Arghhhhh it’s upon us!! Theres no hiding now! Christmas has well and truly landed, and as you feast (…of Stephen…) your gaze over this mighty fine publication (doesn’t it look shiny and awesome?), the festive season will have invaded homes along with trees, tinsel, relentless adverts, good will (dunno who he is) and glitter, o so much glitter!! Then there’s the music and Michael Buble…don’t even get me started….
However nestled in-between the long hazy days of summer and the impending stress inducing retail Holiday shop was a lovely time of year I particularly like Autumn, with its cosy nights in, pretty fireworks and more importantly Halloween, the only time of year I can say the bags under my eyes are part of my outfit, there’s also the parties and one in particular caught my eye over in‘t Rylands at the Boat and Horses on Trent road, the first special steampunk spook-tacular social event (now say that after an eggnog) to be held on Saturday 27th October.
Having changed hands quite a few times in the last few years, B+H has recently has a sexy new refit widening its appeal with real ales and gins. Being a keen steampunk enthusiast, I headed over, dressed to kill in a basque, long flowing dress and loads of fake blood and of course goggles. ‘Boat had really taken a lot of time decorating every spare space with creepy ornaments, and even hiring a few zombies to terrify bystanders. Set up in the function room was the stalls with all things steampunky from creations, hats, clothing and beautiful handmade goodies. On stage, sir Gregory master of ceremonies and his subordinate lackey Doc Cogs performed tea duelling, for those unfamiliar to the duel, biscuits are chosen and dunked in tea and the winner is those with the unsoggiest erm biscuit, this may seem tame but many a relationships and friendship have been lost in a tea duelling battle…
In the main bar live music from that acoustic punk performer Paul Carbuncle, the always entertaining Pixie Styx, a few of the corndodgers and Subway Circus along with Boats on the ocean taking the music far into the dead of night.
Right before I ramble on even more, there’s an apology due from myself to Berliner from last issue as (eeekk) I did a whooopsie (not quite sure how I’ve morphed into Frank Spencer but Anyhoo) I wrongly stated that their Oktoberfest was Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd September when in fact it was the weekend after!!! My bad as the kids say.
As I ended my last piece with saying I was scuttling off to the beer festival at the Victory club I did as promised and accidentally fell in on the last day, when lo and behold the ales were reduced to an awesome ONE POUND (!!) a pint, quickly a flying visit turned into a mammoth drinking session with the only food consumed being a bag of mini cheddars. The next morning I woke up nursing a hangover and finding myself a fully fledged member of the Victory Club. It set me back £11 for the year, the moral of the story is there is no such thing as a cheap pint. It worked out well in the end as I decided to make use of my membership by checking out heavy rockers V8 when they stopped off at the venues classic rock night which is every third Friday Moshing for two hours to System of a Down and Motorhead covers has helped ease my morning for the Greyhound slightly, what adventures are next? I dread to think. Till next time, enjoy the silly season and whatever you do don’t you open that trapppppdoooorrr!!
LD