YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FRIENDS. NOW, MORE THAN EVER

December 2025. Waterbeach.

I forgot this photo last time, Dale’s Brewery converted to Hot Numbers coffee shop, one of Cambridge’s premier meeting points for folk who don’t pub.

While in Waterbeach we invited Curry Charles and Julia (not sure of her prefix) over from Dereham for a curry at the Nepalese pub that has turned a Fen Edge village into the dining capital of the UK, and I’m not even joking.

Despite only 24 hours notice and life in rural Norfolk being a social whirl they came bearing gifts from Scotland; shortbread and a can of Tempest from Tweedbank, a Borders town where Mrs RM once fixed council IT systems and returned duff cask.

“Don’t drink it all at once” urged Charles, somehow forseeing that Mrs RM would drink a half litre of 10% impy stout on the very day I needed her to collect me from Rye station.

Over Chicken Rum Rum and superb Landlord we chatted about parents, and politics, anything except pints.

It was good to catch-up, and hopefully we’ll be back in Dereham soon enough. Charles is pretty much my last link with the NHS.

You should always keep in touch with your friends, and that includes my Dad, who would I’m sure be happy about the pristine condition I’m keeping Sunnyside in on my weekly visits.

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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 “YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FRIENDS. NOW, MORE THAN EVER”

  1. I’m in The Land Of The Autovacs but your post inspired me to search for Nepalese dining. I found just one within range.

    For said reason I’m enjoying a pint of Heineken. It’s rather good, without the slightest hint of vinegar, diacetyl, or honey, and the lacings are respectable. However, so far it has failed to refresh the parts that other beers have reached perhaps too often.

    But the night is still young…

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    1. Etu, I’m very lucky not only to have possibly the best Nepalese dining this side of Asia just a three minute walk away but also to be able to wash it down with not Heineken but probably Stafford’s best kept Doom Bar.

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      2. Etu, But Glucosamine for 8½ years has worked wonders with my knees and my mobility has greatly improved. And Stockport Peter had noticed the benefits after I recommended it to him.

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  4. “at the Nepalese pub that has turned a Fen Edge village into the dining capital of the UK, and I’m not even joking.”

    You? Joke? Hah!

    “a Borders town where Mrs RM once fixed council IT systems and returned duff cask.”

    I was of the opinion that that happened everywhere Mrs RM went!

    ““Don’t drink it all at once” urged Charles, somehow forseeing that Mrs RM would drink a half litre of 10% impy stout on the very day I needed her to collect me from Rye station.”

    Mrs RM is well known it seems.

    “It was good to catch-up”

    No truer words…

    “Charles is pretty much my last link with the NHS.”

    You’re not going private are you?

    “You should always keep in touch with your friends,”

    Ayup.

    “and that includes my Dad, who would I’m sure about the pristine condition I’m keeping Sunnyside in on my weekly visits.”

    Twice ayup for your Dad!

    And, apologies for this bit but, I think there’s a word (or two?) missing between ‘sure’ and ‘about’.

    As for keeping Sunnyside in pristine condition… (sigh).

    Cheers

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    1. Don’t apologise about correcting me Russ !

      I’m revisiting all my posts from the start to add tags to photos and generally tidy up and I’m still finding errors in posts I’ve read 3 times !

      I think I was struggling with that last paragraph about Sunnyside, and had to finish it in about 20 seconds (using rail WiFi) as the train pulled into St Pancras yesterday lunchtime. Did I mention the way folk don’t get up and off trains, just sit there reading their book ?

      Anyway, fixed it. And thanks.

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      1. I only apologised as it was about your ancestral home and figured you were either struggling or in a rush. I shall continue to snipe from the sidelines as it were.

        As for folk on trains; I wish they’d do that on planes!

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      2. I have no affection at all for family homes or similar, Russ ! My only non-human affection is for my family (of teddy bears).

        I do take the accuracy of posts seriously. Typically I’ll read it once, publish it, then re-read it as it appears on publication for things I’ve missed. Writing and publishing on the move to take advantage of WiFi is tricky.

        At some point I might do a piece about blogging but I seem to have at least a dozen pieces in the bank now after a busy week, which is what I want !

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      3. “At some point I might do a piece about blogging but I seem to have at least a dozen pieces in the bank now after a busy week, which is what I want !”

        Phew! Busy lad.

        And so noted on the home thingy. Just trying not to stir the emotional pot, as it were.

        Cheers

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  5. In Tempest territory I had Nepalese food cooked by a three times Everest climber at the Cross Keys in Denholm, near Hawick. Beer was decent as it was at the nearby Fox and Hounds. As it was the day of the Hawick Revels, we (as Englishmen) were lucky to hold on to our lives. My night ended drinking the traditional Revels Rum and Milk with the locals. Some of the best cask on a week’s walking in the Borders but I don’t think either pub graced the GBG?

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