April 2026. Sheffield.
Something very heavy on the brain seemed to lift after Dad’s house sale completed, though we’ll still be popping down to Waterbeach to see him, no longer needing to sleep in an empty Sunnyside.
Mrs RM presses on with her blog, inbetween planning Spring trips to Armenia (there may only be enough fuel to fly to Andover by then), but I did coax her out on a bus trip around the western suburbs of Sheffield on Tuesday.
There are three (3) certainties with bus travel.
1. You will be told off by the driver for using the wrong bus stop
10 minutes down the hill from the Blind Monkey to Upperthorpe, we stand at the stop marked Addy Street/Shipton Street waiting for the 10A,
and find a driver gently chiding us for being a stop apparently only used by schools.
2. The bus will be late, but you know that.
3. You’ll feel sick after 12 minutes (see also : Wetherby) and consider getting off and walking from Banner Cross.
Oh, a 4th. The bus will unexpectedly stop randomly for 2 minutes so the driver can have their statutory fag break.
Still, we get off yards from the Broadfield, the southernmost Sheffield GBG entry, and starting point for a picturesque walk along Abbeydale Road.
A walk we never make, and I can’t really blame Mrs RM for that, as the Broadfield proved hard to leave.
Surprisingly quiet on Tuesday lunchtime,
but having lately only been when the smell of boiled cabbage pervaded on Sunday lunchtimes it was good to get the unsullied “artisanal boozer” experience.
It’s not a pub that comes to mind when you think “top Sheffield cask“, but the Blue Bee (4) and Acorn (3.5) were immaculate, cool and chewy, despite being the first poured.
So immaculate that we almost got the Monopoly board down and camped out.
But you’ll know that both of us would cheat.
Mrs RM said “same again, obviously“, I tried the 8% Cloudwater,
and succumbed to the snack menu.
The sausage rolls were still being prepared, but the bhaji and fries combo was one of the best pub snacks I’ve had, anywhere.
Meanwhile, Mrs RM had succumbed to the late 80s pop soundtrack. Deacon Blue, Texas, Beautiful South.
“I’ll bet it’s the Lighthouse Family next“.
It WAS the Lighthouse Family.
retiredmartin 
I agree about your comments on bus travel although I have never heard of a bus stop just for schools.
If the bus isn’t late it is early so you miss it.
I have never felt sick on a bus but I did feel queasy on a holiday coach transfer many years ago.
There is also the stop to change the driver. This takes an extended time as they have to discuss all the problems on the route and the problems with the bus.
There is also the possibility that the bus breaks down leading to more grief.
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You’ve never felt sick on the bus !
Were you asleep ?
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Only asleep after too many beers.
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Well, being as we’m discussing buzzes I should mention that TOMORROW marks the centenary of Birmingham’s 11, clockwise and anti-clockwise, “outer circle” route, It has more than 260 bus stops and can take up to three hours to complete but has forty pubs along the route so might be worth considering for a day out.
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I caught my school bus from a schools-only pick up (unsigned) for years.
The Local Bus (for local people) round Yorkshire villages to Leeds stopped at Cleckheaton for the driver to have his packed lunch and then get a new driver for “The Rough Places”…
It took three hours to do thirteen miles. The driver didn’t know what to charge us “because no one has ever gone to Leeds from here before”…
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You got your beer in a Proper Glass.
“We are Marketing Creatives. Look upon our work and weep”
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I’m intrigued. Romilly? Anything must be better than thin tall glasses that some breweries insist on, but no one asked for this.
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