In The Bushes

I can’t cycle today either, I’ve got a bit of a beer thing going on in Nottingham tonight. So I run in again. Twice in one week, I must be mad. It was good though, oddly I feel quite fit at the moment. Which is a rarity.

I stop for some cash on the way and run up to the cashpoint at Pride Park Stadium. A lad has just finished using the machine and he tells me that it has ripped him off and kept his tenner. I resist the temptation to tell him I’m always getting ripped off at Pride Park Stadium; the football’s been shocking for the last few seasons.

I heed his warning and take out £10 rather than the £40 I had intended to, just to test the water. Nothing comes out. Hmmm. I get to work and check my account online, £10 has been taken out! Hmmmm. Cue a long phone call to try and get it sorted out, which apparently will take between 14-28 days. Good job it was only a tenner.

After work I get the bus straight to Nottingham and then walk up to the Castle. The Robin Hood Beer Festival starts tonight. We usually go over the weekend but I’ve entered something stupid (race wise) on Saturday and L’s entered something stupid (race wise) on Sunday, so tonight is our Saturday night out.

L’s already there, she's taken her book in with her. Normally I worry about L reading something like Ayn Rand in public and getting picked up by some intellectual but I think she’ll be safe at the beer festival.



As it happens she’s waiting for me by the entrance. Which is a relief, she’d warned me to check the bushes in case she was napping under one of them... she been nodding off in some strange places recently, probably due to all her training. Sounds quite good actually, I could have grabbed a couple of 5%ers and huddled up with her.



It’s a good bash and all the better for being a Thursday, quieter and none of the beers have ran out yet. Well apart from the ones they’re holding back for Saturday and the few that aren’t ready. I tell the bar staff that L prefers her beer to be 'not ready' (she really does) but most won’t serve it to us. One that does gives us a very nice cloudy number which turns out to be one of the best of the night. Generally though I stick to my usual policy of not drinking anything I can see through, basically the blacker the better. That strategy rarely lets me down.