Brett the Buffet Bouncer

Springtime in Scarborough!

Bob and I arrived in Scarborough to dank weather, sea fret so thick you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. We navigated our way to the hotel and after dropping our bags off we asked if there was any food "yes, there's loads of food left from a buffet, go and help yourself" so we did! Well we tried, just as we loaded up with pork pie and sausage rolls we were accosted by Brett who wanted to know who we were. It turns out that Brett wasn't trying to develop his networking skills, he was the guardian of the buffet, which was a private function for the CAMRA National Executive. Not wanting to cause a diplomatic incident at our first CAMRA AGM, we departed with good grace ....well in a fashion, we ate a couple of sausage rolls as our token petulant protest before we were ejected. I've been turfed out of some places in my time, but it's my first buffet eviction!

Disney Time

We booked our family holiday to Florida this week. We fly from Heathrow to Fort Lauderdale for 3 weeks in the Sunshine State. There is a list as long as your arm of things we plan to do; snorkeling in the coral reef off the Keys, taking a hoverboat in the Everglades and of course calling in to see Mickey and all his chums. Meg has asked if she can go swimming with Dolphins, I'm not sure if the budget will stretch to that, but I have said that she can roll with the crocodiles in the Everglades. It will be just as much fun and its free! (only joking Meg).

I have added in a couple of new tabs to the blog so you can see some details of the European tour and some of the things I will be doing in May.

I'm just on the train to the CAMRA AGM in Scarborough so watch out for further updates on the blog or twitter.

Let me know if you have any comments on the blog and any tips for Florida. 

Sunshine on a rainy day

For those of you that have never been to GoApe, its an experience that you should try. Swinging about from ropes and bridges in the tree tops does give you a bit of a buzz. As you come down zip wires the knack is to land on your feet, but as you can see from the video, I managed to scoop up and bring home enough bark chippings to suppress garden weeds for a year, 3 days later I'm still finding chippings everywhere!

Gorilla & Meg the Monkey

I only had one minor incident where when standing on metal rings, suspended by ropes, one of the metal rings ended up round my thigh. To this day I've no idea how I managed that, and as I tried to extricate myself whilst trying to balance on one leg in mid air it caused great amusement to all the young monkeys following me.

I got the certificate to say I've done it, which is framed on the living room wall!

It's Wednesday everywhere you look

I've had a very busy few days, starting with the felling of the pine tree in our front garden. Now this tree has some history, it has grown from a seedling handout by Father Christmas (to the daughter of Rodger, who built our house) and over the years it has grown to be a 28ft feature of the village.

When Bob arrived Tuesday lunchtime, equipped with chain saw, we had many a discussion about how we should fell the tree as it is hemmed in on all four sides, by our garage a neighbours garage the footpath and our garden. We had some scratching of heads and decided that we would go and have a couple of pints to work through our strategy. Equipped with beer mats and pencils we deliberated, but then as the second pint went down, we agreed that on cartoons we had seen over the years, the characters always cut a wedge shape out of the tree, shout timber and the tree falls exactly where it is expected to.  So we ditched the beer mats and pencils and decided just to go for it.

Roll up, roll up, get your bargains here

The Peacock at Rowsley

Every year a group of us go out to celebrate our bonus from work. As a group of friends we have known each other for a good few years and it's always a nice occasion when we get together. This year as our outing coincided with the start of my long leave and birthday, we decided to go upmarket and celebrate in style, so on Saturday evening we went to The Peacock at Rowsley, Derbyshire. Champagne prinks at Dawn and Steve's whilst waiting for the taxi, followed by a beautiful drive through the Peak District past Chatsworth House, to the restaurant.

Todays biggest decision was ...

On Tuesday morning I woke up to beautiful sunshine, what a lovely day to go for a cycle ride around Rutland Water.  I jumped out of bed and set about the task of finding the roof bars, cycle rack and cycle pump in the garage.  For those of you who have seen the clutter on my desk at work, you will understand why this was a challenge.  As my wife left for work, her departing shot was "don't over do it, running Monday, cycling Tuesday, you don't have to do it all in your first week", to which I replied " yes, yes, I'll be fine, I am only 51 you know"

I arrived at Rutland Water to what must have been a force 9 gale , I'm not exaggerating here, well maybe a little, but it was windy.  The decision of the day was, in which direction should I set off?  Anti clockwise felt a bit rebellious, so off I went, with vigour, to tackle the 17 miles in record time.

The Fox & Hounds nr Manton

I hadn't been going long when the bike came to a shuddering halt, as several people cycled past offering help, I replied, with a courteous "no I'm fine thank you", I realised that the rear wheel quick release mechanism had quickly released and the rear wheel had unseated itself.  Just at this point I received a text from Russell, who after explaining my situation offered the best advice I've ever received "well are you anywhere near a pub".  It was only 11:30 but not wanting to ignore such sage advice, I limped into the Fox and Hounds.  After a couple of beers and the bike fully repaired I set off again to complete my cycle challenge.

My cycle seat is described as gel comfort, now if ever there was cause for a legal challenge under the trade descriptions act this is it.  As the cycle ride progressed, my backside got so uncomfortable that I just had to keep stopping and resting.  The hills got more challenging and the wind seemed to notice my difficulties and decided to gust just that bit stronger to try and break my spirit.  Time went on and my daughters were texting and phoning to make sure I was still alive.  This wasn't going to be beat me, its only pain, you can do it.  As I cycled over the dam wall, the wind was so strong that I thought I was cycling backwards, especially as two pensioners and then a 5 year old overtook me. I've never been so pleased to see my car.

Back home and straight in the bath, my wife arrived home " what are you doing in the bath in the middle of the afternoon?" was probably not an unreasonable question.  "I ache so much, and I cant sit down, I just needed a bath to sooth my aching muscles", " but you've only been round Rutland Water, what are you going to be like when you cycle coast to coast".  It can't be as windy or as hilly as that in the North Yorkshire moors can it? Well, for certain, before then I'm buying some padded shorts and a new saddle ........... gel comfort my arse!

Simon, a friend in the village has recently been on a trip to Ypres, where he was able to lay a cross for the guys that fell from Baston, and lay a wreath at the Menin Gate.  We are visiting Ypres as part of our European tour, so it will be good to hear about his experience when we catch up over a few beers and a meal with our good lady wives on Thursday.

Finally today's words of advice on how not to make cheese on toast

I'm off to tidy the garage

That's the way to run a conference

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me.  51 today...  how old?  My daughters managed to get a few 'old man' comments in,  I did feel a little bit sad at this - not the comments as I'll get my own back when they least expect it - but 51!! To lift my spirits Alison offered to take me for a coffee ....to the garden centre!!!  OMG that's it, middle age has well and truly arrived. You know when you go to the garden centre on a Sunday morning for a coffee, the next step will be buying clothes in Marks & Spencer.
As I peered over the top of my latte and looked around the room, I realised that in this company I was still a young whipper snapper.  Just then it dawned on me, there was method in Alison's madness, I'm not so old after all! Trash the Silver Line phone number, put the pipe and slippers away and get the Lycra out, I'm off for a cycle ride in the morning.

Yesterday I received my conference joining instructions for the CAMRA AGM in Scarborough. Now this is the way to run a conference. The joining instructions come with a beer list for the bar and a pub guide for Scarborough, Malton, Filey and Whitby. So many beers so little time!! The bar opens when you arrive for registration on the Friday and again at 12:30 and 18:00 on Saturday and Sunday. If only more conferences were like this.  Roll on 25th April.

Just to celebrate my birthday I have managed a couple of  Scarlet Macaw beers from Oakham Ales my favourite beer of the moment, give it a try.

Must remember no work tomorrow

It all started at the White Horse.................

It's been a long time coming, but long leave has finally arrived.  There were tearful farewells to my work colleagues on Thursday - well not really, but I will miss the daily banter that goes around.

I thought a good start to my long leave would be to get a request played on Simon Mayo's All Request Friday show on Radio 2.  The excitement built as I eventually got through by phone to the researcher, I gave it my all;

"7 months off work, wow" she said "that's amazing, what are you doing" well i said " I'm travelling around Europe, going to Florida with my family, doing some building work on my house, and lots of weekends away, starting with a beer festival in Scarborough at the end of April" "wow, that's amazing, and where do you work" " at John Lewis, its time off for good behaviour" "OMG you've got a proper job" errr well yes, "wow that's amazing, what song do you want and why" " well" I said " i would like I'm on Top of the World by Imagine Dragons, because I am and at the end of my European Tour I'm going to the BBK Festival (if i survive the bull run in Pamplona), and Imagine Dragons are one of the groups performing" "wow - look I'm going to put smiley faces all over this and pass it to the producer and they will phone you back"

Smiley faces! is that how the BBC works, maybe its a technique we could use in John Lewis.  The tension grew in the Riley household - well I was excited, Simon talked to David about his 10th birthday, someone stuck in a traffic jam on the M25, someone off to Ascot for the first time - boring boring, long leave trumps this lot I thought, ring phone ring ...... but alas no phone call.  Never mind, this looks like a challenge, get on Radio 2 before the end of my long leave!

Prinks before a family meal at the White Horse www.thewhitehorsebaston.co.uk.  Lovely meal together to celebrate the start of my long leave.  Drinks flowed, followed by a short stagger back across the road, before collapsing to watch 'Gogglebox - the show where you watch people watching TV...... mmmm I wonder ...... is it the drink talking, or should I try to get on TV rather than the radio.  I can feel an email coming on in the morning!

Long leave has officially started! Wow, that's amazing, smiley faces all round