You don’t have to be mad to support Ipswich, but it helps!
On Friday, I bought my train ticket to go to see Ipswich play Leicester at Portman Road, so if I had decided not to go because of the weather it would have cost me £23.55. I could afford that and knew that as I walked along the Ball’s Pond Road to Dalston Kingsland station, the weather didn’t look at all promising.
- Snow in the Ball’s Pond Road
I did get as far as the cash-point on the corner, but immediately returned home and then went to a pub where I had some lunch and some cider.
At about two, I thought that I’d go as snow often makes for good entertainment. So I retraced my steps to the station, bought a paper and then found that the station was closed. So I had to taske the alternative route, via Dalston Junction, Whitechapel and Mile End, where I got the Central Line for Stratford, to get the fast train to Ipswich.
The Olympic stadium looked good in the snow.
- Olympic Stadium in the Snow
But at least the Olympics are in August not the winter!
I actually fell asleep on the train to Ipswich, but that had nothing to do with missing the first twelve minutes or so of the match. The move has been tiring and I just needed the sleep. I completely missed the first goal and only heard the roar of the crowd as the second went in.
I just managed to see the third through the snow, but as most of the action for that goal happened just in front of me.
The second half was much of the same, as 16,728 souls peered through the snow.
Football in the Snow
But all thanks go to the referee, who resisted all efforts by the Leicester players to abandon the match. And of course to the ground staff, who kept the game going.
I had a wait at the station for a train back to London, but when it arrived it was new, warm and comfortable and arrived at its destination without gaining any more delays. It was then a tube to Liverpool Street and a taxi from the station to home. The only bad information I received on the journey home was from the charming policewoman at Liverpool Street, who said that the taxis weren’t running. But they were.
Interestingly, her colleague was in a uniform which said Politie, so he could have been Dutch. Are we that short of police these days that we have to borrow them from other countries? I made a mistake in not taking a picture.
But I suppose, when Ipswich fans talk over a drink in a few years time, I will be able so say “I was there!”
Isn’t life wonderful.
Where Are My Vests?
It’s cold and I need one of my long-sleeved T-shirts. But where are they? Probably with my shirts, which I’ve not found either in one of the boxes that are piled up without meaningful labels. So I know one moving firm, I won’t be using again.
Targetting Businesses that Avoid Tax
If you read this blog regularly, you’ll see that I tend to shop and purchase with I hope an ethical dimension. Other things come into it like good service and convenience.
So if I need something quickly here, I’ll tend to use local shops or the two small Sainsbury stores within walking distance. As one has a good Free From section and sells Green’s beer, I use it a couple of times a week.
As I said in a previous post, I never use Tesco, except when it is totally to my advantage, as the store’s attitude gets up my nose in so many ways. But I am a free man and can have my own prejudices towards business.
So when it comes to the protests against the likes of Vodafone and Arcadia, because of tax avoidance, I have a certain sympathy with the protesters. But these two companies have been on my don’t buy list for years, as I don’t like their attitude. My cheaper clothes usually end up being purchased in such as Gap and Marks & Spencer, if possible. But lately, it’s been Gap, as they have a small size that isn’t made for the obese. Fit is important to me.
So if these protests cost Philip Green some money, I’m not bothered, especially, as I never use his shops because they don’t have what I want. I’m also annoyed with British Home Stores for effectively cutting out the dry way of getting from Oxford Street tube to John Lewis, by reorganising their store. But that doesn’t bother me now, as I can take a 73 bus to right outside John Lewis.
I tend to use John Lewis a lot, as I get service and goods that last at a good price. But then could the service be so good because John Lewis is a partnership with everybody’s bonus on the line?
The Organised Shopper
I am one of that rare breed, a man who actually likes shopping. But then so did my father! Especially, when he had money. He didn’t always.
As a 10-year-old, I used to trail my mother’s wicker trolley round perhaps a kilometre to Williams Brothers on Cockfosters Road to get the weekly shop. The only item I can remember with a price is a leg of New Zealand lamb at 15 shillings. In those days the shop paid a reward in fake money, which was a bit like a Co-op divi or the reward points offered by most supemarkets these days in one form or another.
When I lived in Suffolk, I always used a store with their Quick Check facility, so that I could be in and out as fast as possible. I also packed the bags so that everything came out in an order, that meant putting things away quicer too. My nightmare was having a recheck as this meant that nothing was in the right place and putting things away took twice the time.
Now that I am in London I have easy access to two Waitrose branches; Angel, Islington and Jones Brothers. I’m afraid that corner site on the Holloway Road will always be Jones Brothers to me, as it was one of first department stores I encountered as a child, along with Pearsons in Enfield. Pearsons had one of those central tills, with wires and cash carriers leading to all the service desks. Well-behaved children were allowed to send the money on its way, by pulling the chain.
But neither of these Waitrose branches has Quick Check, which means I have to endure the queues at the checkout. Yesterday, I was told to go to the checkout in order by one of the store’s staff, only to find, that some oick about thirty-five buying bottles of expensive booze had taken my space. He then accused me of queue jumping. I’ve never done that deliberately and now after the stroke, I always wait to make sure I don’t do it inadvertently. I ended up delaying the whole queue, as it took me a couple of minutes to organise everything.
So you can see why I want a Quick Check store, as not only do I get everything packed up as I go, but I can take my time properly to fulfil the list, I’ve written. There is a small point here, in that I like a trolley with a list holder, as I only have one 100% hand, with the left at about eighty on a good day.
So this morning, I’ve been on Waitrose’s web site, to try to find a branch nearby or on one of the seven or so bus routes that stop within a hundred metres of my house, that has Quick Check. Waitrose’s branch search is bad and won’t even show me which branches are close to my post code. So you have to bring up all the individual London branches and see if they have the facility. There is a link which says it will find those branches with Quick Check, but it just points you to the main search page, which gets me back to the proverbial and useless square one.
There is also one other thing I want from a supermarket. And that is a map of the store, showing what is in each of aisles. Not in great detail, but sufficient so that I casn logically progress round the store without being ambushed, if I write what I need on it. It’s one of the reasons, I only use Tesco, when they are only place I can get something. Every store is disorganised deliberately, so you end up passing many things you don’t need or even want. And to make it worse finding the Free From section in Tescos usually means checking the whole store. I never ask, as that wastes my time.
These maps could be available for printing off the Internet, so that all the shopping is organised before I leave home.
I suppose I could shop on line, but then I don’t get to choose the fish or vegetables I want.
I’m also looking for a square back-pack, so that I can carry things home easier.
Rear Window
I took this picture, through the rear window of a 277 bus yesterday.
Through the Rear Window of a 277 Bus
I then walked round Highbury Corner and had lunch in Carluccio’s in Upper Street, before getting my provisions in Waitrose at the Angel.
Snow in Upper Street
Home was just a walk to Upper Street, with my backpack loaded with veetables and the other heavy stuff and one of Waitrose’s Quick Check carriers with all the other stuff. Once on Upper Street, a 38 bus took me to within a hundred metres of home.
It was all so easy. And yet there were people still driving around looking for parking spaces.
The Anonymous Widower 