Pedro had arrived as usual looking very dapper in a blue and white shirt, which became a bit of a talking point.
Digger disappeared into the closet and produced a Shite Shirt of his own, which was donated to Pedro who wore it for the rest of the day.
Diggers 'Up Hanley Duck' day out.
Friday 13th May 2022
It was soon time for a steady walk to Snow Hill where a table was waiting at the Mirchi South Indian Restaurant.
Several of the lads were provided with containers to take home the food they couldn't manage. It seemed like no time at all before the lads were on the car park getting into their taxis, or in Keith's case wandering down the hill to Stoke station.
Notes by Digger
Many thanks for your kind hospitality Digger. Very much apreciated by everyone.
Yuppers
Ten thirsty participants were up for this Friday 13th day out at Digger's Blue Light Bar. The Magnificent Seven arrived bang on time at Digger's place by taxi, having collected Keith, who had waited for his carriage at Stoke railway station. Big Phil and Tardy Turk were let down by their carriage and arrived one pint later.
The weather was kind and the lads were soon deep in conversation whilst Digger slaved (can we use that word?) over a hot pizza stove. Two special draught beers were on offer but Digger forgot to turn on the pumps and they were not quite ready to be pulled. Everyone was eventually provided with a drink apart from Yup, who had to wait until Digger had given the others a guided tour of the BBQ area.
Turk was placed in charge of the bar and was soon panicking when the tap on one of the draught beer pumps wouldn't shut off, Turk and Big Phil were frantically placing glass after glass under the tap until the barrel was empty and the bar covered in glasses full of frothy beer. Bill soon appeared and commenced sampling the Ales, with his head gently brushing against the Blue Light Bar ceiling.
After the pizza had been consumed, Digger produced a bag of beers with their identities concealed and numbered 1 to 10.
The lads were put in teams of two, except for DC who because of his beer experience was voted to go it alone due to the odd number of participants.
The teams were soon busy blind tasting the various beers and were tasked with identifying the aroma and flavours.
Tony and John performed excellently achieving 10 out of 10 correctly with DC coming in second place.
The Pizzas eventually arrived and the lads said they were tasty, although one or two looked like they had arrived from Pompeii because they had burnt bottoms (the pizza that is,not the lads).
It was soon time for a gentle amble down past the Causley brook to the bus stop. DC was using his technology to keep us all informed of the exact location of the number 11 bus as it made its way in our direction. Most of the gang had big smiles as they flashed their free bus passes, whilst the younger members dug deep for their fares, including Yup who had forgotten his senior card. DC was nominated to be the bell ringer and performed the task with precision as we neared the top of Bucknall New Road.
A short stroll to The Woodman where there was a decent selection of Ales. The group of ten sat drinking and chatting, as usual very pleasant conversation was had. We discussed the next venue which was to be Reardons. We all wondered if the ex-policeman was still alive (he was at the time of writing). Digger dropped into the conversation that he was Butlins Hotel, Brighton,snooker champion 1975 (although he omitted that only he and his father-in-law had entered the competition). A conversation took place with Bill admitting he once won a knobbly knees competition and Big Phil started to beat his chest, claiming he won a Tarzan look-alike competition.
On arrival at Reardons several of the boys followed Keith's lead and ordered their drinks in pint jugs. It was a blast from the past holding the glass by the handle in one hand and devouring pork scratchings with the other.
Next stop, Bottle Craft in Picadilly where the lads pondered the selection of beers on offer. Seats were free by the window in the afternoon sunshine. One or two of the participants were now showing slight signs of alcoholic happiness.
