day2

drink1
First of the day in The Huntsman. A truly average pub. Beginning to fill up with the rugby crowd now. Had a chat with some Newcastle fans whilst Shalliday eases his way into the day. He was having a lager shandy and some personal issues. I was having a pint of Gem bitter and a cheese and onion roll.

drink2
Back to The Boater. Not a great pub but beer garden right next to the ground. Beer terrible today and no shortage of acid to account for it. A group of middle-aged men dressed as monks arrived. We found them unsightly. Beer not going down well. Time to head to the ground.

drink3
Into the ground. Cooking cider for me and Fosters for him. I seem to remember taking pictures of these but my phone disagrees with my analysis. The Fosters was bad even for Fosters which is some achievement. Shalliday felt that it tasted of disinfectant. He muttered something about "cleaning the pipes" as he shuffled over for his 2nd visit to the portaloo.

drink4
Better now. We found some "Addlestone's Cloudy" cider which quickly began to ease the pain. Some strong shit this. Time for the match. Shalliday wondered whether we'd get in the ground with our pints. Turns out you're not allowed in without one. HA HA!

drink5
The game as seen via more Addlestone's. Shalliday commented on how attractive it was making him "feel". If not necessarily "look". He was certainly becoming more addled. Some fucking helmets behind us havering about how much they hate the word "kindergarten". Too German apparently. Go figger...

drink6
Two pints of (intentionally) flat Bass straight from the cask in the best pub in Bath, The Star Tavern. This picture was taken at the end of the so-called "death row" bench where the old punters line up happily awaiting of their fate. As far as we gathered they almost always pass on via natural causes. As opposed to lethal injection one supposes.

drink7
Two more pints of Bass. It's almost possible to wean yourself onto this stuff with a bit of effort. In the spirit of Nietzsche we felt that that which did not kill us could only make us stronger. The old fella over the way is reading his paper whilst his Dad texts his "bezzie mate" on his Nokia 3110xs.

drink8
Two Jura malts and two packets of pork scratchings. We find one in the shape of a nostril complete with nasal hair. Again, the work of the great philosopher is invoked.

drink9
Two frothing pints of Bellringer. "To take the edge of the drink" as Shalliday would have it. The old codger and his Da' had been replaced by a nice Australian couple. But who will replace us?
Eh!

drink10
Snuff.

drink11
Off to Wagamamas for food. Predictably Shallds suggests G&T followed by wine but I put my foot down. Two bottles of Japanese beer and a prawn curry for me. He had something called "noodles"?

drink12
Not sure where we went next. You'd think they'd keep some kind of record of this kind of thing on the internette that you could just look up. Shalliday being a bit rude here. Perhaps last night's curry incident was beginning to play on his mind again.

drink13
Struggling a bit now. Into the Salamander bar. Two halfs of Youngers No3 and two whiskies. We had no idea that No3 was still made. Hadn't seen it anywhere for years. After a few sips we remembered why.

Time to head back to the B&B. Two large Cubans guide us up the steepest hill in Bath. It's pissing with rain now. Our weekend trip is played out by Shalliday's very favourite Vera Lynn song.

Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire
Heading for the land of dreams
When I look back to those happy childhood days
Like yesterday it seems...

END OF DAY 2