December 2025. Bredbury. Stockport. A flying visit back Home (No. 1) at least gives me chance to do the laundry, discuss viscosity with Will, and get to the final game of the year. The last Saturday before Christmas was always going to put strain on the Sheffield-Manchester-Liverpool rail “service”, especially with...

December 2025. Sheffield. I’ve not much to say about our final stop on Black Eye Friday, but it’s a gorgeous stop, and a favourite of Mrs RM (as long as they don’t say she can’t have a pint of the strong one). She has now told this tale more than the one about me being teetotal when she met me (also true). I go for...

December 2025. Sheffield. Leg 4 (of 5) of my attempt to get to the heart of Black Eye Friday in my own city. But first ! I nip into Marks & Spencer’s, ignoring the lure of Alpine Bar, a Top 100 pub as recently as 2021 but which may lose that status as I need to maintain the integrity of the hundred, as pure a...

December 2025. Sheffield. Will had curated an itinerary for our mini-Sheffield Black Eye Friday crawl. As a southerner, he’d never actually ever heard of Black Eye Friday, but then unlike me he’s not slave to biblically-inspired Christmas rituals like dressing up as Santa and falling over. Pic : Daily Mail (sorry)...

December 2025. Sheffield. Back in Sheffield on Black Eye Friday with just enough time to put the laundry on, open the Christmas cards that will never be reciprocated, and make the sort of arrangements that on Mumsnet would take 3 months. “Fancy a pint Will“. “OK. Bath at 2:30 ish.” “See you there“. As Joe Jackson...

December 2025. Sheffield. I’d left Mrs RM in Rye (Home 3) to keep an eye on her parents while I popped back on the train to check on Dad and Sunnyside (Home 2). But I also needed to make sure our actual home in Sheffield (Home 1) was still standing and pick up post, so it’s a good job that advance Cross Country...

December 2025. Waterbeach. First off, more pics from our artisanal family Christmas Day, “hosted” (ugh) by Mrs RM in a largely empty Sunnyside with the use of a few pots and pans brought back from Rye. That’s a bit like “cuckoo” brewing Bass at Donnington, I guess. Spag Bol and ungrated cheese on Charlie the...

December 2025.Hollowshore. Faversham. You’ll be wanting to know what Christmas traditions we’ve upheld today, so here’s a photo of our traditional 25th December lunch, houmous, Sensations crisps, mango chutney, baguette and some stew Mrs RM knocked up in the slow cooker this morning. Eaten off childrens party plates...

December 2025. Hollowshore, Faversham. Just for Dave, a Christmas Eve post even though I’ve just had 4 pints and a Nepalese curry with my boys. Oddly, there’ll probably be less spelling mistakes than normal. Mrs RM’s actual birthday starts in a luxury Premier Inn with bath that fills up in 2 minutes and nearly...

December 2025. Faversham. Just below the station, red P Walking back from the Sun to Faversham Premier Inn on the eve of Mrs RM’s birthday I suddenly realised we’d taken a different route into town that afternoon and missed its most famous pub. Would she be able to resist the lure of the Elephant on first sight. No....

December 2025. Faversham. Back in Faversham from Herne, and an early tea on Mrs RM’s eve of birthday. The Sun isn’t in the GBG, but it had the most convincing menu, and it pays to treat a girl to somewhere nice, once or twice. Apparently. NOT a heritage pub by CAMRA definition, but 14th century and heavily beamed...

December 2025. Herne Bay. Mrs RM looked unimpressed at the entrance to our Herne Bay GBG debutant micro as it opens on the dot of six, I think she’s hungry after only eating oysters and scampi all day. But it’s big on character and welcome and Locale crisps, and the local beer turns out to be another cask winner...