10th March 2023.
Mum and Dad are always surprised when I tell them Sheffield’s weather is generally much the same as their own in Waterbeach.
In fact, S6 seems to have the better of it at the moment;
But as I arrived home last Thursday it was clear we weren’t escaping the snow.
I was supposed to take Mrs RM’s car (it’s white, detail fans) to get a service but I couldn’t have got out the drive, so was confined to the kitchen making lunch out of leftovers (Balti bombay mix and houmous, mainly).
Anyone who’s met me will know I detest being confined inside. Since completing the Guide there’s not quite the same anguish about being unable to tick, but a day without something new is still a day wasted in my book.
By 4pm I was climbing the walls, just like in my 9 year old dreams when I was a Spiderman obsessive.
Mrs RM was on a video call with the French, so I nipped out to the Blind Monkey.
Just a quick pint.
Oh well, best laid plans. I got talking to the manager who’d walked the last 2 miles through the snow to open up early. A true hero.
He gets to choose his own soundtrack, and a marvellously eclectic soundtrack it is.
We liked the look of the Blind Monkey when we came house hunting in the summer of 2020, an attractive pub with cosy corners, an ever-changing and varied crowd, and the best music in a pub anywhere.
But it’s the cask quality that’s most surprised me; this is a pub that’s gone from averaging NBSS 3+ to NBSS 3.5+ over the last year or so, and the Southworths will know what a huge difference that is.
Tonight it was the Don Valley Blonde that persuaded me to stay for a second third, washing down the pork scratchings with Tiramisu Porter chilli jam.
A group of lads came in for football and lager, it’s not a “CAMRA” pub, which makes its GBG debut even more welcoming.
In truth, I should have had a couple and left. But they followed up Lou Reed and Hefner with Escape (the Pina Colada song),
and honestly, I can’t say fairer than that.
I ordered Mrs RM her veggie pizza to take away, but didn’t invite her to slide up the hill to join me. She was a bit cross.
retiredmartin 
All the cars look white there tbh …😉
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Well spotted Matthew.
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That’s quite a heavy fall of snow there, Martin. We escaped this time around, although we did see a few flakes in Cologne, last week.
Not a bad philosophy, wanting to experience something new each day, but if you apply it too rigidly you will either beat yourself up for not achieving it, or will end up doing something you perhaps didn’t really want to, just for the sake of it.
Enjoy what you already have, and be grateful for it, but also keep an eye out for new opportunities and experiences.
That’s enough philosophy for now, I’ve got several articles to write, about my visit to the Rhineland, but am having difficulties deciding, where to start.
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Looking forward to the Lommie (?) Write-up Paul.
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Saving the best for last Martin, but spoiler alert, Lommerzheim was rammed. It is also, definitely a real community pub.
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That day you had more snow on the ground than we did. How long did that slow the city down? You don’t have a huge plowing system I would imagine.
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The whole of the Friday; back to normal by Saturday. There was a warning not to travel unless necessary that Friday.
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Wow! Christine can slide up hill in the snow? That beats Spiderman’s superpower hands down. Can’t imagine why you didn’t invite her to join you. No wonder she was cross…
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She can do ANYTHING as long as there’s a pint at the end, Will.
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I must be getting old if I can hardly tell scratchings packets from pumpclips.
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