I’ve just brought James back from Sheffield.
A 3 year course in Computer Science that started with Morris Men outside the Brown Bear,
ended with a Covid19 wimper. Morris Men or Covid, what’s worse ?
The exams seem to have gone well. James never did get to celebrate with a pint of Cloudwater DIPA in the Crow, his nearest pub. More importantly, neither did I.
With a tutors strike from December and then the virus, the poor lad had hardly left his flat near Kelham to explore the gorgeous industrial and pub heritage, bar the trip to Hillsborough just before Lockdown.
Two hours it took to reach Sheffield (thank you A14), three trips to clear the room of duvets and laptops and half-eaten bags of pasta, then a last look at student Sheffield.
Not as enticing as the view from the Premier Inn.
As we left, the maintenance man for the flats stopped me in my tracks.
“You should be proud of the lad, he’s been amazing”. I was moved, almost to tears.
The last few months have been very tough for students, as well as maintenance men and shop workers, but resilience is a hard-won life skill.
I’d brought my beer bag to get a gallon of Pale Rider from Kelham Island,
but I didn’t fancy hanging around till opening, and Mrs RM wouldn’t wait.
But no doubt we’ll be back, and this time he can buy me a pint in the Fat Cat.
retiredmartin 
Great comment about your son. Maintenance people see what we really are about.
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As the Crow used to be the Old Crown, I assume the N is a nod to that. Well done to James.
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Good detective work Duncan.
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How sad he had to leave with a whimper rather than a bang -hopefully you will get to go to a graduation ceremony at some time (?) one of the most boring events I have ever been to -the most amusing thing for us was seeing the lads mortar board being moved from the back of his head to the correct position ,by a lady obviously in charge of graduate apparel. As I have mentioned before -this event was followed by a splendid pub crawl’
By the way -being a bit of a Folkie,I quite like watching Morris men !
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I was joking about the Morris men, always good blog fodder.
Neither the lad, Mrs RM or I would miss the graduation ceremony I suspect, but it’s the night out in Sheffield with mates he missed that I regret.
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The Morris Man is my nearest pub.
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Lovely words to hear for a dad. Must be genetic. 😉
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Ever since this pandemic began I’ve felt it’s the young people who are bearing the brunt of its effects as far as closings/cancellations go. For me it amounts to minor inconveniences, for them is it life milestones they’ve been robbed of. But I suppose they will forevermore have a unique bond with people of their own age– the generation that went through all of this together, one that other generations won’t fully understand.
That said, I hope James has taken it all in his stride. Here’s to the day he buys you a pint in the Fat Cat!
That photo of The Queens Hotel made me a bit sad. At that stage I imagine the building is headed for the wrecking ball. No doubt an impressive building in its prime!
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I’ve been living in Sheffield for nearly 23 years and the Queens Hotel has looked like that for all of that time.
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I was just saying that to Mark ! Was it Millwall fans ?
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OK, maybe not including the trees growing out of the front….
That looks like today’s weather in the Queens Hotel photo, Martin. Hope it’s improved by the time of the graduation ceremony.
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That was lunchtime’s weather mate. Of course the sun was shining back in Cambridge by 3 !
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I feel for the young folk in this mess. Not so much because they miss out on proms or balls or parties, but because they’re losing the youth that half the music ever made is written about ! I can’t imagine being virtually confined to my room for 6 months at 20.
The Queen’s Head has looked like that for years, but there’s loads of classics nearby. Yes, he owes me a pint in the Fat Cat !
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I agree about the youngsters at this time -my lad has just moved back to London (Holloway ) ,is paying an absolute fortune in rent & was looking forward to enjoying the delights of the big city after a year in bucolic Kent.He sent us photos of the fancy pubs that he was hoping to enjoy with his new girl friend.Instead they have been stuck indoors for weeks with no garden to enjoy & now they are heading back to work in Mayfair & are too scared to use the tube to get to work so they will walk -4 miles each way.It breaks my heart -they should be living the life -so sad.On the plus side -he has made some pork pies & declared them delicious
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“they should be living the life” – yes, as we know once you reach 25 it’s all downhill. Hope things work out for your lad, certainly a good test of relationships.
NB I’d buy one of his pork pies if they’re that good.
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