Share this, mofos:

So, four years now (or, rather, next week it will be…here’s the annual reports for years Three, Two, and One for historical perspective).

We just received our new visas valid until 2016 but plan to take the next step toward citizenship in a year, Indefinite Leave to Remain…sort of the British Green Card.  There is an exam, first, but in general it is all downhill from here.

The view from Western Street near the new house…also all downhill

Additionally, we are in the process of moving house (which is why I rushed the annual report a week forward) from just north of the Oasis over to Old Town to a house situated close walks to either the Beehive or the Castle or the Globe (recently reopened!)—three locals instead of one and all three of high quality—and dozens of others a short walk. The new house has three bedrooms each larger than its counterpart in the old house, the two receptions are larger and made into more of an open-plan configuration, the bath is larger and has a tub (not just a shower), and there is a finished basement; on the down side, the kitchen is a little narrower and more primitive as is the small garden but everything we do and everywhere we normally go in Swindon (save for the butcher) is so close.

The only races I did this past year were the London Marathon (5 pubs plus a can of Carling on the last mile) and the Beerathon (5 miles with a pint and a hefty food item between each) and the mileage run for the year suffered from this lack of focus—1950 give or take about 25 (most estimates pretty good using gmap-pedometer), while the last several years (except for the year of the wreck) were in the 2200-2500 range.

On the runs, I visited  255 new pubs with a stunning 67 new ones (steep part of the graph) in September when I took two weeks off work and ran at least 10 miles per day in new territory each day. The 1000th wasn’t as big a thrill as I thought it would be, but I saw some really nice places and met some really fine folk. The September holiday found me visiting Gloucester, South Wales, Slough (exotic, I know) and Exeter along with some nearer-to-Swindon trips. The 100 Yellow Beer Challenge was responsible for a lot of second visits to pubs I might not otherwise have gone to after an initial stop and many of these seemed better the second time around. Oh, and my Workingman’s Club appears to have failed or at least hasn’t been open the last several times I’ve popped by (I have a grand one scoped out for the new neighbourhood, though).

Best pubs in Year Four (reverse order by First Visit write-up):
The Southgate Inn, Devizes
Byron’s, Swindon
The Hop Inn, Swindon
Dicey Reilly’s, Teignmouth
The Brass Monkey, Teignmouth
One Eyed Jack’s, Gloucester
Ye Olde Red Lion, Tredegar
The Rose of Denmark, Woolwich
The Volunteer Rifleman’s Arms
The Green Dragon, Marlborough
The British Lion, Devizes
The Blue Boar, Alsbourne (for the Dr. Who connections)

Favourite write-ups:
Postboxes
British Citizenship Exam Prep
Risk Assessment-Bins
Oxford Tourists
Assize Court, Bristol

Cock Flavour
Paul Simon in Hyde Park
Edie’s Lawn
The hunt
The Bremen Musicians (German children’s story)
Sex Tourism in Wiltshire
Modern Algebra for Omid
Burns’ Day Lunch

There are others search for ‘made me laugh.’  The blog may or may not have made some of the over 100,000 visitors laugh, but the damn fools keep checking in (that’s you, that is).

Share this, mofos:

My initial work visa for the UK.

I just turned in my Visa application and documents for our last year before I become eligible for what is known as Permanent Residency in the States and Indefinite Leave to Remain here   This is my first big step toward citizenship, and involves a test of my knowledge of British Culture (some of which is reproduced here).

Note: I haven’t actually started revising for the test.

Also, answer “b” is always chosen by an American, or a foreigner more suited to America.  It’s “B” for Bugger Off.

Answer “a” is always correct but “c” or “d,” when they appear, are always acceptable.

VOCABULARY

1. Pint:

a) 20 Imperial ounces (18.2 US ounces)
b) 16 US ounces
c) not enough, matey, not enough

2. Glass:
a) verb, defend oneself OR to attack someone (generally at drinking up time)
b) noun, vitrified sand
c) smallest acceptable unit of whiskey for a man

3. Pants:
a) knickers
b) trousers
c) nonsense

4. Pissed
a) adjective, drunk…badly drunk, y’know, like every weekend
b) verb, past tense, urinated

5. Sorry
a) equivalent to shrieking, “YOU FUCKING PILE OF STEAMING SHITE HOW DARE YOU FORCE ME TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR EXISTENCE.” But quietly and reflexively and it really doesn’t mean ANYTHING most of the time.
b) a notification to the recipient that you are culpable and remorseful for an action you are responsible for

GENERAL QUESTIONS

6. Your town is ___________.
a) “a bit shit, really.”
b) “the best town in the WORLD!”
c) “Are you looking for a slap, mate?”
d) a & c

7. As someone approaches they say, “alright?” You respond:
a) “Alright?”
b) “Yes, I’m fine thanks, how are you?”

8. It’s bleak ________.
a) up North
b) down South
c) on Albert Square

[This one actually happened in front of me and, yes, the correct answers are a & c.]
9. An old man is knocked off his bike by a lorrie in Olney. You offer _______.
a) a cup of tea
b) assistance
c) a large brandy

[This one involves actual top two answers from a poll of Brits.]
10. Aliens land from outer space. You ________.
a) offer to put the kettle on
b) alert the authorities, or fight the things, or run for cover abandoning family, friends and colleagues
c) ask, “alright?”

11. Walking on the pavement [sidewalk], you find yourself on a trajectory that will crash into an oncoming pedestrian. He clocks this and moves to the other side of the pavement to avoid confrontation. You respond by _____________.
a) readjusting your trajectory to crash into this sad bastard…fuck ‘im. Nance.
b) smiling and acknowledging their courtesy
c) a AND only using peripheral vision to navigate, thus gaining plausible deniability that this was intentional (see VOCABULARY question on “Sorry”)

12. Do you know who Vicky Pollard is?
a) yeahr but no but, yeahr but no but, yeahr but no but, yeahr but no but….
b) who?

Share this, mofos:

Who knew Castro was an avid golfer? Of course Che was…he was a doctor.

A more salient question today is: Will it be champagne or whiskey in the early hours of the morning?  Here’s the last payout plot for four years:

They are taking bets until 10:00 pm GMT, if you have an itch.

Share this, mofos:

Betting the last pound? Last hundred quid? The big money is on Romney and the smart money is….

 

Paddy Power has already cashed out for Obama, but it was only £400K (and at their odds, the advertising revenue equivalent makes this a bargain…they are still taking bets, by the way).  I hope the gamblers’ optimism is right but, except for Clinton, Obama is the only other Republican I have ever voted for (don’t give me that Official Party Affiliation bullshit, you purists, they are both right of Nixon).

Anyway, now that this is all done and dusted, keep in mind you can still bet on other politics, the X-Factor, Rugby (Union or League), and Religion.  That’s right.  Religion.

Share this, mofos:

 

Update: Only a few hours after this post went up, Paddy Power called the race for Obama, paying out 2 days early.

The payout on a pound bet, above, has been a jagged ride at times.  The spreadsheet I have kept on this has ridiculous notes on it as you might expect.  Here were the dates I found significant:

Debates → October 3, 9, 16, and 22

Jon Stewart v. Bill O’Reilly → Oct. 6

Hurricane Sandy, Halloween, and Chris Christie → October 30-31

Socialism 2012 meeting in London → November 3 (I think I put that on as a reminder to attend)

The over/under looks good for Obama, right now, but the odds have an 8.3% house bias against random results which pushes the actual prediction down closer to 274 and 277 for Ladbrokes (top) and Paddy Power respectively.  William Hill has this interesting betting option for those of you in it for the long game:

Share this, mofos:

The weekly updates of the betting odds for President continue with the payouts on £1 bets (includes stake) tracked above (larger numbers mean less bookie confidence in your chances).

Recent events of interest include the 2nd Presidential Debate on 16 October where Mitt Romney showed more evidence of Tourette’s Syndrome and Obama acted as if he were engaged with the proceedings.  Last week’s episode of this gambling round-up is here.

Some of the items related to Romney’s “Binders for Women” phrase that were spotted within minutes of the debate’s end are shown here:

Share this, mofos:

Same drill, payout includes your £1 stake. All three betting shops tracking one another with Romney’s odds closing on Obama’s

The weekly report on the day after the Vice-Presidential Debate between Biden and Ryan, the odds look like this (compare to last Friday, here):

Also of note, the vast improvement of Romney’s fortunes after the first Presidential Debate on 03 October and the relative indifference of this sampling method to the Jon Stewart versus Bill O’Reilly Debate on 06 October:

Share this, mofos:

Payout on a £1 bet includes your stake (higher number means less confidence in the candidate from the gambling community)

With just under a month till the election, here are some of the recent odds:

When I started this last year, the primaries were still 10 months away.  In the last couple of months, Ladbrokes has been joined by Paddy Power and William Hill betting agents as odds makers.  Obama has been a little better than even money to win from the start, and it has been fun to watch the fortunes of, for instance, Rick Santorum rise and fall on the totes.  The most recent improvement in Romney’s situation has been the first, erm, we call it a “debate” (since that seems to be the term the Press has dubbed it) on 03 October.  Regular updates to appear from here on in to Election Day, I reckon.

Update: This is weekly through the Friday before Election Day then daily until the dust settles (remember 2000?).  Here’s the 12 October entry.

Share this, mofos:

Unpacking her bag (#not_a_euphemism) from her trip to the States, J said, “here, I bought you something pretty.”  ”Mmmmm, my favourites!” So, here’s an offer to some of you lot…

I’m a pretty good cook.  In fact, back in the mists of time we met in a professional kitchen where Jackie was my boss (although I remain the better and more imaginative cook, a fact she freely admits).  So, anyone that know’s my real name — ie, I should already know you socially and/or professionally — that wants a nice meal during a visit to the UK can get one from me in exchange for a liter of Turkey and a 50 pack of Goody Powders (Goody’s…they are good).

Give me a day or two notice…my butcher keeps odd hours, my fish monger will need a couple days’ lead for something special, and I will need to get a few cases of wine in.  And now I must dash, but first I think I’ll enjoy a little Goody’s lift:

 

Note 1, in response to a theme in several bits of correspondence: Yes, this excludes hashers because the very few that know my real name could never make it the hour-and-a-half journey from baggage claim to my front door without cracking the seal on the bottle.

Note 2: Family need not apply…you motherfuckers owe me a lot more than a bottle of bourbon.

Share this, mofos:

Years ago, I went to a mass spectrometry conference in Palm Springs and it seemed logical that we should book the flights into Las Vegas and drive the rest of the way after a suitable period of time.  The in-flight conversation turned to gardening and I mentioned the herbs–the LEGAL herbs–I was growing.  Mike asked, “is it pronounced BAY-zill or BAA-sill?”  I said I don’t know for sure but the package seemed to indicate the first; “it says ‘Sweet Basil Ocillum,’ you know…like a pimp’s name.”  We returned to discussing our craps statistics and I forgot about the whole ridiculous gardening chat.

Minor luck at the tables meant we didn’t sleep at all and were quite drunk for the ride to PS, then the conference is always a big party so by the NEXT morning we were really hung over and exhausted.  I was going to sleep through the first couple of hours of talks and just show up for lunch but Mike was gamely getting ready for the day, doing whatever he does in the shower; the maid walks in and I look up from under the covers and see her step backwards from the bathroom door, stunned.  ”Uh, do I do you now?” she asked in a heavy Central American accent.

“Shouldn’t I talk to Sweet Basil first?” asked Mike.  I couldn’t sleep after that; and every time I see Sweet Basil has opened a new business I document it.

Share this, mofos:

I had already seen ’8 Men Out’ but it sort of goes with the Chicago reference

The Cubs ownership let me down this year, and a lot of inertia has to be shifted for me to get behind the Mets (again) as my National League team (I split my AL energies, these last few years, on the Sox–White and Red).  Left without a good reason to seek out baseball broadcasts this year and with the weather too shitty to hit the cricket grounds, baseball movies seemed worth a go.  I watched Moneyball (you can find your own movie link, this one goes to an article) on the flights home from Germany and found it a nice start to the Baseball Film Festival…based on a former Met from my last time around supporting the club and centered around the A’s (who along with the Tigers were my childhood American League favourites).  The hook was set.

Somehow I never got around to Bang The Drum Slowly, although Moriarty and De Niro are a couple of my favourites.  It is a bit dated, though not as bad as M*A*S*H; not only a little too sentimental it has a lot of the anti-hero AND baseball clichés you might predict.  Still, De Niro’s Georgia accent is outstanding.  If you like the movie, read the book (linked above); if you read the book already you might be a bit disappointed with the film.

Batting third was Bull Durham, which somehow eluded me despite my abiding love of minor league ball and the inanity surrounding it.  I think I was avoiding anything that required Kevin Costner to work hard at acting, but this wasn’t it and I should have seen it years ago.  Quite a pleasant bit of fluff.

Clean-up was Pride of the Yankees, which I’ve seen before and I get annoyed that every time the “luckiest man in the world” speech comes around it isn’t as moving nor as funny as almost every impression of it I have ever heard (and EVERY American over 30-years-old has a version of it, usually vibrating their cheek or larynx with a hand to simulate the Yankee Stadium echo…ask one of ‘em to do Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech, if you don’t believe me, but don’t tell them why).

And pitching, of course was Dock Ellis.  If you haven’t heard of him, he threw a perfect game on acid.  Robin Williams tells the story well enough in two minutes here, but the better film is this little documentary, online, called Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No (and still it is only 5 minutes).  I’ve done some amazing things on psychedelics under all sorts of stresses, but to perform at a top, professional level in any athletic endeavour whilst tripping your ass off is…if I need to explain it, you’ll never understand.

Short list of other good Baseball Movies worth a look:

‘Eight Men Out,’ John Sayles on the Black Sox Scandal

’61*,’ an epic journey to break one of the great records

‘Damn Yankees,’ ’cause whatever Lola wants…

‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ for the World Series scene in the day room

‘Ken Burns’ Baseball,’ as the ultimate documentary on the subject

and, the one that got away: ‘Cobb,’ because Tommy Lee Jones as The Georgia Peach has got to be worth a look.

Share this, mofos:

How many pickers does it take to change a light bulb?

Five.  One to change it and four to shake their heads and mumble, “that ain’t the way Earl woulda done it.”

Here’s an obit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9172830/Country-singer-Earl-Scruggs-dies-aged-88.html

I’m going some place like THIS to mourn and drink some whiskey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZp0UjL_Xhs

 

 

Share this, mofos:

Santorum, answering the question, "As President, how would you deal with Christian extremists?"

A quick look at Ladbrokes Betting Odds today shows the effect of Santorum’s recent good showing since the last update (sorry Boog, no tna shots this time, just a bunch of boobs).  Hillary still has the best odds of the people not running at all for President.  Also interesting, Ron Paul has better odds of becoming the nominee AND of winning the Presidency than he does of becoming the Vice-Presidential nominee.  Steven Colbert and Glenn Beck still have a presence on the boards, as well:

Selection	Pres?	Nominee?	VP?
Barack Obama	4/7	xxx	xxx
Mitt Romney	7/4	1/6	25/1
Rick Santorum	16/1	6/1	7/1
Newt Gingrich	33/1	16/1	25/1
Ron Paul	40/1	25/1	50/1
Hillary Clinton	50/1	xxx	xxx
Donald Trump	100/1	xxx	100/1
Jeb Bush	200/1	100/1	xxx
Paul Ryan	200/1	100/1	12/1
Chris Christie	200/1	100/1	5/1
Mitch Daniels	200/1	100/1	25/1
Marco Rubio	xxx	xxx	5/2
Susana Martinez	xxx	xxx	10/1
Bob McDonnell	xxx	xxx	10/1
Jim DeMint	xxx	xxx	20/1
Tim Pawlenty	xxx	xxx	20/1
Nikki Haley	xxx	xxx	20/1
Kelly Ayote	xxx	xxx	20/1
Hayley Barbour	xxx	xxx	20/1
Jon Thune	xxx	xxx	20/1
Condoleeza Rice	xxx	xxx	25/1
Rob Portman	xxx	xxx	25/1
Brian Sandoval	xxx	xxx	25/1
Bobby Jindal	xxx	xxx	25/1
Jon Huntsman	xxx	xxx	25/1
Rick Snyder	xxx	xxx	33/1
Colin Powell	xxx	xxx	33/1
Meg Whitman	xxx	xxx	33/1
Lindsey Graham	xxx	xxx	33/1
Rick Perry	xxx	xxx	50/1
Sarah Palin	xxx	xxx	50/1
Michele Bachmann	xxx	xxx	50/1
Herman Cain	xxx	xxx	50/1
Mike Huckabee	xxx	xxx	50/1
Scott Walker	xxx	xxx	50/1
David Petraeus	xxx	xxx	50/1
Allen West	xxx	xxx	50/1
Scott Brown	xxx	xxx	50/1
Kay Bailey Hutchison	xxx	xxx	50/1
Rand Paul	xxx	xxx	50/1
John McCain	xxx	xxx	66/1
Steven Colbert	xxx	xxx	150/1
Glenn Beck	xxx	xxx	200/1

 

Share this, mofos:

Note: this seems to offend some.  Result!

• • 

    Paul WoodfordWondering why you posted that link. Was the fake photo the whole point?

    3 hours ago · Like

Updating the betting odds at the end of January 2012, we find a thinner pack at the top level but interesting things happening at the Republican Vice-Presidential table (although the fact that gamblers think Hilary Clinton, who isn’t even running, has a better shot than most Republicans is telling):

Election winner
Selection	Odds
Barack Obama	4:6
Mitt Romney	13:8
Newt Gingrich	14:1
Ron Paul	33:1
Hillary Clinton	50:1
Rick Santorum	66:1
Mitch Daniels	100:1
Donald Trump	100:1
Jeb Bush	200:1
Paul Ryan	200:1
Chris Christie	200:1
Republican Nominee
Selection	Odds
Mitt Romney	1:8
Newt Gingrich	6:1
Ron Paul	25:1
Rick Santorum	50:1
Mitch Daniels	66:1
Jeb Bush	100:1
Paul Ryan	100:1
Chris Christie	100:1
Winning Party
Selection	Odds
Democrats	13:20
Republicans	5:4
Independent	50:1
Republican Vice Presidential Nominee
Will be settled on nominee at 2012 Republican National Convention. Others on request.
Selection	Odds
Marco Rubio	5:2
Chris Christie	5:1
Susana Martinez	10:1
Paul Ryan	12:1
Bob McDonnell	14:1
Tim Pawlenty	16:1
Hayley Barbour	16:1
Newt Gingrich	16:1
Rick Santorum	16:1
Mitt Romney	20:1
Nikki Haley	20:1
Kelly Ayote	20:1
Jon Thune	20:1
Jim DeMint	20:1
Mitch Daniels	25:1
Rob Portman	25:1
Brian Sandoval	25:1
Bobby Jindal	25:1
Condoleeza Rice	25:1
Jon Huntsman	25:1
Rick Perry	33:1
Rick Snyder	33:1
Herman Cain	33:1
Colin Powell	33:1
Meg Whitman	33:1
Lindsey Graham	33:1
Ron Paul	40:1
Sarah Palin	50:1
Michele Bachmann	50:1
Mike Huckabee	50:1
David Petraeus	50:1
Allen West	50:1
Scott Brown	50:1
Kay Bailey Hutchison	50:1
Rand Paul	50:1
Scott Walker	50:1
John McCain	66:1
Donald Trump	100:1
Glenn Beck	200:1
Florida Republican Primary
Selection	Odds
Mitt Romney	1:25
Newt Gingrich	8:1
Rick Santorum	100:1
Ron Paul	100:1

odds from Ladbrokes.

Share this, mofos:

My 2nd day of work at Cambridge everyone took tea late in the afternoon and watched Obama’s inauguration ceremony.  He’s been a bit disappointing, overall.

Now it is another election year and it is time to air out my Kucinich for President gear, again, and start putting out my crude (and crudely rendered) political posters…like this one:

Share this, mofos:

Home page for the challenge...there should be some enjoyable pictures in the coming months

Or as my link to the left notes…100 Shit Beers as all real beer in the States is considered ‘craft’ or too la-di-fucking-da to qualify.  That’s alright, I LIKE Carling and that shit is everywhere over here.

Places can be pubs (got that one covered) or someplace cool (I see some mid-race lagers in my future).  My only question is, what is the challenge for the SECOND week?

[Note: Thanks to Brownie for clueing me into this.]

Share this, mofos:

The Republicans have an uncanny way of staying on message.  However, a wide spectrum of the media (liberal and Gawd-fearin’) have locked onto a particular phrase that should be a talking point:

“Disillusionment with Obama’s curiously frigid administration is a pervasive theme, but his rivals for the greatest office on earth look like competitors in a holiday camp freak show.” — Daily Mail (UK), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2065500/Barack-Obama-weak-President-United-States-Paralysis.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

“My point is not the obvious one that the freak show is deplorable. It’s that the freak show is not going away.”  — CBS News (USA), http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20129026-503544/why-cains-story-isnt-like-clarence-thomas/

“It’s easy to laugh at the freak-show race for the Republican presidential nomination.”  — City Watch, LA (USA), http://www.citywatchla.com/8box-left/2518-the-republicans-not-funny-theyre-scary

“Those who say the debates are hurting the Republicans may be right. There is a freak-show element.” — Wall Street Journal (USA),  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204224604577030192740119830.html

“…the Republican field of presidential candidates—the relatively normal Mitt Romney excepted—who collectively constitute the kind of freak show Americans are unaccustomed to seeing at the highest levels of national politics.”  — The American Prospect (USA), http://prospect.org/article/return-sanity

Of course, calling them freaks might backfire…the 2010 poster above should have been more effective but it really seemed to rally their pinhead voters. “One of us, one of us, we accept you one of us…” to quote the Tod Browning film, Freaks (1932):

Share this, mofos:

Lost on the west side of Swindon, Sunday, I had to admit that the sign speaks the truth:

Share this, mofos:

Walking to the bus Friday morning I hear an update of Game 6 of the World Series and it takes me a moment to find that strange, seeing as it was on Radio 4 which is not known for sports coverage and furthermore in England where baseball is held in especially low esteem.  Fortunately I had the presence of mind to yank the earphones away from my head before I got any of the details they were about to spill (at the time, I believe, it was the top of the 10th inning just after the Cards tied things up having been down to the last strike). I put myself into baseball exile and avoided emails from friends that would likely follow the Series until Saturday afternoon when, too sick from a sinus infection to go to the Swindon Beer Festival (but not too sick to do some CPP-coding) I fired up the 6th and 7th games (thanks, Pirate Bay) to have my own private double-header running in the background complete with half a crate of beer and some burritos.

Normally, I wouldn’t care about a Series that doesn’t involve Atlanta or a Chicago franchise but the only World Series game I ever attended was St Louis vs Kansas City in Busch Stadium on tickets comped by Augie Busch to liquor store managers in the county; the owners of my store took games four and five hoping to be there when the trophy was raised.  The one I saw was St Louis’ first loss in the Series which they went on to lose in 7; no longer actually working at the liquor store by then, I had moved back to Atlanta to work in a not-quite-reputable business for some, erm, friends who had insisted I take the job a week earlier and drove up (twelve hours each way) to go to this one on the two days off they allowed me the next month.  The Cards seem to be doing better, these days, as am I.

OH YEAH! The Pirate Bay fixed me up proper another time this weekend…Beavis and Butthead are back on the air in the States.  I noticed they don’t have the “don’t try this at home” disclaimer anymore.  Beavis was touched.  Heh. Heh, heh. [I did mention I was sick all weekend, right?]

Share this, mofos:

So it has come to this…1000 posts in less than 3 years (975 days, to be precise).

In that time we have come quite far together:  712 pub stops, 4025 miles running (1740 unique miles in the UK, at that), almost 96000 views of this blog  (averaging about 200/day the last few months after slow beginnings) and tons of ridiculous shit that I should bring me disgrace.  In that same time, I have only managed my way onto one proper publication (with acknowledgements in a few others, although another paper from the Cambridge work is almost finished) and one patent, and for that meager output I truly am ashamed; but, my big bag of guilt still has a bit of spandex left and, besides, I left plenty of tired, old impropriety across the Atlantic to make room for new experiences so let’s keep piling it in.

One of my favourite pub experiences was early on at the Chequers in Cottenham which I hope has reopened since we left the area. I have some favourite pubs in various places but no one favourite nationwide yet.  The map, linked here and over to the left of the page gives you the names of pubs reviewed or otherwise used as a template for my blather in this document and makes a nearly comprehensive reference for planning a pub crawl in Oxford, Swindon, Cambridge, Ely, Faringdon, Kidlington and Bicester; many other areas are covered less extensively but it should continue to grow over the coming years.

Pub count by date...summer surge came late this year

Here are some of my favourite posts out of that ridiculous collection, if you are at all interested or just bored:

Picking on the deceased, especially one’s betters, is always worthy: Arthur Stanley Eddington plaque.    Other times, the sciences offer jobs that are hard to resist (but the job has been filled and removed from the HR site since then).  Never sure if it was an attractant or repellent, and still don’t understand what the dog had to do with it (unless it was a Cocker).

Many articles about running as tourism have been posted, but some are better than others.  Place names tend to be the best for humour…like these here.  Or this one. We actually drove about 10 miles out of our way one weekend trip for this hamlet, but the signs have been stolen so often they stopped putting them up.  Claims to never having paid for it aside, this was a nice if mistaken sight.  Deep in Cambridgeshire you find some good place names, and they seem to treat strangers well on Hills Road Cambridge.  Our first trip to Wales resulted in disappointment with this highway’s promise.

The daily Haiku was a feature early on, before I realised just how many pubs were going to be reviewed.  The best ones happened spontaneously like this one on a trip to London.

As I write this I am suffering stigmata…okay, I accidentally stabbed myself in the palm with a screwdriver this morning.  Still, religion figures into the blog from time-to-time as it did about the ex-masturbators and the fisting-for-Jesus folks.  In Italy, it is hard to escape the influence of the Church and so we gave into its temptations.

An eternal Dylan fan and no stranger to public nudity and substance abuse, I felt kinship with these guys.  Other times the news is just ironic on its own.  Romance is alive and well in Ireland, as this guy proves.

With luck running will continue and I’ll cover many more miles of virgin territory and review loads of worthy races (although my feelings have not changed for the ‘Finisher’s Medal’).  Barely 1/10 of 1% into the stock of pubs to visit, I should be able to maintain this pace of coverage for awhile, as well.  Best, to all, and here’s to 1000 more of this nonsense.