9: Blackpool, London, The World

I've been on 12 different trains this week, which is unreasonable given that I moved to the countryside to become a hermit.Last weekend we went to Blackpool for a piss-up, something I absolutely love doing and have written about before, and my intentions were good. We had a few good pubs in mind. I had a budget to stick to. Of course I spent most of the afternoon on North Pier drinking Guinness and black, shrieking with laughter at the haunted organ music and falling out of my deckchair.Changing tone entirely, on Monday I headed down to London to judge at GBBF and the World Beer Awards. I love judging, I know some people find it a bit of a chore to think deeply and analytically about the beer you're drinking, but I think it's great to get everyone debating about what they're tasting and smelling. I'm still learning too, and you must all know how much I like learning by now. It's like, my thing.At GBBF I was really proud to be one of the judges of the Champion Beer of Britain (or the "see-bob" as I was thrilled to find out was the accepted pronunciation of the acronym.)Afterwards, I spent the afternoon mooching around the festival. I am not one to do things by myself, but I felt totally relaxed and chill in the festival's environment, and when I did bump into people I knew, it was a happy surprise rather than a relief.I think that says a lot about the festival itself. I felt safe and welcome, which I know isn't that much of a big deal for someone like me to say, but I hate feeling awkward, it makes me panic. I just go home. Instead of feeling like a spare part, I lounged around drifting here and there, drinking good beer, taking some pics and having a laugh.  That can't be a happy accident, given the work that went into improving GBBF in almost every way this year and the steps taken to make everyone feel welcome. In fact, the only time I felt uncomfortable is when photographers kept popping up everywhere to take photos of girls with beers. The CAMRA people at least asked first. Just saying, journos.The beer was great too -- on the whole. I dunno why I always insist on getting a standard pale ale with a ridiculous name every single festival I go to. It never works out well for me.Other Stuff

• Matt wrote about arguably the best beer in the world and it was probably the most soothing read I read all week.

• This is a really engaging "How to" on visiting Munich, that hits on all the big stuff and makes it sound, above all else, FUN.

• A reading of Rise from Ulverton. It's a tall tale set in 1803, loose and meandering because it's in the pub, and they moan about the beer too.

• The energy in this piece about Broaden & Build is totally infectious. Beautiful photography too.

• There is a nice wee article by Steve Lamacq in CAMRA's Beer magazine (no link, sorry) about the pub being his office -- although reports I've had prior to this say he's more of a rum and coke fan. More as this story breaks.

• I really liked this restaurant review. It made me lol.

• Pleasingly perfect mountainscapes made from tinfoil by Yuji Hamada. (Click on "Primal Mountain")

My Stuff

• I wrote about the TT Races for Ferment magazine because for me, it's as much to do with beer as it is bikes. 

From "Primal Mountain" by Yuji Hamada