Awful news

There was going to be a post about politics here, but i’ll do that another day. That’s not the awful news. In fact, you might think that not having to endure a post about politics here might actually be good news.

Sadly, the awful news is that there is awful news displacing that post about politics.

Fireman’s Arms burned down last night.

Usually, I’d find some sort of humour in the irony of the situation, but I’m just sad. Fireman’s is a great pub. Friendly people, amazing vibe, decent beer. And then last night at around 3am, this happened:

The good news is that it appears that while the beer garden may be no more, the rest of the building looks ok – given the situation. And apparently the pub cat survived unscathed. Thanks be to Bastet.

Conspiracy theories about insurance claims were quick to surface, but why, when the pub is going from strength the strength and business is booming? And if it was (which it wasn’t), why do it just before your busiest time of year? (Although that’s obviously exactly what they’d want you to think). And then there was this from yesterday afternoon:

…which may will point to as a likely cause of the blaze. (Although that’s obviously exactly what they’d want you to think).

I’m just sad. I hope that Kevin and Dean can get things sorted and get open again as soon as possible. I know that the regulars will do everything they can to make it work again.

 

UPDATE: Great News!

“Like”

A little respect

We went quizzing last night at the Fireman’s Arms in town.

It’s been a while since we were there and it’s become a slick operation in our absence: questions on flatscreens, entry fees added to your tab etc etc. Nice work QuizNiteCT.

One thing that did irritate us though was the amount of blatant cheating going on. It has obviously become so endemic that teams don’t even bother to conceal it anymore. When the prize is a bottle of Klipdrift between six and a cap each, is it really worth it?
Evidently, yes, it is. As quiz legend Dale Collins states on all his picture round handouts:

Mobile phone users are killing quizzes

Quite how you stop the cheating is another matter: tough one. It’s sad, because you shouldn’t have to – it’s all a matter of respect.
Which nicely segues me into this track which caused us no end of discussion last night:

[vimeo clip_id=”24852962″ width=”678″ height=”509″]

Wow. What a great video.
How unlucky is that guy? What a series of inconceivable and unfortunate events, hey?
And he’s got a band in his shoe. In his shoe, people!! LOL!

Last night’s tribulations were around whether it was Weezer or whether it was Wheatus?
Who did Buddy Holly, who did Teenage Dirtbag?
It’s actually quite hard to remember after a few Black Labels…
(but we didn’t look it up on our cellphones.)