JetPlane

• Had a baking day in the sun at a memorial service at the American War Cemetery in Madingley. #
• BBQ all set to go: rain forecast for one hours time, and I can feel the change in the air. Hurry home @mikeycbg ! #
• It poured with rain last night and it’s still chucking down. Will take spare shoes and socks for after the cycle to work (water runs down!) #
• Over half way through *Byron, Life and Legend* at 574pp. He had an amazing life, but I need a break from this amount and density of detail #
• Gorgeous evening. Almost at the Castle pub to meet up with colleagues and developers from Mumbai, then dinner at a South Indian restaurant! #
• *RAVE dinner* blog post http://bit.ly/LCwg4 #
• Is there such a thing as *slow* charcoal for BBQs. The stuff I’m using seems very laid back. #
• Finished morning of interviewing: now to write committee papers and budgets for 2010. If I get them finished today, I can I have Sunday free #
• Mindmapping in the sunshine in the garden: can broadly justify this as getting my backlog of work done. Twitter is unjustifiable though! #
• Relieved to gave sent off committee papers. Having a break before budgets. #
• I’ve eaten tooo many peanuts, blurgh! #
• tea poetry from the early days of English tea: http://tavalon.com/blog/?p=308 (via @TavalonTea) #
• Farmers Market here I come: after I’ve finished my cup of tea in bed that is. Planning lunch at the riverbank today after various chores. #
• Oh no, I think I might end up queing to wait for Marks and Spencers to open: what’s my life come to.  #
• Made it to the Riverbank Club: cloudless skysndwater is apprently +15oC #
• The river (Cam) is wonderfully warm today. Lots of dragonflies, punts and small leaping fish to keep me company on my swim. #
• Rescued two poles for punts as I swam by and not a drop of champagne or a strawberry in sight as a reward: rather weak? #
• Just bought a new pair of Tevas in < 2 mins. Old pair fell apart! #
• Great evening for a BBQ with Vit and Jay, then some drinks at the Free Press when it got a bit too chilly to sit out. #

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Had a good dinner in Cocum in Cambridge with visiting developers from RAVE. The South Indian food was lovely. After dinner we wandered around a few colleges in town—all were closed to visitors because of exams (or because it was 9.30pm!)

• lots of good shopping in Boston. Wish I was there in the Prudential Mall. #
• First lovely pint at the summer beer festival: Keswick Thirst Blossom, a lively red beer. #
• Lovely atmosphere at the beer festival-also lucky with the weather http://yfrog.com/6tm7ij #
• Poured away my pint of gruit: Cambridge 800 Innovation, it was the end of the barrel. #
• Replaced Gruit with a pint of Wolf, Straw Dog, much cleaner. #
• RT @jodrell official info on the Cambridge beer festival now available from @cambeerfest [and hashtag #cambeerfest ] (via @samstokes) in reply to samstokes #
• On my way to the #cambeerfest for dinner and a beer. Got my rug and my glass and a empty tummy. #
• The #cambsbeerfest doesn’t look like much from the outside. I think it’s going to be packed tonight. #
• The #cambsbeerfest doesn’t look like much from the outside. I think it’s going to be packed tonight. http://twitpic.com/5i324 #
• Having a pint of Pitfield *Red Ale* made in Epping. It’s good. (Goes well with the Falafels) #
• Michael’s arrived with my gloves, it’s chilly at the #cambeerfest. Having a pint of Green Tye *Union Jack*, not as nice as my last pint. #
• *36th Cambridge Beer Festival* blog post http://bit.ly/yfOpf #
• Sunny and blue skies for tonight’s beer festival. Wish I got there earlier. #
• It’s always the first pint that’s the best: I think I’ve got Tydd Steam Barn Ale, which is lovely. In queue for pork pie. #cambeerfest #
• Beer round up from #cambeerfest : Bewdley *Old School Bitter*, Concerte Cow *Cock n Bull Story* and Hexhamshire *Whampweasel. #
• Joined tonight by Vit, Jason, Scott and Jim. Stayed at the #cambeerfest till about 11pm, a warmer night and a great atmosphere. #
• My new bath alarm wirhed well this morning: who would believe that a bath could fill seemingly so quickly  #
• Good night of training, time to head to the #cambeerfest for “supper” #
• Feels too late to be heading to the #cambeerfest hoping to find @mikeycbg somewhere in the crowd, hopefully still standing! #
• Saw a few bats on Midsummer Common. It’s a few years since I’ve *heard* any bats http://bit.ly/x2YZ9 #
• Michael’s on the Spectrum *Trip Hazard* (6.5%) and I’m back on the Keswick *Thirst Blossom*, lovely. #
• Keeping with the Cumbrian theme, having a pint of *Lakeland Red* from Hawkshead. Michael’s on the *Hotel Porter* Maldon Brewing Co. #
• This is the first time in 20 years that I’ve stayed until chucking out time as a customer at the #cambeerfest #
• Heading out for dinner at the #cambeerfest #
• Having a nice pint of welsh Nant *Chawden Aur*. #
• Wow! The #cambeerfest is really busy! The queue for pork pies is 3x longer than it was at the start of the week. #
• Michael’s bought me a pint of *monkey hanger* and gone to join the RSC group while I queue for pork pies and Scotch Eggs #cambeerfest #
• Finished off #cambeerfest with an Oude Gueze: very sharp and a lovely way to finish. Had a good goss with Laura and Kathrine too. #
• I’d like to have said hello, but I’d probably never have found you at the beerfest! #
• Well, that’s the end of #cambeerfest for me: no time to go tomorrow. This is the busiest and best I remember—congrats to the volunteers! #
• Listening to Free song from Aidan Moffat: Smash the Mystic Industry http://bit.ly/2BguF
  —amusing! #
• *Another summer beer fest gone…* blog post http://bit.ly/NimJ3 #
• Scooting out to the Farmers’ Market—aside from a limp cabbage our house is a vegetable-free zone after a week of eating at the Beer Festival #
• Farmers Market was uplifting: full of spring lettuce and orher salad veg. Bought some huge choi-sum with bobbing yellow flowers for lunch. #
• Enjoying tea in the garden-weather is glorious http://twitpic.com/5u5wn but have a mortgage appointment later in 30mins. What a mistake! #
• Hmmm, choi-sum turned out to be quite tough. Feel like a cow grazing on tough grass. Tasty, but chewy! http://twitpic.com/5u929 #
• Planning a BBQ for @mikeycbg still lots of sun left in the garden and Oyster Bay Merlot Rosé in the fridge. #

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That’s the end of the Cambridge Beer Festival, at least for me! We’ve been lucky with the weather, no rain! Great beer, and I think they very well might have sold the 80,000 pints they projected. Need to wait another 12 months for the next big event of the beer year!

Line-up of the latest beers:

• Tydd Steam Barn Ale—From Wisbeach, 3.9%
• Bewdley Old School Bitter—A full bodied, traditional flavour with hoppy finish, 3.8%
• Concrete Cow Cock n Bull Story—Dark amber, malty flavour (named after the two pubs in Stony Stratford where the phrase originated), 4.1%
• Hexhamshire Whapweasel—A burn in the Shire, a Curlew’s whistle is the origin of the name. A smooth strong golden bitter. Caramalt, Crystal malt and Goldings hops combine to give a smooth mouth feel, 4.8%
• Hawkshead Lakeland Red—A Red Ale. Bitter-sweet. Malty and spicy, with a long dry finish, using Fuggles as the aroma hop.The red colour comes from Dark Crystal malt, 4.2%
• Bragdy’r Nant Chawden Aur—lovely welsh beer, from Conwy, 4.3%
• Poachers Monkey Hanger—Ruby red bitter, monkey hanger comes from a tale about a Hartlepool Shipwreck, 4.5%.

My top beers were all red (of course!): Keswick Thirst Blossom, Pitfield Red Ale, Tydd Steam Barn Ale.

Matt might have some photo’s from his Blackberry yesterday, threatened to put them on Facebook: (and here they are (below) added 24th May

Had a couple of short nights at the Cambridge Beer Festival, dinner and a couple of pints.

So far I’ve tried:

• Keswick Thirst Blossom—A golden bitter with a beautiful exotic fruit aroma, 4.1%
• Moonshine 800 Years of Innovation—brewed in Cambridge and described as “Gruit ale, sweet Gale, Wormwood, Caraway and Wild Rosemary are used instead of hops to flavour this ale. It is said Gruit ale stimulates the mind, creates euphoria and enhances sexual drive!!”. Sadly, it smelt like a drain and I poured it away (it was the end of the barrel mind)
• Wolf Straw Dog—Pale and refreshing, this clear wheat beer is brewed in the German style. Soft German hops added to the brew give a wonderful aroma and slightly sweet taste to leave the imbiber wanting more!, 4.5%
• Pitfield Red Ale
• Green Tye Union Jack, brewed in Much Hadham, “A copper coloured bitter, fruity with a citrus taste and a hoppy citrus aroma and a balanced bitter finish”

The Keswick Thirst Blossom and the Pitfield Red Ale were best so far (both red beers). Moonshine had brewed a whole series in celebration of Cambridge Universities 800th anniversary this year.

• Going to Northallerton today: it’s a pretty bitty journey by train, via a long detour south to Stevenage #
• Awful sounds coming out the Tram Depot: turn the music off! #
• Getting ready for my parental visit by lying in bed, eating cornflakes and reading tweets. Must tidy, NOW. #
• Just got a gift in the post from my husband: gizmo to stop me overfilling the bath whilst distracted by email! http://twitpic.com/59vbs #
• *Bruce’s 40th on Mersea* blog post http://bit.ly/HVl86 #
• David tried to charge £39,000 for lunch at the Free Press. It was good, but not that good! #
• Portugal-very mobile hips! #
• What’s with the big Disney-princess dresses this year #eurovision #
• Iceland-like the dolphin. Has she got car-dice hanging from her shoulder? #
• Greece-love the music and the little flashes of belly! #
• Greece-dangerous levels of hair gel spotted. #
• Armenia: wonderful! Vampish, camp, perverted-traditional. Love the fallen maiden look. #
• Russia-blurgh! #
• I wish I could dance like the Azerbaijanies! #
• Azerbaijan-I’m not convinced he’s *really* addicted to her. #
• Bosnia: good time to hang my washing out. Ipregerred the real Adam and the Ants #
• Malta: lovely voice, she reminds me of someone, perhaps a character from South Park! #
• Have there been any male backing singers yet? #eurovision #
• Estonia: this is something I would actually listen to. She’s really stylish too. Quite dramatic. #
• Denmark: he forgot the rest of the boy band! Doh! #
• Germany: we WANT those trousers (he should vacate them first!) #
• Germany: Going off the pants: want the basque #
• Having a light blush Lindauer champagne, perfect for #eurovision #
• Albania: is her mom on the side with the hair curlers: miss congeniality! #
• Albania: the little dancing pixies are a good laugh #
• Norway: like his stick-on eyebrows. He’s a bit of a camera whore. #
• Norway: he can’t sing for me but I’d let him fiddle #
• Ukraine: she’s wonderful. Love the boots and the power disco-diva song. All sing : “You are sexy bum!” #
• Romania: after the dirty old men vote! #
• #eurovision UK! Stylish (except for Andrew Lloyd Weber!). Bit dull, time to step up a gear. #
• Finland: if I couldn’t see the screen I’d really enjoy this song. #
• Spain: “take me”, “shake me”: LOL #
• Really impressed with the quality this year: maybe I’m just missing Wogan’s sarcasm. #eurovision #
• Armenia, Estonia, or Ukraine for my vote? #
• UKRAINE!!!! #
• Wow, I would live to play in those pools! #eurovision #
• Ouch belly flops #eurovision #
• Thanks #eurovision twitter chums-great fun sharing the night with you. #
• Now I know how to Put People First #
• In the cinema to see the new Star Trek, on the spur of the moment. #

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