Is it me showing my age, or should a bloke who comes into a swimming pool/sauna area in a leisure centre really have left his baseball cap in the changing rooms?? I thought it was odd enough wearing it poolside, but his missis had to stop him walking into the sauna with it on.

My early-retirement project, Watsons Brewery, is coming to a close, with my final beer, Omega, a 6.7% dark mild, just racked. The brewkit (100l kettle 100l HLT 80l tun) is on ebay, and I've bought my proper retirement 20L brew kettle for my future much smaller scale home brewing. 1/2

ColU v West Ham U21 Vertu Cup. ColU 10 changes from last league game, basically playing their second stringers and some u21s. Main stand shut due to small crowd so good advertising for Jobserve. They're the premier Essex jobbie servers.

I've got a pair of tickets for Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes Thursday afternoon matinee day after tomo. Going for a song to bsky buddies.

I haven't been regaling youze lot of late with my reading matter. Having read a couple of @ianrankin1.bsky.social Rebii novels (is that the plural?) and a couple of William Boyd novels, I've just read the Whitbread Book Award winning 'Music & Silence' by Rose Tremain which was quite something.

Rather pleased with this untappd review of my 'Dark Distractions of the Night' ....

Colchester United #colu v Gillingham on the telly box. Winner goes into a playoff spot. Gills have 1000 travelling fans, and the Gills are keeping the in form ColU in check, and bossing it at the minute.

Ruby the Rescue Dog is wanting to go for a walk. I'm taking 5mins from brewing for a teabreak, so Mrs Watsons Brewery is going to take her out for a long walk. If I wasn't brewing I'd be grabbing a few zzzzzzzs.

The swanky new CD player has reinvigorated my CD buying, and have just filled in one of the few gaps in my @elizacarthy.bsky.social collection. In other music news, miffed to find out only after it's sold out, is a PIL gig at Cambridge Junction next month.

I reckon Wednesday for brewday this week. A XXX impy dark mild, seeing as you ask. It's going to be called 'Omega'...

Replaced our venerable CD player with this beaut which does cd, DAB, fm, Internet radio, Bluetooth and more and gives 100W of what I like to call Wellie. And a nice match for the bookshelves.

Son #1 has just returned from DragonCon in That London, and has a prezzie for me: a new hardback of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. And signed by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone!

Back from another inlaw funeral. It was weddings in the 80s and 90s, funerals in the last 10 yrs. Crematorium at Bowers Gifford then the ride onto Canvey Island on the road festooned with union jacks. TBH if you showed asylum seekers around Canvey, they'd probably ask to be repatriated.

Ruby waiting with me for English soccerball commentary on the wireless. #colchester United on a good run at the moment, and fielding a player who recently played for the England u20 team.

Change of plans viz the next three beers, which were going to be called Chi, Psi and Omega. The scholars amongst you might infer something from those names. The next beer is in fact going to be called 'The Dark Distractions of the Night'.

This is the next beer off the production line. 'Chi' will be followed by 'Psi' and then 'Omega'.

And only one ball, obvs.

Exciting stuff, on a new train, newly public ownership train Co, and stopped at a brand new train station viz Beaulieu Park, north of Chelmsford.

Phoned up the Hyundai dealer's service desk and was told 6 in line and press 1 to get a call back. I did this, then decided as it was only a 10min drive, I'd drive there. I drove there, several staff members there at desks, not working esp hard, only one on a call. Discussed my issue. Drove home....

Another disappointing #colu loss today, but I can handle it, 5 decades of supporting #hartlepool and #colchester you get used to it. Mind you, I do enjoy Neil Kelly's commentary on the wireless, regardless of the result.

I got another buff government letter today. I thought it was yet another HMRC beer duty missive. But it was from DWP asking me if I would like to take my state pension..... hmmm, let me think about that.... #fckyeah

This photo was taken in 1992, my dear old dad with son #1. It's been one of my favourite photos, but I'm now older than my dad was in this photo and that freaks me out.

The latest in my long running HMRC beer duty palaver. Last week they finally sorted all the issues out and I've been able to get in to the new system and made several outstanding returns. After submitting it said that I'd be due to pay interest due to late submission - we'll frickin see about that!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article.... George Cross, surely?

Hmmm, looks like BlueSky is not posting my recent posts regaling you with my thoughts on the ColU game today...

Small pleasures in life #648 : o2 telling me they were hiking their prices, me being out of contract and transferring to another provider and saving myself a fiver a month.

My brother is house and dog/rabbit-sitting for his daughter and her partner. The rabbit is called Shearer (they live in the north east). However, it's a house rabbit and spends most of it's time in a box. I told him if it spends most of it's time in the box it should be called Lineker, not Shearer.

Cheeses H Christus. I've just checked the trains for the planned visit up north for a family party on Sat and found out that Sat/Sun there is a 2hr!!!! rail replacement bus service between Darlington and Doncaster. I don't fcking think so. So it will be a car journey early next year instead.

Back from the GP surgery. I went in for the second shingles jab, and availed myself of a BOGOF offer : a pneumococcal jab. I declined the offered flu jab as I didn't fancy a triple whammy. Plus the flu jab is already booked for next week.

The wife is sorting out her old photos and has just sent across this which must be ten yrs old, recently departed Ringo in his prime behind me. His ashes are in an urn at arms length at the minute.

Hmmm as Ruby is having crate rest following her planned surgery, according to She Who Must Be Obeyed now is apparently 'a good time to emulsion the front lobby walls....' For me the phrase 'a good time to' and the word 'emulsion' should never appear in the same sentence.

Well the vets gave us lots of detail about what to expect post op, but having to open the window due to Ruby's odious fruity fluff fluffs wasn't one of them.

Well, this has cheered me up and no mistake, a good bye election result yesterday from our previous, and now next door ward. 800 Labour, 657 LibDem, 600 Reform, 401 Green, 200 Cons. By my reckoning 1857 on the left, 800 right wing and far right, so there is hope.

Well we paid the adoption fee, so rescue dog Ruby is now ours. Yesterday she had her second op in 3 months, removing the tumerous mammary strips on the other side of her tum. She had a good nights sleep and a tiny bit of brekkie and meds.

Is there an Observer Book of HMRC Staff? I think I've almost collected the lot. Latest is Di, who is passing me on to the Alcohol Duty Reform Development Team for investigation. Months of palaver for my £15 a month duty payment, although I took 4 months off in the summer, so £0 for those months.

You couldn't make this up. Having put in a ticket for my issue with the new HMRC Alcohol Duty System, Keith responded to the ticket yesterday about 3pm to take the ticket forward, asking me to supply more info. At 5pm Albany got in touch to take the ticket forward, asking me to supply more info...

After chasing HMRC for several months, they finally resolved whatever issues there were on the new beer duty system and I was able to make my Beer Duty return for February 2025, my first outstanding month. Huzzah! Now I'm chasing them as when I log in, I'm told I don't have any more returns due...

Lazy afternoon listening to the #ColU commentary on Radio Essex. Good stuff. Mind you, only +34 more bums on seats after scoring six in the last home game, and having 3 wins on the bounce. I didn't know that Harrogate Town FC nickname was 'The Sulphurites'. #colchester

Delivered casks of the latest beer to The Victoria Inn in Colchester and Ye Old Albion in Rowhedge, two pubs which have been appearing in the Good Beer Guide for yonks. And in other good news HMRC finally sorted out the issue preventing me paying my beer duty. So Rachel Reeves' problems are sorted.

And in other retro news, today I will be travelling on a publicly owned train for the first time in decades. Hopefully drinking publicly owned water soon...

Back in early 1980 a girl I was friendly with on my course at Leeds Poly pointedly remarked one coffee break that Manhattan was on at the cinema and she wanted to see it but had nobody to go with.. and the anniversary of that first date of ours has been celebrated for 45yrs and counting #dianekeaton

Listening to the Colchester game on the FM radio, and muted on the telly box, with my new bestest mate. 1-1 and sunny in the northern fishing port where the game is being played.

Bit nostalgic for the days when a bulb going meant me popping up some ladders with a new bulb. Not having to call in an electrician. But the electrician has got a young female apprentice sparky with him, which is a better sign of the changing times in which we live.

After watching ColU 6v2 Chesterfield yday, today I are mostly at Tottingham's White Hart Lane for some oblate spheroid action. Level 5 bar 'The Dispensary'. I won't mention the price of a pint of Neck Oil....

The Marlborough Arms in Dedham highlighting it's offer...

My pick from this month's Brewer selections was Cloudwater. Huzzah!

I can't find it now, but I loved the mention on bluesky recently that kids in essex are now teasing their classmates with : "your dad shouts at hotels"

As we've just taken on a rescue dog, our planned late night trip alls the way up to That London to see Johnny Flynn and Lillie Flynn isn't going to happen, so we have 2x seats for the gig going at the normal price.

f*ck a duck, that Russian Eurovision Song Contest alternative went well

After 6 dogless weeks I now have another best bud. Ruby is a rescue, about 10yrs old, abandoned after being used for breeding. She is lovely.