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Bacchus Ale Festival 2009

Andrew — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:11:12 +0000

Last weekend I attended Tim and Johnny’s Bacchus Ale Festival 2009. I think the best way of describing this is as a “micro beer festival”, as in a beer festival that’s micro — 20 attendees — as opposed to a festival of micro beers.

All in all I thought it went very well. I had a brief chat with Tim about it at the Wokingham May Fayre yesterday. He said he found it very hectic, with very little time to enjoy the event. That sounds similar to experiences I’ve had hosting large family get-togethers, where you spend the whole time worrying about all your guests and no time enjoying the occassion itself. As a festival goer rather than organiser, though, I thought it was great.

I thought I’d use my internet pulpit to make a couple of suggestions. Firstly, a simplified first-past-the-post voting scheme would reduce the paperwork and headaches, especially around the 15th beer when it all gets a bit hazy. Secondly, I was wondering about reducing the number of beers somehow as the schedule was pretty punishing — 19 beers to try in 5 hours! Tim was suggesting that perhaps letting people sample the beers in any order. I’m not sure, perhaps. Everyone trying each beer simultaneously certainly prompted a lot of conversation!

Anyway, those were small criticisms. I hope the Bacchus Ale Festival returns in years to come. You can see some of the pictures I took on Flickr, although you’ll have to be logged in and set up as my friend to see all those featuring real people… unless you badger me and I send you a guest pass.

Postponemental

Andrew — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:04:44 +0000

So I didn’t go for a run this morning and I’ve not uploaded any photos for your delectation. The former was due to a disturbed night’s sleep. The latter is due to a surprising number of acceptable photos that I want to tweak a bit first. Stay tuned.

(Seven posts in seven days — mission accomplished, yay!)

A blinking cursor

Andrew — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:04:53 +0000

James and Ruth’s wedding yesterday was superb. The best day in August, beautiful Oxfordshire countryside and a chance to catch up with lots of people I haven’t see in ages. I took enough pictures to flatten the battery on my camera and some of them even looked okay. I’m going to upload the best to Flickr — I’ve used Picasa Web in the past but I feel I shouldn’t put all my eggs in a Google shaped basket, so this is a good reason to try something new.

I was going to upload the said pictures tonight but after staying up until 1.30am — and amazingly avoiding a hangover this morning — I’m just too wiped out; vegging out in front of a repeat of Top Gear is about all I can be bothered with. That 6am run tomorrow morning is looking mightily uninviting right now. And so to bed…

When the rain starts to fall

Andrew — Thu, 03 May 2007 20:46:48 +0000

Tim, you’re absolutely right and you don’t need to live in a foreign country to feel “the drift”. Moving out of the area or having children seems sufficient to reduce contact with your friends tenfold. It’s this feeling that made me start blogging and I suspect it’s the same with you.

When we met up at the pub I felt exactly as you described. Half the people there I hadn’t seen in 2007 but the instant rapport left me feeling almost elated. Or perhaps that was all the beer I was drinking. Anyway… whatever… good times!

I can’t believe it’s been four years since your wedding! In a blog-worthy tribute (and to follow up my previous post about photo sharing) I bring you a dozen photos of the day in question. Congratulations!