I was going to do a post on Scunthorpe tonight, but I ran out of enthusiasm. Sorry. So here’s one about the Lockdown.
Tomorrow marks a month since my last pub. Hopefully not EVER.
Only one bottle of Doom Bar (purely for research purposes) in all that time, despite some bloke on Twitter trying to shame me into drinking homebrew on my sofa.
Everyone will be affected differently by the lockdown. Mentally I seem fine, “very calm” says Mrs RM, but my body seems to have turned to lethargy to compensate.
I can eat well (the Chinese takeaway closed straightaway), pound the exercise bike, and do the prescribed one hour drudge round the village, but it’s not enough when I’m used to constant travel and new sights. The mind definitely drives the body.
Even a trip to Milton Tesco is a treat.
Sadly, the queue of trollies stretched back to the petrol station. So I added my allowed hour walk to the allowed shopping and headed to the much quieter Co-op near Cambridge Science Park.
I took the pedestrian route past a deserted Cambridge North Station, its masterplan for flagship Sam Smiths to anchor the site development possibly interrupted by events.
The Co-op has a nice one way route to help social distancing, but there were only 3 people in anyway, and I was able to buy all the things on Mrs RM’s list, plus pudding, in 10 minutes (top). No idea what sort of cake you make with bleach.
No traffic on the A10, giving a clear view to the Golden Hind, perhaps the finest of the Tolly Follies.
A successful but dull 59 minutes walk, though its nice to see nature reclaiming the streets near the row of solicitors and accountants near Milton sewage works.
Now I know how hunter gatherers felt before pubs were invented.
retiredmartin 
As Dr Johnson nearly said: “Sir, when a man is tired of Scunthorpe, he is tired of life; for there is in Scunthorpe all that life can afford.”
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Er, think you’ll find that was about Swindon.
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That’s a pub and a half, Martin. No wonder such places were described as Tolly Follies – the company must have blown all their profits on over-elaborate buildings!
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I suspect that Boak & Bailey covered these higher quality pubs in their excellent book 20th century pub.
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I’m pretty certain the dynamic duo did cover these extravagant hostelries. I will take a look later – after all I’ve got all the time in the world! 😀
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There are several surviving in Ipswich, including the Cricketers which is now a Wetherspoon’s.
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The Cambridge one had a makeover 5 years ago that turned it from “Hungry Horse” in style to something more upmarket, but less popular.
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Indeed so,4 of them are still pubs,1 was converted into housing and 1 was demolished, for flats.
Never been to the one in Cambridge so I cant comment if it’s the finest example,but I remember the interior pictures did look like it retained most of the original character,whilst alot of the Ipswich ones,even the Cricketers which is arguably the grandest exterior of them in Ipswich,have been extensively remodeled inside.
I’ll have to get Boak & Baileys book to see what they say about them
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I’ve made the point before that these monumental 1930s pubs, while created with noble intentions, were never really the success that was hoped for. And, even where the buildings survive, inside they’re often pretty indifferent pubs.
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I await your thoughts on the town of my birth with bated breath!
I must admit, being cooped up isn’t so bad for me…it isn’t that much different from my normal life! I calculated that in an average week, I spent 70% of it in what is now known as ‘self-isolation’! But even I am missing the inalienable right of every Englishman to freely travel the highways and byways of this land. Who’d have believed that what we thought was a right is just a privilege that can be taken away so easily!
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Please do a post on Scunthorpe. Whilst it is a complete shit tip of the highest order, it will be a wonderful opportunity to gloat at the recent reserve team Premier Cup fixture. The steelworks tour is also one of the most outrageous activites available on this planet, which every person alive should partake in. Sadly I am barred from putting the photographs on Twatter, but they are available under the counter as it were on request.
I deliberately made sure that my last pub was one I would be happy to be my last ever, just in case. The week of inevitability allowed that to be rigged.
I also am completely lethargic. I need to get out there, explore places like you. I have a scheme in progress to escape, I hope it helps as the wonder of cooking different things won’t last forever.
Are the Cambridgeshire Co-op as evil as the Lincolnshire one?
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Lethargy IS the word. If I get out of bed I’ll only sit on the sofa or get in Mrs RM’s way.
Nothing in Cambridgeshire could be as bad as anything in Lincolnshire .
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Oh dear, Martin. You say “only sit on the sofa” as if it were a bad thing.
Tsk.
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