A cherished umbrella is retrieved and I spend the evening in a part of London I haven't experienced before

This semi-retirement malarkey isn't quite or what it's cracked up to be. I say this because already this morning, I've tidied up got full load of washing on the line, sorted out yesterday's box off beer arrived from Braybrook Brewing, responded to a couple of work-related emails that needed my attention even though the senders knew that I ‘m not in the office on Thursday and Friday, and taken in two parcels on behalf of Mrs PBT’s. Thankfully, she is away from the house this morning, beavering away at the local scaffolding company where she puts in one day a week, looking after the financial side of things (paying the bills as well as the wages).

I normally drive her in, but this morning, one of her colleagues relieved me of that task. I still need to pick her up, mid-afternoon, and woe betide me if I'm late! For the moment though, I’ve got the house to myself, which is just as well following yesterday evening’s visit to London. I was in the capital for the British Guild of Beer Writers Summer Party, an event which, by tradition, normally takes place a day or so prior to the opening of the Great British Beer Festival.

GBBF didn’t happen this year – something about the non-availability of Olympia, but several people I have spoken to, including one or two from CAMRA, doubt that, having lost money, over many years, CAMRA’s flagship festival will ever make a comeback. One nameless individual claimed, quite rightly in my opinion, that after insisting CAMRA branches adhere to a strict set of financial guidelines, the campaign should do the same for its own, high-profile event,

Leaving these facts aside, the Beer Writers Guild went ahead with their summer party, regardless of what was happening over at CAMRA, and despite a few initial, pre-event reservations, I was glad I went along. The party took place at the spacious premises of Five points Brewing Company, who are based in Hackney, and as well as plenty of beer, both draught and bottled, and ample slices of pizza to help soak it up, there was also a guided tour around Five Points impressive brewery - a monument to stainless steel if you like.

A full report will follow in due course, but I'm still playing catch up my with various things including this blog, which I have shamefully neglected. Before taking the train up to London, on Wednesday afternoon, I called in at the Nelson Arms, which is a stone throw’s away from Tonbridge station. This was shortly after their 3pm opening time, and my objective was to collect the umbrella I'd accidentally left in the pub, on Saturday afternoon. I've got form when it comes to this sort of things, remembering the following day that I left my umbrella somewhere, and almost certainly at the pub. This is why I'm always a little wary of taking a brolly with me on pub visits and days out, even if it provides the perfect excuse for a return visit.

In this instance, I’d phoned the Nelson the day after my weekend visit, and was told that me umbrella was indeed there, but despite this the barman had to produce a number of different umbrellas before I could identify mine. Obviously, I am not their only forgetful customer! Whilst there it seemed rude not have a pint, even though I had a potential heavy evening’s beer supping ahead of me. Please excuse the dreadful pun, but “Born to be Mild”, from Kent Brewery fitted the bill, and at 3.4%, it wasn’t too heavy to begin an evening’s drinking.

Back to the brolly for a second, I was especially pleased to have this particular one back in my possession, because it has never been used in anger, so to speak. It was purchased specifically for a business trip to China, which was back in May 2019, but as things turned out there was no need to use it. The weather on the whole, was dry, although oppressively humid at times, and this invariably resulted in a massive thunderstorm. I was on my way to Guangzhou airport for my flight home, when the storm broke, so I fortunately missed the torrential rain. which was so heavy and incessant, that an umbrella would have been useless.

Back to Wednesday, I managed to catch 4pm train up to town and after alighting at London Bridge, decided to walk to Liverpool Street station, from where I could take the London Overground to Cambridge Heath. Fitness issues aside, there were several reasons for wanting to walk between these London termini, the first being to kill a bit of time, but the main one was to avoid travelling during rush hour on an overcrowded, underground train. I'd already had a lecture from Mrs PBT's about COVID, bearing in mind the events of just under a year ago when I picked up a dose of the plague whist attending the London Craft Beer Festival. 

So, on a dry sunny day, tempered with a light but blustery wind, it was no hardship to walk across the Thames and then make my way along Gracechurch Street and Bishopsgate towards Liverpool Street, in fact it was a real pleasure. There's always something new that you haven't seen before, and I’m not just talking about the massive amount of building work that's going on in that part of the City.  There are some delightful Wren churches on the way before reaching the hustle and bustle of Liverpool Street – a station that seems to hide away, rather than present its splendour to the world. In fact, for such a major and important station Liverpool Street is tucked away, and to access the trains one has to descend from street level to the main concourse, several feet below street level.

Both London Bridge and Liverpool Street provided much needed comfort stops, if you get my meaning, as it's amazing the effect that just one pint of beer can have on the person's bladder. I'm sure you didn't need to know that, but it's encouraging that station toilets have vastly improved since the days of British Rail. There’s rightly, no charge for using the facilities, which all appear clean and well looked after

It was just two stops on the London Overground to Cambridge Heath, the nearest stop for Five Points Brewing my destination that evening, and I'm pretty sure Wednesday was the first time I've travelled on that particular stretch of line. I alighted from the train and made my way along Mare Street towards Five Points. The area seemed a little edgy at first, but I think that was just me being a little cautious, because on the way back it seemed fine. That may have been down to the beer but often perception is far worse than reality.

I’m going to leave it here, as whilst there’s lots more to say about Five Points, including the beer and the brewery, there’s the Guild Party as well to write about. I’m also conscious at not having posted for over a week, so until next time……….