September 2026. Manchester.
Oh, Manchester, but it’s Goldthorpe with so much to answer for, as my post-pint dash through another South Yorkshire mining town ends with a pulled muscle (or something, I’m no medic) at the back of my leg. I really shouldn’t have taken the mick out of Mrs RM’s sporting injury.
So Friday and Saturday were spent in agony, pinking in the new Good Beer Guide but missing out on Leicester CAMRA’s pub crawl.
I’d have skipped Sunday’s City v Sunderland game as well, but frankly there’s no point moping around, and both lads weren’t able to use my season ticket.
Luckily, there’s a bus from our front door to Sheffield station, and then at Piccadilly you can have a tour of Manchester on the FREE Number 1 bus,
but rather than wait for Sinclairs to open I opted to take a (very) early tram to the Etihad.
I got chatting to a New Yorker, over for his first City game as part of a £1,500 hospitality package, which doesn’t even include a pint of Holt.
My whole season only costs £330, and the mobile ticket gives me 10% off the self-serve pint of Asahi Dry (£5.72) I head for as pain relief after an excruciating climb up to Level 3.
which I bring you purely in the interest of scholarly research. You’ll be delighted to know I had to ask a human how the machine worked.
Asahi is the official beer partner for Manchester City, presumably replacing Greenall’s, and is possibly your best option at the Etihad, if not quite a Hobson’s Choice, now that cans of London Pride have been replaced by Hooch.
My “value” season ticket sticks me in a different seat each season, and this year I’m next to a lovely guy called Simon, who shares my love/hate relationship with a 5-3 win against Sunderland best described as “a rollercoaster”.
But I bet that New Yorker thought it was £1,500 well spent.
Sorry about your leg. I got a nasty pain in my knee recently, when all I was doing was sitting down. Luckily it slowly got better in a few days. Couldn’t Asahi offer something from Fullers or isn’t that local enough.
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Well they had London Pride in cans (though you really had to look closely at the screen to see it) but that’s just beenm dropped.
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Select number of drinks, it says. If all that’s on offer is Asahi Super Dry, the correct answer is 0.
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Imagine if it dispensed Draught Bass though !
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Agony has its upside.
I have a gammy right knee ( marathon running arthritis and general wear and tear according to MRI and retired orthopedic consultant brother ) that flares up occasionally.
Currently enduring a real doozy that’s so bad herself spent £3 on a charity shop walking stick to get me up and down the five flights of stairs in the house we’re renovating.
So we flew to Crete last weekend for a late summer break. Arriving at Chania after midnight and among the last to deplane the airport immigration folk whisked ( as much as a raspberry can whisk ) us to the front of the queue and we were through in less than 5 minutes.
Managed a three mile hobble to a long boozy lunch yesterday so signs of improvement.
But I’m so taken with the stick I intend to upgrade it to a Dr John-style voodoo skull-topped cane when I get back.
With another Burlington Bertie one I’ve seen online containing an inner storage capacity for booze to circumvent rules at international test cricket grounds.
Long term plans include a pimping my ride mobility scooter and a Stannah stair lift that plays Stairway to Heaven.
Poor Mrs PPT has her work cut out. Oldest son goes under the knife on Monday after snapping his ACL and meniscus playing cricket and will be moving back home for recovery and rehab. Two patients for the price of one.
Top tip for Martin – Voltarol 2.3% Max Strength gel is crack cocaine for the crocked.
Prof.
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Thanks Prof.
I’ve never had a problem that two pints of Old Peculier in 20 minutes couldn’t solve.
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