BRAPA is having a .... BUNGAY BUNGAY PARTY

But before I went the full Berlusconi , it was time for the flipside of my Diss track, the highly pre-emptive local POTY Ampersand Brew Co. And if you thought 10am opening on a Monday seemed to be too good to be true, well it was. This was shop times only, silly me for not doing a deeper Google dive in the build up. Nae bother, I like a challenge! So I get a couple of cans out of the fridge, a green one with a UFO on and a yellow one they made with Abbeydale inspired by those lemon puff biscuits. Then I name drop yesterday's hero Steve Gray to the hairy faced dude, he is about 8.17% impressed but doesn't offer me a discount or special access, but DOES give me two plaggy glasses and lets me sup my cans on the picnic benches outside, which counts as a tick. And anyone who says it doesn't is a Lockdown 3.0 hypocrite. Apr-May 2021 #NeverForget. Hated it personally. Did a handful of outdoor only's but it was shit. It is a breezy but sunny day today (unlike 2021), and here with this 'picturesque' industrial estate backdrop, I'm in my element - especially when a privileged convertible sports car arrives and cannot accept the main door being locked. I eventually tell the lady to tow the line like the rest of us. Well me. And Colin. It is easy to drink cans isn't it? They slip down well and I'm burping like a Norfolk navvie when I leave 50 mins later. I keep seeing beer people referring to cans as 'highly crushable' and I know it should mean recycling, but I suspect it is something to do with the taste. So confusing.

Can one, burpy lemony biscuit fun

Can 2, lime UFO lager lusciousness

Back on the main road, the bus straddling the Norfolk/Suffolk border like a yokel slut turns up, and I had a reet good plan mapped out.

But you know what they say about best laid plans?

And my first stop, Wortwell's Bell wasn't opening til 4pm! And I'm semi to blame because their Facebook DID says 4pm, my second oversight of the day. Poor form from me. But I always expect Google hours to be the more reliable these days, from recent experience. Obviously not always the case. Shame, looked a nice one.

An hour until the next bus, but it flies by as I complain to RetiredMartin, catch up on my Twitter, stretch out on the pub benches, wee in a hedge around the corner, and feed grass to some friendly local cows in a field opposite. I even find a recycling bin for my Ampersand empties.

The bus continues east, and I'm desperately hoping I have more luck at my next stop.

Hurdling a few motorbikes and high octane blokes with faces as pink as the pub exterior, Queen's Head, Earsham (2543 / 4438) is proof that good things come to those who wait, a bit like Guinness. My hazy cup of 'Ambition' is a better drink than that, as a I subconsciously swerve the Thornbridge although Colmore closure wasn't too many weeks away. Hang on, 'closure' probably isn't the right word in the circs. "Duration's first foray into cask" says our knowledgeable ale host with beard and golden locks like a retriever. A sort of Norfolk Sam Ryder. Col grabs a bag of bacon fries , and after a tough day so far, I can finally sit back and enjoy the soothing hubbub, 8/10 carpet, pool table, vaulted ceiling, wondering if today would get any better than this. I didn't do many Norfolk ticks this week, determined to get a foothold in Suffolk, but those I did do were of a higher quality than on my Norwich-based trip back in Feb.

Just one more pub to tell you about today. I've huffed and lemon puffed for long enough.

Just a 20 minute walk from Earsham into Bungay, which in Norfolk terms is a stagger to the offie at the end of the street.

I was slightly scared as I skirt around the church because Bungay is famous for this ghostly dog called 'Black Shuck' who appears at local churchyards in thunderstorms and attacks people, and dark clouds were gathering above!

But he also haunts Essex so I'm assuming he was ticking off a few new churches over there today.

I'd never have believed Earsham could be surpassed so soon, but good grief, what a stupendous pub the Green Dragon, Bungay (2544 / 4439) is ...... they do their own ales with these cute dragon pumps, and unlike 99% of beer homebrews, this stuff is delicious, v,hoppy but delicious. £3.40 a pint too, if I moved to Bungay, I'd live here! The locals are a right bunch of piss takers! They distract me and make me spill my pint, then laugh at me when I've got beer running down my arm. THEN they make fun of my 'Earsham' pronunciation because I say 'ear-shum' like any normal person would think, alas no it is 'Errr-shum'. #Bantz Bloody Norfolk! Or was it Suffolk? I don't know anymore. The bloke is the flowery vest tells me he's a York Races regular and he probably walks past my flat every year. Why am I not surprised? Can just imagine him in a tight blue suit, if ya catch my drift. Thankfully, the conversation drifts into the ether, the locals disperse into various side and back rooms, and I'm left facing the bar, drinking in the atmosphere - one of those pubs that says so much whilst being perfectly silent, you don't need to be chatting, reading, on your phone, you can just be. Brilliant effort. Having said that, I was just about to go back up for a Strong Mild which I bet is the pick of the ales, when my phone tells me a bus is close by, an hour sooner than expected so I make a dash.

Does the bus turn up? Course it bloody doesn't. Fate had decided today would be difficult. Live bus tracking tells me it has skirted around Bungay completely. Maybe it saw Black Shuck on the prowl?

Even more annoyed I didn't stay for a Mild now .....

Right, that's yer lot for today - bit of an epic despite only two ticks reviewed, so sorry about that.

Busy end of week coming up. Meeting an old friend tmw, out Sat in a town that time forgot, and out with friends on Sunday, so I'll try and squeeze one out (and a blog, haha, sorry) on Friday night.

See you then, Si