D Day

If you've been hanging around with me for a while, you may remember THIS DAY back in 2010 when the boys beloved Sheffield Wednesday were relegated to a lower league.  We had tears and everything.  The young man remembers it being the worst day of his life.  Well today, Sheffield Wednesday have an opportunity to make amends.  The whole scenario is very complicated if you are not a footy fan, but basically, if they win today, they will automatically be promoted back up again. SO THEY NEED TO WIN! If they lose or draw, they go into a play off and whoever wins that play off gets promoted.

Now I have know Sheffield Wednesday long enough to know that their potential to disappoint is huge, so for me, its not over until the fat lady sings.
Today they are playing Wycombe who are being relegated this year.  They are only bringing about 200 fans, but as fans are segregated, this meant that thousands of seats would be empty and thousands of fans wouldn't be able to get to watch the match.  The solution has been to shove the Wycombe fans into a small corner and put some marshalls and space between the other 5000 seats that have now been sold to the Wednesday fans.  It highlighted the difference between male and female thinking when I offered my solution.  I thought that they should have given over the "Hospitality" suite to the poor relegated fans and let them have a bit of pleasure out if the day, releasing ALL of the   seats in the ground.

On top of all this, the other team in exactly the same position are local rivals Sheffield United.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping to occupy myself in the garden!

Chav World

On Saturday evening hubby and I went with friends to see The Everly Pregnant Brothers at Sheffield City Hall. Lisa asked where they got their name and I have to say that I can only hazard a guess and say that the majority of them have big bellies and could look "Heavily Pregnant"! Having said that at least 2 of them are on weightwatchers diets!

The city hall is a gorgeous building. It has a large concert room at the front, a smaller venue around the back, and a ballroom in the basement. There is usually something fab on offer.

Photography is usually banned, but the brothers (not real brothers) had managed to get the restrictions for photography lifted, so I managed to get a great shot of the wonderful ceiling in the main hall. It reminds me slightly of the one that everyone went crashing through in The Poseidon Adventure - or the Titanic!
The hall was refurbished recently and it is a lovely place for a concert - its nowhere near as big and impersonal as an Arena. It has seating on ground floor level and 2 balconies. Ive seen a fair few bands here in my time.
The brothers were great. The songs that they sing would mainly appeal to Northern audiences I think, and for some, you really need to know Sheffield , but one of my favourites that could be understood by most is Chav World - click on the link to enjoy (but note there are swear words.)

The Book or the Film?

Or both and for free!!!!

Hubby and I went to see the film "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" this morning for free - courtesy of See Film First via Martin Lewis's Money Saving Expert website. I was thrilled when we got to the cinema to discover that we also received the book of the film for free too! Brilliant!

The film (due for release on the 20th April in the UK) is wonderful - go see it, you will just love it. Its sort of a romantic comedy with a totally feel good factor attached. All the actors play brilliant parts, the styling and scenery is draw dropping and Ewan McGregor is just divine. Kristin Scott Thomas is my new role model! I aim to look like her by Christmas!

The audience loved it too - there were a lot of laugh out loud moments. I'll be letting you know how the book compares.

The screening was at 10.30am, and so afterwards we decided to treat ourselves to brunch.
One of my fave little cafes is 22a on Norfolk Row in Sheffield. Hubby chose the Potato Rosti topped with bacon, cheese, mushrooms and tomatoes, whilst I picked the cheese and onion toastie with a cup of home made potato and leek soup - both delish.
I savoured my cheese toastie as I am starting a "diet" of sorts tomorrow for 2 weeks (i'll be telling you but not boring you - dieters are the dullest people on the planet!) and there is no wheat or dairy on it.

The Girls Can't Help It!

Hubby and I ventured to the right end of town today - Ecclesall Road/Sharrow Road. I've mentioned before that this end of town still boasts lots of lovely independent shops, cafes, restaurants etc (although some of the chains are starting to pop up here now sadly). We had a special mission, but firstly, where should we eat?

There are so many really lovely cafes around here, its hard to choose.

I have to say, that this is one of my favourites and on this occasion it won again!!
I could eat the Grilled Haloumi Pitta Wrap every day - it is so tasty!
After lunch, we headed across to Pete Mckee's "Month of Sundays" Gallery to the opening of his new exhibition "The Girls Can't Help It". Once again the originals and prints are fabulous. I urge you strongly to head down and take a look if you can.
Pete had kindly laid on cup cakes (by the Fancie team - totally delish!). Each depicted one of the paintings. This was my hubby's fave . A Sheffield Wednesday fan has discovered that his girlfriend is a Sheffield United supporter!
A fabulous way to spend a cold rainy Saturday ! x

A walk in the park

On Sunday the Dancing Queen and I spent a lovely day walking through the parks in Sheffield that eventually lead out to the Peak District.

We started off after a breakfast butty through Endcliffe Park which was chocca block full of families enjoying the day.

Each park that you walk through has a personality of its own. They get more like woodlands as you head out towards the moors.
I loved her company. Hubby was at work and she had the day off as the shops were shut. We chatted and laughed for hours. We both enjoyed the exercise and fresh air.

I love the way she takes the same amount of pleasure as I do from the tiniest of details.

Urban Decay

Sheffield was a very industrialised city up until the 1980's with many of the large manufacturing sites being situated slap bang in the middle of the city itself, which I suppose has made its regeneration a bit trickier than most.

Our apparent hunger for cheap, often poorly made, disposable goods has (in my opinion) put us in a very precarious position as well as making us a nation of shoppers and stripped us of our specialist and valuable manufacturing skills.
We used to make important and also everyday essential items here in Sheffield and it saddens me that in my lifetime the whole reason for the city existing is no more. When I left school, these companies still employed hundreds and took on REAL apprentices, teaching them REAL skills - unlike the apprenticeship schemes these days that exploit school leavers and provide free labour for companies that make vast profits already, and still leave many of the apprentices still with no real skills or a job at the end of it.
The Kelham Island part of Sheffield has had lots of regeneration with some of the factories being restored and reused as housing, restaurants and museums, but some of the buildings can't be re-modelled and so they are being pulled down. I wanted to photograph some of the buildings to remind me of what once, when they are no longer here.



We were having a walk to help the young man with his Geography revision. He has been studying the Sheffield floods of 2007 and I thought it would make it much easier to understand if he saw where and how the rivers (all 5 of them) flowed into and through the city and where they meet (a confluence!)and went underground (in culverts).
He in turn taught us all about chanellisation of rivers, urbanisation, primary, secondary and tertiary employment categories and much more! A very education Geography field trip all round!
We had a great walk and found another small piece of graffiti by Phlegm

Time on my hands

esterday I found myself with time on my hands as my playmate was working. I had a choice. I could stay at home and tackle the mountain of ironing and clean up (as I have ladies from the WI round this week for a craft evening and the house is a tip!) or, I could nip into Sheffield to pick my tickets up that I had ordered from the City Hall. You guessed it, I nipped into Sheffield.

I picked up my tickets for our date with Phil and the girls which is later on in the year. We love to support our home grown talent - especially when they will make us feel like we are 20 years old again!

One thing I notice when I have days on my own, is how much I talk to strangers! And I love it. I had some great conversations with some lovely ladies. One of them was off to join this excitable crowd for the afternoon tea dance at the City Hall.
A few of you asked where the Chinese cake and coffee shop was on one of my previous posts - It sits at the top of Division street.....
...next to one of my favourite shops "Within Reason"
I had to laugh at the menu outside of Yummy's Noodle Bar
As you already know, we have a lot of interesting art in Sheffield
I love this in The Bowery window - showing the true colours of the city (Blue and White!).
I didn't mean to show this, but either blogger is playing up, or my brain is - both highly likely! Anyway, its one of the stone carvings inside the Town Hall foyer and not a good photo!
The lime green of these really stood out in the city centre. The ones in my garden don't look this good.
There was a lot of green about for St Patricks day. The city's Irish population had a little parade and then met up on Devonshire Green for a bit of a party.
I photographed some more of the really old buildings in the city centre.


This was the entrance to the old Royal Hospital that used to sit on West Street. I found this interesting clip about the hospital - have a look, its wonderful. Just look at the roast beef they are serving for hospital food! I remember the hospital still being used - that makes me feel really old!
The old buildings sit side by side with newer ones.

More art - this time it was me and not blogger who forgot to include these. In our house, we particularly love the work of the Grafitti artist Phlegm (not the nicest name admittedly!) and are excited when we find a piece . Phlegm Blog here.
I loved the directions to the Beer Garden at the Great Gatsby
If ever you find yourself in Sheffield at lunchtime, be warned that we have a 1 O'Clock time signal - that when it goes off, sounds as if we are at war! Its so loud!
It always amuses me to hear people wondering "what the hell is that!!!" . I think it left over from when the cutlery workers used to return from lunch.
I got home too late to do any housework!x