A valentine's visit to The Boot at Bledlow Ridge

23:30

This was our first visit the The Boot at Bledlow Ridge and was arranged by Martin, a local resident and MBAC regular. The Boot has re-opened after being purchased by villagers and has had a fair amount of publicity.

There were too many of us for the bar area, so we set up in the restaurant area which was also populated by some drinkers and a few groups of diners. The group of diners closest to us were clearly celebrating something and stayed all evening, getting louder as it went on. This didn't make for ideal conditions.

We had a surprise visit from Bob Newell whose style is better suited than most to a noisier pub. His first song was Christy Moore's powerful Ordinary Man, written in the 80s but all too relevant these days.  He later sang the less known Brooklyn, Brooklyn Take Me In by the Avett Brothers.

As this was the closest Wednesday to Valentine's Day, Rosie and I dug out the usual My Funny Valentine, plus  Tom Waits' Blue Valentine (which is nothing to do with the feature film currently doing the rounds). Other similarly-themed songs were:

  • Karen: The Call and The Answer
  • Stuart and Delia: The Keys of Canterbury (AKA Blue Muslin)
  • Delia: If I Were A Blackbird
  • Martin: Elton John's Your Song, Tim Hardin's Reason to Believe, James Taylor's Fire and Rain
We also heard:
  • Dick: Bring Us a Barrel, She Loved a Portuguese, Twas On an April Morning
  • Karen; Follow the Heron Home
  • Karen and Steve: Those Were The Days
  • Stuart and Delia: Lindisfarne
  • Stuart: Truro Agricultural Show
  • Terry: Tom Lehrer's When You Were Old and Grey, Clive James & Pete Aitken's Biro I Could Borrow, Where the Blues are Found
  • Richard: Bold Riley, Give Me Your Hand, Ramble Away
  • Rosie and me: Am jigs, Tehans Favourite, Maggie in the Woods
  • Fred: Stackridge's Clear Cut Case of Tennis Elbow, Polska for Delerna and, to finish the evening, The Herring's Head
  • Simon: List for a Sailor, I Live This Life
  • John: Mae West's Bust (to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic
It's been suggested that, for our next visit to The Boot, I should set up a minimal PA and run the evening a biy more like an Open Mic. Please comment below to let me know your thoughts.  

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