Friday 1st February 2019

We have made it to the second month of the year, and the first Friday in February marks the start of the winter ale festival here in Dover. So, guess where I was going later?

The heavy snow forecasted for the night failed to arrive, and at some point it turned to rain, so by first light it was hammering down, that and the warmer temperatures meant that what was left of the snow was melting.

I make a coffee and sit down to watch the first half of MOTD on the i player, it seemed a bit odd watching games nearly two days out of date, if not three, but football!

Come eight, it was time for work, and it is time to tackle the nightmare that is travel expenses. Its all well and good having a company credit card, but it does mean having to account for all that you spend. Was that extra beer really necessary?

Yes.

I have to scan receipts and then allocate them to a report which contains the credit card transactions. But to do this meant finding the right drivers to download onto the new computer to make the printer work.

And I have to make sure the right scanned receipts gets attached to the right reports. But once that is done I can get on with the work for the day, and the good news is that by midday I am all caught up and done a real good week's worse. Just in time for a week long road trip for work meaning in a week's time there will be a huge backlog of mails.

But that is for next week.

I order a taxi for quarter past twelve, so it turns up at then to instead. Oh well.

So he takes me into town, dropping me off near to the Police station, leaving me with a short walk to the town hall steps. I am hungry and know food is essential otherwise I will be a mess by two, so I go to Greggs for a sausage roll and Philly steak pie.

Then back to the steps where I am third in line, and have 45 minutes to wait for opening time. Time drags, but more people join the line, but the queue quickly is out of view down Biggin Street.

At five to, the doors open and I sweep in, buy a glass and some tokens. I look at the list and have a half of IPA to start.

The plan was to alternate between IPAs and porters, so all the flavours don't mix into one.

One of the fun things about beer festivals is the names of the special editions. Here are the ones I tried:

Black Taxi to the Moon.
Black Prince Rum Porter
Host's Ale
Bullion Bomb
Xmas Pudding
Dominator
From an Antique Land
High Tea
and Plumb Porter Grand Reserve.

All good, Plumb Porter from the darks is always great but the grand reserve is stunning, and High Tea was an interesting IPA that contained actual tea.

Jools collected me just after three. I drained the last of another porter and walked out tot he car park at the back, and she drove me home. The safest way.

Back home I watch the rest of the footy before going to bed for a lay down. We were roused by the phone going,with our friend, Tony, from NZ calling.

We have cheese and crackers for dinner, before settling down to watch Winterwatch on TV before bed called.

Phew.

The weekend!