tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339839143636242387.post5722531491683084115..comments2023-08-02T10:45:41.531+01:00Comments on In the footsteps of the Fool: the tale of aleDave Leekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971308602082668644noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339839143636242387.post-19308603174360611132012-01-21T19:16:16.066+00:002012-01-21T19:16:16.066+00:00Actually the beer scene here is surprisingly good:...Actually the beer scene here is surprisingly good: there's even a microbrewery doing a very acceptable pint if handpumped ale … watch out for blog mentions …Martyn Cornellhttp://zythophile.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339839143636242387.post-32747463892657753962012-01-20T17:48:31.775+00:002012-01-20T17:48:31.775+00:00It always worked! And we got into X films.
I was ...It always worked! And we got into X films.<br /><br />I was half expecting you to tell me that it was only a Party 4! <br /><br />11p a pint and 18p for Harp lager. Ah well, I'm off to the St Jude's pub to try it out . . .Dave Leekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17971308602082668644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339839143636242387.post-47406612214925121772012-01-20T00:32:08.376+00:002012-01-20T00:32:08.376+00:00To be fair Dave, we felt certain you didn't ne...To be fair Dave, we felt certain you didn't need ID because you were so tall! Such simple times......15 years old but he's tall,we reasoned so they will definitely think he's 18....'Here's 11p Dave, can you get me a pint of Mild please?' 'Cheers mate'.Andy Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14131431242371886428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339839143636242387.post-8713455643424804762012-01-19T23:28:20.055+00:002012-01-19T23:28:20.055+00:00Well, you can take the boy out of Stevenage . . . ...Well, you can take the boy out of Stevenage . . . <br /><br />So, you're in Hong Kong, now - for a man who likes English beer, you seem to put a lot of distance between yourself and it.<br /><br />I used to drink Rayment's in The Roebuck back in the mid-70s. I must admit to not really being an Abbot drinker, I've always tended towards the 3.8 - 4.5% beers. We've had a pub taken over in our town by a micro brewery (St Jude's) so I'll be checking them out soon. <br /><br />I can't remember drinking at Bowes Lyon - I may have been a bit young. Ha! This from the man who started drinking at 15 . . . The New Resurrection Club at The Hermitage and The Marquis of Granby - neither worried about ID in those days.Dave Leekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17971308602082668644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339839143636242387.post-38614490571278306942012-01-19T17:21:50.743+00:002012-01-19T17:21:50.743+00:00Yes, I'm sure you're right, and the Little...Yes, I'm sure you're right, and the Little Hadham connection was where he picked up the Abbot habit - I can imagine Dave Swarbrick was fond of an Abbot or six, too, and the Nag's Head at Hadham Ford was a Rayment's tied house and would have almost certainly sold draught Abbot. When the Stevenage Folk Club was at Bowes Lyon House, it had casks of Rayment's BBA and Abbot on the bar, and I, not knowing much about beer then and not realising how strong Abbot was, used to get completely blotto on it.<br /><br />Strange synchronicity: I was helping my Irish sister-in-law set up a VPN on her laptop here in Hong Kong so she could watch BBC iPlayer, and the server we were connected to in the UK, the IP address revealed, was in Stevenage: so there we were, in the Far East in reality but virtually, at least, in the heart of North Herts.Martyn Cornellhttp://zythophile.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339839143636242387.post-85590464301730493562012-01-17T21:05:22.016+00:002012-01-17T21:05:22.016+00:00Hi Martyn, I always wince a little bit when I'...Hi Martyn, I always wince a little bit when I've written about beer and you make a comment - purely because usually I've said something ridiculous that you can disprove so easily. Your comments are always welcome though! <br /><br />I remember those metal opener things - popular, for some reason, with campers, I believe. A version exists on most Swiss Army Knives, too. I think we wouldn't open them because we had once been at the opening of one before!<br /><br />RT was a great drunk in the early days - a totally reformed character now of course - now a Muslim since about 1974. My previous dealings with him both at http://foolsfootsteps.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-of-these-things-first.html and at Stevenage College when I booked him as support to Al Stewart were quite less than sober occasions. He'd know about Abbot, I suppose, because of living in the old Angel at Little Hadham.<br /><br />I guess a little bit of artistic licence is at play in that comment - but evidently he was a major imbiber.Dave Leekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17971308602082668644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339839143636242387.post-13618919147040964882012-01-17T19:48:31.798+00:002012-01-17T19:48:31.798+00:00At least part of the reason you constantly bought ...At least part of the reason you constantly bought it home, I suspect, was that no one ever had one of those metal openers with the triangular pointed end to punch a hole in the lids of the fecking things to get the beer out.<br /><br />But it was awful, though - and we didn't like it. <br /><br />Talking of beer, apologies if I've mentioned this before, or you've already seen it, by I love the Richard Thompson quote from a year or so ago about stage technique -<br /><br />Interviewer: "In the early days of Fairport you were always so shy you skulked at the back of the stage with your back to the audience – how did you transform yourself into the strutting front man we now know?" RT: "Six pints of Abbot Ale always helps!"Martyn Cornellhttp://zythophile.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com