I’d accumulated a fair bit of unused leave from last year, so I was kept being given various odd days off from work. As a result, I managed a few barely planned away days, including:

• A mistimed visit to Newark: we were intending to go to the Triangle Beer Festival, but got there a week early.
• Wakefield: where we managed to get into the Red Shed.
• London: where Verdant were having a tap takeover at the Shirker’s Rest, so of course I got my fill of Putty.
• Doncaster: where a day of easy drinking began with a 17% abv American stout and an 11% Italian stout.
  • Whilst I successfully made it back and was fairly fine in the morning, Rich was less so given the text I received from him the following morning where he had fallen asleep on the bus and then had to walk across Leeds to get home.
• Skegness: where I wouldn’t ordinarily choose to go, but needs must for a stag do.
  • There was no cask at Butlin’s, as was to be expected, but they had bottles of Doom Bar available. Some bars also had it on keg – abomination! Needless to say, a lot of lager was consumed.
  • Considering the captive market, the beer pricing was not as excessive as I may have expected

I somehow managed to corrupt the memory card in the camera, so I annoying lost a batch of pictures that I hadn’t got around to copying onto the computer. I don’t think there were any of great importance, so I’ll just carry on as usual.