Monthly Recap June 2023

The totals for the month: 90 miles running, 10 pubs, 3 kebabs, 3 fish and chips, 2 short reviews. The mileage is low but I’ve started using TrigPointing as a way to add new interest to the runs (for me, at least … posts will start appearing in due course and a new map to cover this is here).

Started using a topical medicine that induces an immune response so my body attacks some BCC lesions on my arm; this results in aches and fever, a bit more sensitivity to the sun, and foggy headedness so that I’m not sure if I’m actually sick or just experiencing the chemo side effects. Pharmacokinetics and past experience suggest it will become worse until about 2 weeks after the last doses (progress report to follow) then taper back to normal over the subsequent 4 weeks. The last time (8 years ago) I was in the midst of training for the Ridgeway Challenge and doing a little more than 50 miles per week in the hills, so I just need to ignore it (and test regularly for COVID).

Here’s the cartoon of the month (not necessarily a monthly feature):

Names important to me in my youth and adolescence are now cut into tombstones. Farewell Astrud Gilberto, Daniel Elsburg, Robert Gottlieb, and Ted Kaczinski (who I know is a controversial choice especially in my line of work, but he was right even if his methods were ill advised). Additionally, Yossarian (the movie one) died the last day of the month. Rot in hell Pat Robertson.

Spotted in the Aldi…disgusting:

Some of the grafitti in this Monthly Update is from Chapel Ash Island near the WNW corner of central Wolverhampton.

A pretty good gallery relatively unmarred by the brainless tagging that will inevitably overlayer the bits that require some minimal amount of talent.

This one came from beneath a canal bridge, but at least it is clever and simple:

Had another litre of Keptinis, a Lithuanian beer I pick up at the Polish supermarket down the street. First time I noticed the royal eels sharing flagons of ale using a barrel as a table. Marvelous.

Fairly allergic to bee venom, this little fucker nailed me twice after flying up my shirt then one more time on my hand as I tried to rip the shirt off. Not sure if the neighbours spotted me naked from the waist up jumping up and down on a t-shirt but the spectacle was there for them:

Finally, a tip of the cap to Led By Donkeys for dumping this billboard over in a financially distressed, working class neighbourhood in Tipton that typically votes against its own best interest and which went strong ‘for ‘YES’ in the Brexit Referendum (spotted 14 June across from the Tilted Barrel pub, link live 29 July):

Mr. Doner Romanian, Witton

Wow. This was the best kebab I’ve had in years (and I’ve been doing generally pretty well this year). Take a detailed look…actual slices lamb, not minced, on the elephant leg here. Incredibly fresh veg. And, a spectacular homemade chilli sauce.

While I was in there the lunch crowd appeared and eventually it was hard to make it out the door. They don’t need your business at Mr Doner Romanian but you DEFINITELY want to give it to them.

That’s MISTER Doner Romanian, to you.

The Bull’s Head, Manchester

Pub #2589:

Train was at 6 but we were finished with Manchester for the day at 5. “Beverage?” I asked the missus although I knew the answer.

Fantastic, station-side boozer, the Bull’s Head is. A lot of 60s Motown on the tannoy so we were serenaded by Smoky Robinson, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, and the like. Nice selection of beers. Reasonable prices. By the time we drank up there were two tables of lunatics (or, possibly three to be fair), some desperate loners, and one guy tripping his ass off. Excellent people watching through the windows and open doorway, too.

The Old Monkey, Manchester

Pub #2585:

This was our first day of annual leave in almost two years where we had no household refurb to do and the shopping was only for us…not work clothes or the house. In a matter of hours we had exhausted ourselves and as Jackie settled into the hotel I headed out for a bottle of bourbon.

But, the Old Monkey caught my attention on the way to the little Tesco and I popped in for a quick look around. A Holt Brewery house, it is very well appointed and, on this trip, sadly empty. It was probably lively later but we were asleep by 10pm.

Wetherspoons, Manchester

Pub #2584:

We’re both old but our kidneys seem to have aged even more than the two of us. We curtailed our shopping trip in search of a toilet. Wetherspoons always seems to win ‘Best British Loo’ so we ducked into the one we spotted by Piccadilly Gardens. Jackie hurried along to hers while I asked the bartender where mine was (while she pulled my beer).

Crowded, midday. Good to see.

The Prince Albert, West Bromwich

Pub #2583:

Everyone in the Prince Albert was eating burgers and big plates of chips. Some were drinking but it didn’t seem very social so I slipped out back. Always in the market for a metaphor I was pleased to find the deflated bouncy castle in the garden.

In the meantime, the narrow area by the bar had filled with a group of rowdy drinkers but, alas, I was on my way by then.