92 Clubs – Day 1 – Accrington, Aldershot, Arsenal and Aston Villa
Well! Day 1 is now complete.
I stayed overnight in a guest house called Maple Lodge at Clayton-le-Moors just up the hill from Accrington Stanley‘s ground.
Maple Lodge Guest House at Five in the Morning
It was clean with a very comfortable bed and it was an only a twenty minute walk down the hill at five in the morning for an early start. It would be a nice affordable base for a weekend at the football, with a but of exploring in the area and on the moors thrown in.
I arrived at the ground early, as I needed to catch the 6:17 train out of the town to Leeds to get a train south.
Accrington Stanley's Ground
The ground is signposted off the Whalley Road and is very much tucked away in the houses. It was quiet, but then what do you expect in the dark early on a Saturday morning. I was welcomed by a friendly ginger cat though.
It took me about twenty minutes to walk down the hill to the station, which is a model for many small towns. Unfortunately, the large Tesco’s next door wasn’t fully open and all I could get to eat was a couple of EatNakd bars. The cashier was also not in the best of humour after working a probably not too busy night-shift on his own. I do wonder about the economics of opening supermarkets all night. Even the self-service tills were broken.
It was from Leeds that I got the 8:05 after the 6:17 from Accrington had got me in on time. It was then a quick route by Victoria and Bakerloo line to catch the 10:53 to Aldershot, where it was a short walk to the ground.
Aldershot Town
Although, I did take a roundabout route getting to the ground, which is actually visible from the station.
It was then back on the train and then on to the Emirates for Arsenal.
At The Emirates Stadium
This picture was taken by a Spanish tourist. If you think I looked hot and bedraggled, you’re right as it was the hottest October 1st since 1800 and God-knows-what.
The Emirates incidentally, was the only place where there was someone to take my picture. The cat at Accrington didn’t want to know.
But at least I was running early and had time for a trip home to have lunch and a shower before going on to Aston Villa.
I left Euston at 17:03 and at just after 19:00 I was outside the ground.
Villa Park - Note the Moon on the Right
I could even see the moon over the stadium. How Romantic!
It was then back to Birmingham New Street and I caught the 21:10 back to London.
I was in bed by 23:30.
I shall update this post as time goes on, as I’ve just written it hurredly as I rush off to Barnsley.
But the amazing thing in some peoples minds was that I caught eight trains yesterday and none were late, although one might have been early. There was no delays on the four Underground trains I caught either.
My only problem was that finding gluten-free food was difficult, as neither Leeds or Birmingham Marks and Spencers in the station carry gluten free sandwiches. But of course, I cooked myself a hearty lunch.
So Day 1 has the same answer to the question of what do you call 1,000 American lawyers at the bottom of the sea? – A good start!
Scott Overall Does An Ian Thompson
Scott Overall’s performance in the Berlin Marathon would appear to the uninitiated to be a glorious one-off.
But it’s happened before with British athletes in the marathon. Go back thirty years or so and Ian Thompson won the British marathon championship on his debut, when he just made up the team. He then went on to win two gold medals in major championships.
You could argue that Thompson’s performance was better, in that he won and Overall didn’t. But then today, training methods are better and more scientific and there may well be a lot more to come from Overall.
Let’s hope that Scott Overall is worthy of and fit for selection next year for the London Olympics. If he improves substantially, as he well might, then the marathon could be one of the highlights of the athletics.
I have a feeling a two pound win double of Overall and Radcliffe might just be the bet right now.
We must never underestimate the value of a home venue. It did wonders for the Spaniards in Barcelona.
Cash For Scrap
No wonder we get so much metal thefts with big screen adverts like this at football grounds.
Where to Sell Your Scrap Metal For Cash
I took this picture at West Ham last night!
If I was the Transport Minister, I’d get them banned.
East Coast Tickets Are Not Exchangeable For A Sensible Fee
For my Day 1 trip from Accrington to London, I booked an advance ticket on the 10:05 from Leeds to London, that arrived at 12:30. The ticket cost me £26.45.
But at the time I booked, I hadn’t thought that I could fit in the Aston Villa part of the trip.
So I found that if I took an earlier train from Leeds, it would give me more time. But no matter, it said that I could exchange the ticket for a fee.
So I looked it up on the web this morning and found that there were tickets for earlier trains still available, albeit at a higher price. There were also Super Off Peak tickets available at £28.90, which is probably what I should have bought in the first place.
So I went to Kings Cross and found out that to exchange the ticket for a named train would cost me a fee of forty-one pounds or so. I’ve changed advance tickets in the past and I think I got charged five or ten pounds or so. That would have been reasonable, but not ideal, as in fact, I’m not sure which train I want to take. As it’s a Saturday, I have a feeling that a Super Off Peak ticket allows me to travel on most, if not all trains.
So I left, after realising I had a nice story for my blog and of course, I still had a valid ticket on the 10:05, even if it is a bit tight to get to Aston Villa.
At home, I found that the £28.90 ticket was still there, so to see if I could get it cheaper, I tried the TrainLine. But that wanted £40.90. I don’t pay booking fees to anybody, so they can go and find some other mugs.
So I went back to East Coast and eventually bought the ticket at £28.90.
It’ll be interesting to see what price, I could pay for a walk-up ticket at Leeds on Saturday.
To return to the title of this page. I don’t consider, a forty pound plus fee acceptable, when I can buy a fully flexible ticket for about two-thirds of the sum.
This trip is starting to get interesting. Perhaps I should follow Tony Hawks lead and travel with a fridge. The problem is that I’ve had enough medical problems in the past few years, I don’t want another caused by humping a fridge.
The Greenway Bridge Over Stratford High Street
The structure of this important bridge, which is just known as Olympic Bridge T12, is now in place.
It will be much needed to get Olympic visitors from West Ham station to the site. There’s more on the bridge here.
Were BBC Radio 5 and ITV Watching Different Rugby Matches?
At half time in the England-Romania match, I switched over to BBC Radio 5 to avoid the adverts.
Whereas the ITV commentators were gushing about England’s performance by leading comfortably, Ian Robertson on the BBC was more professional and clinical in his analysis.
Here is a typical comment from Robertson.
If I was a fanatical England supporter I wouldn’t be thrilled.
I know he’s a Scot and I know little about rugby, but England did seem to make too many mistakes for my liking against Romania’s second team.
But then ITV commentators are more interested in ratings to get more adverts, than good balanced commentary.
But could you expect any more from a channel that produces some of the rubbish it does?
The Prince of Pace
I have been meaning for some time to photograph the statue of Prince Alexander Obelensky in Ipswich and finally got to do it last Monday, when I was in the town.
It is rather unusual and celebrates both his rugby and his short and tragic flying career in the RAF.
I also think it is the only public statue in Ipswich of anybody with a royal title.
I like it.
I Was on talkSPORT Last Night
I was interviewed on talkSPORT by Jason Cundy late last night.
I don’t think I made too much of a fool of myself.
The Tevez Defence
Carlos Tevez got himself off a serious charge by claiming he couldn’t read English according to many reports, including this one in the Mirror.
I would assume that he didn’t have any colleagues or friends, who couldn’t read English either. I once had a spam e-mail in Russian, so I asked one of the builders, who was Lithuanian, what it meant. He said it was spam, so I ignored it.
How long before the defence is used in a serious case like murder or rape? The accused in a rape case could perhaps claim that he didn’t understand what No meant.
Perhaps the best thing we could do is give Tevez six months to learn basic English.
My Place in The Sun
I was in The Sun yesterday, just under Pippa Middleton at the bottom of page 29. Under the headine, He Choos He Scores, it said the following.
Londoner James Miller, 64, will use trains and buses to visit 92 Football League grounds in alphabetical order in 29 days.
Not strictly true, as I’m allowing myself the 31 days of October, but they obviously didn’t have any more space.
C once appeared on page 3 in The Sun. A case involving a saucy farmer, where she was defending the two women, who attacked him, was published many years ago.
