I don’t actually have a bucket list, but if I did a Ken Dodd show would be on it. Reports of Springsteen-length gigs ending at 1am abound, but where Bruce plays the stadiums,you can still see Ken at the Skegness Embassy. It is possible that my first record was the famed Diddymen EP in… Continue reading A DIDDY PUB FOR SIR KEN

The drive back from Southern Poland to Calais is 14 hours of motorway punctuated by nine McDonalds across five countries. Even on mainly German roads that’s not healthy in a day, so we stopped at another place we’d hardly ever heard of before, halfway between the honeypots of Leipzig and, er, Dortmund. Kassel is, I… Continue reading CIGARETTE SHARING, JAYWALKING KASSEL

I’m up in Stockport tomorrow for City’s New Year’s Day match (moved by Sky to the 2nd of course). While there I hope to catch up with two US visitors who I’m sure will be delighted with the reading matter I’ve collected for their return train trip to Euston.  There’s even an Imbiber in that… Continue reading CAMRA NEWSLETTERS

The problem with picking a “best of“ is that immediately afterward you come across one you missed. This from Tandleman really should have been in my Top 10; Like Matthew’s pint in the Hop Inn, I reckon that’s a thing of beauty, particularly as the colours settle in the glass.  Pints only, note. The Tand, among others, has… Continue reading BASS – A RARE FIND

  Today has been a day to test the boredom threshold of the motorway driver, even if Poland and Germany do allow you that rare luxury of legally driving at 90 mph along their A1/A4. Oddly, I seem to be driving again, and Mrs RM clearly sensed the chance of a last cheap Polish IPA… Continue reading A PUBLESS TOWN

  Is that the name of a band ? If not, it should be. I promise this will be my last post from snowy Poland. I’ll be back in Kassel, on the edge of the Ruhr tonight. Any tips welcome. This post is at the special request of Mrs RM, who has become too big… Continue reading MRS RM AT THE POLISH DISCO

I just read that the thing most appreciated by sodden UK blog readers is reports from exclusive European Ski resorts. Happy to oblige. Actually, there is some footage of my first and last ski lesson, taken by a 15 year old who will never reach 16 if it sees the light of day on his his Instagram.… Continue reading POLISH BOTTLED BEERS, SKIING TEARS