COLD BLOODED IN CAMBRIDGE

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On a whim, we decided to observe how Cambridge was observing Lockdown in Cambridge yesterday.

To be honest, I got to the Barton junction on the M11 and couldn’t think of anywhere south I wanted to go, so figured the colleges were worth a look, now most of the pesky students have gone home.

Pint Shop
Very green

My secret free parking spot on the A603 (cunningly marked with a blue P) allowed Mrs RM and I to walk round the back of the Backs.  Look for the red dragon attached on the railings near Wolfson.

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I shall call him Simon

The walk takes you past Selwyn and Newnham,

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Selwyn
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Newnham
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Oh, go on, you know this one

as well as the £ million houses of numerous Geoffs and Marys.

With no lovely Japanese tourists (I miss them), and no May Balls,

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Letting their hair down

the University quarter (also known as the place where learner drivers do their disastrous 3 point turns) is serene.  Because we live in Cambridge, we rarely visit the colleges.

This was the scene on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

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Maths
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Canoes

No punts, just a few canoeists reclaiming the Cam, and a few pubs reclaiming the tourist pound.

Well done The Mill, Brew Dog and Pint Shop, among others.  Stand in queue, pay at one window, collect sealed container at the other, drink.

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The Mill

The Mill is a corker, with the best informal beer garden for miles.  Mrs RM got her tape measure out to ensure 2m distancing.

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Shame about horrendous ’60s car park

Into town past the closed Greene King pubs that would normally be rammed, past the Cambridge flagship of the UK’s largest independent brewery,

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Spot the Dog

While Mrs RM did the hard yards of polishing off pistachio ice cream from Aromi, I joined the queue of Essex families at the makeshift Pint Shop counter.

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Hand wash murk only on sale in 10ml

Now, the Pint Shop has been a rare treat since it brought its polite craft, lovely staff, exaggerated conversations and addictive warm scotch eggs to the market place.

But £6.50 for a litre of Siren’s Cold Blooded Stout ?  Mrs RM is worth that, surely ?

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No cask there I think so don’t expect a GBG tick

Yes, she is.  And the scotch egg.

We ate it by the pond, and almost felt normal.

 

 

 

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

12 thoughts on “COLD BLOODED IN CAMBRIDGE”

  1. “I shall call him Simon” –I wish you could have heard my audible laughter, rather than simply reading this comment: lol.

    I am glad that you miss the Japanese tourists. I can say as someone married to a Japanese person that they really are among the world’s most kind-hearted people, and would be deeply distressed to hear of any Japanese tourists out there making a bad impression on anyone. 😉

    I Googled to see how many pints are in a litre, and it said around 1.75, and then I thought I should calculate how much £6.50 is in US dollars, at which point I gave up.

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    1. I meant to say Japanese and Chinese and Korean, but I guess Japanese make up half the tourists normally. Lovely visitors, even if they don’t always go in the rights pubs ;-0

      There were a few Italian visitors about, busiest I’ve seen Cambridge for a while, though just a few takeaway options t the market.

      £6.50 is about $8, though we stingy Limeys don’t tip of course. I guess you’d pay double in Michigan, and I’d pay double drinking inside the Pint Pot, which is Cambridge’s most expensive pub.

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      1. There was a Japanese guy attempting to go have a Guinness at every last pub in Dublin (or some such challenge). I wonder if he’s still at it; shudder to think of some of the lowest level places he’s had to go to. Makes the GBG challenge seem eminently sensible by comparison. 😉

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    2. The company I work for Mark, is Japanese owned. We maintain close links with our parent company and currently have three Japanese nationals working with us. I was also fortunate to have visited Japan seven years ago.

      Lovely people to work for and socialise with.

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      1. Mrs RM had planned to travel in Japan this summer. I hope to be able to go with her at some point in the future.

        NB “Strange Weather in Tokyo” is a great read, lots of drinking references. Might even be Mark who recommended it to me 😉

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  4. Martin, rather like you and Mrs RM, we have several well-known historic buildings and stately piles within a short distance of where we live. Mrs PBT’s might have visited one or two, in her youth, but I have never visited the likes of Chartwell, Knowle House, Penshurst Place or Hever Castle. I have walked through the grounds of some of these places, though.

    It’s true that we often tend to ignore what’s right in front of us, in our quest for the new, or the different.

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