11 December 2019

Citizenship

Mostly, I like to walk in the countryside. But just occasionally it is nice to go urban walking. As in the countryside you never know what you might encounter in a city.  Over the years, as revealed in the dusty cobwebbed annals of this ancient blog, I have shown visitors lots of images of England's steel city - Sheffield.
There's a general election on Thursday. I heartily concur with this message.
On Sunday, I went plodding in the heart of this ever-changing city with so much safety gear I might have crippled myself. Wilhelm the St Bernard kept barking at the traffic as rough brandy swilled around in the little barrel under his chin.

I walked beside The River Don - up to Blonk Street Bridge - I wanted to photograph the confluence of The Don and The Sheaf. As it happens, I was facing bright sunlight so my confluence pictures did not work out too well but you can see how the Sheaf emerges from a culvert close to the bridge. I could hear the sound of water rushing over a weir within the culvert which is half a mile long.
Sheffield became a steel city largely because of its little rivers. Firstly they powered small cottage industries and forges. Scythes were sharpened and iron was smelted, then steel and later stainless steel. In fact, this is where stainless steel was invented and first produced. Sheffield cutlery could be found in every corner of the largest empire the world has ever known - The British Empire. Through the nineteenth century, Sheffield's steel industry became enormous and the Lower Don Valley led the world in a range of such dirty, brutal and ingenious metal-related businesses.

More pictures. The next (Reedesque) one is specially for Mrs J.Barlow in Florence S.C..
Paradise Street corner looking to the old central fire station:-
On Bank Street with a reflection:-
I noticed carved figures on the facade of a building in Fitzalan Square - celebrating some of the city's traditional metal working skills:-
And that was that. Clint carried me home to prepare our Sunday roast dinner as Shirley visited the Christmas market at Sharrow Vale with an old friend. Though I say it myself, my roasted potatoes have finally reached a state of culinary excellence - crispy, bronzed and rosemary flavoured. Much depends on the potato variety you select. Eat your heart out Jamie Oliver!

27 comments:

  1. My stove is very idle at present. It's too hot to even think about cooking. So, no cooking for, or by me. Although I will be making a large chocolate cake next week...until then...cold meals and lots of fresh fruit will do me.

    Now, after this interesting stroll around the city...I'm going to do some reading in front of the fans...not fans of the human variety. These ones really are just blowing hot air, too, unfortunately!!

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    1. No aircon in Chez Lee? I bet the landlord has aircon.

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  2. Well, please do share your potato wisdom. Variety, prep, all of it. My roasted potatoes are not very good and I don't know why. I love urban walking, there is so much to look at.

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    1. One day I will make a blogpost about my roasted potatoes.

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    2. Can you do it soon please??? 😍

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    3. Patience young lady! There's more to life than roasted potatoes!

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  3. I realize important history has happened in the city but it would take more than that to get me walking in the city.

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    1. I have "walked" around Red Deer courtesy of Google Streetview. Everybody has blurry faces.

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  4. Thank you for the photo!

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  5. Urban walking is pretty much all I have the chance to do, although we have a good sized river running through town along with walking trails and small parks, so there's some greenery and wildlife to see, too. I'd enjoy the scenes you've shown us if I had the chance to walk them.

    Are you sure there was any brandy, rough or otherwise, left in Wilhelm's little barrel by the time you finished your walk? :)

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    1. What the hell are you implying young lady?

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  6. I've bought sandwiches from Greggs during a visit to Richmond some years ago. There is also a Greggs in Ripon, but I don't think I've been inside.
    The picture with the reflection is my favourite of this lot.
    I also like to discover a city, town or village on foot. It fascinates me to see people's living and working quarters from outside, imagining what it is like inside. Especially now when it is dark so early, I like walking around O.K.'s village and look at how the front gardens and houses are decorated (with more or less taste).

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    1. The children probably yell (in German of course), "Mutter! That lady is staring into our house again!"
      Mutter then yells back, "Draw the curtains! Pull down the blinds! I am phoning the Polizei!"

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  7. Enjoyed the walk, especially in the company of your imaginery dog Wilhelm. Confluences of rivers are of course sacred in old history. In Todmorden, as probably in many other places, river are also the boundary line between counties.

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    1. The Tees used to mark Yorkshire's northern boundary with Durham until The Tories changed it. I will never forgive them for that.

      P.S. Everybody needs an imaginary dog. You should acquire one. You don't need to carry little black plastic bags or suffer enormous vet bills. Also your Lucy would have a friend to play with.

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  8. I'm looking forward to your roast potato post and in particular the type of potato. I often get good results but they do vary. I have found goose fat is the best fat.

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    1. The goose in question might think differently.

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  9. Wilhelm the St. Bernard will take over your blog if you don't watch out. I bet you had difficulty stopping him bounding into the fire station to play in all those vintage fire engines.

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    1. How did you know that? He dragged me there across the carriageway as motor vehicles braked and horns blared.

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  10. The only urban walking I ever do is when we're in Cozumel which is funny because the only town on the island, San Miguel, is not a large city. But I do enjoy it and there's so much to see.
    I was going to chime in on the potatoes preparation. Please do tell us how you make your potatoes.

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    1. All will be revealed in the course of time.

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  11. What's your favorite potato variety for roasting? We like Charlottes (cut in half, olive oil, salt & pepper, roast cut-side down) or King Edward (for big jacket potatoes).

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    1. Oh, and I liked "Reedesque"!

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    2. I like "Reedesque" too!...As for the potatoes, Adrianne, Carolus and Maris Piper are great roasting varieties but I prefer Rooster.

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  12. Lol. Reminded me of my teachers in school, sarcasm was their most used weapon as well :)

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    1. Is that where you acquired your nickname - The Cheat?

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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