That was the summer?

I am sorry, it has been a long, long time. But now I have a week off and instead of enjoying the glorious drizzle outside I decided to update this blog.

So what has happened in the world of Exeter? well, 2 new Wetherspoons have opened, one especially for the chavs of Cowick Street, and a slightly better one on the former Hogshead site. The day the new "Chevalier Inn" opened I witnesses a strange fight involving 2 men and a dog happening right outside the main doors. If anyone has any information about this fight I would be really interested, as I sure could not work out what was going on. The pub also made front page headlines when it banned a blind man in a football shirt from going in. Why this should have made news is beyond me, as is why it was relevant that the man was blind and had "been an Exeter City fan for 20 years". Story perfectly summed up here: http://www.thisisntexeter.co.uk/site/local/455

Poker at the City Gate has been gaining players week after week, with players from Sweden, Spain, Northern Ireland and Germany joining us in recent weeks. I have had one win, one second and one third since I last posted.

Other than that a few shops have opened in town (new HMV, Fopp, Disney Store), Foodeze has gone for good, a nice Beer festival happened at the castle, Micheal McIntyre came to the Northcott and we are planning a holiday in the sun for when Ivonne finally finished her PHD...

I will leave you with a couple of pictures taken at Bickleigh last month on an unusually sunny evening. Hope to update sooner next time!

Norman Lockyer Observatory

Now that I am 31 I need to do grown up things, so instead of a Saturday night at Rococo's (joke!)we decided to visit the Norman Lockyer Observatory near Sidmouth. He was the man who discovered Helium (He missed a trick, I would have called it Lockyerium if I had been him!), and also looked at many stars through telescopes. Can you tell my research is a bit shaky?



You can find out more at http://www.normanlockyer.org/ and it is well worth the fiver entry on an open night to see the 2 dinky little domes and historic telescopes.



Last night was specifically to look at Saturn, and we all got to look through the big telescope at it. Amazingly it did not just look like a blob, but you could actually see the rings sticking out each side.



There is also a Planetarium show which is very impressive, I was particularly impressed with the 60's technology that projected it!



Also in the last few weeks it has been my birthday, and we had a fun gathering at the flat, poker and the Wii were played, and I drank plenty of my new favourite drink, Westons Perry!

I have also won 2 out of the last 3 games of poker at the City Gate, so things are looking up!

Just a week now until our week in Cornwall, I will be very happy to have a week away from work and relax properly!

10 Things

There has been a lot of work this month, but it has not all been work. Here are 10 other things I have done this month so far.

1. Played poker at the City Gate. I toyed with the idea of giving poker a break as I had not played well since the new year. Last week though I came third (out of about 12) so that has boosted my confidence. Although 3rd is still a wasted fiver it is a lot closer to the elusive tenner and the even more elusive first prize than my previous 3 performances of being last out!

2. Pub quiz at Newton St Cyres. Now that Dennis lives out that way we have been going to the pub quiz each month at the Crown and Sceptre. It is a really friendly, traditional pub. The first Tuesday of each month is Curry and Quiz night. The Curry costs about £6, the quiz about a pound, and drinks bring the total cost up to about a tenner. Both times we have been our team has won a bottle of wine. I will try and get out there with my camera and do a Pub Guide on the place.

3. Met up with ex-SPCK employees. Great to see them all again, and pretty much all the staff (apart from one) came along. Great to see everyone is doing well and planning fun trips and getting new jobs and just generally getting on with life. We referred to the situation with the shops maybe once or twice, but mostly we were just catching up with each other, which was great!

4. Played Mario Kart and unlocked the Mirror Cup. To any non-players this means nothing, but was an exciting event in my life!

5. Went to see the film Milk. It was great to see the story of Harvey Milk told in such a high profile way, and the story is a very important and interesting one, but I could not help feel it rather brushed over some of the interesting themes of the way he approached his politics and a documentary would have told the story in a clearer way (in fact there was a documentary out last year which I must seek out). Still a worthwhile watch though.

6. Watched the original Frost/Nixon Watergate interviews on DVD. After watching the film we were interested to see what they were really like when broadcast, and Dave lent us a DVD of them he bought at the stage show a few years ago. Seeing Frost back then made me realise how great Sheens portrayal of him was, and some of the extras on the DVD confirmed that many of the incidents in the film actually happened.

7. Went out to The Orange Elephant farm shop to get some nice food in the shop and some coffee in the cafe. The newly built shop is really good, but I hope it never becomes as big as Darts Farm which is a bit posh and a bit soulless!

8. Decided I do actually really like the sitcom Not Going Out, and despite thinking it is formulaic and often stupid I still end up laughing loads the whole way through.

9. Booked a holiday cottage in Cornwall. In March we will get getting away for a week in a village near Looe. The plan is to get away from computers and work and Exeter and just slow down and relax. We hope to go to the Eden project at some point too.

10. Took some photos of Exeter today. Needed a bit of air and a wander so took my camera out and wondered about taking random photos.

The first two are peering through the window at the newly restored Mint Priory, I was quite astonished when I looked in, as last time it was an empty shell!





I wont caption these, but see if you know where they are!

Exeter Pub Guide, No. 2, City Gate Hotel

Where is this pub?
On the Iron Bridge (St Davids Hill) in Exeter. It may sound odd to say it is “on” the bridge, but it sort of is!



What would draw you to this pub?
The walled garden (sheltered from the wind), friendly staff, poker nights, traditional hotel pub atmosphere, reasonably priced rooms.

What sort of person would you find in this pub?
Older couples, hotel guests, the posher students and people relaxing after work.

What can you consume in this pub?
A range of Youngs beers (including Winter Warmer and Waggledance), Addlestones cider and all the usual lagers and spirits. Sprits and wines will set you back a fair amount.

What is quirky about this pub?
The walled garden is a real feature, with views of St Michaels Church (the vicar of this church can often be found in there) and the malthouse building (Now Ginos restaurant). A selection of Roman-esque statues and a fish pond with (manky) fountain. The new conservatory is a nice light place to sit, and strangely comforting on a rainy evening. The pub used to be a lot quirkier before major changes were made in the late 90's, but overall the changes have created a much better space.



What is specifically “Exeter” about the pub?
The views, some of the pictures on the walls have a local theme.

What is there to do in this pub?
The downstairs often holds private parties, and Monday night is poker night. The IT box gets a fair bit of use, and newspapers (albeit the Daily Mail and Telegraph) are always lying around.

What are the worst things about the pub?
Some of the drinks will set you back (£3.20 Pint Addlestones, pushing £4 for a glass of wine or spirits). The smell in the old part of the pub is a little musky. The staff are sometimes more involved in running the hotel part of the business rather than the bar part. The food is hit and miss and the chef is a tad on the vicious side.

Is there an old man sat at the bar?
Not at the bar, but at the round table in the conservatory. This pub has many locals, and the staff know them all by name (or at least by drink!)

In a word, should I bother coming here?
Certainly, it is near the town, but far enough away to feel you are off the beaten track. The staff will make you feel welcome and the ales are good.

Ants, Cars and Shoes

It is flying ant day today, the signal that we are in the midst of summer – not that it has felt like it the last few weeks. This is the day that the ants emerge from the ground to get swiftly eaten by flocks of seagulls. Actually they do it for a good reason, and there is in fact a Wikipedia page all about it! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ant_day).



There are a few cars around Exeter that I always think are cool (certainly not the noisy Saab that I had to help push start on the Iron bridge last night), I do love this Beetle that is always parked on Exe street.



Just up from it is a Matiz (same model as mine) with some rather hippyish stickers on it. Perhaps I could get some big enough to cover the dents in mine?

Finally I forgot to mention the shoes.



This was sight that greeted us in the function room in the City Gate last night as we started our game of poker. Looks like Clarks were having a training session in the day, as there was a manual called “How to Fit shoes”. I flicked to the first page and it said “Before you can learn how to fit shoes you must learn how to put them on”. Real back to basics stuff!

Bonhay Road Closed

Bonhay Road is closed this week after 7pm, this means that we are expecting to hear lots of noise all night as a result of the roadworks that are closing the route. The Mill on the Exe has decided to close up for a few days as all access is lost to it (I was told they asked for “Business as usual” signs from the council, but these could not be provided as Council staff were on strike), and I imagine the gym has had a quiet night due to the rather long route that will have been needed to get to it (all around the Exe Bridges and up Frog Street, I know how lazy these fitness freaks really are).



Anyway, if I was wanting to win awards for dull photos then these of Bonhay road would be ones ones I would submit to the competition.




On the plus side I won £10 playing poker at the City Gate tonight.

Week round up

An unremarkable week in Exeter so far, some fire engines opposite where I work in the High Street yesterday for most of the day, but I never found out why, Monday night I was second place in the City Gate poker tournament, which is a tenner in my pocket, and a bit of time spent at the Mill on the Exe enjoying the sun this afternoon – apparently the downstairs is going to be open again in July, I remember when there were pool tables and druggies down there, ah, the good old days.



After my half day at work today I fully intended on going to HMV and getting the new Coldplay album, but somehow left with the Sarah Bareilles album instead. Somehow on a sunny afternoon it did not seen right to bring myself down with Coldplays misery, but I will get it at some point.

Tonight is a rarity for me, I will be watching a whole football match on the TV. Much as the sport leaves me uninterested I will be cheering on Germany for the sake of the two Germans present. Yay Germany for the World Cup, or whatever it is.

ExeShed

Well poker did not go so well, 4th out of 8 players, but look, at the half way point I was doing OK!

Last night was a trip out with work to spend some money we had “won” from the bank (credit crunch... what credit crunch?) so decided to go to ExeShed for a meal.

We are no strangers to “the shed” but had never eaten there before. Sadly we were not impressed, although the food was lovely (Duck breast on a bed of mash and beetroot), the service was atrocious, pretty much the worse I have had since the infamous Tiger Bills evening. The pretty blonde waitress, when she eventually took our drink order had no idea what we were saying to her, and we must have been sat drinkless for over half an hour after arriving. She then spectacularly failed to open a bottle of wine and broke her little credit card machine by dropping it on the floor. Then after the meal (which I must admit was excellent) the tables were not cleared, then half cleared, then only finally cleared when we ordered dessert (we had to ask the manager for the dessert menu, no one was in a hurry to bring it, even after catching several of the staffs attention). There were 6 staff serving 5 tables, yet half the staff were huddled around together, not actually waiting on tables. Such a shame that a restaurant with such great potential does not quite come up to standards. I am sticking with Strada in the future.

On the way home I was disgusted by the disregard people treat their living environment, first was a girl on the Iron Bridge who just put her empty drinks carton on the window sill of the hairdressers, despite there being a rubbish bin just a little further on, and secondly this bunch of “chavs” who let their dog (not pictured) do a massive poop on the pavement in Exe Street and just walked off. Perhaps I am just becoming Angry of Exeter...

Pubs, in all their glory

Pubs, we've all seen them. But what is so great about them? Is it simply the alcohol that flows so freely (well, not freely, more like £2.80 a pint), is it the gardens, the food, the conversation, the big screens, the lack of big screens, the friendly staff... the list goes on.

On this blog I will endeavour to try and encapsulate what I like so much about a handful of Exeter pubs. Using a “find 50” (see here) style booklet I will be the judge and jury of my local drinking holes. All in the name of research.

On that topic I must get to the City Gate now in time for poker, this week is my week, I can feel it.