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Post by Col ISIHAC. on May 24, 2010 11:40:14 GMT
Well. I got to spend an evening with AmberSal - which is a splendid thing in itself as you may well know - but we spent it in Cambridge! I have known Sal for a number of years, longer that TT has been around but exactly how many is a mystery I have spent a number of days, evenings, weekends and events in her company but this was different somehow. Sal is a lovely, wonderfully intelligent and witty lady who, like most of us is at her best when life is treating her well. Cambridge was her idea. Cambridge is a beautiful city; undeniably so. But away from the city centre and armed with the GBG the place has some of the finest pubs I have been to ANYWHERE! Good, traditional alehouses - we are talking between 5 & 9 pumps and generally offering beers I have never tried before so these places are the champions of micro-brewers across 5 counties. Unspoilt, no loud noises; no TV in most (which is not entirely a good thing when there is a playoff final to watch) and friendly staff throughout. Ryman League & Solitaire Scrabble, good conversation and superb beer. One pint in each pub then move on. There were loads to see: More pubs than we had time to get to in one session in fact - some are so traditional that they still close between 2.30 and 6 - so we ended up walking a great deal further than was the intention. Oh and it is NOT possible to spend any time with Sal without there being an encounter of the non-league kind. In Cambridge, we found a group of Mad Hatters - on a stag do I Even after all these years I still find it funny that even die-hard fans can be surprised about just how passionate and knowledgeable Sal is about her team and non-league footy in general. She reels off facts and figures while the dude on the receiving end stands there slack-jawed ;D Hero Sal in a wonderful place for a proper pub crawl. ;D ;D Can we do it again please? It was glorious.
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Post by ambersalamander on May 24, 2010 11:53:47 GMT
You have made me very smiley ;D This man is a legend, people. I think I will have to post something Proper when I have time
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Post by amberaleman on May 24, 2010 20:52:22 GMT
Cambridge definitely has a place in my top ten UK drinking cities. Sal's birthday fixture was once Cambridge City away. That was a good day.
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Post by Meadow on May 24, 2010 22:25:41 GMT
Aw - nice post Hawky (if I'm allowed to call you that or is it just Sal's name for you?).
Drinking with Sal is always great fun, although you're never quite sure if she's going to disappear and start stalking cultivating non league supporters she spots in a crowd.
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Post by Col ISIHAC. on May 25, 2010 11:25:27 GMT
Aw - nice post Hawky (if I'm allowed to call you that or is it just Sal's name for you?). Drinking with Sal is always great fun, although you're never quite sure if she's going to disappear and start stalking cultivating non league supporters she spots in a crowd. ;D Give Sal a few drinks and her passion for the game becomes overpowering! I never tire of watching her engage with some innocent dude, just because he or she is wearing their colours. And on Saturday, wandering up to three guys & going "Hello Luton" - priceless! They were a nice group too but you wish you could bottle that initial reaction when they clock the little lady for the first time Anyone can call me Hawky; for I am Legion! Colonel Hawk on the BSS forum, ISIHAC here and The Undertaker on the club boards. Col H has been around longest - but, thanks to some of our younger supporters, it is The Undertaker which I had printed on my replica shirt in York a couple of years ago...
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Post by thevicar on May 26, 2010 11:34:45 GMT
Talking to Sal - enough to confuse the heck out of my father and future brother in law at Wallington last year. They were slightly startled by the number of people in a room full of drinkers that I knew purely through football especially "the number of women".
Cambridge, whilst pretty and full of lovely beer, recently received negative points in my personal study of places to take a small baby in a buggy. The wonders of 7 month olds and wives on a hen night. 1 helpful person (an ex student on a stag do) and a lot of unhelpful yokels and tourists who couldn't understand my reluctance to be forced off the pavement and onto the main road whilst pushing a buggy. Added to which, nowhere had changing facilities and I got treated like an absolute pariah when trying to find somewhere to eat (and feed said infant). Admittedly I didn't have time to get out to the pubs the GBG was telling me to go to.
Duxford airfield down the road got many positives (apart from the people who asked me why I chose to take my baby to a war museum on my 'access day' - do I have divorcee stencilled on my forehead to negate the bloody wedding ring on my finger?). And the random national trust place I found on the way back to Cambridge was also nice but I've completely forgotten its name.
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Post by Meadow on May 26, 2010 12:08:21 GMT
Talking to Sal - enough to confuse the heck out of my father and future brother in law at Wallington last year. They were slightly startled by the number of people in a room full of drinkers that I knew purely through football especially "the number of women". I was one of those women Cambridge, whilst pretty and full of lovely beer, recently received negative points in my personal study of places to take a small baby in a buggy. The wonders of 7 month olds and wives on a hen night. 1 helpful person (an ex student on a stag do) and a lot of unhelpful yokels and tourists who couldn't understand my reluctance to be forced off the pavement and onto the main road whilst pushing a buggy. Added to which, nowhere had changing facilities and I got treated like an absolute pariah when trying to find somewhere to eat (and feed said infant). Admittedly I didn't have time to get out to the pubs the GBG was telling me to go to. Sounds like things haven't changed much since my children were small
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Post by ambersalamander on May 28, 2010 11:18:57 GMT
I do love Cambridge, which is why I insisted on going there to meet with one of my bestest Tinpot friends who I hadn't seen for ages. The Vicar is right though: it's only any good if you're able-bodied, free from small children and animals, etc. Was a blazing hot weekend. I always seem to get sunburnt when I go to Cambridge, but this time I had a hat, so it wasn't too bad. It was a good hat.
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Post by bh on May 28, 2010 16:28:15 GMT
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Post by ifreakinrule on Jun 6, 2010 21:19:00 GMT
what pubs did you go in?
cambridge is a wonderful city. i was very lucky to have 3 brilliant years working there and still only live 10 miles away. i wouldnt want to live anywhere else in the country. the place is awesome.
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Post by ambersalamander on Jun 7, 2010 9:31:38 GMT
Totally agree. I'm in love with the place. We started, I believe, with lunch in the Wetherspoons - which was a token lunch gesture ;D - and then we went to the real pubs. We went to the St Radegund (my favourite), the Champion of the Thames, then a lot of pubs on the little roads off Mill Road. I think the Salisbury was the one we didn't make it to, but we did go to all the others on my little list. Can't remember which ones, because I am currently thousands of miles away from my list, but I'll put them in when I get home unelss my esteemed drinking colleague can remember off the top of his head ;D
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Post by ifreakinrule on Jun 7, 2010 11:25:06 GMT
if you went from the st radegund to mill road then hopefully you stopped in at the elm tree? mill road has the live and let live which is my favourite pub in cambridge. the devonshire arms on mill road has reopened recently and its supposed to be a real ale pub now. so many more great pubs outside the city centre aswell. i love drinking in cambridge.
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Post by amberaleman on Jun 7, 2010 21:04:30 GMT
The Cambridge Blue and Kingston Arms are two of the other good ones off Mill Road. I was in Cambridge in March for a work event and afterwards took two female colleagues on a little pub crawl of the city. Unfortunately they were wine drinkers and their taste in drinking establishments was not the same as mine (and Sal's). They quite liked the Mitre and Salisbury Arms (where we started and finished) but weren't too impressed with the ones in between (St Radegund, Free Press, Live and Let Live). Ah well, we can't all like the same things.
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Post by ambersalamander on Jun 7, 2010 21:10:06 GMT
Yes, we went to both of those ones. And the Free Press. The Live and Let Live was closed when we tried to go there, though.
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Post by AFC J Esaj PRA on Jun 8, 2010 11:55:41 GMT
The Live and Let Live was closed when we tried to go there, though. Unlucky. It does have odd hours, but I'd rate it as Cambridge's best, even if the others do occasionally eclipse it. I still think Norwich and Sheffield are better drinking cities, but Cambridge is up there with Manchester, Glasgow and Wakefield. Cambridge lacks enough truly exceptional pubs, but it is very easy to stagger between the good ones. It's a shame neither football ground is blessed with a great local – City have the dodgy Portland Arms, while United have The Wrestlers, mixing ales and oriental cuisine.
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