It’s a Blog ! Not a Log !

Was in my opinion the shittest Giant Bradley Day I’ve been to . . .

This year they decided to hold it on the football field and charge everyone £1 to get in, so why was it shit ?, well apart from the 4 food stands, 1 beer tent (not even being run by a Market Weighton Pub), 6-7 tombola stands, a small funfair, the live music and Punch & Judy there was fcuk all else to keep you interested for the 5 – 10 minutes it took you to walk round the field, though we did hear that the birds of prey would be on again this year, but as I say after 5-10 minutes you’d seen everything, so you could either go away and come back later on just sit around twiddling your thumbs until the time came for them to come on.

There was’nt even a Fun Day Dog Show this year, which was a big disappointment for us and a few other dog owners . . .

I think we stayed for about 20 minutes which was more than enough time to see the “Sights” and then we drove back to Manchester, what a wasted journey that was, just thankful my mum still lives in Market Weighton, so at least the 160 mile round trip was’nt a total waste of petrol.

Why they ever decided to take the celebrations off the High St I’ll never know, but if they want it to be a success they really need to be doing a bit more to make the new site of the event a little bit more than a Tombola meet or bring it back to the High St

We won’t be going next year

Decided to take Blue round the Millennium Nature Reserve by the Manchester Ship Canal today and it seems like everyone else and their dog did to, the place was overflowing with every sort of dog breed you could think of (cue people commenting on breed of dog that weren’t there).

After spending about an hour there we headed to PetAtHome to do Blue’s weekly food shop, 12 Cans of dog food and 1 big bag of dry mix, oh and a bag of gravy bones (her favourite snack), also tried on a few of the dog coats to see if they’ve finally got some in that will fit her, but alas again the only one that does is the Del Boy sheep skin coat, which to be honest doesn’t do her justice, so again we left disappointed.

Now just sat at home wondering how to spend the rest of Sunday, thinking maybe catchup on a few episodes of Supernatural or White Collar then listen to a few tunes with a beer . . . , would’nt have minded going out for the day somewhere in the car instead, but money’s a bit tight at the moment so can’t really be wasting money, maybe next weekend, just have to wait and see.

Oh nearly forgot it’s Valentines Day today so suppose I’d best show you the home made card I made for Mel

Its amazing what you can do with post it notes a biro and a mirror

kennys party 071, originally uploaded by BagRat.

Kenny reached the grand old age of 50 last week along with Andy reaching the 40 mark, so they had a joint party to celebrate and used the oppurtunity to get everyone back togeather again.

It was good to see all the faces from the partys togeather again having a laugh and just generally getting on, party kicked off at of all places Stretford Cricket Club, then moved onto Lisa’s flat, where drinks flowed and people talked bollox (mainly due to what they’d had).

We left fairly early on in the morning 5:00am so maybe not so early, but the party carried on after we left, ending only when John, Ben and a few others decided to place most of Lisa food stuffs in the freezer . . . oh and after Ben had emptied a full bag of flour over the sleeping Lisa’s head (not nice Ben).

Gotta say Kenny was looking good for an old man and no doubt has many years left in him, all the best Kenny and Andy

Not had much chance to post as had Paul from Bristol staying for the week . . . he’s been up here on work sorting out some council offices Exchange Server installation, so been out most nights enjoying meals and beer all on his expense account

So far we’ve had a nice Chinese meal at the Pond Quay in Urmston, where the staff complimented me on my chop-stick skills, then there was Corn on the Cob drenched in Welsh butter and followed up by a 7oz Home made Burger at the Horse & Jockey in Chorlton and tonight was Banger and Mash courtesy of Electrik Bar also in Chorlton, we didn’t have to pay for the this one as we went there on Tuesday night and came 2nd in the Quiz night and won the food as a prize (getinnnn !).

It’s been quite a gastronomical journey this week and I can recommend all of the above as good places to eat, especially the Pond Quay, very good Chinese indeed, shall most definitely be visiting there again.

We’ll be sad to see Paul go, well my stomach will anyways . . seriously though its been good to see Paul, don’t get to see him enough to be honest, but when mates live far apart that happens I suppose, just gotta try and make a better effort next year to get down to Bristol more . .

Also must try and get to the Quiz night at Electriks more as well, as we had a real good night down there and hey we came 2nd, so definatly got to go back and try and come 1st  . .

Getting late now so best be saying good night to you all and for anyone who reads this from my hometown of Market Weighton, I might see you at the weekend as popping across hopefully for a 40th . .

Back home after another night of good food, good beer and excellent company at electriks, was only going for a quick 1/2, but ended up getting tea there and spending a warm summer evening chasing the breeze with Sean, Luke and Miles, also met Ged for the first time, nice guy, hopefully chat some more some time with him.

Lukes trip to Croatia seems as though it was time well spent, seems to have started the preperations for electrik elephant in 5 weeks time, just wish we  were going but can’t really afford it and aint got any holidays left to be honest, hopefully be there next year if all goes well.

Miles is definatly winding up to his birthday celebrations on saturday, he’s even managed to get Luke to dj for part of the evening, so looks likes thats gonna turn into a very good night indeed, checked out the chipshop thats opened next door to electriks and can now understand why its always so busy, very big portions indeed, reckon it’s going to be a little goldmine if they keep up the large portions.

Saw Adam and his good lady as they sauntered by and saw one of Chorltons regular fixture “You want DVD” man trying to sell his wares.

Anyway home now so best get meself off to bed for early start at work and the weekend.

Cyas on the other side

Just a quick post to let everyone know that its Chorlton Park Festival today and we;ll be there entering Blue our Cane Corso in the RSPCA Fun Dog Show, so we’re hoping you’ll all be there to offer Blue some support.

Will hopefully post some photos and videos of the day later, details below about the event, its being held at

Chorlton Park
Barlow Moor Road/Mauldeth Road
Manchester M21 7HH

“Dear All,

The RSPCA Manchester and Salford Branch are running a Funday on the 11th of July 2009 – 12-5pm.

There will be:

* Dog shows
* Ethical and charitable stalls
* Rescue dog parade
* Flyball Demos
* Food and refreshments
* Artists and musicians
* Games and rides
* Bouncy castle
* Climbing wall
* Football tournament
* Other Sports

If any charities, community groups and ethical traders would like a stall at the festival:
info only is free
charity/community stall £10
trader/business £25

Please email for booking forms or call 0161 882 0680.

ALSO DOG MOT’S:

We will have vets doing free health checks for dogs. Fleaing, worming and microchipping can be purchased for just £1 each! Brilliant money saver!”

View outside the Horse and Jockey

Spent an enjoyable couple of hours sat outside the refurbished Horse and Jockey Pub in Chorlton last night with Mel and Blue, Mel had been there for a bit of a celebratory meal with a couple of friends from work and as is usually the case I came along to be the designated driver.

Got to say very impressed with what Peter and Simon (the new owners) have done with the place, and looking at the amount of business they’ve got so is every one else, the food looks very tasty as well, must say I’ve only had the Twice Fried Chips so far, but Mel had the Smoked haddock with potatoes (Baked in double cream, fish stock and saffron with layers of sliced potato), which was apparently very very tasty, no doubt in the coming weeks I’ll eventually sit down and eat something there myself, at the moment I’m eyeing up the Slow roasted boned breast of lamb (Rolled Breast of lamb stuffed with rosemary, garlic, thyme and golden sultanas, slow roasted and served with a thick onion, fennel and red wine gravy), mmm now if that does’nt get the old taste buds moist I don’t know what else will.

The two gents now running the Pub Simon and Peter seem quite taken with our little Princess Blue and may have ideas about getting a Cane Corso themselves, seems they’ve fallen for Blue and her Chilled out Bar/pub vibes, be nice if someone else where to get a Cane Corso in Manchester and after speaking to the pair of them they seem nice enough guys to be owned by a Corso.

The best thing about the Horse and Jockey though is that its dog friendly, something which alot of pubs are’nt anymore, so me, Mel and Blue give it a thumbs up and check it out yourselfs and see if we’re wrong

2 Very Tired Passengers

Well actually got back Sunday night but just not been arsed to post about it . .

What happened then ? Well we arrived at Adam’s early Saturday morning, made ourselves welcome and just chilled for a couple of hours, the afternoon was spent wondering up and down the Thames near Hampton Court waiting for Blue to do her little bit before returning to the Braggs household where we were treated to Adam showing us his fine BBQ skills, these skills were greatly helped by the handy Butchers down the road which sold what I class as some of the finest sausages I’ve ever had, they also did a nice sideline in chive and onion cheese.

It was good to see Adam as not seen him in about 8-12 months I reckon, also got the opportunity to meet the latest edition to the household Francesca, gorgeous child, she’s definitely got Sam’s looks, it also gave Mel the chance to get acquitted with the kiddiwinks, seems Ava there eldest was hooked on Mel, spent most of the weekend latched onto her, which was kind of cute in a non broody way.

Other house guests for the weekend were Jenny, again someone I’d not seen in a long while, probably about 4yrs ago was the last time I saw her, she’s just returned from working in New Zealand and was crashing at there place until she found work/lodgings I’m guessing.

Anyway the evening was spent drinking and watching a movie or 2, then it was off to bed.

Sunday was another early start and we left Adam and co around 9:30am to make our way to Essex for the Cane Corso day, actually thought we’d get there fairly quickly, but due to that horrible road the M25 it took us about 2.5hrs to travel 100 odd miles, arriving about 1:00pm, the event started around about 1:30pm so we headed to the local pub for a few beers and some food, I went for the Plough-mans Bacon sarnie (Don’t ask), Mel decided she wasnt all that hungry.

Anyway after relaxing with a beer for about 1/2hr we headed to the event, it was held in an equestrian centre just outside Wix and when we got there it was fairly bustling with people and their Cane Corso, never have I seen so many dogs of one breed in one place at one time, it was a sight to behold, and the difference’s in sizes, colours and temperaments of all the gathered Corso’s was amazing, before this event we’d only ever met one other Cane Corso and that was a puppy called Koo in Cornwall and now we were faced with about 50+ of them, but even though I do say it myself Blue was indeed the prettiest princess on the block, she gotta few admiring glances I reckon from all the dogs there lol.

We entered Blue in a few of the competitions, but alas she didn’t walk away with any prizes this time, which was a shame as it would have made up for the 700 miles we must have put in over the weekend just to get there and back, but all in all it was a fun day, though Mel was a little put off it all due to another Cane Corso wanting to take a bite out of Blue, but that’s to be expected when you have over 50+ of these magnificent beasts in one place. So after bidding our farewells we set off home around about 3:30pm, eventually arriving home about 8:30pm, I got myself off to bed and Mel did the same a couple of hours later and that was the end of a very hectic driving weekend.

Just had a feast of a tea from electriks, Bangers & Mustard Mash with a grand helping of gravy, comfort food if ever there was, and its all being slowly washed down with a couple of pints of Vedett, never had Vedett before tonight and I’m certainly liking it, seems they’ve ran out of Hoeggarden, so I’ll be on this for the rest of the night.

Anyway while I’m in here I’ll be uploading some videos to YouTube that I should of uploaded ages ago to be honest, so expect quite a few listed in my next post.

Now what can i tell you about the bar I’m in apart from the fact it sells good beer and good food, well its the brainchild of 2 of Manchesters finest . . .  Luke Cowdry & Justin Crawford, put togeather these 2 gents make up the Unabombers who together run The Electric Chair (Home of The Unabombers / Electric Chair nightclub).

They’ve turned what used to be the Revise bar into there Chorlton adventure “Electrik’s Bar”, its situated on the main road opposite the legendary 24hr off-licence A & S Booze and it’s certainly seems to have been embraced by the locals, as can be seem Friday and Saturday nights when it’s fairly rammed with people enjoying themselves.

They’ve certainy got a good selection of beers and spirits to keep everyone happy and to add to it all they’ve got a free jukebox, so no more looking for pound coins to put in it, though don’t expect to find anything commercial on it, its a bit of an eclectic mix of tunes from all styles and periods of music.

But for me the best thing is its a dog friendly bar and they definatly make Blue welcome, she’s even donated a dogbowl to them so she’s always got something to drink ouut of when she visits.

IMG_0340, originally uploaded by BagRat.

The festival was quite a success from what we’ve heard and from teh amount of people milling about I’d definatly have to agree, we stayed around for about an hour then headed to Electriks bar for a few drinks and to sample there Sausage and Mash, which we’d alos heard good things about and we were not disappointed, they food was excellent, also got have a chat with Luke “Una” Cowdry one of the co-owners of the bar.

On the way there dropped into Orlando’s and picked up a bright orange t-shirt for Blue to wear next time she’s there.