Clik here to view.
Albion: the first days of July
From behind the tree line, a red kite ascends with the heat. Its blazing orange wings and tail twist to knead the thermals’ contours. It hangs in slow motion above the canopy and then, in silence,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Keighley to St Albans
Dark Mild & Ram Tam in Hertfordshire Keighley and St Albans are roughly 190 miles apart. The former’s in West Yorkshire, the latter’s in South Hertfordshire. Timothy Taylor’s Landlord is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Albion august
August azure The pores of your skin dilate from the lurid heat. The way the light in the evening sends people’s shadows spilling across the ground, you’d expect to see a mushroom cloud on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The humble shoehorn
The post I had envisaged writing has been ruined by research. This often happens. I was planning to chart the change in cask ale at a CAMRA beer festival over the last five years. I suspected – and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
the trials of an inbetweener
Today I turn 39 and it was almost a year ago I wrote “Caught between the Revolt and the Revolution” where I talked of being too young to remember CAMRA’s inception but too old to be “down” or possibly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Herts and Souls: abroad in Hertfordshire
Watford has provoked fear in me for some time because I’ve usually driven in and its road system was designed by Hieronymus Bosch. Circling the town centre, you build momentum through centrifugal force...
View ArticleClik here to view.
should you help save pubs you don’t know?
A few days ago, I got a message in my inbox. Here is an edited version (SADC stands for St Albans District Council): URGENT – WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT! “to all our members in St Albans and Harpenden (….)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
the Six Bells, St Albans
Going into night shifts is a brutal process but a staple of my life. It starts with enforced narcolepsy as you bludgeon your circadian rhythm into submission. Only four shifts in a row means you don’t...
View ArticleClik here to view.
the reluctant pub-goer
In Verulamium Park I lie in the shadows of lime and sycamore with my T-shirt flung aside. It’s baking. The atmosphere out in the open is like spending summer inside a tent. My chin doubles up as I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
the churchyard sapling
There is a crabapple sapling in the grounds of St Albans cathedral that succeeds in stealing the limelight from its giant larch and beech neighbours. I don’t know when it was planted, but it’s still...
View ArticleClik here to view.
a short beer history of St Albans
On a Wednesday and Saturday, the outdoor stalls of St Albans’ market fill the city’s main artery. The colours of St Alban – blue and yellow – adorn the canvas marquees and can be seen stretching up St...
View Article
