Playing catch up, and celebrating with a rewarding pint of Union-brewed Jaipur

I’m still playing catch-up, so apologies for the paucity of blog posts but, as noted in a previous article, it wasn’t perhaps the wisest thing going straight back to work, immediately after our return to the UK.  Three days of my first “long weekend” at home were spent tackling the rampant plant growth that had taken over the past three weeks and which was threatening to completely overwhelm our back garden. Son Matthew had been left with directions to water certain areas of the garden, along with specific plants, and whilst he did as instructed, there were still areas missed and plants neglected.

Fortunately, nothing died, providing proof, if needed, that nature is far more resilient than people think. The grass certainly grew, as did the weeds, along with a tray full of runner bean seedlings that I’d forgotten about, but which needed planting out alongside supporting bamboo canes and plenty of garden twine. Sisal is the gardener’s traditional choice here, but it’s hard and unforgiving, albeit much stronger than twine.

Our hot water system developed a fault whilst we were away, and a theme seems to be emerging here, as this isn't the first time the boiler has thrown a wobbly during our absence. We have heating, which we don’t need, but no hot water which we certainly do require. I am waiting for our heating engineer to get back to me, as whilst our hot water tank has an immersion heater, as back-up, electricity is much more expensive than gas, in terms of energy costs.

I also ordered a new office chair for my study; the previous one having finally given up the ghost after many years’ service. It owed its existence to a total re-build over lock-down, using a variety of parts cannibalised from for two other chairs. The new one arrived over weekend, and whilst it’s light, maneuverable, and comfortable, with adequate support in the lower back area, I’m wishing now that I’d chosen a chair with a higher back, in order to support my upper torso and shoulder regions.

One thing both Eileen and I found is that due to us logging in from unusual locations (Spain and Italy), we had to reset passwords on our Yahoo and Google email accounts to prove it was us, and not someone trying to access our emails. This happened upon our return to the UK, and occurred at the most inconvenient moments, such as yesterday lunchtime at work, when I attempted to access my Blogger account.

Well, all work, and no play makes Paul a very dull boy, so a couple of days ago, I managed to escape to the pub for a well-earned and most welcome Sunday afternoon drink. I took a stroll down to Tonbridge Fuggles, the town’s well known beer café. It was surprisingly empty, although the town too seemed rather quiet, so much so that I thought one or more of the Euro matches must be taking place. That “joy” was to come that evening, with the England team lucky to scrape through after trailing for most of the match against lowly Slovakia.

There seemed no reason for the lack of trade that afternoon, but after a steady trickle of customers, and their dogs, Fuggles did start filling up. I didn’t end up drinking alone, as sanding at the bar with his own small dog in tow, whilst ordering himself a beer, was Keith, who is one of the leading lights in West Kent CAMRA. We both, unsurprisingly went for the same beer, Thornbridge Jaipur, brewed using the company’s recently acquired Burton Union set. For those who haven’t been following the story, Derbyshire - based Thornbridge bought one of these discarded sets from the Martson’s brewery in Burton-on-Trent, with the aim of using this unique, 19^th Century system of inter-linked wooden casks, for brewing not just some of their regular beers, but also for producing a range of "one-off” experimental brews.

I knew from Fuggles website that both their outlets (the other can be found in Tunbridge Wells), had a cask of Thornbridge Union Jaipur on tap, and I was concerned that I might have missed it. I think Keith had felt the same, but fortunately the beer was still on tap. What a beer it was though, and the perfect “welcome home” pint of traditional English cask beer one could wish for. I scored it at 4.75 on Untappd, although with hindsight I ought to have given it a 5! Keith enjoyed his pint too, and I should perhaps have gone for a second pint, despite its 5.9% strength.

Instead, choosing the much weaker (3.8%) Joined at the Hop pale ale from Gravesend-based, Iron Pier Brewery, was a mistake, certainly as a beer to follow on from the Jaipur. There wasn't anything wrong with it, I hastened to add, and had it been my first pint instead of my second, it would have been fine, bt the rule of beer tasting is to start low, and then gradually work your way up. Despite this minor disappointment, I spent a pleasant hour or so chatting with Keith and catching up with some of the recent happenings both within west Kent as a whole and also within the local CAMRA branch itself.

As for the blog, I’ve got a number of articles in various states of preparation, that I’m itching to put out, but with a major project underway at work, plus a family wedding in a couple of days’ time, I’m not exactly certain when they will see the light of day. Apologies in advance then, especially to all the cruising fans out there. Rest assured, there are still plenty of stories of life afloat to come, along with accounts of the fascinating places visited on what was only Queen Anne’s fourth, commercial voyage.