Hence, later in the morning, I'm hobbling around Leeds, having taken Ibuprofen, and massaged topical anaesthetic into my leg. by the time I get here, I'm crying out for a sit-down. Southern Comfort with ice. Lots of ice. Oh. And I really want the sofa, did I mention that?
So, I looked them up... Andrew Martin Design.... £4,195.00 This bar has £16,000 worth of sofas just inside the door.... So that means, by the size of the place, it probably cost a quarter of a million or so to fit out.
I liked the place though, I was comfortable, popped another couple of painkillers, and hobbled on my way.
To the Turk's Head, alias Whitelocks. It's been down this alley since 1715, and it seems like a good idea to revisit more of my youth, get some sandwiches and a pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord.
As you see, time pretty much stands still in Whitelocks, An Edwardian gent time-travelling to 2013 might be pleasantly surprised by the electric lights, but otherwise it would feel just like home. The Burmantofts Tile works made those tiles around 1895, I'll bet people back then were shocked when the old Turk's Head unveiled this avant-garde ultra-modern bar!
Whitelocks, mirrors, polished copper, dark wood, tiles, good beer, and great sandwiches.
Look up!
Tempus Fugit
The new arms of a United Kingdom. 1603, accession of James I of England, who was already JamesVI of Scotland. For the first time, the scottish unicorn and the english lion both known as kings of the beasts, met on a shield. Neither the Scottish nor the English, felt particularly united.
"The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn all around the town.
Some gave them white bread, and some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake and drummed them out of town."
Look down! This is one of Briggate's oldest 'yards'.
That's it, I'm done for a while, time to find something to eat.
Aye, I know where you are there. I crossed from Tesco some weeks ago and for no reason my calf pulled a muscle. I hobbled home and it hung around for a week. Maybe some of the Lucozade stuff footballers drink to replenish the bits washed out by sweat might be an idea.
ReplyDeleteThose ultra modern 1894 bars look good! You indeed need to get out more often, I enjoy it!
Whitelocks IS good.
DeleteMy cramp was probably a prescription drug side-effect. agh.
You must hyperextend the muscle when it clinches. It will hurt for awhile but keep it stretched.
ReplyDeleteI always wonder, with a structure that old, what has fallen through the floorboards and unto the nether regions. In St. Louis awhile back they were excavating the old biffys (outhouses, two-hole rest stops, outside johns) locations and finding many tossed relics, and a few pistols, from the olden days. They had old photos depicting locations.
Really, I'd just like to vacate my body when something like this occurs, and return when it's over... I'll try to remember to hyperextend next time, but I suspect I'll mostly be too busy uttering profanities and worrying that it's something worse than it really is.
DeleteThe nether regions are an interesting subject. London's sewers were a fruitful hunting ground, in the 19th century, for people known as 'Toshers'.
Tosh was treasure, coins, jewellery, silver spoons, anything valuable that was accidentally lost or thrown out with the filth. Toshers, like gold-panners, knew the silt beds and the eddies where heavier items might be deposited out of the stream, they roamed underground, at risk of foul disease, ratbites, and drowning in ordure.
Still, one lucky find might earn them as much as other poor-folk would see in a month.
The cess-pits of roman forts and viking towns alike yield treasures. I suppose if you dropped something, and it plopped into the stinking ooze, you'd be inclined to accept it was beyond retrieval.
Biffy? that's a new one to me. I'll be adding it to my lexicon.
Ouch! Ouch! I'd be looking for a comfy couch, too! Forget the extra ice...extra Southern Comfort, that's the spirit!
ReplyDeleteMy Nana used to take salt when she got a cramp. I guess it worked; but yours sounds much worse. I hope all is back to normal again by now.
What an interesting, beautiful old pub/bar.
Take care. :)
I know it's hard for you to believe, but britain's actually been having a summer this year, so the ice was just what I needed!
DeleteSalt, yes, I've been told a glass of warm water with both a teaspoonful of salt and one of sugar help. Urgh!
Old pubs and bars, yes, I'll miss 'em.
But pubs are closing at record rates, and a lot I knew in my youth are demolished, or repurposed. It's a very sad thing to see an old stage-coach inn turn into a Mc Donalds.
Ohhhhhh I"m wishing I had taken one more trip back to Leeds before your transatlantic transplant !! Love the chesterfields, but a bit 'too rich' for my blood. Cheap asian knock-off perhaps ??!
ReplyDeleteSoak in Epsom-salts. My boys swear by it.
xxx
Epsom, famous for race-horses....
ReplyDeleteNot sure why the salts, used externally, would work. In fact, I don't know where I'd get Epsom Salts, it's a thing I remember my grandfather having.
Googling.....
Well, the Epsom Salts Council say it works, and you absorb magnesium sulphate via your skin...
I shall try it!
Cramp can be cruel indeed. Besides the art nouveau pub the arms grabbed my attention; I guess there was no room for the Welsh Dragon?
ReplyDeleteIt's a strange thing, that welsh dragon, somehow it gets omitted and ignored in all too many places. The Union Jack's a pretty good flag, if flags are your thing, but the welsh flag? DRAGON!
ReplyDeleteHa! Unbeatable. Nobody else has a flag even half as cool as that of Wales.