24 February 2023

Lunching

 

My 86 year old friend Bert has become quite unsteady on his feet. He calls it feeling "wobbly". Consequently, he has lost some of his old confidence and he hasn't been in our local pub since before Christmas. It's a long walk for him and the possibility of falling down is very real.

In the middle of last month I telephoned him and we went out for a midweek lunch after I had picked him up in the silver chariot known as Clint. We went to a pub called "The Rising Sun" in the Nether Green suburb of this great northern city. There Bert also supped three pints of "Daily Bread" - a bitter beer produced in Sheffield by The Abbeydale Brewery. Because I was driving I only had one pint.

On Wednesday of this week, I took Bert out again to a different "Rising Sun" - on Abbey Lane in the Parkhead district of the city. Again he had three pints of beer - this time "Black Sheep" from Masham in North Yorkshire. While I had a cheeseburger with chips (American:fries) Bert treated himself once again  to a lunch of haddock and chips with mushy peas.

There are 121 pubs in England called "The Rising Sun" making it number 33 on the list of most popular pub names. The top three on that list are "The Red Lion"(515 pubs) ,  "The Crown" (477)  and  "The Royal Oak" (404).

On the face of it, you wouldn't think that Bert and I would get along so well. He left school at the age of fifteen with no qualifications and was an unskilled labourer all of his working life. In contrast, I left school at the age of eighteen with A levels and later earned an honours degree in English along with  a diploma in education before embarking on a long teaching career.

Bert has a happy disposition and a good sense of humour but he also intently watches "Prime Minister's Questions" from London every week and is politically astute.  Our reactions to national politics and world events are broadly similar. He still hates Boris Johnson with a vengeance and is particularly scathing about the Brexit disaster we continue to suffer week by week. It was made possible by Johnson and probably Russian bots seeking through social media  to destabilise western Europe's  unity ahead of the war still being waged upon Ukraine.

If I don't see him in our local, I will be picking Bert up again next month and taking him to a different pub but it won't be called "The Rising Sun".

"The Rising Sun" at Nether Green

37 comments:

  1. Was it Bert who was without teeth for an extended time?
    I'm glad you take him for lunch, age steals so much that any little pleasure is savoured.

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    1. Yes it was Kylie and in fact he took out his lower set to eat his lunch. They are still quite uncomfortable.

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  2. What an excellent outing for Bert and you! Thanks to Clint for providing transportation. I didn't realize that the Rising Sun would be such a popular pub name. The others make more sense.

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    1. As far as I know there is only one pub in England called "The Setting Sun". It's in Brighton on the south coast.

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  3. You reminded me of The Rising Sun (aka The Riser - aussies love to abbreviate everything) that was a favourite watering hole in my youth. Bert sounds like someone most would enjoy sharing a pint or two with.

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    1. Bert is the opposite of the landed English gentry admiring their estates.

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  4. Old friends make good memories. Keep up the good work.

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    1. If you were over here I would take you out for lunch too. We would swallow pints of beer from the Timothy Taylor brewery and you would regale us with tales of your radio days.

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  5. Thanks for taking Bert out for lunch, Neil! That is very nice of you!

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  6. That's a nice thing to do for someone. Are the Rising Sun pubs like the Rising Sun house in New Orleans?

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    1. Funny you should say that. As we walked into the second pub Bert was singing that very song, Wasn't it a brothel?

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    2. "The ruination of many a young man". I think so or an opium den, or both.

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  7. Kylie said it so much better than I could. I'm glad, too.

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    1. Visiting the pub three times a week was Bert's greatest pleasure. Before that he went to Napoleon's, the local casino, twice a week - staying until the early hours.

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  8. Those are both very lovely looking pubs. I do love bay windows which I call Christmas Tree windows, because it's the perfect place to put a Christmas tree in my opinion.
    Would Bert manage better with some type of mobility aid?

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    1. Bert has got a mobility aid - his walking stick! I like your notion of what you call Christmas tree windows.

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  9. There are many old timers like Bert who would very much appreciate getting out once a month . Some people are very astute and soak up what's going on around them and are able to make clear judgements.

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    1. At lunch one day, I would like to say to him - "Bert this is Keith - all the way from Canada!"

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    2. We are both about the same age but I still get around.

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  10. Do you feel it is different having a one-on-one meal with Bert compared to the times when both of you are part of a group at your local?
    Both Rising Sun pubs look nice, but the first house is really handsome.
    Years ago, one of the questions at "my" pub quiz was about the most common pub name in England. I guessed right and got that point for my team, replying "The Red Lion".
    Masham holds fond memories for me, of trips with my Uncle Brian (now in a care home with dementia) and Aunt Jane (visiting him every day), or with my sister-in-law and niece (she was about 10 years old and we made her look for the oldest grave on the cemetery), or with Steve and his brother (he only went there for the beer, really, but visiting the Black Sheep brewery was interesting).

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    1. I forgot that you know Masham. You are right - it is a bit different being with Bert on his own - even though the local has become very quiet in the middle of the week.

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  11. I hope that Bert's wobbles are only temporary.

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    1. We are all deteriorating and Bert is no different.

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  12. It's good that you are able to enjoy Bert's company, and it must be a real treat for him to be chauffeured, rather than having to struggle with a long walk. When you mention there are 121 pubs called "The Rising Sun" , I thought, surely he's not going to take Bert on a visit to every one!

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    1. These are the only two in Sheffield I believe.

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  13. The Rising Sun sounds Japanese. Do you think Labour will pledge to rejoin the EU? I don't. I think they will sit on the fence.

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    1. It's not sitting on the fence, it's accepting what happened and getting on with the job. "A pint of sake please landlord!"

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  14. I know some extremely intelligent people with eighth grade educations!

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    1. Do you think wisdom and intelligence are the same thing?

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  15. You could make it a mission to visit all 121 of the pubs by that name. Every man needs a hobby.

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    1. Thanks for the suggestion Travel. Tempting but I am not going on that journey. With written accounts and photos it might make a good travel book - "The Rising Suns" with a few local walks thrown in.

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  16. I love that you're making sure Bert is getting out for a couple of pints. You've made me wish I had a Bert in my life. I will scan the pub next time I go.There must be a senior out there looking for a chauffeur, a good gab, and a beer.

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    1. Yes. There must be. Do you have any elderly charities nearby? It's just a matter of making contact. It would have to be somebody you liked and considered to be your equal.

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  17. Hey, why don't you take Bert on one of your walks? How 'bout you walk a mile or so and if it is nice weather, Bert can stay with Clint and look for girls! Maybe then Clint wouldn't be so grumpy!

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    1. I don't think Bert has ever gone on a walk just for pleasure. For him it's all about getting from A to B. But a nice thought all the same DS.

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  18. I wish I'd been able to join you in raging against Brexit! How come there aren't any pubs called "The Setting Sun"?

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