Update from Toad Wood

[randy_byers]

I'm at gerisullivan's house in Massachusetts for the night. Tomorrow we head for Toronto and SFContario.

I'm having a blast so far. The trip to Belgium with reverendjim and pingopark was epic. Probably the peak was the visit to the Cantillon Brewery in Brussels where after the tour (which was very cool in itself) we timed things right and ordered the right kind of beer to convince the brewer to bring out a bottle of the 2008 Lou Pepe Kriek to give us a taste and chat for a bit about the cherries they use. Novacon was a terrific chance to meet many friends, and it's hard to pick out a prime detail. Perhaps the highlight was the elitist pub crawl that Mike and Pat Meara led on Saturday, with Christina Lake, Doug Bell, Lennart Uhlin, and Rob Jackson in tow, along with myself. We hit four pubs, including two that claimed to be the oldest pub in England. The Trip to Jerusalem is one -- a maze of rooms and passageways and chimneys dug into the side of a hill.

Back in Croydon, I took a daytrip to the pebble beach of Brighton with the Fishlifters on Tuesday, then a production of Cardenio in the evening -- a reconstruction of a play that was attributed to Shakespeare and Middleton. It's a tender, loving revenge tragedy featuring necrophiliac rape and a pile of corpses -- but a distinct lack of boiled heads, as Claire pointed out.

Well, I need to hit the sack before the road trip tomorrow. Geri has hatched mad plans for an All Worldcon, All the Time party at SFContario. We are trying to figure out how we will fit all the supplies into the car. Tomorrow is another adventure!

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update! Sounds like too much fun. ;>

[dlacey.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to seeing both of you,

[alces2.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a most excellent adventure. The Trip to Jerusalem pub (that's an interesting name) sounds fascinating. I'd love to see that one.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

One of the interesting things about both the ancient pubs is that they were both filled with old school punks. As in, punks with mohawks.

[kim-huett.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to read about you pub crawling in Nottingham. I didn't realise Novacon was held that close to Nottingham. I've only been to the Salutation myself. Is this the other pub you were referring to?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

We walked to the pubs from the convention hotel, but we took a cab back because it was uphill from where we ended up. And yes, the Salutation was the other old one we went to. reverendjim says there's a third pub in Nottingham that claims to be the oldest pub in England, but we didn't go and I can't remember the name. Rob Jackson says there's a pub in another town (maybe Colchester, but I don't remember) that claims to be the oldest and gives a date in the ten hundreds. The Trip to Jerusalem gives a date in the eleven hundreds, and I think the Salutation gives one in the twelve hundreds. Part of the argument is apparently about the type of establishment each was over the years.

[reverendjim.livejournal.com]

The third Nottingham pub is The Bell, just off the market square. If I remember they don't actually claim to be as old as some of the others but reckon they actually have proof, whereas there's a lot of guesswork or wishful thinking with some.
I prefer the Trip and the Sal though.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

The Trip certainly had a unique atmosphere. On the other hand it was a lot more crowded.

[suaveswede.livejournal.com]

What ? I am ever so anoyed !

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

What happened?