There's no F in swearing said the sign in the pub for Blackfriars. And it whilst it is right, I think I'd prefer it to be wrong. Because Friday was a strange day.
So, for his 30th Birthday Bob decided to do a Circle Line pub crawl, but with class, by visiting Good Beer Guide pubs*. And for some reason I was invited. And for some crazier reason I accepted the invitation, possibly because it's not something I've ever done before. So we met at 10am at the Fresh Pizza Co. in Victoria Station for "infinite bacon" (i.e. an all you can eat breakfast buffet) and by 11am we were clawing at the door of the first pub, the Cask and Glass, for our first drink, in this case "Late Red" by Shepherd Neame. 15 minutes later we were in the Buckingham Arms, where we rapidly discovered that allowing people to have different bitters was not a good plan, as it caused confusion and dithering.
And so the day progressed. Kake and Bob took photos. In the Ship and Shovell Bob decided to add a touch of satire to my t-shirt, which stayed on it for the rest of the day. Apparently I was a bad thing for buying a round of the Grand Union Honey Porter at Baker Street, but it was by far the nicest looking thing on offer. But despite my attempt at sabotage, by 11pm we completed our circuit at the Duke of Wellington. I've done it now. I don't feel any great desire to do it again. At least not soon.
* Where possible. However, Great Portland Street and Gloucester Road proved too much. For the former, Adam's itinerary said http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/21/2181/Smugglers_Tavern/Warren_Street ( *** Not GBG - It's a desert around there - SUGGESTIONS WELCOME *** )
