Quick stopover at Guildford

Time to head for Finland for a bit of Santa Claus and proper winter then (yes, it had actually snowed in Finland, which is a nice change after a rather dreary snow-less Christmas last year). Getting a flight to Finland turned out to be rather tricky this time around, all the flight options leaving on the 23rd were ridiculously expensive. Except one - a BA deal which meant an overnight stay at Heathrow.

Instead of slumming it at Heathrow, I decided to take up Nick on his offer and crash at his place in Guildford, my dear old hometown from my years in Old Blighty. And well, since I didn't arrive too late, we to meet up with Phil for a couple of pints before hitting bed.

We started off with what used to be one of my local pubs, the Drummond on Woodbridge Road. Pretty much unchanged from the last time I'd been there, the beer was still good. From there we carried on to the town centre, hopeful for an open place. Alas, 'twas not to be, even the usually reliable Fahrenhait 55 didn't want to let us in (too busy, apparently). The next challenge - where to get some food !? Mission impossible - we couldn't even get a kebab.

Thankfully, my second local pub, the Stoke, which we passed on the way back to Nick's place, was still open. So time for one last pint there then, as well as a  nutritious peanuts & crisps "dinner"...  (obviously they had stopped serving food).

Ah, it was a short but such sweet visit to my old home town - seems to still be pretty much as I remember it, at least by night ;-)