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200 Years Ago in Norwich : The Great Cheese Mystery

I really love this article from the Norwich Mercury in January 1825, primarily for the randomness of what happened.

“On Tuesday se’nnight a man and a boy in a blue cart and with a bay horse were observed, about 5 o’clock in the afternoon, to go to the foot of St. James’s-hill, near the barracks, and to throw down the contents of the cart, which they covered with mould, and then went away. Some boys playing near the spot, on the following morning, discovered the articles, which proved to be very old and excellent Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucester, Wiltshire, and Dutch cheeses. In the course of the next day another load was discovered in a gravel-pit on Mousehold. The news of these discoveries soon attracted large parties of persons to the two spots, and the entire quantity of cheese, amounting, it is believed, to between a ton and a ton and a half, very quickly disappeared among the inhabitants of the city adjacent to the places where the cheese was discovered. One person has now cheese in his possession of the value of eight pounds. F. Stevenson and other persons have been making enquiries among the grocers and cheese factors of this city, but no robbery has been committed here which can account for the secretion of so enormous a quantity of this article.”

I love the word ‘sennight’, meaning week or the last seven days. I really struggle to comprehend how nearly a ton and a half of cheese appeared, although I can’t imagine that the owners were too pleased with those boys playing near the spot who found it. I can though imagine the surprise and delight of Norwich residents who went on a cheese hunt to see what they could find themselves. As Wallace said, “we’ll go somewhere where there’s cheese!”

January 1, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : The Dangers of Animals

Just as a random article from 200 years ago. There’s sometimes a feeling that the past is some sort of halcyon place full of happiness and glee with a rural and traditional way of life.

“Caution to Proprietors of Horned Cattle. – Last week a valuable mare, belonging to Mr. Robt. Cunningham, hay merchant, of Winfarthing, being left in a field with a horned cow, of a very vicious nature, was so dreadfully gored and torn by the cow as to be obliged to be killed.

On the night of Friday se’nnight, as a man by the name of Loads, of Little Ryburgh, was going from Stibbard home with a horse and cart, he unfortunately turned the cart over, when the horse fell upon him and killed him upon the spot. He has left a wife and large family to lament his loss.

A melancholy accident occurred at Thorpe, near this city, last week. As Mrs. Postle, wife of Mr. William Postle, tithe bailiff to the Rev. J. Maxwell, was walking on the turnpike road, a led horse, belonging to an Officer of the Dragoons, quartered in the barracks here, kicked her in the stomach, and she died in consequence the following morning.”

But then you get news articles like this, which are commonplace in newspapers of the time. Norwich, and other parts of Norfolk, at this point were also crime ridden and dangerous, even though a lot of people had little worth stealing. The past isn’t always so magical, especially for the families left to deal with the consequences of disasters such as this.

As a random aside, the history of the word ‘melancholy’ is intriguing (or it is to me):

“Middle English: from Old French melancolie, via late Latin from Greek melankholia, from melas, melan- ‘black’ + kholē ‘bile’, an excess of which was formerly believed to cause depression.”

January 1, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : John Fitt Dies at Shoulder of Mutton Pub

Back to my occasional series of posts of news from 200 years ago, as reported by the Norwich Mercury. It’s just a line in the deaths section which says:

“On Christmas Day, Mr John Fitt, the master of the Shoulder of Mutton pub, St. Augustine’s , died in the 66th year of his age”.

I’m always a little intrigued by the location of pubs, but this one seems to be a mystery and it’s not clear to me from maps or on-line research exactly where it was. It was a Morgan’s Brewery pub which closed in 1870, likely on the Botolph Street end of St. Augustine’s Street. The last reference I can find is someone found drunk in Shoulder of Mutton Yard on St. Augustine’s in 1868 and the location of that yard is apparently lost as well. With more time I’m sure I could find it, but for the moment, it’s proving elusive.

John Fitt was buried in St. Augustine’s Church on 30 December 1824, although if there was a gravestone it’s no longer standing. The service record from his funeral notes correctly that he was 62 years old rather than what was reported in the Norwich Mercury, but journalists being wrong is hardly a new thing. John had been baptised on 30 October 1762, the son of William and Sarah Fitt.

BTW, happy new year to everyone, perhaps I might remember to have a look for where this pub was located at some point in 2025.

January 1, 2025
Manchester Trip : Hover Force (Additional Video)

Liam has sent this video following my blog post earlier, but more to come to surprise my two loyal blog readers….

December 31, 2024
Manchester Trip : Fierce Bar

After our bravery earlier in the day on hovercrafts and with Łukasz back in tow, I thought that we needed a drink or three. Fierce are a Scottish brewery from Aberdeen, but they have this outpost in Manchester and it was a fiercely busy location when we visited (see what I did there?). Some tempting options were visible on the screen.

That’s the Rhubarb from Fierce Beer, which I thought was a little thin but it wasn’t overly sweet and the flavour was pleasant.

The heavy hitting Very Big Moose 2024 – Two Year Bourbon Edition from Fierce Beer, a boozy bourbon, but not a rich mouthfeel although the flavour was decent. I suspect I pinched this from Richard to try, as I wouldn’t have ordered that much myself.

This is the Very Big Moose 2024 – Maple & Hazelnut Edition from Fierce Beer, another boozy number which was smooth although it wasn’t as rich as I’d like and it didn’t have the depth of flavour. But, as I noted on Untappd, perhaps I like in your face with beers rather than soft and subtle.

This was my favourite beer that they had, the Dirty Sanchez from Fierce Beer which is a chilli stout. A very nice spicy kick here and although I accept that it’s not a beer style for everyone, it works for me.

The Cheery Cola Sour from Fierce Beer, which had a sour and sweet flavour, bang on the money here.

Full on flavour with the Apple Pie from Fierce Beer, lots of apple and toffee flavour, slightly decadent even.

We were fortunate to get a table for our group and we didn’t rush this experience, given the number of interesting beers that were available. Service was efficient, the atmosphere was welcoming and the team members were friendly and knowledgeable. Prices are reasonable for a city centre craft beer bar and we all agreed (well, I did) how brave I’d been all day long.

December 31, 2024
Manchester Trip : Hover Force

I didn’t take my camera to this, as I left it secured in Liam’s car as I had enough to worry about, so the above is a promotional photo (admittedly a little dated) from the operator and not one of our group.

I often have very good ideas of things to do some months in advance and then rather regret my bravery when it comes to the event. The zip-lining a couple of years surprised and delighted me, so I thought as a non-driver that I could obviously drive a hovercraft. We arrived at the centre and I’m not going to say that it was the most organised in terms of the clarity of what was happening, but I think that was partly because I was more than a little stressed about all of this. The toilet facilities were also perhaps sub-optimal, but I don’t suppose many people come to events like this and expect sparkling restroom options.

The briefing before hand was a little positive and optimistic for my liking, as I had been intending to potter around at a slow pace whilst I know Liam was planning to fly around at the fastest possible pace. Simon, Ross and Richard had signed up, whilst Łukasz was having a nap in Manchester. The briefing was worrying as I was told that it was really essential to go around at full pace otherwise it might ground to a halt. I did wonder about the engineering quality, but didn’t say anything.

Anyway, the above photo is me in action and against all my initial fears, I rather enjoyed it. Actually, I very much enjoyed it and it was mentioned that some drivers struggle with handling as hovercraft, unsurprisingly, don’t handle the same as cars. I didn’t have that burden placed on me and I thought that it was all quite logical. To be precise, that’s Liam watching over me to ensure that I don’t go flying off course, this is something that he has to do generally in life which is why I rather liked this photo. There are two sets of two laps, the first one I think I was against Simon and then the second time against Liam.

Liam’s effort at a video of me. I had expected a brilliantly edited sixty second video with audio, but this will have to do. It all went quickly and, fortunately, I didn’t veer off course too much. There is audio from the instructors as you have to wear goggles and a headset, but one set was much easier to hear than the other so I was in blissful ignorance during one of my attempts. It’s more physical than I had realised, although not too demanding, it’s the getting it going again after coming to a halt that’s the most labour intensive part of the arrangements.

I did a full length video of Richard and Liam (using Liam’s phone), so I’ll see if I can get that uploaded. Here’s Richard during his briefing. It’s fair to say (and he’ll read this) that he struggled a little with the whole hover craft steering thing, which meant that the head to head between Richard and Liam couldn’t be timed as Richard was going so slowly and Liam was going so fast they had to keep stopping him and making him wait.

Liam provided us with this photo, but I’m waiting on photos of the others.

December 31, 2024
Manchester Trip : The Sedge Lynn – JD Wetherspoon

This is one of the more attractive buildings operated by JD Wetherspoon, the Sedge Lynn located in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

I’ll use the JD Wetherspoon history:

“This pub was originally a billiards hall, built in c1907 on a field sandwiched between a house called Sedge Lynn (demolished to make way for a cinema) and Red Gate Farm. Now a grade II listed building, the original billiards hall (and others like this one, in and around Manchester and south London) was erected to remove billiards from its usual setting of the public house and to further the aims of the Temperance Movement. The Chorlton hall was designed by Norman Evans, company architect from 1906 to 1910. It is believed to be the most complete of his designs to survive in the Manchester area.”

The chain has a different carpet in every pub and this is one of the best that I’ve seen with a considerable nod to their billiards past. I’m not entirely sure what the local members of the temperance movement of the time would have thought of their building becoming a pub, but there we go.

In one of the lowest price bands that the chain have, the breakfast was £3.14 and the unlimited coffee was £1.04, this met my financial and food needs nicely. Richard had Eggs Benedict as he’s more decadent and Ross had fruit for reasons unknown, but Liam and I didn’t judge. The egg was runny, a breakfast shouldn’t have a hard yolk. I’d rather that bacon was served crispy in the US style, but for £3.14 I didn’t have any complaints.

The Gaumont is next door to this pub and it’s where the Bee Gees played their debut performance in 1957.

It’s one of the better rated pubs in the chain, but I thought I’d have a little look at the reviews.

“Waitress dropped BBQ sauce on my son in laws lap, went all over his trousers, all over the table, she never appologiesed, didnt wipe the spillage up and didnt replace the sauce. Not good.”

I liked the bit added about how the sauce wasn’t replaced.

“You go to Wetherspoons because it’s the cheapest. If you can, don’t support Tim Martin and his horrible business practices. The staff here all work hard and are great and friendly, though. Tim Martin (the Wetherspoons chain owner) effectively fired all his staff over lockdown rather than pay them a little furlough money! 😡”

No he didn’t.

“Had the kitchen manager come out and swear at me. As I asked him to please move his car.”

I like to think that there was an interesting back story to this one.

“Me and my Sister have been barred over a minor thing yet bar staff allowed her to be abused on friday by a tall drunk man”

Another helpful review, but I liked the detail that the guy was tall.

“I bought 8 pints via the App, at 2 minutes past eleven. The App took my money, the staff refused to serve the drinks and refused to return my money. 1 week later I am still wainting for my money.”

I can’t even begin to imagine why after eight pints they refused to serve any more drinks….

Anyway, I’ve become distracted again…. With this sustenance, we were ready for our main activity for the day. Well, I wasn’t, but there we go.

December 31, 2024
Manchester Trip : Wetherspoons Closed Early but Ibis Budget to the Rescue

Goodness knows what Richard was doing, but the doorman at Wetherspoons said that the manager had decided to close thirty minutes early, so we weren’t getting in there. We suspected that Richard annoyed them, but Liam and me didn’t say anything as we don’t like to cause offence.

Back to the hotel on the tram and Ibis Budget don’t usually give free welcome drinks, although one of my favourite hotels, the Katowice Ibis Budget, gives me a free coffee. However, here, they are going all out with any drink in the fridges available to status holders. Richard does anything for free alcohol, so he grabbed a Prosecco in an attempt to convince them that usually he stays in Sofitel branded hotels. Liam and me had a more relaxed experience, I went for a Hoegaarden wheat bear, a reliable choice. It wasn’t entirely clear that they expected many customers to want to sit in their seating area as it was rather dark, but it did for our late night drink. We had adventure the next morning that required me to be brave and so I needed a good night’s sleep. Well, at least four hours anyway.

December 30, 2024
Manchester Trip : Birds of Prey Chicken

My next good idea (Liam will confirm I have endless good ideas) was to get food at the Birds of Prey chicken restaurant (that’s a really good name, so I was pre-pleased with them), one of the best rated fast food dining options in the city. Richard was busy checking the door to see if it had a Michelin star, but he was agreeable to popping in even after he discovered that they didn’t.

The menu options, it’s mostly chicken (not surprising given that it’s a chicken restaurant) although there are some vegan and vegetarian options as well. I also liked that there was a choice of thigh or breast chicken burgers, I must prefer the latter but it’s always preferable to give customers the choice.

I went for some delicious chicken tenders. These were tender, filling and came with a hot sauce, all a very good way to top off an evening of craft beer drinking.

And Liam looked pleased with his burger. A very satisfactory location for food, with the prices being reasonable for the quality. The seating was functional, the lighting was appropriate and it all felt clean and ordered. The service was friendly, the food was prepared promptly and everything went smoothly.

December 30, 2024
BA Switch to Revenue Spending Tier Points

I’m a bit of a Wizz Air boy (I use the word boy loosely, but it’s my blog and if I want to use it, then I am) now with my All You Can Fly, but I’m pleased that I didn’t try and renew BA status as it’s near impossible for me now given the changes announced today. Before I was able to use the system to have silver status for a few years, but that will now require a spend of £7,500 a year which is rather beyond what I’d spend. More details are at https://www.britishairways.com/content/executive-club/about-the-club and although I can see the financial reasoning for BA, especially given how busy their lounges have become, it’s beyond me. I’ll just have to get used to Wizz Air…..

December 30, 2024