what a weekend

WOW followers what a weekend i've had, from a friends 25th birthday party, a nights stay in a b&b that seemed locked in the 60's or 70's, to somebodies 40th birthday bash that i only met last night and a substatial quantity of ale in between.
The weekend started on Friday afternoon with us picking three polypins of ale up from Bays Brewery in Torbay and taking them to the cafe at the Buckfastliegh end of the South Devon Steam Railway line, ready for my friend Terry's b'day party the following night. After setting them in position to settle we retired to enjoy a nice evening at an Italian restaurant, the food was wonderful but as there was no ale we had to settle for a very nice bottle of red wine (i can't remember what it was but hey i'm an ale drinker).
On Saturday it was Terry's bash and i was barman which meant i could have as much ale as i wanted (dodgy decision there Terry) but i was a good boy and only had a few pints. The ales we had on offer were Gold, Breaker and Devon Dumpling all from Bays Brewery, whilst i have drank both Gold and Breaker before (in copious quantities) the Devon Dumpling was fairly new to me, but it lacked none of the usual taste and texture you would expect from this relatively new brewery and went down well with all who tried it.
After the bash every-one headed home well except those of us who lived too far away to travel at that time of night. We were booked into a delightful b&b (advertised as a manor, though lookswise may have been exagerating). First impressions were "Oh my god!!!!" Decor seemed lost in the 60's or 70's and the missing batteries from the smoke detector wasn't a good or welcoming sign. However the landlady Jan was very welcoming and friendly, the beds were very comfortable if not maybe a bit too springy (Terry whilst messing around with his girlfriend bounced twice on one bed and before knowing it ended up on the floor), and as for the breakfast well........A bowl yes i said BOWL of toast was brought to us whilst waiting for our cooked breakfast along with two cafetieres of coffee each with enough for 3 cups. the cooked breakfast made up for all the short comings upstairs sausages, 3 rashers of bacon, black pud, fried bread tomatoes (the others also had eggs) and i was set up for the day.
And so onto today well i was supposed to go to my brothers but Terry who was going to take me was still unfit to drive so i'm stopping another night in Sidford, but i did pick up an invite to a 40th birthday party (Terry's girlfriend Gemma's aunts) in nearby Sidbury, so tonight we set off for the Sidbury Social Club, i wasn't sure what to expect when we got there but when we did we found some of the croud were rather merry (lol). There to meet us were Gemma's parents who brought our first round (thankyou). Straight away i noticed 2 ales on offer Branscombes Branoc and Otter's Amber, i opted for the Branoc, having not tried it before, and wasn't too keen on it, so next round i went for the Otter Amber. Being some-one who prefers a darker ale than a golden i spotted some bottles of good old Fullers London Pride in the fridge and so ended the night with an old favourate.
Now back at Terry's i'm about to go sleep then tomorrow move on to my brothers, then back to work on Weds. Over the days from weds i'm hoping to make a start on my taste notes etc. so stay tuned.