Sheffield

Olympics (6 of of 14 ):

Elisabeth had a medical appointment in Sheffield today, so we visited the City Center and had lunch. On the way home, we visited the Industrial Museum on Kelham Island.

For a couple of centuries 1770-1970, Sheffield was a Steel City. A filthy horrible place. People living in slums, doing dangerous work in awful conditions. It's possible there is no Steel Making in Britain today. How things change - this was a basic ingredient of Britain's industrial past.

Like coal-mining, weaving, ship-building, car and aircraft construction - these industries are no-more. As Churchill said of the RAF in 1940 "If the British Empire lasts for One Thousand Years, people will say 'This was our Finest Hour'". He should have said "Final Hour". The movie "The Full Monty" was filmed in Sheffield and deals with the social consequences of industrial evolution.

Sheffield is quite nice and I'm sure has improved beyond recognition over the last 40 years. The people of Yorkshire are lovely, friendly folk - even if their accent isn't easy to understand. Who am I to mention that - many folks don't understand my accent.

So we had a nice day out in Sheffield. It's a pity about the weather today and tomorrow's going to be the same. It'll be better for the weekend. Hoping to see Team GB win a Gold Medal tomorrow in the Ladies Pairs at the Rowing. I had a very nice 10k run along the banks of the River Don this evening in my TeamGB shirt.

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