Herbie Awards–best boat equipment 2015 plus Best Pub Quiz shortlist

Oh dear, I have to decide whether to give the Best Boat Equipment Award to my deck seat box, our Airhead composting loo or the Tachomatic Revmaster.  Marilyn MacDonald argued very persuasively in favour of the box, but in the end I had to listen to Kath’s undeniable logic.  We could live without the box, we could live with another type of loo, but without the Revmaster we would have to keep our hand on the Morse lever all the time we are going along, which would be a real pain.  So the simplest and smallest item gets the cigar.

 

The Award for

Herbie Best Boat Equipment 2015

goes to

The Tachomatic Revmaster

Congratulations go to the Revmaster’s inventor and manufacturer Rick Bunnage C Eng. (Loud applause).  I shall expect a victory speech from him shortly.

Now after all that excitement, on to our next category.  Best Pub Quiz.

We like to have a go at pub quizzes whenever we find one, and whilst we never win a) because there are often only the two of us to make up a team against teams of six, and b) because we are not up to date on the inevitable popular music or soaps round, we always enjoy them.  Our usual aim is not to come last, and we generally achieve that at least.  We have found some really great quizzes near the canal over the years, the one at the Old Barge in Hertford and the fiendishly difficult one at the Brewery Tap in Brentford especially spring to mind.  This year however we haven’t been near either of them so our choices are (in alphabetical order):

1. The Black Horse at Greenford – canalside

Here they have a regularly Thursday night quiz with questions supplied by a professional quiz company.  This is no bad thing because the answers are properly researched and the questions are interesting and surprisingly topical. Sometimes the poor person reading out the questions doesn’t understand what they are reading out, but that just adds to the fun.  As far as I recall, the quiz is free to enter.

2. The Pennsylvanian (Wetherspoons) Rickmansworth – five minutes walk from the visitor moorings

I don’t think many Wetherspoons pubs have quizzes.  This one, which is every Monday, I think runs independently of the company and is led in an entertaining fashion by a transatlantic gentleman of advancing years (no more advanced than mine though) who can get amusingly confused at times.  There are some keen teams, one of which includes our good friend Rainman, inhabitant of that parish.  The questions are often quirky and you have to be good to win.  Happily the selection of topics is not weighted too strongly on popular culture although a round on Soap Opera characters did for us last time.

3. The Wheatsheaf at Crick – five minutes walk fro the visitor moorings

Here they have a weelky Wednesday night quiz and if you arrive early enough you can take advantage of their £5 quiz night meal offer which is always a bargain.  It gets pretty busy so you need to be in early to get a table for your team.  The quiz is always intelligent and entertaining and you have to be good to win, which we don’t because they have a music round aimed rather more at the younger generation (although they do usually play one classical type piece for you to identify).  There is sometimes a large group of youngsters sitting at one table making use of their mobile phones to look up answers, which is funny because they generally come last so no-one bothers.  I think it costs a pound each to enter and even though we don’t win, we usually seem to get some money back at the end.

We have had some fun nights at each of these quizzes.  Find out tomorrow which is best.  If you have a favourite quiz near the canal, then I’d love to hear where it is.