After an early finish from work yesterday I took the scenic route from Darlington to Northallerton, and for once got there in good time to start the pub ride.
It was still blinkin' cold but dry and with a hint of sun. As we left Northallerton there was a beautiful sunset but I'd have had to take my gloves off to photograph it, so I didn't bother.
It was just me, Tiermat and Deano after LG discovered at the last minute that she had to work, although she did come to the pub later, just in time to have some fajitas.
I didn't like the Farmers Arms in Scorton the first time I went, because they served me Diet Coke out of a bottle, and it was flat. The others seem to like it because they do Copper Dragon, although as of last night, they don't anymore. It's been replaced with IPA, whatever the hell that is.
The last few times we've been, we've been attending the pub quiz, and doing quite well. We've even got a team name (The Red Light Jumpers). Last time we finished 2nd and the time before that 4th I think. We're usually miles ahead of some of the teams, but a little way behind one team in particular, although there is about 7 of them, and they're much older than us, so at an advantage for a lot of the questions.
Different people set the quiz each time, and to be honest I don't usually contribute much, because a lot of the questions are about stuff I don't know. Often LG, Deano and Tiermat supply the majority of answers and I just thrown the odd one in there.
Then last night, the quiz must have been set by someone who is about on the same level as me, because there were loads of movie questions and questions about things that were on TV between 1974 and 1989. Usually the questions seem to be about Thomas Hardy novels, or gemstones, or types of wildflowers, but last night it was all Cagney and Lacey, Alias Smith and Jones and the Sweeney. There was also an entire section on westerns, which I was surprisingly good at (well, there wasn't much else to do on Sundays in the 70s).
Anyway, I wasn't that great because we only finished 4th. I thought they'd made a mistake with the maths and I was going to ask for a recount to take us into second place, but then I found out they take a point off your overall score for each team member. So our score of 79 and a half had been reduced to 76 and a half. Luckily they didn't knock a point off for LG, but then she did arrive late.
It was just as well the compere, who was surprisingly drunker on the recorded segments than on the live bits, explained the rules to us before we left, because I was getting worried we were being sidelined by the locals for being too good. In fact, they don't seem to mind too much a regular invasion of cyclists from out of town. I expect our money is as good as anyone else's.
Another thing about the quiz is, it goes on for absolutely hours. There's about 27 rounds and even a round to do during the break from the other rounds. But even so, it was a good night. And we all had fajitas, except for Tiermat, who had fish.
