Two Coeliacs At The Football
At the football last night, the stand wasn’t full and we could sit where we liked.
I ended up sitting next to this guy about my age and as one does we got talking.
It turned out he was another coeliac, who like me bad been diagnosed in later life. In his case, it had been twelve years ago at Ipswich hospital.
We swapped stories about bread and recipes, but what surprised me was that he’d never seen or heard of Nakd bars. So I gave him a piece of my half-time snack. Quite a few of my non-gluten-free friends in London eat them, as they tick so many boxes and they are pretty easy to find in most supermarkets.
Dainty! It’s Not!
I’m watching the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final on Sky Sports 4.
It’s a lot more entertaining and skilful, than I thought it would be. What particularly surprised me was the place kicking and the line out work! I think only one kick was missed all match by both sides.
England are leading at half time, which improves the experience. Unless of course you’re Canadian! Or perhaps Scottish!
Match Two : Reading 1 – Ipswich 0
After the Fulham match this was a disappointment in many ways.
But the visit to Reading started well with this greeting from the structural steelwork of the station.
Steelwork At Reading Station
I had wanted to have a delicious egg and watercress sandwich from Marks and Spencer, but their stores in both Paddington and Reading stations were gluten-free free zones. Or at least as sandwiches were concerned!
The Police on duty at the station didn’t know where to get the buses to the Madejsky stadium, so in the end I guessed. And luckily right! The Police did say they weren’t from Reading, but surely they should be briefed on basic questions.
When I got to the stadium, I was at least met by these bikes.
Ready Bikes
The name of Ready Bike is certainly memorable and there’s more here.
In the stadium I was treated to the worst cup of hot chocolate I’ve ever had.
A Very Bad Cup Of Hot Chocolate
I have the same drink at Ipswich and they make sure it’s all mixed up. They are obviously berks in Berkshire, when it comes to making hot chocolate.
They also expected me to climb to the top of the back of the stand.
Wot No Handrails!
Surely there should be some form of handrail! I did climb up and down without any trouble.
Throughout the match we had to put up with the worse public address system,I’ve not heard in a long time. They also weren’t putting up things like substitutions on the big screen.
The match was the final disappointment in that Ipswich lost to a single goal scored after a bad mistake by David McGoldrick.
Let’s hope it’s all a lot better on Tuesday in Birmingham.
Child Wins European 400m Hurdles Gold
This headline appears on the BBC web site. Surely a child would find it difficult to jump the hurdles.
But of course the article refers to the Scottish athlete, Eilidh Child.
Headline writers should be more careful.
On Line Rail Tickets Aren’t Always Cheapest
I’m going to Reading today to see Ipswich play Reading at the Madejski Stadium. It is one of the easiest out-of-town stadia to get to, as there is a bus service from the main Reading station.
I live about a ten minute walk away from Dalston Junction station on the Overground.
They have recently updated the ticket machines there, so you can buy any point to point ticket for use on the day or the next one after 16:00.
So yesterday, I would my ticket for Reading today at Dalston Junction station. As I have a Freedom Pass, which gives me free travel to any station within the Zone 6 Boundary, I was able to buy a ticket from the machine that took me from the Zone 6 Boundary to Reading. Previously to this clever machine appearing on the Overground, the only way to buy this extension ticket was to go to a Ticket Office and queue for often twenty minutes or so.
Zone 6 Boundary to Reading Ticket
The ticket cost me £7.40 with my Senior Railcard.
That seemed cheap to me, so this morning I looked at the First Great Western web site, to see how much they’d charge.
It would have cost me £11.70.
Was the ticket machine programmed by a senior citizen with a Freedom Pass or just somebody, who understood how holders of such passes think and behave!
I suspect though that over a season buying my London to Ipswich tickets at an Overground station, might save me nearly a hundred pounds.
The only problem for some people will be that their local Overground or Underground station doesn’t have these new ticket machines.
But as they are so comprehensive and surely every non-London ticket sold is revenue to Transport for London, it can’t be long before these are the universal ticket machines in London.
The only thing they don’t do is to issue Oyster cards, which is probably not needed, as they will probably not be needed for ticketing at some point in the next few years.
Crawley For The Carling Cup
I went to Crawley Town to see Ipswich get knocked out of the Carling Cup in extra time.
It wasn’t a good match for Ipswich, except that some youngsters made promising debuts.
At Crawley Town
I had got to the ground courtesy of a lift from my cousin, with whom I had supper.
But coming home. there was no other way thsan to get a taxi to Three Bridges. Luckily I was able to get a lift with a Crawley Town supporter, who was also going back to London on the train.
Crawley would appear to be one of those grounds, where to get away after an evening match you are going to need a taxi.
Match One: Ipswich 2 – Fulham 1
It was a result, I hadn’t expected as I walked to Portman Road from Ipswich Station.
Ipswich Town is one of the better placed grounds with respect to transport and also access to the town centre. There are also maps, but as you can see the stadium from the train station, you don’t need to consult them.
The only problem I had, was that the club had run out of programmes.
The club must have been pleased with the result and also with the size of the crowd considering, the match was on Sky. It’ll be interesting to see, if the performance has any effect on the gates at home matches after the next, which is Norwich, so it will be a full crowd.
Bernie Gets Out Of Jail
There is a report on the BBC about how Bernie Ecclestone has paid a very large fine to end his bribery trial. This is the start of the report.
A German court has agreed to end the bribery trial of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone in exchange for a $100m (£60m) payment from him.
Mr Ecclestone’s offer was based on an existing provision in German law.
I would suspect that there are only two other people in history, could have extracted themselves from the predicament in which Bernie found himself.
Machiavelli himself and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.
And of course like Wolsey, Bernie was born in Suffolk.
Suffolk is a county of England unlike any other. Someone described it as curious, but I disagreed in this post calling it independent and forgotten.
Bernie is definitely independent, but he will never be forgotten.
At The Games
These pictures were taken over two days at the Games.
On the Tuesday we had seats in a much better position on the opposite side of the stadium.
Who Nicked Me Titfer?
I took this picture of the statue of the Duke of Wellington.
Who Nicked Me Titfer?
Someone has stolen the road cone, he usually wears as a hat!
There’s a report about this on Scotland Now!
The Anonymous Widower 