SHEFFIELD’S CASTLEGATE

November 2025. Rye. Waterbeach. Sheffield.

While Mrs RM stays down in Rye Harbour till Christmas I’m doing the Rye-Waterbeach-Sheffield trudge (all by rail thankfully),

checking on parents and children and cottages. Might even get the occasional pub/gig/City game/Chinese takeaway in, if I remember where I am.

I seem to be keeping Chung Hwa in business single-handedly these days.

No idea why I veered from the traditional squid to sweet and sour chicken balls; they’re not very good for you. Never stopped me.

Healthy starts to the day aren’t easy in Waterbeach, so here’s Boswell’s bacon sarnie waiting for the connection to Ely.

Three hours later I’m “home”, to check the house, pick up Dad’s letters, have tea with the eldest and take in a gig at Sheffield’s most unprepossessing venue.

That’s Castlegate from my drone.

While central Sheffield goes all shiny with a new Thornbridge, giant food court and 3 level Korean supermarket the historic castle quarter has fared less well, losing its indoor market, Kommune food court, pubs and Wilko.

But the much maligned Sheffield council are gloriously ambitious, “deculverting” the river Sheaf, encourage proper art,

and restoring the castle site to a city park.

I hope none of these “latest discoveries” scupper the project, as we know it only takes the discovery of a ferret burrow in Coleshill to derail HS2.

My gig tonight is in the Delicious Clam, near an off-licence where I bought Richard Coldwell a can of Stones in 2017. He wasn’t grateful.

More of the Clam later, as I walk up the hills to RM Towers to put the washing on, checking (thrice) to make sure I don’t leave my return tickets in the wash.

Yes, those are all the tickets I had to physically print out for my last 3 days travel.

The sooner we’re all AI the better.

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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.

19 thoughts on “SHEFFIELD’S CASTLEGATE”

      1. Yes, developers are even allowed – nay, encouraged it seems – to knock down attractive, functioning buildings to put up the damned things there.
        Great if you like shady, very windy streets…

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    1. You can’t beat a physical rail ticket Scott, especially when your internet connection goes down, your phone battery is dead, your phone is mislaid, or worse still stolen. Also when, like Martin, you’re buying tickets in advanced, as I have done recently for my trip to Topsham, it’s far better to have a proper paper ticket, than faffing about on your mobile.

      I suspect you’re like my son, and do everything on your phone, including paying for stuff at the checkout. Remember, there’s no substitute for cash, and it’s still king in many quarters.

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      1. If I just buy a return to London it comes as a mobile ticket. Once you want a Travelcard it has to come as a paper ticket which the barriers at Kings Cross won’t recognise.

        I much prefer mobile.

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      5. Yes, and you seem to get given a reservation which forces you to have a paper ticket if you type in possible train times when you’re buying an off-peak return and don’t have to take those exact times.

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    2. I have bought fifty-something rail tickets, from £3.10 to £42.25, so far this year and all have been proper printed ones from a Ticket Office.

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      4. Just think, if no one had bothered with “progress”, and ignored social media etc., then we wouldn’t have the likes of Zuckerberg and Musk making unwelcome headlines every other day…

        …but it seems that a lot of people can’t get enough of it.

        I’ve not, as yet, used a self-service checkout…

        (These robotaxis – if they have AI voices – look like they’ll be far more bigoted than even London cabbies ever were too.)

        Liked by 1 person

  3. “While Mrs RM stays down in Rye Harbour till Christmas I’m doing the Rye-Waterbeach-Sheffield trudge (all by rail thankfully),”

    Thankfully indeed. I couldn’t imagine doing that by car for the whole time.

    “checking on parents and children and cottages.”

    Cottages, ayup; you and Mrs RM and going to need some sort of hideaway after all of this is over.
    (I’m still waiting for our tax people over here to give me the ‘all clear’ for my Mom’s estate) 😒

    “Might even get the occasional pub/gig/City game/Chinese takeaway in, if I remember where I am.”

    Hint of the day; your phone has GPS.

    “I seem to be keeping Chung Hwa in business single-handedly these days.”

    I was doing the same for small craft brewers here on Vancouver Island. Our (provincial) government yoiks went on strike for two months, and every liquor store in the province has to purchase their liquor from the government warehouse… which was on strike. (grrrr)
    (the strike is over now… yay!)

    “No idea why I veered from the traditional squid to sweet and sour chicken balls; they’re not very good for you. Never stopped me.”

    Agreed! Especially as we get along in years. ‘Enjoy the journey’ is now my motto, or one of them at least.

    “so here’s Boswell’s bacon sarnie waiting for the connection to Ely.”

    I finally looked up the meaning of ‘sarnie’. Phew! I’d been thinking all along that is was slang for sardine!

    “That’s Castlegate from my drone.”

    Wait. You have your own drone?

    “the historic castle quarter has fared less well, losing its indoor market, Kommune food court, pubs and Wilko.”

    They just did an article over here about the big shopping malls that have slowly faded away. 🫤

    “I hope none of these “latest discoveries” scupper the project, as we know it only takes the discovery of a ferret burrow in Coleshill to derail HS2.”

    Pfft. They just haven’t skimmed enough ‘baksheesh’ from the project yet.

    “near an off-licence where I bought Richard Coldwell a can of Stones in 2017. He wasn’t grateful.”

    That’s probably because it was a can of real stones, and not the name of a beer.

    “checking (thrice) to make sure I don’t leave my return tickets in the wash.”

    (slow golf clap)

    “Yes, those are all the tickets I had to physically print out for my last 3 days travel.”

    Blimey. Definitely pros and cons as to whether paper beats hiding the tickets in your phone somewhere.

    “The sooner we’re all AI the better.”

    I fear when that does happen, we’ll all be in the Matrix.

    Cheers

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    1. How do you know you’re not in the matrix, Russ ? (Not that I’ve ever watched the films).

      What is your legal process like for probate etc ?

      Sort of serious about not knowing where I am, particularly at night when you wake up and don’t know where the toilet is and it’s dark.

      Cheers

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      1. “particularly at night when you wake up and don’t know where the toilet is and it’s dark” reminds me of the time before en-suite, a few of us staying in a Welsh pub for a walking weekend and a loud clattering after one of us mistook the large wardrobe door for the proper bedroom door. Oh, how we all laughed the next day !

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      2. As for the Matrix, pfft! Once you’ve seen the movie(s) you can’t unsee what’s around you!
        (think conspiracy theories but with lots more tinfoil and x-ray glasses)

        Probate, hmm. Over here it falls under provincial jurisdiction, not federal. Some provinces are better than others, or so they say. I prepped pretty well. I was on my Mom’s bank accounts (over here, if more than one person is on a bank account, the death of one member just means it goes to the others on the account. No being frozen for probate or whatnot). I had heard horror stories about having the house tied up in probate so I avoided that by putting my name on thru a lawyer. Probate was still a pain, but not as bad as it could have been. Due to Covid it wasn’t until 2022 that that got sorted out, but it only involved about $150,000 in my Mom’s Registered Retirement Plan (the bank refused to NOT have it go thru probate). So for me, it went pretty well. Not a lot of involvement during the process and just had to wait to see what the Powers That Be took as their cut, and taking a bit longer due to Covid. What burns my ar$e is dealing with the Revenuers or whatever they’re called over there. They’re still working from home (hah!) and taking their sweet time in giving the all clear to disperse the funds without any worry of them coming back for more.

        As for the not knowing where you are, sorry to hear that. But you’re flitting about like a bloody gadfly! Some ‘serious’ downtime is definitely needed after all of this is done. 😏

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