Off to Huddersfield today, to see Son No 2. It was his birthday earlier this week (when I was busy Skipping) and although I'd got his present to him directly, via the miracle of Amazon, I thought I ought to go and show my face and buy him lunch. Oh, and he needed a hand getting rid of an old telly. If only he knew someone with a skip to fill...
After a spray-soaked drive over the Pennines, it was thankfully dry in Huddersfield. We loaded the telly up (an old one of ours that was big and heavy) and carted it off to the local recycling yard. Despite many warnings about trying to dump stuff without a resident's permit, no-one demanded to see our credentials so we stuck the telly in the 'telly and monitor' container and went about our business.
And our business was to partake of beer and burger in The Parish, Matt's watering hole of choice. I think I've blogged about The Parish previously - but it's a nice friendly boozer that does good food and puts bands on from time to time. The chilli burger comes highly recommended - even this big boi had to admit defeat.
Apparently Matt was in there on his birthday and they gave him a free drink - a B-52, no less. I can't remember the exact constituents but there are many and they are highly alcoholic. I have had my own run-in with the B-52 'cocktail' myself.
*cue wavy lines and retro music*....
Back in the day, I had a job that involved a lot of international travel. On one occasion I was in Toronto with the local finance director and a group of investment bankers at the time a 'deal' was being discussed. The FD took us all out to a local bar and, as the evening wore on, he decided we ought to be 'on the B-52s'. The barman duly lined up round after round, which we poured down our throats. Until four in the morning. Which would have been fine, except we had a Board Meeting to attend the following morning. Moreover, the bankers were on an early flight back to the US the following day. I managed to crawl out of my pit having had about three hours sleep to sit quietly at the back of the Board Meeting, which passed without incident. Sadly the bankers were not so lucky. Short of time, they had to dash back to their hotel, pack and leave pretty much immediately. Inevitably, they were still completely pissed when they tried to check in. The airport staff were not particularly impressed apparently, and when one of the bankers tried to play the Big I Am, he apparently got carted off to a little room for the 'rubber glove' treatment. Flights were missed and, I understand, 'deals' were never done.I felt a bit guilty after lunch, as I was then off for a routine eye test. That would involve the optician getting Up Close and Personal with my beer and chilli-infused breath. Poor love. Oh, and it was an excruciating process as well. I had the 'air puffed into eyes' thing that I hate, and the optician was not too impressed by the extent to which I wear my contact lenses. He also seemed to have great difficulty assessing my close-up vision. At one point he left the room to 'consult with his supervisor' - at which point I thought I'd be going home with a white stick rather than some new glasses! Happily it was all something and nothing, and all I need are some new lenses in my old glasses, and a change to my lens prescription.
Brooooce on the soundtrack today, with the box set of offcuts and alternatives called 'Tracks'. Not a set that I play regularly, but perfectly pleasant and acceptable. You do feel there is a reason why these tracks didn't make it onto the official releases though...This is nice though. An early version of 'Born in the USA' (a Nebraska outtake, I think) played acoustically, and without the bombast of the famous version.
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