Quatloos!

It simply wouldn't work. Sachs Harbor, like many NWT settlements, is a "dry" town where it is impossible to obtain the sort of beverages that enable the illuminati to function properly. Let's not even get into the cost of such fresh staples as milk and vegetables that I desire (10$ per litre for milk). For the lower classes, aparrantly you can order a Big Mac and fries from Yellowknife and get it flown in for $400 - someone did try it a few years ago.

Off to London tomorrow to start the Great Cask Hunt. And meet a few of you along the way. We have a theme. I've mapped out all of our routes, from London, to Inverness, to St. Agnes in Cornwall based on visiting as many pubs as possible in the bible. This bible;

http://www.heritagepubs.org.uk/pubs/pub ... +Inventory

I'll be meeting Quatloosians in two of them athough I've already been to one, the Peacock in Nottingham. I've been advised that I have to turn left after entering that one.

Strangely enough the worst pub I've been to in the UK was the absolute first one that my boozing friend and I visited on our first UK pub crawl in 2002 (this is number 7), the Golden Gates in Edinburgh. It would give our skid row pubs a run for their money. Apparently the locals agreed with that assessment because the premises are now the offices of McColl Associates, Structural Engineers. Just a few pubs later on the same trip we hit the Quarter Gill in Glasgow which my friend picked as his choice of the biggest UK dump. Patrons were walking over an unconscious man on the floor to get to the bar. He'd been beaten up just before we came in.

My favorite, of all of the 1,000 or so UK/Ireland pubs I've been to is the Black Friar in London although that may change this trip. The Vines in Liverpool would be a contender except that it doesn't serve cask which disqualifies it from any serious list.

So, for those of you who plan to have a drink with us (actually non-alcoholic in a couple of cases), see you soon.

Safe travels, Burnaby.

mufc1959 wrote:Safe travels, Burnaby.

I'll echo that. Do we get an illustrated travel blog so that we can all see the reprobates clientele at some of the more notorious watering holes visited (including one not far from a former place of residence of mine).

A former residence? I assume you mean the Elwes Arms, which means you MUST be Tom Crawford. Or Sue. Or Amanda. Or Craig. Or Betty.

Footloose52 wrote:

mufc1959 wrote:Safe travels, Burnaby.

I'll echo that. Do we get an illustrated travel blog so that we can all see the reprobates clientele at some of the more notorious watering holes visited (including one not far from a former place of residence of mine).

I'll do better, I'll give you a chronological listing of all the pubs we visit along with the location. You'll be amazed! Astounded! How can two old geezers swill that much booze? Elwes Arm is on the list and I'm happy to share a pint with Betty but that's it. The rest of the family is too unsettling.

A disclaimer here. We plan to cheat. We'll have a beer at every pub visited but we'll be doing halves at a lot of them. We have no choice. We'll be on the road a lot and we try to minimize intake when travelling. But since many of the pubs in the CAMRA guide are only accessible by car we have to drink and drive to visit to them.

I was a little way from there until 1994. Never an area I frequented though.

An example to show how essentially random our pubbing will be. In the 1980's I heard one of the oddest songs I'd ever heard. I was listening to a late night radio program when a song came on that was absolutely bizzare. A guy reciting the lyrics while what sounded like a British colliery band played in the background. Something about a dead man swimming up a canal to scare the hell out of the congregation of his home town. The program gave no information on the song and, in the 80's, no way of finding it so I forgot about it. By chance a few scraps came to mind a few years ago, something about Lawley Bank and Dawley. So I went to the web, started googling, and found this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jnT4tOl_qQ

A recitation by your Poet Laureate John Betjamen. I already owed him a debt because he saved the Black Friar in London, my favorite British pub. It was to be torn down for development but he started a protest that ended with it being listed and maintained.



So I bought Banana Blush and it was fantastic. I now have a number of his albums.

A Shropshire Lad ends with the verse;

There wasn't a man in Oakengates
That hadn't got hold of the tale,
And over the valley in Ironbridge,
And round by Coalbrookdale,
How Captain Webb the Dawley man,
Captain Webb from Dawley,
Rose rigid and dead from the old canal
That carries the bricks to Lawley.
Rigid and dead -
Rigid and dead -
To the Saturday congregation,
Paying a call at Dawley Bank on the way to his destination.

So I'm going to Iron Bridge and Coalbrookdale to have a beer at each.

and so, a lucky few will finally meet this unnamed `companion' of Burnaby's alcoholic escapades.

My personal theory: Burnaby's deep study of fmotl types has allowed him to acquire the secret of personal separation. So his companion is actually his strawman. He enjoys the booze, and the strawman gets the blurred vision, the need to rush to the men's room, and the eventual hangover.

Safe travels, Burnaby, and have a pint for me.

grixit wrote:and so, a lucky few will finally meet this unnamed `companion' of Burnaby's alcoholic escapades.

My personal theory: Burnaby's deep study of fmotl types has allowed him to acquire the secret of personal separation. So his companion is actually his strawman. He enjoys the booze, and the strawman gets the blurred vision, the need to rush to the men's room, and the eventual hangover.

Does all the driving too so only the strawman gets the DUI notices. Besides, have you ever seen a strawman try to blow into a breathalyser?

Nope. I can personally confirm that Burnaby49 spends quite a lot of time going to the loo. But to be fair he's poured quite a bit down his throat. We're at Mabel's opposite Euston and still going. Peanut you you sad slacker you bailed early.

YiamCross wrote: I can personally confirm that Burnaby49 spends quite a lot of time going to the loo.

It's an age thing.

YiamCross wrote:Nope. I can personally confirm that Burnaby49 spends quite a lot of time going to the loo. But to be fair he's poured quite a bit down his throat. We're at Mabel's opposite Euston and still going. Peanut you you sad slacker you bailed early.

Sadly it was a 'school' night. However it was a pleasant afternoon. I can understand your recent frustrations with the courts, Yiam, feel free to PM me if there is any help I can give. Not a lawyer, but I have some decent contacts.

Here's the man himself in London after visiting several pubs and washing up at the museum of the Honourable Order of Water Rats. Looks like he's having fun, eh? I certainly did. We managed to go on from there to a few more pubs too. Funny how it takes a visitor to your own country to make you visit places you didn't know existed.

I thought he was a bit more pink, but maybe the famous British rain has washed away some of that glow he gets from the Canadian Sun.

I like how they are mirrored exactly by the photo of Laurel and Hardy behind them.

I find it interesting that the Burnaby just happens to by in a country on a drinking spree when they vote on a referendum that ends up devaluing their currency. hmmmmmmmm

A method to his madness, a method to his madness....... Moar beeer for Burnaby.

Amazing he found a pub with Derek Martin in too.