Left to my own devices on a day off, it usually follows that I find myself pootling around Nottingham or its outlying areas attempting to amuse myself before meeting friends. As regular readers will know, when out and about I usually try to find some ideas, words or reflections to improve my writing and thought processes on these jaunts and today was no different, so much so that it distracted me from my new book.
It was after enjoying a meal and a pint whilst finishing one book (Childhood’s End) and starting another (Lost Horizon), that I decided to go and actually look for something to write about rather as opposed to either hiding in a book all afternoon or just hoping something falls into my lap, which it usually does. I like to think of my days out as a series of happy accidents.
I found it really interesting that I hadn’t considered this idea before in any great depth, especially as I tend towards the curious wherever possible. Buoyed by a pint and a full stomach I thought I may as well make the most of the opportunity and do something. Straightaway I found myself somehow drawn to the Beer Dock, a place that has been open for three months but had singularly failed to capture my attention on account of its unassuming frontage and my attempts to avoid the woman who always sits at the bus stop asking everybody who passersby for 12 pence.
I went in to have a nosy at the new micropub in Sherwood and met Os, the owner who showed me around the ‘pour house’ which handily doubles as an off licence selling bottles from around the world including places as exotic as Alaska and Ghana. My first question was what’s the beer with the best pun/humorous name and Raging bitch was the outright winner.
Settling in to begin my musing I chose a draught ale combining coriander and ginger which was an excellent combination and produced both a warm,tangy and refreshing tipple. As I sat with the pleasing sound of chillers – the only thing encroaching on my thoughts – in the peaceful haven from the busy world outside, I examined the aircraft carrier grey walls but decided what it lacks in aesthetics it more than makes up for in choice and most probably clientele as well.
After leaving there and spending another couple of hours wandering aimlessly (which took in such sites as a supermarket, some back streets and a newsagent) I found myself ravenous and having grabbed a snack, needed somewhere to eat it. The graveyard of the nearby church seemed like a nice place, despite the overcast look to the sky which rather added to the atmosphere. It was that good kind of overcast though, you know when you don’t care if it rains because you just feel invigorated by the thought of it, which is not something a graveyard usually makes one feel.
Glad that I had for once bothered to eat, I parked myself on a bench and took in the view, it was sparsely populated place but with plenty of trees and some welcome invisible barrier reducing the next door traffic noise so I could reflect on this timeless place. Interestingly the only other visitors were a Polish mum arguing on the phone and man with headphones playing too loudly who passed through but like me and my pen, those two and their tech’ are transient here, fully refreshed I moved on to go meet friends.
It is strange that places of calm can be found next to a busy road, this one being the main thoroughfare to the Northern side of Nottingham city centre but perhaps I was lucky with my timing or perhaps it’s always like that at those times but I am happy to have spent a few hours doing little and yet being productive. I’m now finding it increasingly interesting to be inquisitive and hunt for unexpected things, I did attempt to venture into the church adjoining the graveyard to see if I could find anything interesting about the history but sadly it was closed, still now that the idea is implanted, my aimless wanderings can have focus whilst also being more amusingly varied and haphazard.
A pleasant jaunt, or was that pootling all along?
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I like to mix it up, sometimes it’ll be a pootle, another times a meander, I’m an enigma like that.
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You made this very interesting, Ste J. But then you always did. You write like Peter Wells aka Countingducks, a countryman of yours. Check him out. He always comments on my site, without fail. * I m his favorite, ha ha * I don’t know how to link here, but you can go to my site and click on his avatar.
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I’ve not come across his blog before so I shall go check it out now, thanks. It is strange how interesting the world can be when a day off lets us slow down the pace of life. Sadly my job never gives me any peace to just think about stuff, maybe one day I could get paid and find the time to plan blog posts. I want to be somebody’s favourite now!
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Pootling around can be much interesting at times…. aimlessness and leisure make life quite worthwhile… 😀 You’ve made the account enjoyable for our readers… 🙂
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I’m glad you liked it, It’s nice to mix things up with an unplanned walk into the curious. It’s makes me wonder what else there is out there and what hidden stories are waiting to be told and shared all over the world with this blog as a conduit.
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Sounds like an excellent series of happy accidents, as well as being enjoyable reading.
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I seem to be fortunate when heading out to places with no prior research and just finding things. I think its good to do that sometimes as it encourages you to make links to things and to go and seek something you perhaps wouldn’t have thought of before. Freestyle pottering is probably an accurate term for it, maybe next time I will go and visit Wayne Manor which isn’t to far away.
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Make sure and post about it when you do!
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Its nice to be able to appreciate the normal everyday stuff around us 🙂 Nothing like a nature walk to just appreciate the tranquility of the Earth 🙂
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Exactly, taking time out of the stupidly hectic days to just sit and appreciate with no other diversions than the the thoughts that occur to us, which is now my excuse to do less and not feel bad about letting important things slide lol.
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One of the things I enjoy most about my Kindle is the ability to randomly check definitions for both unfamiliar words and words that I know well, but haven’t considered in depth. Hence, pootling: British, informal, to move or travel in a casual manner.
Out of interest, did you give the woman 12p? If she was over here asking for it, I would consider her a harmless odd bod, given that her request (translated to 12cents) would be impossible to satisfy since the government got rid of 1 and 2c bits a long while back. But you still have pennies don’t you? I would have given it to her on the off-chance that she was some sort of time-traveller whose successful attainment of 12p would avert all sorts of temporal disaster.
But I like to play on the safe side.
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It almost sounds Dickensian and that is some name for me to live up to. I didn’t give her money this time as I was faced with the realisation that I only had a tenner on me at the time and asking her if she had change would be ridiculous even by my standards. It does worry me that she picks an arbitrary number…trying to work out why would probably send me round the bend trying to crack the enigma. Your time traveller theory is a good one, I can only imagine that your entire world is a magical place, especially as you don’t have to sort through the shrapnel when buying something to finding the odd cent.
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It was a grand old time though, when we had 1 and 2 cent bits, not least because the price of lollies literally went up tenfold overnight.
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If that is not a reason to bring down the government, then I don’t know what is.
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I had a similar wander about Norwich on Thursday while waiting for my daughter. I didn’t find a micropub but did find an Australian eating house called the Flaming Galah which specialised in authentic Australian Pie and Mash! Didn’t go in as it was full of men sampling the wares. I was amused by your photo-bombing trees!
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I have no idea what happened one minute a clear photo and the next it was there, yet the wind was negligible, I could have taken the photo again but I preferred that one, I’m not the best at photos but I have a stab. Flaming Galah, that is the best name I have heard since passing the hairdressers Curl Up and Dye!
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Excellent name for a hairdressers!
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I agree, Ste J, aimless wandering can often spark an idea for a story. I hope you’ll revisit that church when it’s open. 🙂 Great post!
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I’m over that way quite often so will keep checking, I am thinking of going into some of the ones in te city centre as well, they must have some good stories. I may see if I can get a free meal for a blog review of a restaurant or something, make the blog my ticket to never paying for anything again lol.
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Great idea! 🙂
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I used to love to go and sit in Church Rock cemetery, especially the low-down bit where all the pauper’s mass graves are. I was sat there early once when I noticed the rocky-cave-holes-in-the-side-bits had three people in them. They were homeless people and not vampires, as would have been cooler, and none of them asked me for 12p. I hope she takes inflation into account.
Church Rock and the Cornish Pasty shop )that I really hope is still there) were my favourite bits of Nottingham.
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I haven’t had a Cornish Pasty in ages! I will need to seek out both of those places now but the Cornish Pasty Shop first because I’m a greedy so and so. Aren’t vampires all pretty much homeless anyway as nobody ever invites them in and if one is invited in can that one then invite others in? Maybe that’s the real reason why people don’t invite them in because houses then become vampire squats and all the violent stuff is just excuse the guilt of saying no to them.
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Ha! Yes, I can see my mum inviting a vampire in just because it would be rude not to. Vampires are often rich, though. I think if house prices keep going the way they do, only vampires will have houses, and the rest of us will be in caves.
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That is why the world is controlled by a shadowy cabal of vampires because when we have no houses we won’t have the spurious inviting in defence and then the apocalypse can truly begin. They are the ones responsible for zombie movies so we are all misdirected in our preparations for that apocalypse and we will make easy pickings.
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Shows the exotic that is the backyard. Bit surprised to see you at a Wetherspoons. Don’t mind them myself. The Woodrow Wilson in Carlisle last night had Snecklifter, Wainwright, Jaipur, Abbott and Hawkshead Stout. Very nice, but not as international as your micro-pub.
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I tend to start off cheap in Spoons with a meal, to offset the expense of the international beers in the other place. My local pub will serve me an Abbot on sight now, which is handy but also slightly disconcerting.
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I always love your pootling posts, Ste J 😀
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And I love to have little adventures and write about them, how symbiotic is this situation hehe.
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One day when I visit England, you’ll have to buy me a pint 😉
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I sure will, we shall find something unique to tantalise your taste buds.
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I’ll look forward to it. Oh, and there’ll have to be fish and chips involved 🙂
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Naturally lol, there are plenty of good chippies about in this area that have won awards.
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I love to wander aimlessly, it’s amazing what you find – and I love graveyards in particular, always full of possibilities for inspiration 🙂
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I agree, graveyards give a chance to reflect and be still whilst life flows around that tranquil place. If I don’t find anything to write about I am always happy to read for seven or eight hours and have a couple of pints, so either way my days normally end up being pretty darn good.
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Hi, Ste J! You do such lovely photo work! I don’t know if you just avoid the unsightly bits of Nottingham or not, but so far it has emerged from your work as a wonderful place for views and contemplation (and pub crawling).
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I just aim my phone in the general direction and hope it doesn’t come out blurred lol, like all places there are the scruffy bits but that is far outweighed by the interesting bits, I need to let myself lose in Derbyshire at some point and take photos of some real scenery, or perhaps the coast, which I have been thinking about at some point if I can navigate public transport without going to the wrong coast or something lol. Nottingham is great for having nice out of the way bits and like all British towns and cities a generous helping of pubs, although not as much as there used to be sadly but I do my best to help keep them open.
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That clearly was some cool wandering you did there. I wish you had me for company. I’d had fun too.
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You are always welcome to accompany me anywhere my friend, I need to range wider in my adventurings to bring you more awesome stuff. Bring sandwiches if you are joining me though, I believe in coming prepared.
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And hot coffee… 🙂
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Yes, coffee makes me happy but sometimes sleepy as well oddly.
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Thank you for taking us along this journey. It’s been a while since I’ve just ventured out with a curious mind, purposely looking for the unexpected. I’m going to do that soon.
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It’s a freeing experience, I think I may do some actual research into some places that may be open next time but then slide down side streets and see what awaits me. It’s a fun experience to while away the time and not really know what is going to occur. Keeps my blog unpredictable too. The Red Hot Chili Peppers (when they were good) said it best on their track Walkabout https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXfqFZDHjcE
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How did I not know this RHCP song? I will put it on my iPod to listen to next time I go exploring.
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It seems I am an explorer of music as well, I loved this at school,…now that takes me back.
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This sounds like an idyllic jaunt to me, and certainly one to help with story ideas, trees photobombing or not…but actually, I like that idea. I feel relaxed and calm after reading this post, so I thank you for that!
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The weather held off which encouraged me not sit in the pub for six hours, which I am thankful for, although it would have been an equally fine day just reading with a cool drink of course. I never expected it to have that effect but I am happy it did and I want to go places and do more such posts. It really is fun to just go out and be inquisitive and see what happens, good things usually do.
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Pootle is not a word I believe I have ever used, but I imagine I have done it a time or two. I love how you can take the most mundane tasks and make them interesting. And yes, trees do have a way of photo bombing many a picture.
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I think the problem with life is we are always thinking about something specific and can’t clear our minds enough to just ‘be’ for a while. I like to take that opportunity if I have a day off and the inclination to go out somewhere. I see why you take lots of pictures up mountains now, I learn from the best!
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I learned through meditation to clear my mind and just ‘be’, which has certainly helped me to see the beauty all around me.
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Your eye for beauty does you credit.
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You come across such fascinating things, Ste! Too bad the church was closed : /
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It gives me an incentive to go back though and to look for some other things to explore in the area as well. I think a lot of it is just taking a proper look at what’s around us and then thinking of an angle for a blog post, once I train myself to do that automatically it will give me plenty of ideas to mix in with the books.
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For sure, we can see things in pretty much anything as long as we “go there” with our thoughts—simply travel down that path deliberately 🙂
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Everything aside, the wanderings, the trees, books and pubs, what about that notebook! Lovely!
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I received that as a Christmas present whilst in America, it rarely leaves my book’s side as I read it, thanks to old Gutenberg for the insspiring cover.
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Nice to get out & about.
I always find the cemetery to be such a peaceful place.
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They are and full of life oddly.
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