The Welcome Invader from the East.
After racing yesterday, I took the train from Thirsk to York, so that I could see my old boss, who was in hospital in York. He seemed better in some ways to when I saw him a few weeks ago, but I understand from his family he has a long way to go. But I know he’ll do it, as he’ll find some way to pull through. I’ll also visit him when I can, as he has been such a great support to me over the previous couple of years through my troubles and I know I must pay that back. But I’m not that good on those sorts of debts!
But as I got back from York to Cambridge for the princely sum of just £13.20, it’s not something that would worry anybody on cost grounds!
After I’d seen him in hospital, I went with his son to the local Premium Inn. They had bottles of Aspall cyder in the bar! So over 250 years after it was first brewed in Suffolk, it finally invades Yorkshire!
I certainly needed a drink after the day I’d had!
Thoughts on Transport to the Den
As I can’t drive, I rely heavily on three things, trains, buses and good old-fashioned walking.
On Tuesday night, I went to Canary Wharf for supper and for many places it is a good place to start an evening trip in London. The parking may be a bit expensive, but you can always get a couple of hours free, if you spend over £10 in one of the shops there. I used to buy something I needed like wine in Waitrose to get the token. Incidentally, is there a more up-market supermarket anywhere in the UK, than this one?
The first step to your evening entertainment, after a meal in one of the many restaurants, is to take the Jubilee Line from Canary Wharf Station, that makes all other Metro stations in the world, look ordinary. I once took a C into the station on the escalator from the surface and asked her to close her eyes, once she was safely on the moving staircase. I then told her to open her eyes a few metres down. The look on her face summed it all up.
As I was going to the Den on Tuesday, I just took one station on the Jubilee Line to Canada Water. From upstairs, I took a P12 bus, which stopped outside the ground. what could have been simpler?
One of the problems at the Den, is that it is an area with very few pubs, restaurants and cafes. My mate, Ian, chose to drive and he had quite a bit of difficulty parking and then finding anything to eat. I got the better deal by going to Canary Wharf.
There are plans to build a new station at Surrey Canal Road on the new East London Line extension to Clapham Junction.
This will make travelling to the Den easier, but it will probably do nothing for the quality of the hostelries in the area! I’m afraid at my age and with my medical conditions, greasy burgers, fish and chips and pints of gassy lager are not for me!
But it will give you more choices of getting to the ground, as it will then be directly connected to many other areas with lots of easily accessible places to eat and drink. For example, Ipswich fans coming in to Liverpool Street, might use the Spitalfields or Brick Lane areas, before going to the match from Shoreditch High Street.
Obviously Canary Wharf makes a good starting point for anything in the West End of London, but with just one simple interchange at Canada Water or Shadwell, it is also a good place to start for anything in South London, if you live north of the river. Crystal Palace, which used to be one of the more difficult grounds to reach is now a lot easier. It’s just a pity that the interchange at Shadwell from the Docklands Light Railway to the East London Line isn’t better.
Pea Therapy
I have my son and his friend to lunch today. I’ve just been shelling peas, which is something that I haven’t done since I was a child.
It seemed to be good therapy for my bad left hand!
A Picture of my Lunch for Kazakh Jock
This was the lunch I took to the football at Ipswich.
My Lunch
The filling is the finest Loch Muir smoked salmon. The bread was the last part of a Marks and Spencer gluten-free loaf.
I ate it with Tam, but he didn’t want much, as he’s a statue!
The Last of the Hunters
In the 1960s, there was a series of adverts for fish, which used the slogan, “Fish! The only food you go out and hunt!”
On the South Quay in Great Yarmouth today, was the Lydia Eva, the last of the steam drifters, that used to dominate herring fishing in the North Sea.
She is now a museum and uniquely a ship that contains a museum, that actually works and goes to sea!
Lunch at the Seafood Restaurant, Great Yarmouth
I had lunch at the Seafood Restaurant on North Quay, which was an easy walk from the station.
The Seafood Restaurant, Great Yarmouth
I had an excellent lunch in a friendly atmosphere. And it was all gluten-free too!
A Post From an Anti-Spam List
I belong to an anti-spam list called Spammers Don’t Like Us.
This was posted today.
Several years back, my now ex and I tried SPAM(R) sandwiches for dinner one night. It didn’t agree with me for some reason. Woke up mumbling a whole bunch of stuff about pills, weight loss, credit cards, discounts, coupon codes, marketing opportunities, etc. Then I just spewed vomit everywhere.
My then wife said “Five five what?? Message? What Message?” I said back to her “Honey, I bounced the spam.” The whole thing was very freudian.
Also was my one and only experience as a backscatterer.
As a coeliac, I should ask if Spam is gluten-free.
A Message from a Jock in Exile in Kazakhstan
I have really upset a friend of mine who is currently working in Kazahkstan, by posting a picture of a bacon sandwich.
Here is what he said.
Here I am in the middle of now where and you show me one of the best things in life. You rotten little bugger !!! O’ps I forgot the HP just to round it off. I am so looking forward to getting home a week on Sunday as being a Jock I am having fish withdrawals as there is absolutely nothing here and I suppose I could not get any further from the open sea. There is Sturgeon but there is a ban on fishing it as they are trying to preserve the Caviar stocks after years of over fishing. So no fish, no scampi, no scallops, no lobster, no crabs in fact no anything which is nice.
Long live good old Blighty.
A Gluten-Free Bacon Sandwich
I bet some people who end up here, didn’t think it could exist.
A Gluten-Free Bacon Sandwich
It was made with organic bacon from Waitrose and a couple of slices of Genius brown bread. I didn’t use butter, but Benecol.
It was a very nice sandwich! I would say that wouldn’t I!
A Pit-Stop at Micheldever
In Victorian times, rail journeys were often done in stages, as there was a need to change engines. For instance, the Great Western used to change engines at Swindon and everybody, including the King and Queen got off for refreshments in the station. Here’s a piece from the entry in Wikipedia for Swindon Station.
Swindon railway station opened in 1842 with construction of the Great Western Railway’s engineering works continuing. Until 1895 every train stopped here for at least 10 minutes to change locomotives. Swindon station hosted the first recorded railway refreshment rooms, divided according to class. Swindonians for a time were eminently proud that even the current King and Queen of the time had partaken of refreshments there.
I think I read in something like Rolt’s excellent biography of Brunel, that the tea was produced in an enormous urn and was virtually undrinkable. I also think that there was a contract which said that trains must all stop at Swindon.
On Saturday, I was intending to break my journey to the football at Portsmouth at a station called Micheldever, where I was going to have lunch with a friend and his family. After lunch, I intended to use the same ticket travel to Fratton.
It all worked well! The inpector on the leg to Micheldever from Waterloo, just looked at my ticket and made no mark on it. When I returned, there was no problems either, as I got on the train to complete the journey. I do worry that with these new barrier systems coming in, that this pit-stop ability may be lost. I did once a couple of years ago, want to break a journey at Reading and it took me a lot of persuation to achieve it. I also have the problem at Cambridge, when I want to use the Marks and Spencer’s in the station to get my supper, when I’m perhaps changing for Dullingham.
On Saturday, it certainly made for a better trip, as an exquisite Chinese meal home-cooked by my friend’s wife, was very much preferable to the food available in the region of Fratton Park. This was the first Chinese food, I’ve eaten since I had the stroke in Hong Kong.
I wonder how many people actually know of this split journey rule, which greatly improved my journey to Portsmouth. After all, many stations, Micheldever included, are very close to good pubs or restaurants, so are ideally placed to break a journey. For instance on the 25th of September, I’m going to see Ipswich play Scunthorpe and then I’m going on to York. Would it be easier to book an off-peak single to York from say Dullingham and break the trip at Doncaster, from where I’d get the train to Scunthorpe?
The Anonymous Widower 