It was an up and out early jobbie last Saturday. I had to be at The Square Peg in Birmingham at 11 to meet Shaz. Shaz is one of my longest standing friends having met her at a concert in 1990 but I hadn’t seen her since the legendary Great Barr day last Summer where it’s fair to say that I reached advanced levels of refreshment. Also I’d not been in The Peg since it reopened after refurbishment so it was exciting all round.

I arrived bang on time and ventured in wondering how the place would look. I find that modern day pub refurbs follow the same blue print. I.e remove any semblance of character and make it shit but this place had kept it’s features which was nice.

I got served straight away and headed for the coffee machine with my mug. Considering how drunk I got last time I saw Shaz, this time I was being good and just having latte’s. I touched the screen, stepped back and awaited my drink. I noticed it wasn’t coming and zoned back into the situation. Unlike the coffee machine in Walsall Wetherspoon this one was eager for more knowledge. Firstly caffeinated or decaffeinated? It’s never going to be decaff is it George? Then hot or cold. I couldn’t cope with this. I have a strict no decision making before midday at weekends policy but I put this aside, sated the machines thirst for knowledge and finally got my drink.

Shaz was already in and we had a great 90 minutes (not often a Walsall fan can say that) catching up, talking old memories and there was even an interjection of a poached egg recipe from Shaz after I expressed my desire to be able to cook those. Last time I tried to cook a poached egg it turned out like a lava lamp. My brother who is a Head Chef in a hotel in Eastbourne more than hoovered up the cooking skills in our family. I can only mash potato when dancing to Do You Love Me?

I went to the bog, and they are very smart. There is a full length mirror by the door which is adjacent to the urinals and I found that with just a small turn of the head I could admire myself whilst in full flow. I pray that I am not the only person to do this.

Shaz ordered a drink via the app, which is a bit new fangled for me. I like going up the bar, especially as outside of work ordering drinks is one of the few times females talk to me. I grabbed another latte and returned.

I’d had the Duran Duran classic New Moon On Monday in my head all day and I kept bursting into the chorus figuring that Shaz wouldn’t mind as she is a big fan of said group. I did apologise but pointed out that it’s their best song. “Actually, that’s Save A Prayer” was Shaz’s response. Now one thing that this blog site of mine is consistently short off is controversial outbursts so thanks Shaz for providing my readers with one. I did point out that we live in a democratic country so she is allowed to be wrong.

Shaz departed as she had missions. I grabbed a hot chocolate as I like value from my refillable hot drink Wetherspoons cup. I was in no hurry. I must point out now ladies and gentlemen that the staying on the latte’s was only a limited time offer while I was with Shaz. Booze was always to follow. The plan was to continue on to Hockley and get the last two pubs in that I needed to complete a blog I’ve been working on since last March but then Craig text asking what I was up to and did I want to meet up later for Walsall beers. I knew that this would involve curry and I’ve not seen Crags since January so sorry Hockley but I was heading back to good ole DH.

I hadn’t planned on being in the house this afternoon so I had some rare settee time and treated myself to “Like You Do” the best of Lightning Seeds album. So many wonderful songs with Sugar Coated Iceberg and Sense being the best two imo. Sense is amazing as is the Terry Hall version of it. Next time I’m in a relationship this will be one of my anthems but then again my last missus was back in 2007 so I’m not holding my breath on that front.

Crags arrived and we headed straight to Walsall Arms, Jaz the landlady was serving which is always a delight, and the music in there must have been tailored to my needs. The La’s, Blur and Kaiser Chiefs all figured. It was very pleasant and we stayed for a second.

Katz was next and we arrived just in time to see the England winning drop goal in the rugby which was nice. They were out of Wainwrights though. I can only imagine someone had cleaned it out by drinking loads of it the day before after Jase, the landlord’s wedding. The main room was busy with an event, with many in attendance including Mel, Jase’s now wife.

We hit the bar. Some men joined us who steered the conversation towards Premier League football which I wasn’t interested in. Craig had set me a challenge to name 20 of the 27 countries in the world where the capital city begins with the same letter as the name of the country, so I went into stand by mode and thought about that. I eventually got about 15 with Andorra (Andorra la Vella) being my favourite although when I mentioned Greenland and not being sure if Nuuk or Godthab is the English word for the capital, this was disallowed as Greenland is a Danish territory not a country. Had this been ruled out by the linesman putting his flag up late the fans would have rioted.

With the Wainwrights off we had Farmer Jim’s pear and passion fruit cider cider which was very good. Craig asked me a question about vegetables. I’m okay with capital cities, vegetables less so be it eating or knowledge of them. I didn’t get the answer which was cauliflower. This would be like asking Superman a question about Kryptonite. Glad I didn’t know it.

We moved on and headed into town The shutter was up on Chambers which used to be Bar Sport which I’ve not managed to tick off since it reopened due to not actually catching it open. Music was playing loudly but as soon as Craig tried the (albeit locked) door it immediately stopped mid song. Someone must have been watching. Quick pretend we’re closed. The little bald prick out the two of them will clean us out of Wainwrights. Please note, as I’ve not been in, I don’t know if they actually do Wainwrights. As we walked away the music started again.

We had a quick pint in St Matts Hall, the Walsall Wetherspoon and there was no latte for me this time.

We ended up in Gurkha Bhojan. I nipped to the loo and by the time I came out Craig had become best mates with the waiter. They chatted about everything. As you know I’m not one for talking to people I don’t know so was more than happy with this. I thought they were going to start swapping recipes at one point. Now that would have got me involved as I now know one for poached eggs.

I had tandoori chicken, chicken tikka massala and cheese naan. The food was amazing with the cheese naan being the best I’ve ever had. Craig paid for the food in exchange for me paying for the taxi back to mine. Terms I was more than happy with.

Splendid day. Sorry Hockley, I will come to you soon and as I write this a week later I still haven’t had poached eggs.