Ramble details for 30.10.2024

Hi all,
I have booked a table at The Rights of Man in Lewes for Wednesday at 12.30. I have booked for 6 but I am not sure how many we will be at table because some of you have not confirmed whether you will be coming or not. We will see who turns up and sort it out on the day. Come and spend your money before Rachel Reeves grabs it all!

See you at Lewes station at the usual time.

Cheers
Harry

Final details of October's Ramble 2024

Hi,

This month we meet on Wednesday 30th. Location will be Lewes. I have booked a table at The Rights of Man for 12.30. No Froggy - he is on football watching duty. However we will have Mike T as guest and also Dave Hack as special guest, Should be riotous fun,
The usual 10.24 from Seaford. I will be your reception committee at Lewes station. Coffee , a pint perhaps then the usual climb up School Hill to our lunch destination. Perhaps a bus up the hill, Paco?
Charlie, can you see if Steve is available?
Harry

October's Ramble arrangements 2024

October is the treasurer of the year,
And all the months pay bounty to her store;
The fields and orchards still their tribute bear,
And fill her brimming coffers more and more.
But she, with youthful lavishness,
Spends all her wealth in gaudy dress,
And decks herself in garments bold
Of scarlet, purple, red, and gold.
She heedeth not how swift the hours fly,
But smiles and sings her happy life along;
She only sees above a shining sky;
She only hears the breezes' voice in song.
Her garments trail the woodlands through,
And gather pearls of early dew
That sparkle, till the roguish Sun
Creeps up and steals them every one.
But what cares she that jewels should be lost,
When all of Nature's bounteous wealth is hers?
Though princely fortunes may have been their cost,
Not one regret her calm demeanor stirs.
Whole-hearted, happy, careless, free,
She lives her life out joyously,
Nor cares when Frost talks o'er her way
And turns her auburn locks to gray.

Hi,
This month, under the rules of the new triangular scheme of NERDS meetings, we will once again visit the historic town of Lewes. The date will be Wednesday 30th. Probably have a pint somewhere and then lunch in The Rights of Man. I will probably book a table so it will help if you let me know if you will be attending or not. It tends to get busy in there.
See you then, hopefully.
Harry

2024 September's Ramble events

The NERDS met up at The Steamworks in Seaford - at least Lafayette, Froggy and Sandyballs

did. Laf. got a panicky call from Paco whose alarm

had failed to go off and was worried we would be going somewhere from the Steamworks and leaving him behind. ( Ferries, Newhaven, not quite making it, remember?)

Anyway, no chance, we hadn't even started properly drinking by that time; so we started doing that and expected to see Paco in his pyjamas and dressing

gown in due course. Hooray! he turned up at last.

Pints were consumed,

Paco, Frog and S.B. talked about football while a bored Laf picked his nose and filed his nails.

Froggy related his latest tragedy of losing his bank card and we all blamed Shirley Deans for having stolen it the other night to fund her goodbye do.

Eventually the noise level levelled out and we decided to try the new faux italian restaurant miles away in the centre of Seaford. Someone must have been there to recommend the Pablo Picasso

(named after the famous italian housepainter) but nobody could remember who, so we went in anyway.

It was spacious, light, welcoming, warm and with a very extensive menu.

We all found the Malbec of excellent quality and drank a lot of it.

The food was really good too and there appeared to be at least six identically dressed waitresses available at our beck and call. God knows how Froggy

paid for his meal without his bank card but he did. Maybe he got a loan off Shirley or something.

So this new Salvador Dali place, where Barclays bank used to be in Seaford was rated as NERDS approved for just about everything. We may even go back there and see if Santa Claus does a Christmas dinner later in the year.

All for now. Enjoy your hols, Brian, and come back in one piece.

Lafayette.

September's Joining arrangements 2024

Hi all,

Sorry for late submission of these joining instructions! Lafayette and I have decided we should meet on THURSDAY 26th. Unless any other bright ideas arise, let us meet at Seaford - the usual place and time. If weather is clement we can stroll along the promenade perhaps. Or a bus to a country hostelry? We can decide whilst in the Steamworks whilst enjoying a pint or a coffee........ 

Harry

August 2024 Ramble on Wednesday the 14th.

Here is what we did yesterday:

It was a pleasant morning, The NERDS convened at Newhaven bus station.

There were a few absences despite efforts to bring new blood into the brotherhood.

No Gorilla Steve - held up in Kent; no Dave Hack - must have forgotten about us; no Dio, off catsitting in London. Oh well the usual Old Buggers with a total age of about 460 years, Just Sandyballs, Matt, The Bish , Froggy, Paco and Laf. but enough for a quorum.

Laf had great plans to walk into the centre of town but somehow, under the indolent August sunshine his resolve cracked and he put everyone on a number 12 bus. This took us all of two stops and just along from the Newhaven

Coffee Shop

where we met up with Paco who had parked his car nearby.

We did the usual practice of oggling the sixteen year old waitress and talking scandal amongst ourselves. Weary of non alcoholic drinks Laf marched us outside and down the High Street where we bumped into Mrs Lafayette who studiously ignored us (very wise). Next stop was The Bridge Inn where Louis Philippe

allegedly popped in for a pint of Harveys while on the run from a howling mob of Revolutionaries

many years ago.

The inside of the pub had been tarted up recently, either to commemorate Royalty having once visited, or to celebrate the Triumphal Entry of The NERDS that day.

There was plenty of room, the decoration was not unpleasant and it was good to see another pub revitalising in NHN due to the sad demise of The Jolly Boatman and others.

Time was rolling on so Laf led everyone along a devious route, avoiding the dangerous Ark Tavern where we might have been predisposed to have a (nother) drink. Our destination was La Luna Rossa

where Rosario threatened to double charge Lafayette for only bringing a skeleton NERDS crew.

However we promised to eat and drink a lot

so he produced some good Italian food and we set about drinking all his wine supply.

Laf did actually have a plan to call in at The Ark on the way home but laziness again intervened when Paco said he had his car around the corner. So we all piled into that and Laf was chucked out at the ring road to wonder why there were no buses to take him the 25 yards back home.

Nice day, Nice Nerds, nice food, no scandal....... we must all be getting old.....

Lafayette.

An Interlude

Friday the 9th August and an incidental pre-ramble meeting at The Swan in Lewes revealed a ‘blast from the past’:- Dave Hack.

It’s nice to know that Lewes can still produce old friends from the past.

2024 August Ramble explanation

Dear NERDS,

Next week;s ramble is on Wednesday 14th August when we will wander round the delights of Newhaven taking in the newly refurbished Bridge Inn and ending up at The Luna Rossa.

Meet up at Newhaven Bus Station between 10 30 and 10 45hrs (ie. get the half past ten train if coming from Seaford).

See you all next Wednesday.

Lafayette.

The August 2024 Ramble arrangements

Dear NERDS,

The next ramble will be on Wednesday 14th August and will be around Newhaven - so not far to come, really.
I hope to try out the newly refurbished Bridge Inn which, as we all know, was graced by King Louis Phillippe when he fled France some time ago.
Lunch will be at the Luna Rossa where we have all been before.
So please let me know if you are coming so that I can book the restaurant.

Happy Summer,
Lafayette.

2024 NERDS July expedition

It was a well known phrase or saying in the Legends of the NERDS that a quorum

of at least three people was necessary for a ramble to take place (Were there only two it would be described as Sandyballs and Lafayette just going for a drink.)

So....... when Laf turned up at Lewes station with just Froggy in tow the lack of numbers was a little surprising, but not catastrophic.

Paco was off having a device fitted to his heart, Matt was off to Dublin on another holiday, Steve Gorilla was in Calais swatting illegals and the Bish was presumably at home nursing his new cataract-less eyes.

Sandyballs sighed about the lack of NERDS' enthusiasm and Lafayette said he was thirsty already so they all went off to The John Harvey Tavern to drink some weird Harvey's concoction which was very low in alcohol

and was at least brown in colour.

We sat outside in the shade

- it was a riotously hot day, and just the weather for drinking a lot of beer. After the experiment of the crap Harveys beer we graduated to Harveys Best

and felt more at home. Froggy

regaled us with tales of his holidays with His Mate Nick, and when we had had enough of this S, B.

took us on a little tour

of the back end of the Mighty Ouse and we all got a bit lost. 

Suddenly we found ourselves outside Zorbas. a Turkish, not Greek restaurant

where some of us had been before but couldn't remember when. The food was OK but took a long time to arrive since it was cooked in front of us downstairs, and there was a queue of other people waiting to be served.

After this we went round to The Gardeners Arms and sat down a side alley drinking proper Harveys and listening to Froggy telling us of his passionate ambition to hire a music studio and record

all the songs he had ever written.

(Sorry, Froggy, someone else has already written "Ba, ba, Black Sheep,

and you've missed out on the royalties.)

As we were all now getting frizzled

in the afternoon sun,

we decided to call it a day and head our separate ways before death or taxes decimated the NERDS even further.

At least the weather had been good and Froggy had taken a lot of photos of -yes, you've guessed it -of NERDS holding up pint glasses and trying to look as if there were really a large number of us.

So back home we went and the next ramble will be Wednesday the 14th of August. Hope there are still some NERDS alive by then who can make up a quorum.

Bye for now.

Lafayette.