The Glass Works - London, Islington

Visited 25th October 2011.

As it turned out it was only a short walk to 'The Glass Works' and we even got to see a little entertainment en route. Our second pub of the day turned out to be a very modern affair and was very busy with quite a few people eating. We settled for a pint of Abbot and a Heineken while waiting for the third member of our little group to arrive (we had already  warned him about the Angel escalator). By the time he arrived we were ready to set off for our third pub so he decided to start with a double Buffalo and Pepsi so as not to delay us...


© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The Angel - London, Islington

Visited 25th October 2011.

As I am currently between jobs it seemed like an ideal opportunity to spend a couple of days visiting a few 'spoons. A couple of friends had a little spare time and also enjoy a beer so once again I'm off to London. It was quite frustrating that I had knowingly passed two 'spoons on the way to the 'Waggy Walk' a couple of weeks ago without being able to stop. Time to rectify that. I met up with one of my friends at Paddington and from there we set off to Angel tube station. When we arrived we found that one of the up escalators wasn't working and the the second was very congested. "Let's walk up the broken one", said my friend. I set off after her and was already about twenty steps up it before I happened to look up and see an escalator that seemed to go on forever. I had recently watched 'A Matter of Life and Death' and was immediately reminded of the escalator to the other world, which coincidentally is where I thought I might end up if I carried on climbing. Of course it would be far to embarrassing to turn round and go down again... I've just looked it up on Wikipedia, "Angel has the third longest escalators in Western Europe". Fortunately 'The Angel' is almost right outside the tube entrance and so it with burning knees and a heart beating like a humming bird that I entered and immediately collapsed into a very inviting looking chair. It was several minutes before I felt able to approach the bar where a very attractive lady with a great sense of fashion complemented me on my T-shirt before serving me with a pint of 'Naked Gold' and a pint of Heineken for my friend. It took a while but eventually we had recovered enough to set off for the next pub, which our friendly barmaid had promised was only a very short walk away.

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The White Swan - London, Islington

 

Visited 2nd October 2011.

It's that time of year again. Time for a Waggy Walk. The venue has changed to Highbury Fields, North London this year so we have a completely different choice of pubs to visit. Our friend with the dog lives in Hammersmith, us with the car, don't. So we are up early, SatNav lady is geared up to do her job and we set off with plenty of time in hand. As usual, things don't quite go to plan and by the time we have collected our passengers we make it to the walk site with only a few minutes to spare. As it turns out the walk doesn't start on time so our breathless march from the wrong end of the north field to the right end of the south field was completely unnecessary! Unlike last year, this year we had hot, sunny weather so it was with some relief when we completed the walk and were able to tack on the final few hundred metres to the pub. The pub was very busy but I was served quickly and took the drinks outside (assistance dogs only). It was a bit to hot to stand outside so we quickly finished our drinks and after I had made a quick visit to the loo (nice goldfish bowl style sinks) we were on our way back through the park to the car. After dropping our guests back in Hammersmith we head for home. Hmm, Mrs S. wants a dog... Whatever will our cats say?

One again, for anyone interested you can find out more information regarding Waggy Walks at http://www.waggywalks.org.uk/ 

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.