Cod Almighty | Diary

Last orders please

8 July 2020

Miss Guest Diary writes: Hands up who went to the pub on Saturday. We know that Casual Diary did, but anyone else?

Of all the things I have missed in the last four months, going to the pub isn't one of them. I am no stranger to pubs, being of the generation where parents thought it was OK to leave you sitting on the wall outside with a bottle of pop and a packet of crisps while they were drinking inside. That pretty much sums up my Sundays in summer as a kid. My brother and I would get a trip to the park for a go on the swings, spend our pocket money at the local sweetshop – picturesquely called The Rainbow – then wait outside The George while Dad had a couple of pints. Mum was, of course, at home cooking the dinner.

As a teenager and into my 20s pubs were about the only places to meet your mates. No cafe on every street corner the way there is now. Then I made the mistake of marrying a hard-drinking rugby player who, when he wasn't propping up the rugby club bar, could be found in the pub. That's all changed in the last 30 years, living with someone who, ironically, grew up in a pub but doesn't like beer. Our trips to the pub, apart from the occasional Sunday lunch, are confined to meeting mates before a Town game. I sometimes wonder if I will ever visit a pub again.

Something I definitely have missed this summer is cricket: it's our go-to entertainment during the close season. I was heartily pleased to see that the counties have voted in favour of having both red ball and white ball competitions when it restarts next month. I love the atmosphere and excitement of a 20-over game under the floodlights at Trent Bridge but I am wondering how they are going to stage games safely when they regularly get crowds of around 10,000.

County four day games are another matter; equally enjoyable but in a wholly different way. That leisurely stroll into the pavilion for a coffee and a bacon bap followed by a couple of hours intermittently reading the paper and watching the game take shape. Sometimes reading a book and doing a bit of knitting. Moving around the ground during the course of the day to avoid the sun when it's hot or the chilly breeze when it isn't. No worries about social distancing at those games – we have, on occasions, had an entire stand more or less to ourselves. It might be a bit different this year with nothing else to compete, but I can't wait to get back there. It isn't Blundell Park, but it'll go some way to filling the sporting void.

Then there's a Test Match starting today. Behind closed doors but being televised on Sky, of course. Hands up who thinks Sky should have been magnanimous and let it be shown on free-to-air TV. Fat chance of that. We'll just have to make do with the highlights on the Beeb.

And because this is supposed to be about Town, I bring you the only piece of news I could find. The GTFC face masks have been cancelled because "customs have rejected our bespoke face coverings leaving the country of origin". You couldn't make it up.