Dennis and John are two very nice gentlemen from Cardiff. We met two days ago, but apparently I was too drunk to remember.
We conversed again this evening. They asked if it would be acceptable to call me Gaz, I said that would be bearable.
They have a friend who is now off out to buy kip. Dirty bastard.
Whenever I travel by train in Europe, which isn’t often enough, I’m reminded of the poor state of the UK’s rail network. Trains in Europe are more modern and, because they have no Victorian track legacy, larger.
They’re significantly cheaper too. When recently booking trains in Germany, I found tickets to excellent value, with first class a lot cheaper than the UK standard fare. And then today, with a return from Ostend to Ghent costing only €10.80.
That’s €10.80 for a 120 mile round trip, on a shiny new train with tons of leg room.
Another thing which has impressed me about our long weekend in Belgium has been the number of bikes on the road. And cycle lanes, lots of cycle lanes. Another thing in which the UK is deficient.
Anyway, in Oostende, Brugge and Gent there were a lot of bikes.
Moving on to a different subject, Belgium is something of a vegan desert. That’s desert, not dessert. I’ve eaten a lot of crisps in Ostend. People eat a lot of kip here (dead bird).
Ghent, though, was different. While we only found a few places, apparently there are more vegetarian/vegan eateries than in London. We found pizza in a mental converted church.
The Holy Food Market was mad, but amazing. Imagine a huge old church full of eateries and bars.
So today wasn’t about beer. The cultural stuff kept getting in the way.
We did manage to stumble across Belgium’s only comic bar though.
Also mad.
I did love the emerging veggie revolution in Ghent. Here’s an example on a wall of a meaty restaurant.
Last year we had something of a mishap in Bruges. Our phones had proven to be an unreliable method of navigation, as did our joint sense of direction.
An unplanned stopover was the result, although the experience was pleasant at the end of the day.
We found a great hotel and, an essential, a nice local bar. So a return visit had to be made.
It’s a local bar, so the beer was decent and cheap. But a trip away isn’t just about beer.
Yes, there’s the architecture too. And table tops.
When in Belgium …
How could anyone eat a bird? The vegan comedy film Carnage is now available on BBC iPlayer.
Beneath the humour, the messages are very real. It’s worth watching.
We don’t actually have a natural cupboard under the stairs. We have one created in the 80s; it was originally meant to be an open space. So we do have a space under the stairs which resembles a cupboard. Without a door.
The doorway (which seems briefly to have had a door in the mid-80s) is around five seven high. Which means I need to duck when entering the space to access the fridge or freezer (we don’t have anywhere else to out them).
So moving the freezer deeper into the depths of the under the stairs/cupboard under the stairs space might not have been the best idea.
The end result is that, to access the freezer, I must now stoop to a degree which is wholly unacceptable for a man of my age.
I don’t actually use a lot of stuff from the freezer. Linda McCartney sausages for hangover Sunday morning sandwiches (with a liberal amount of brown sauce), a loaf of bread, or the occasional leftover chilli; that’s about the limit of my freezer mining (I should have said, it’s a chest freezer).
I’m left with two options:
1. Wear a cycle helmet while attempting to access the freezer.
2. Avoid the freezer.
Oh, I forgot about the mandatory work option:
3. Do nothing.
It looks a little rough, but the two ceilings are now fully joined.
A full coat of plaster is next. I have to admit to some nervousness; I’ve not previously undertaken such a larce ceiling.
After submitting meter readings a few days, we’ve received a new energy bill. The previous readings/bill had reduced our monthly electricity and gas costs to just £34. While it was clear that the new stove would have reduced our energy costs, we realised that a drop from £120 a month was unrealistic.
So, I’d intended to pay above the £34 to avoid a sharp increase after another winter. However, that didn’t happen, and so I’m now faced with another change in payments. A drop to £25 a month.
Taking into the cost of firewood, that means our last year’s energy costs have been an impressive £618. Better still, taking into account the new decrease, that could be around £510 for the next year.
Pre-stoves, our annual costs were around £1,440. Which gives us a saving of at least £798 over the past year. I’d not actually anticipated saving anything overall, so this is a nice bonus.
Of course, this has been a mild winter, so we`ve needed only six tons to firewood. But it does mean that the new stove has already paid for itself.
And, since wood is a carbon neutral fuel, our environmental impact is looking pretty good.
An important discovery was made in Ouseburn last night.
Erdinger Schneeweisse; I’d never heard of the stuff and only stumbled across it in the Cluny. I had to resort to the website to learn more.
Unfortunately, though, it’s a seasonal beer which will soon be unavailable until winter.
I once cycled from Stockton to Washington. It hurt a bit.
An essential stop-off when legs went all wobbly was Wingate. I’d never been before and have only been there once since.
When seeking calories, we found a cafe. The coffee was great and the crisps were … well, crisps.
The place was amazing; a plastic fronted cafe with gorgeous victorian/edwardian booths. Long, narrow tables and mirrors. Ok, so there was a little bit of graffitti. But the place was gorgeous.
A few years later, I heard that the owner had died and his son wasn’t interested in taking over the business.
This afternoon though, in the Euston Tap, I came across a man from Winton (who now lives in Camden). We had an excellent conversation about the old cafe, which sadly is no more.
Now, in my post train state, I can reflect on a nice conversation. And wonder about the fate of the gorgeous booths of the cafe. I can’t imagine. I heard that landfill might have been involved.
I’d have bought the lot.