Diary 15th To 17th July 2018

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Diary Sunday 15th July 2018 Not much to today apart from job searching and preparing for my Chester trip tomorrow. Diary Monday 16th July 2018 The day of my long awaited trip to the historic town of Chester, in Cheshire. This was principally for a meal laid on by the university to thank all the volunteers who have helped out the social work and medical departments. Though still very warm and humid there were bouts of rain over the day but it never spoilt the events for me. Members with cars drove those of us without from Preston to Chester, a two hour journey. I was taken by Stephanie and as we arrived an hour before the meal, I got to explore the town for a while before eating at the Revolution Bar. Chester has a lot of history, as a Roman fortress town, and a popular Elizabethan market town. It played a prominent role in the English Civil War too. Sites I saw were the Town Hall, the cute statue of a baby elephant (the town has its own zoo nearby) and the famous two tiered shopping area, the Rows, dating to the medieval period. The shops here have a second shopping street of shops above the first one, accessible through little stairways set at intervals around the shopping blocks. I was particularly interested in looking at the town’s pub signs, and after our fabulous meal, we had nearly four hours to explore the town before Stephanie brought myself and Heather, our other passenger home again. I stopped off for drinks in two of the bars, one as a friend recommended it to me, The Old Boot Inn, set away on the upper shopping decks and the cheapest beer I have had in years, but still a very good one. It is the oldest inn in the city. It purposely avoids adding music, TV’s and has a strict no swearing policy too. Other pubs, including The Falcon, claim to be older, but The Boot is undoubtedly the oldest. The other pub I chose was the Brewhouse & Kitchen, which brews its own exclusive ales on site. I stayed here when the rain got too bad for walking around in for a while. I had a pint of their Deva Vitrix, named after the Roman fort, and possibly the hoppiest tasting ale I ever tried, but very nice. They also produce a beer called Orville, in honour of Keith Harris, the puppeteer who wa from Chester (Orville being the best known of his puppets). The most unusual sign I saw was that for The Cross Foxes, depicting two foxes passing by one another. They look like they are dancing a fox-trot together. Folk singer Ralph McTell, famous for his song, The Streets Of London, played here many times before he became famous. The pub is also noted for its bagatelle games, a procurer to pinball. I met up with my friends as planned and Stephanie brought me home, where, after a quick e-mail check, I slept for most of the night. A huge thank you to the UCLAN University team I volunteer with, Steph, for giving me a lift, and Heather, who spotted a postcard highlighting many of the pubs I was looking out for and bought it for me. Also, the staff of Revolution, who catered so well for our group of about 25 to 30 diners. Diary Tuesday 17th June 2018 Still quite exhausted after yesterday’s adventures, with my leg muscles aching from my extensive walkabout. I went to the community centre for their cheap discount random food bags, and spent the remainder of the day job searching. I received an e-mail copy of a pub sign photo from Shrewsbury, taken by an online friend there, the last of the photos I need for my pending book on pub sign that is due out early next year. Arthur Chappell