxi office. Or it could have been something else.

Either way, it’s a few inches thick and resisted my sledgehammer blows a lot of years ago. Probably because the original wall behind would have absorbed the shock. I only succeeded in knocking off the top, which was taller than the wall behind it.

Painting it just drew attention to its ugliness and growing things that climbed over it got a bit out of hand.

I’ll figure something out, although that might take another 20+ years.

Stockton

I used to spend a lot of time in Stockton. A long time ago.

Between lockdowns, I went with a bunch of blokes for a Teesside micropub crawl and Stockton had a bit of a good beer scene back then.

There’ve been a couple of brief visits to the Golden Smog, more recently, but both were quick stop-offs.

I’d wanted to spend an afternoon in the town for a while, partly since a couple of guys who have bars there have been coming to our bar for at least a couple of years. The Kopper Keg was top of the list, and the first bar of yesterday.

Followed, of course, by the Smog.

And there were a couple more. It was definitely worth the trip and I’m sure I’ll do it again.

It was kind of cool that the dog was recognised in a couple of bars too.

COVID

Memories of Covid times. We did some cosmetic work on the van in those lockdown days; quite a bit of work. Work that still continues. Today involved a bit of grinding, sanding, treating, priming and painting.

We’re happy with the refreshed paintwork (that’ll need doing again by the end of the year).

Another lockdown memory was selling takeaway beer from the bar we were previously involved with. We were one of the minority of pubs to do well in terrible times.

It was silly hard work though, with the rare evening sitting in the garden with a two pint bottle of beer (for the full experience that customers had from the pub).

I’m doing that right now, after a pub quiz in my local. Just a small can this time.