Winter Ales Festival

Went to the Winter Ales Festival, Manchester yesterday. On the way had three cans on the train; yup started before 11am :)
The festival glass is cool; a polar bear wearing shades and Bermuda shorts. First glass of 2009. I like stouts, porters, milds. Great surrounded by David Lloyd accents.
I had :Hobsons Mild; dark, 3.5%
Kelham Island Brooklyn Smoked Porter 6.5% really good. Having nips or thirds allows you to sample many and hopefully not look too unmanly.
Keystone Porter; smoky, rich, dark with subtle blackcurrant flavour. A substantial winter beer, 4.5%
Northern Deep Dark Secret; top stuff, 5.2% not difficult to see why this is 2008 Champion Beer of Cheshire.
Red Rose Care Taker of History 6% complex, rich and warming; well balanced, you are what you drink..
Then i gravitated towards foreign beers. Met a chap who hasn't been to London for 20 years; how does that work?! He was expected by his missus for ages but couldn't resist the cracking array of beers. I was on the Belgian tip, had:
Schelde's Zeezuiper 8% spiced with orange peel; humdinger of an ale
Geants Gouyasse Tripel how about 9%?
Karg Dunkles Weissbier (German) 5.1%, on recommendation
Should have explored the ciders but for a carryout on the return journey took a German smoked beer; details by this time had become distinctly hazy.

thoughts of the day

How we need the Krypton Factor as counter to dross like Big Brother. We actually celebrate being stupid in society so how good to see people with MBA's, problem solving skills, IQ's of 170 which is the total of the Big Brother contestants. Some of it is nigh on impossible but i get some of them..observations, anagrams, arithmetic.. you have to challenge yourself. Embrace the technology like Brain Training. And the assault course; it's true, when you're tired it affects you mentally, it's a test.

Glad that Bolivia, Venezuela have cut off diplomatic ties with Israel. The Israeli foreign minister was smiling on tv at a press conference; i don't think it was a nervous smile where she privately disagrees with the continued bombardment of Gaza as was suggested by the news channel. I saw Jewish people on Question Time shouting down others; they only see what they want to see. This is about 41 years of illegal land occupation; the Israeli protocol is to make irrevalent points and evade questions.

Steve Jobs from Apple is one of my inspirations. He said that you have to live every day as if it is your last, because one day it will be. Compared to this you can do anything. He is a miracle survivor who has taken time off to rightly put his health first, so get better soon.

I also like the programme Numbers; probability, algorithms. They talked about heuristics; that's a business school term i haven't heard since 1986!

snakeblood supernova

Entertainers and jokers have a sensitive side. It's like a contrast to the laughs. They can bring joy to others, and hopefully to themselves. Keep it beautiful.
I still like my late nights; a rocknrolla vision. Fri started just before 4.30pm. Went to the infamous Zoo bar, Coach and Horses in Soho, Montagu Pike and Spice of Life before the Mike Strutter gig. There was a friend of a friend in the Coach who's visiting from Minnesota and loves the Brit ales; pint of plain.
At Cafe de Paris we were guest list and went to the VIP party after the show. Always handy to have a friend who lives in Soho, shot the breeze there a bit before getting back in about 4am.

On Sat i saw the wondrous Slumdog Millionaire. Then went to the Worship, a bar where you offer up prayers haha, till 3am. Me plus one went to the Mosquito which was open till shortly after 6am. Hung out nearby till midday, went back, slept a couple of hours before a Sunday evening session. Chilling out, some decks.

The momentum's good, it gets into the blood. Mon was an afternoon shift; lunchtime till 4.30. Now i've found these lost blogs from 05.