A perfect day...........

Nice sometimes to get out of the house and do something different.....yesterday I managed to fit all this in:

Got a full tank of petrol, saving a fiver by using Sainsbury's voucher.
Set off for Herne Bay, Kent.  Had a mooch around, took some photos of that amazingly tall statue, walked along the long stone jetty and took some photos of the sun reflecting on the North Sea.
Bought Margo a Japanese good luck cat with a swinging arm from a souvenir shop (never seen these on sale anywhere else).  
Still time to kill, so went in the Divers Arms which is supposed to have bar billiards. No sign of it, only Pool (table went at least 5 years ago, apparently). Interesting chat with locals, including one who had a pathological hatred of civil servants !
Fulfilled 5pm appointment to collect antique bagatelle table which I'd secured on eBay. It just fitted in my car without an inch to spare. :o
Set off for Canterbury via Whitstable. Went past the East Kent, on the right coming out of town, but on a tight schedule so no time to stop to investigate table.
Entered Canterbury via St Dunstans and parked outside the Unicorn. Had swift half and a game on the table - then Sav showed his face at 6.15 as promised ! Had a 'proper' game and both fascinated by the quirks of the table, which was sloping to the right hand corner and needed right-hand side on the break! Apart from that, a great table.
Made our goodbyes and drove round to the back of the Cathedral and parked. Short walk to the Kings School. Fish and Chip shop right opposite the entrance. Just time to wolf down a sausage and chips, then entered the Shirley Hall for the concert (7.30pm).
Entertained by Caravan for 2 and a half hours, they didn't disappoint, really together. Chatted with people either side of me whose knowledge of the band matched mine.
Journeyed home, only took 90 minutes, didn't get lost once.  
A perfect day, one when everything went to plan.

Edit: Concert review HERE www.caravan-info.co.uk/#/news/canterburyfestival2011review1

[Chris_Sav]

Nice to see you Clive, pleasant game on an 'Interesting' table and an excellent pint of Doombar

Sav

Well, almost perfect........

Jan 23, 2015 15:48:17 GMT tommo III said:

It's great to know that the Prince of Wales has its table still - though I shouldn't imagine it gets played much - Hammer Vale being such an out of the way place. (Best way I can describe it is as the place where three counties - Hants, Surrey and W. Sussex - converge, although there is easy access off the A3 Guildford-Portsmouth trunk road).

Visited the Prince of Wales, Hammer Vale yesterday and only one of tommo's comments above turns out to be true: yes, it's in an out of the way place, but no the table isn't a jelkes and no it turns out it's a hybrid, rented through Sanders Pool Company.

But what a great pub ! Wish it could be picked up and spirited back down into the Horsham area ! I spent the whole of yesterday afternoon there, enjoying the warmth of the log fire whilst in between several games devouring a scrumptious Bacon and Brie Baguette. The bar manager was really friendly too.

Just my luck that the concert I was out that way for was cancelled !

Having left the pub at around 4.30pm I made for Farncombe (near Godalming) after stopping at Milford first for a cream tea at Secrets Garden Centre. (A search for knick-knacks for Margo bore fruit in the form of a set of china cruets shaped as bunny-rabbits - ah !)
The journey from Hammer Vale to Milford took me along the A3 and I was both amazed and impressed by the 'new' Hindhead tunnel - over a mile long, and which takes the pain out of the previous need of going up, round and down one edge of the Devils Punchbowl:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2428027/A3-road-transformed-miracle-engineering.html

But immediately on entering Godalming everything became darkness - which was jolly scary I can tell you: no street lights meaning I couldn't make out road names, and with no traffic lights working, traffic chaos ensuing ! The massive power cut apparently affected 17,000 homes and is not the first time it's happened in that region.

I decided to park up in a little crescent to wait for the power to come back on, but as it hadn't done so by the time of the start of the concert I decided my best option was to make my way home while I still knew the way back to the main road. Apparently the power cut lasted for more than 3 hours, not coming back until around 10pm. And the concert did go ahead, but as an acoustic set.

Tommo was let out on the long leash again yesterday and his adventures took him to Hertfordshire......

A 90 minute journey saw me arrive mid-afternoon at the Verulanium Museum at St Albans. I decide to explore the city while it was still daylight, so followed the tow path marked "to the cathedral" which took me through some amazing water gardens (apparently occupying 100 acres) with 22 varieties of waterfowl including heron, kingfisher, spoonbill and moorhens.

Found the cathedral and took some photos. Longest nave in Europe, apparently, beating Winchester. The east front looks much older than the west front, and is having work done on it. Apparently originally fabricated using stones from the former city's walls.

I walked round the city for an hour, trying to envisage the circumstances of the first battle of St Albans in 1455 when, fed up with his treatment by Henry VI and his advisors, the Duke of York along with the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick and their retainers besieged the town. The pathetically weak Henry with an army of 2000 were holed up in the town and his commanders (including the Dukes of Somerset, Buckingham and Northumberland) set up barricades at the roads leading in - one being Sopwell Lane. Warwick's section of the besieging force eventually broke through via people's gardens and the King was wounded, taken capture, and carried to the cathedral (then the Abbey) to tend to his neck wound. The Yorkists then swore an oath of allegience but the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland had been killed, Buckingham injured (by an arrow in the mouth) and the Duke of York was left to run the country while the king was incapacitated.

I could not find the spot where Somerset met his end (the Castle Inn now demolished) but Sopwell Lane was a must visit and it has some Tudor-style buildings. Half way down on the left I found the Goat Inn (closed for the afternoon of course) but lo and behold ! through the window there was the bar billiards table which predictably had seen better days. It has the Bar Billiards Ltd rectangular plaque and circular NBBA Approved label but at a guess is still using the old pounds as tokens. The cloth is faded with torn edges round the cups which are sunken, and there were only two mushrooms, placed in front of the 50s. (So I'd just go for a straight 200 pot off the break !)

Having retraced my steps via the cathedral, I spent 45 minutes going round the Verulanium museum which took the time up to 6pm. On to Harpenden, where Caravan were performing at the Public Halls. Their set lasted exactly two hours and for me was worth every penny. A slight hiccup to the journey home where the M25 was closed between junctions 17 and 16 which took a slow-moving procession through Denham but I was home by half past midnight.

[alanturner]

QUOTE :- Having retraced my steps via the cathedral, I spent 45 minutes going round the Verulanium museum which took the time up to 6pm. On to Harpenden, where Caravan were performing at the Public Halls. Their set lasted exactly two hours and for me was worth every penny. A slight hiccup to the journey home where the M25 was closed between junctions 17 and 16 which took a slow-moving procession through Denham but I was home by half past midnight.

Is that possibly the same Caravan that i saw over 40 years ago in Torquay ? The same week Lindesfarne and Hawkwind were on !!

Nov 17, 2017 22:34:27 GMT alanturner said:

Is that possibly the same Caravan that i saw over 40 years ago in Torquay ? The same week Lindesfarne and Hawkwind were on !!

I'm sure it is, as next March they celebrate their 50th year.
I've only known about them since 2001 when a work colleague (The Ferret who hails from Knutsford) lent me the CD Land of the Grey and Pink and I immediately became hooked.
Like a lot of progressive groups they were dormant throughout the 80s and 90s when punk came on the scene. And of necessity their lineup has had a lot of changes, with Pye Hastings the only original member - although the multi-talented Geoffrey Richardson has been with them since 1973.
I caught up on all their early stuff, and the flower-power era with Richard and Dave Sinclair was them at their best. They added an excellent lead guitarist Doug Boyle for a while recently but he parted company when the band took a sabbatical after the sad death of drummer Richard Coughlan. A replacement drummer was found in youngster Mark Walker and they've bounced back with a couple of studio albums. And last night they didn't disappoint.

Jan 6, 2018 22:35:19 GMT tommo III said:

Planning a visit to London tomorrow, may be able to investigate one or two..........

Tommo's adventures continue into the new year:
An earlier disappointment at not being able to get a ticket for the FA Cup Spurs v Wimbledon had kindly been rectified by Mr Mike who is a club member, so I was able to visit the new Wembley stadium (for the second time since attending the old one for the 1988 Cup Final).

But having made it to Willesden Junction in good time, I had a couple of hours to kill so headed in the other direction to Maida Vale and thence to Warwick Avenue to investigate "Little Venice" where amidst some impressive architecture three canals - the PAddington Basin, the Grand Union Canal and Regents Canal - converge.
canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit/little-venice

Whilst at Maida Vale I visited the Robert Browning pub, now re-named The Eagle, whose website claims to have bar billiards and actually shows a photo of a modern Supreme table. My plan was to see how they had handled the change to a new pound (old pound token ?) see how it played and chat to any regulars. There was no sign of a table, and the South African barman informed me that the pub "did not now cater for anything that energetic, and was now a relaxed, chilled out place". A couple of locals offered that there used to be darts in the left bar and bar billiards in the right bar but both had gone with the pub's refurbishment. Never mind, the pub was warm with comfortable decor and served food upsatairs although "the Sunday Roast was off". I settled for a glass of Sam Smiths cider which was nice and refreshing.

The Wembley experience was good although my team drew a blank. I had a comfortable leather seat with a panoramic view from behind a goal. The Spurs fans sitting behind me whinged throughout the first half as our defence coped with a bombardment, Spurs unable to convert 80/20 possession. The best chance fell to us just before half-time when their goalie fielded as it come down from under the crossbar. We had a good ten minute spell early in the second half before Harry Kane inevitably put us to the sword. The Wombles minority section of the crowd were the the most vocal, especially when on came Delli Ali whose every move was booed - he being a M/K lad.

Well it's been a trying month in many respects but today could hardly have gone better.......

Had tickets (bought 3 weeks in advance !) for today's relegation cruncher AFC Wimbledon v Wycombe Wanderers (yes, good honest League One football not governed by teams' financial clout) which was a sell-out.

Arrived early enough to get parked and seats were good 'uns with a good view. Only bugbear so far the 30-min crawl through Worcester Park High Street.

The match: Well the visitors were dirty and were lucky not to have their goalie sent off early in the match. The ref gave nothing our way and didn't even brandish a card when he was sent tumbling himself by the opposition. The lino at the Paul Strank side was obviously a Bucks man as he flagged our players for offside so many times that thirty years ago I would have vaulted the barrier and snapped his flag in half !

Anyway we won 2-1 despite missing a penalty and gifting them a weak goal. So one point from our last match v bottom team Bradford should see us complete a remarkable escape from the drop. And Wycombe fans didn't seem too concerned as other results today meant they are already safe.

Chilling out now with a glass of Pinot Grigio and watching TOTP2.  

[JB]

Football ?!?!

Apr 27, 2019 19:47:15 GMT JB said:

Football ?!?!

....what Saturdays are for.

[Chris_Sav]

First Class Dining on a vintage steam train hauled by Union of South Africa (A4 Mallard twin) over the picturesque Settle and Carlisle Line was our day out yesterday to celebrate a notable birthday of 'erself.

Apr 27, 2019 19:30:35 GMT tommo III said:

So one point from our last match v bottom team Bradford should see us complete a remarkable escape from the drop. And Wycombe fans didn't seem too concerned as other results today meant they are already safe.

Chilling out now with a glass of Pinot Grigio and watching TOTP2.  

Just spent a nervous couple of hours in front of 'Ceefax'.....we managed to hold on for the point we needed and are SAFE. But as to be expected, fortunes changed by the minute: Southend saved themselves by surprisingly beating Sunderland, and Walsall, needing a win, could only draw with Shrewsbury. Plymouth won an exciting match with Scunthorpe 3-2 but lose out to us on goal difference.

Celebrating now with a cup of tea and a belgian bun.

.......pales in comparison with what I've just watched tonight. Liverpool 4 Barcelona 0. One of the best games EVER.

[dipper]

Last weekend I went to Wales for some bird watching, on the Saturday I visited my favourite Bird reserve ever called RSPB Dinas, a great reserve with ancient woodland, and the fast flowing Towy river. Caught up with some super migrant birds such as Pied Flycatcher and Wood Warbler plus many more.
From there I drove across the Brecon Beacons to the town of Brecon to visit the Welsh Guards Museum, it has a great display of the Battle of Rourkes Drift and Isandwana which I found facinating, 7 Victoria Crosses were awarded at that battle.
Drove back across the Beacons to the Red Kite feeding station, where every day they are fed, and must have been at least 50 plus birds swooping down very close to the hide, wonderful.
Back to Llandovery at the Drovers Guest House where I was staying, it must have been my lucky weekend as there was a motorcycle rally going on, the pubs were heaving with bikers of all ages, really enjoyed talking to them about restoring bikes, they have some great knowledge which was helpful to me as I am restoring a BSA Bantam and a Francis Barnett.
Great weekend, may not be for everyone, but I loved it, my perfect day.

Ajax 2 Spurs 3 .........Spurs win with the last kick of the game, who'da believed it after last night's epic ?

England rulers of Europe !  well, at football anyway.

Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea : all through to European Finals.  Not a whiff of Manchester in sight.... Come on Brighton on Sunday !