Sheffield – 22nd July

I had arranged to meet my friend, Louisa, on Monday 22nd July so I worked 9am to 2pm, while she was sleeping after her night shift. Mom was a bit disappointed that she had got all my belongings out of the loft but I had still not gone through them to throw them away yet. I promised I would later in the week because she wanted to take stuff to charity/the tip or put it in the bin. I knew I had paperwork going back over the last 7 years which my Mom had said I could use her shredder to get rid of it all. The Pampered Chef wine bucket which I purchased about 10 years ago was still amongst the tranklements, having never made it in to anyone’s suitcase or hand luggage over the years. I was as annoyed at not having it Turkey as my Mom was at still having it at her place, so I decided I was taking it back this year – even if I had to take it as a handbag! Ma had gone out to meet a friend for lunch so Dad was going to be left home alone, probably reading a book or playing his guitar. I had a cheese sandwich with salt & vinegar crisps for lunch.
I got the 2.30pm bus to town and walked to The Moor to meet Louisa outside Primark. I needed something to sleep in, and some clothes to wear but I wasn’t entirely sure what. Once in the shop, I was surprised how empty it was and Louisa reminded me that since Covid a lot of shops were suffering as more people continued to work from home and were buying things online. I found it difficult to buy anything there as I’m no longer in touch with fashion and found the flowery things with frills on were just hideous and something that did not suit me at all. By 4pm we were in the paying queue and I had myself a new outfit for less than £15. Here’s what I bought, prices in English pounds;

Primark
Leopard print flip flops £0.50
Hair bobbles £1.00
Red & white flip flops £1.30
Black leggings £4.00
Red dress £8.00
Total spent £14.80

Our next stop off was for a drink at The Furnace, round the back of a sadly closed Debenhams. We had a pint of Madri lager, a first for me (but wouldn’t be my last) and I hadn’t heard of it before. It’s weird that even being away for just 2.5 years that the beers available on the draft pumps in bars are unfamiliar to me. After one drink in there, we decided to walk to a place that had been added to my list of places to visit. The owner of the Milestone restaurant on Green Lane, Matt, had been forced to close up during Covid. He had now opened the largest food court in Europe (apparently) called Cambridge Street Collective. Once inside it was a bit overwhelming as there are so many different food stalls from all over the world. I’ve never tried food from Eritrea or Ethiopia but, me being fussy, we decided to choose something I knew I’d like. We found a little gyoza/dumpling place first and had a starter. Louisa was super whizzy at ordering things on a QR code and an app. A lot of places didn’t like cash so this worked ok but I was finding it a bit too laborious, especially as my GiffGaff SIM didn’t have any signal in the building. The starter was lovely and then we had a walk around. I went to the toilet and got a bit confused when there was a man in there but it turns out that the toilets are not separated by gender any more. Very modern but slightly off putting as I had to put the seat down and clean pee off the seat before I could go. My guess is the men were complaining there were no urinals and they had to lift the seat up. Most people that came in to the toilets thought they were in the wrong ones and did a double take each time they saw a person of the opposite sex, which was funny.
It took us a while to decide what to eat next but Louisa had something from Gyros Express, a gyros with pitta and chips which looked amazing. I decided on Asia Thai Street Food where I got a bit excited and ordered a Pad Thai and a prawn fried rice to share with Louisa. I had a pint of cider and Louisa stuck to the Madri lager and the prices (in £) are below.

Cambridge Street Collective
1 pad Thai
1 prawn fried rice
Total spent £16.50

1 pint of cider
1 pint of lager
Total spent £11. 10

Unfortunately, when I saw the size of Louisa’s Gyros, I knew we wouldn’t eat the prawn fried rice so I asked if we could have a box for takeaway. Surprisingly, they do not do takeaway so I had to pinch a paper cup from a closed coffee stall and cram the rice dish in to it. I thought I would take it home and have it tomorrow for breakfast.
After a lovely afternoon and evening out it was time to make our way to our respective buses.