June 2023. Luddesdown, Kent. There’s nothing more joyous in life than BRAPA irritation, so I can only imagine his frustration at having made the perilous journey to rural North Kent to tick the Cock in late August last year, only to find it joined a month later by the Golden Lion. Two trips to Luddesdown… Continue reading THE MILLWALL 2004 FA CUP SHIRT IN AN UPMARKET NORTH KENT VILLAGE PUB
WAITING FOR THE CRAFTY FOX TO OPEN
June 2023. Rochester. We dropped the in-laws off in Greater Tunbridge Wells, after an epic 5 hour trek down M1/M25, and headed to our caravan in Rye. Mrs RM had let the park owners worry about the lettings, and we’ve picked the early and late summer slots. Hopefully that late summer slot will coincide with… Continue reading WAITING FOR THE CRAFTY FOX TO OPEN
BIRTHDAY BOOZE ON A BIG BENCH
June 2023. The last day of the in-laws trip “oop north“, and FIL was allowed to speak in a Yorkshire accent as it was HIS birthday. Mrs RM is 1/37th Italian on the maternal side, which almost entitled her to an EU passport post-Brexit (and a place in the Italian national team after their defeat… Continue reading BIRTHDAY BOOZE ON A BIG BENCH
PROPER PUBS IN GRANTHAM – No. 2 IN A NEAR INFINITE SERIES. THE WHITE SWAN.
June 2023. Grantham. In January I promised you a series on pubs close to the southern Grantham relief road, which probably has a fancier name. That series stretched to just the White Lion before being decommissioned quicker than El Dorado, but it’s sort of back as I stop at Barrowby’s White Swan for no obvious… Continue reading PROPER PUBS IN GRANTHAM – No. 2 IN A NEAR INFINITE SERIES. THE WHITE SWAN.
DAD’S FIRST EGGS ROYALE
June 2023. Newmarket to Isleham. Most weekends now are spent “home” in Waterbeach, waiting for Chung Hwa to open (16:30) and taking Dad out for lunch in exciting villages he sort of remembers and I’ve forgotten. In Newmarket, we got to see the racehorses crossing the road, and I was surprised to learn my Dad… Continue reading DAD’S FIRST EGGS ROYALE
SHEFFIELD BOOM TOWN
2nd June 2023. Sheffield. According to James our city centre is as busy as he’s seen it since he moved up in 2017. When the in-laws had first visited Sheffield 2 years ago for fourteen (14) days they hadn’t seen the city at its very best, with Covid restrictions still in place or tentatively lifted.… Continue reading SHEFFIELD BOOM TOWN
A CULTURAL AND CRAFTY INTERLUDE IN THE NORTH-EAST
June 2023. Gateshead to Durham. We’d exhausted the in-laws in Beamish and Newcastle so had a leisurely cultural day to start June before the 2 hour trip home. Obviously Newcastle-Gateshead had the Bigg Market and the Tuxedo Royale before the millennium saw the Baltic bring culture to Tyneside, but it’s the old flour mills (and… Continue reading A CULTURAL AND CRAFTY INTERLUDE IN THE NORTH-EAST
SHOWING OFF THE CROWN POSADA TO TOURISTS
31st May 2023. Newcastle. Yes, I know I’m not a local. But I can still show off a pub that I know so well, just as I’d give an American a guided tour of the Fat Cat or the City Arms if they asked. Or even if they didn’t. Mrs RM wanted to show her… Continue reading SHOWING OFF THE CROWN POSADA TO TOURISTS
A MIRACLE ON PERCY STREET
31st May 2023. Newcastle. Three GBG ticks down, one left till I could colour in the Tyne & Wear chapter for another year. The problem with having done the whole book is you lose discipline and are much more tempted to wobble off from the Wobbly Duck and get distracted by old favourites on Percy… Continue reading A MIRACLE ON PERCY STREET
A QUICK ESCAPE TO THE WOBBLY DUCK
31st May 2023. Newcastle. You left us in the warm embrace of the Quayside Spoons, with your hero upsetting queuers by standing along the bar and Mrs RM corralling the in-laws to a spare table. And I appreciate “corralling” has certain connotations when applied to a MIL. At 19:02 I’d ordered my tea, a simple… Continue reading A QUICK ESCAPE TO THE WOBBLY DUCK
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