Dear Diary...
This is my diary. How things are. Or something. Please note that the diary is archived month by month, so feel free to click the links for the archives (which now will go back five years maximum):
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Saturday 29th March - In Search of Winnie the Pooh
It was a free weekend at home (as I'd be heading up midweek next week to spend an extended time with The Love In My Heart) and a such this meant that I was able to look at doing the next section of the Vanguard Way - section 5, between Forest Row and Poundgate, a total of 7.3 miles. Thankfully this was three miles plus less than the previous section which really was a tough one, not least due to the mud. I also had a new pair of walking shoes from Regatta, as the other ones were leaking in water and all sorts and got very muddy last time out, and I'd had them years, and so managed to get a similar pair for around £25, so no complaints there - and a good opportunity to walk them in too.
So it was off on the train to East Grinstead first, as that had all the bus links to get to the start and from the end, albeit two buses from the end, and as I'd timed the train well, I had the choice of the 261 and 270 to Forest Row, depending on what came first. As it turned out the 261 was bang on time and that sped its way downhill towards Forest Row, getting off near the Brambletye pub and then a short walk via the main roundabout to the Co-Op, which pretty much marks the start point. I got a cold drink to keep me hydrated during the walk, and I soon set off via the community centre and followed the paths to an uphill road, with a lot of walkers coming the other way - I wonder if they were all together and doing a day out?
Anyway, I soon got to the sign that the River Ocean Foundation sculpted, next to the entrance to the Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club and its two courses. The Vanguard Way heads through some woodland, past the entrance to two posh houses, then takes a road down and uphill past a stream and rejoins close to the golf club. In fact one part takes you across a fairway, along a track, past another fairway and you're then following the woodland left side of the course. You get to a ford, cross that over a bridge with the fifth green nearby, and on the other side more woodland, following the course to the eighth green before making its way uphill.
Here the broad rides were nice and wide,and lovely to walk in the day with lots of light, and after ascending a gradual hill I followed it left aong another ride and to a road crossing, with Coleman Hatch's bowling and cricket clubs over the other side. Following the path into woodland, this soon turns right at a posh house with wooden gates and down a descent, taking me over another ford (thankfully a bridge is provided for pedestrians) before more climbing through Ashdown Forest, which was a steep gradual climb for ages and certainly felt it when I reached the top.
The top ridge was worth it, as I came to the end and a very special place. It has a memorial plaque to AA Milne the author and EH Shepard the illustrator, who of course created the original Winnie the Pooh stories. The top here at Gills Lap was actually Galleons Lap in the books, and admiring the view over to Five Hundred Acre Wood (you can guess what that became) it was a rather lovely view and taking the time to sit and admire this was the right thing to do, before passing some ponies on the way to some more broad ride tracks, one of which followed the B2026 for some time but was far enough away not to be noisy and a nice peak view over the hills too.
Once at Kings Standing Clump, the final descent and ascent was off to the left, heading down past a farm steeply to two small ponds which feed the River Medway, before then the long way back up (which you could see from the other side, and I was thinking "I bet that's the way back up!" and admiring the view back from the copse was lovely. I followed the path to a log gate and in the distance I could see a bus heading right on the main road, which was the 29 to Uckfield and Brighton - so that way back may be a longer wait. I did get to the Crow and Gate pub, and that was the walk nicely done.
In the end, I waited by the pub and the 29 was due to the other way and to Royal Tunbridge Wells. It was nice to head there and have a quick explore of the centre, and certainly felt quite a historic place. I ended up having lunch in what was the old opera house, with the upper tiers still having its seating and original features retained (not in use now) which was a pretty nice thing to see when sat down with a well earned beer and some food. That gave me enough time to then head on the 291 bus back to East Grinstead, which took me through the village of Hartfield, on the edge of the Ashdown Forest, with its Pooh Corner café and shop (for obvious reasons) with plenty of tourists there as you can well imagine.
Once back at East Grinstead, a coffee from the station café was just what I needed to head on the train back to East Croydon and looking at the pictures later, I got lucky with the weather, dry, not too hot, and the majority of what might have been muddy paths were solid ground to walk on, and somewhat dry on the broad ride walks especially uphill. I thoroughly enjoyed it though and can highly recommend it to anyone, and had the theme tune from Winnie the Pooh in my head once I arrived at Gills Lap, so that simply has to be tune of the day for me.
Thursday 27th March - Chelsea Comeback
After a hard week at work and working from home today, it was time to head off for some live football, namely the second leg of the Women's Champions League quarter final as Manchester City headed to Chelsea, for the fourth consecutive match between the two teams. City had lost the league cup final 2-1 narrowly, had managed to eke out a 2-0 advantage in the Champions League first leg, and lost the league match at the Etihad 2-1 with a last minute Erin Cuthbert winner for the visitors. Tonight was a case of if we could, with our much depeted squad, manage to get a result to win the tie overall and face Barcelona, who were thrashing Wolfsburg at home like they had done away.
I took the tram over to Wimbledon and once that was done, it was straight on the District Line tube to Fulham Broadway. On a match day, they don't use the shopping centre exit there and instead you take an exit at the Northbound end of the platform and up some stairs to an exit at Wansdown Place, which they only use on matchdays. With each platform having its own entrance and exit, it means it is easier to sort out later on after the game too. It wasn't too long before I was making my way along the old Shed End wall (great that they've kept it actually) and to the corner of Shed End Lower for the away fans.
Once in, I got the ticket scanned and then headed downstairs where the only bar serving beer was. Chelsea do a good thing where if you order food and drink up to 30 minutes after the gates open (gates opened at 1830 so any time before 1900) then certain pints of beer and drink are £3.95, with a pie of hot dog being the same price. I think that is an excellent move all round, and kudos to them for that. That meant I could relax before kick off and have a good natter with some fellow Manchester City women supporters too, and that felt pretty good all round.
As there had been some relocations going on, those of us in tier 2 of the Shed End were moved to block 2 of the lower tier, and we could sit anywhere in that block. I got a good position close to the goal and that was all good, and as the teams were warming up, the stadium belted out an instrumental version of Muse's Supermassive Black Hole (make that tune of the day) to get the crowd warmed up, and that definitely worked as the teams came out ready to play. I knew it was going to be a tough ask and the first goal, either way, was going to be crucial.
And after some pressure, there was no surprise that Chelsea scored it to be honest. The ball fell on the edge of the box to Sandy Baltimore after some defending to clear the ball, and she rifled it home for 1-0 on the night with City still 2-1 up on aggregate. They hit the post twice and looked like the Chelsea on a mission for the quadruple (which they are of course still on for at present.) I did fear the worst, and from a corner Nathalie Bjorn headed home. 2-0 on the night, 2-2 on aggregate now, Could we hold out til half time and regroup for the second half?
The answer was an emphatic no as Chelsea smelled blood. A defensive mix up let in Chelsea and Lauren James kept her head to find Mayra Ramirez, and well she is not going to miss from close range is she? 3-0 on the night, Chelsea now 3-2 up. In fact only some good saves from Khiara Keating kept the score as it was, and at half time I felt shattered watching that, but you have to give credit to Chelsea for really going for the kill - any team would have been proud of the way that they bossed the game. And try as City might second half, and we did get better, with one shot from Vivianne Miedeama going just wide, Chelsea could have scored more - Erin Cuthbert hit the bar and there were some more saves from Khiara Keating.
So as One Step Beyond from Madness played and with Chelsea celebrating, I spared a thought for the diehard Manchester City Women fans who had come down on the coach from Manchester - some were staying in London as the next game was Brighton away at Crawley's ground, but for those heading back it was a long way after all that. For me the tube and tram worked perfectly and I was in bed at a reasonable hour, but was a little sad to have lost...
Sunday 23rd March - Traditional
The Love In My Heart and I had had a good sleep, with both Little Miss E and Little Miss O sleeping all night and being super good. In fact, Little Miss E had very gently nudged The Love to say that she needed the toilet around 6.30am and so with that sorted,she snuggled back in next to The Love. By the time Little Miss O had awoken and wanted some fussing, Little Miss E was all snuggled up and when she woke up, she realised we'd all got up and came into the front room with a happy smile. We soon all had breakfast and it was nice just to rest and relax with some more Gabby's Dollhouse (well what else?) and all was good.
The Little Misses' mum came to colect them later on and all was good, and we had a good chatter. It had been good for her to rest as she was still a bit poorly but had planned something nice for the girls today. As they were ready to leave, Little Miss E ran up to give me a hug, and whispered "thank you Warren" which was super lovely. I must admit I did have a little happy tears cry afterwards as that was so nice of her to do that and it means a lot when they are not you direct relations but really like you for being you, and being kind and helpful to their Nana too. So that really made my weekend, that.
We got ourselves showered and changed later on, as we were doing lunch out with two of our friends, and to somewhere that we hadn't been for some time too, so nice to reacquaint ourselves with that. The Love and I were ready early so we got the tram into Manchester City centre and escaped down Fountain Street away from the madness and into Brewdog, and a nice quiet drink was on the cards there. It was just good to chatter and The Love had her new dress on from Oliver Bonas and looked absolutely gorgeous, reminding me of just how lucky that I am really.
We walked down to near St Ann's Square and into Annie's, which is owned by Jennie McAlpine (Fizz from Coronation Street) and harks back to proper traditional homely food. No exception here for the Sunday roasts either, as that and the afternoon tea are both excellent. It was the roast for us today and our friends had already arrived, so we had a nice comfy table all round. I got some Welsh beer in a bottle to go with the lunch and all was well, and we were soon chatting about all sorts, and as ever, lovely to be able to catch up with our friends so that was nice.
I went for the chicken surpreme, as did The Love, and that was really nice with lots of chicken, vegetables and a really thick gravy plus a Yorkshire pudding that was a good size but not too big, so that was a win. One of our friends had the roast beef, the other a vegetable salad that looked really good, and that all went down well. If anything we had no room for dessert, but the staff were really nice and friendly and that was good to see, and it felt nice and relaxing in there with the roast being spot on and the atmos being really good too - definitely need to be back here more often methinks.
We took a walk around to the Northern Quarter and to Terrace, as of course no more Fierce Beer bar anymore - boo - which we all discussed and missed the vibe in there and the good beer. However, Terrace did have a cracking session ale on and indeed they had the Vault City Brewing Iron Brew sour, so that was me well and truly sorted. Obviously not one to have too many of, but it was good all the same. The time went by far too quickly and after a couple of drinks it was time to head back to Victoria station, for me to get the train and everyone else to get the tram homewards. It had been a lovely afternoon.
I headed first on the train to Leeds, and had already upgraded my train from Leeds to London with first class via Seatfrog for a mere £14. And that was so worth it, as that train has the dish menu, so that meant a lovely lamb curry for tea, a little caramel pot dessert, crisps, biscuits, soft drinks, coffee and a beer too (their Hop on Board ale which is lovely.) For all that food and drink alone you've pretty much covered the cost but having a bigger comfier seat too, winning! I kicked back and listened to some Swing Out Sister, with the ace Something Every Day being tune of the day as it reflected the laid back vibe of today.
Saturday 22nd March - Little Misses' Day Out
I was up reasonably early this morning as I had a train to catch, up to Manchester. I was staying with The Love In My Heart this weekend as we were heading out with friends tomorrow but also today spending time with the adorable little ones, namely Little Miss E and Little Miss O, so that was going to be good fun. They were staying over too so I am sure that they were both going to be happy at their Nana's overnight, but also means that it gave their parents some well earned rest, particularly as their Mum isn't 100 per cent well at the moment.
So the train was thankfully on time (woohoo) and The Love came to collect me, and we headed off out of Manchester city centre and along the East Lancashire Road, turning off and over to the house to pick up the two little ones, who were both excited, with Little Miss E giving me a hug too (aww.) It was soon off to The Love's car and for a packed day out or so before then heading back to The Love's place, with the plan being that having a busy day may help with some sleep later on, so here's hoping anyway.
It was over to Media City first of all by Salford Quays, where the outdoor car park close to the Co-Op proves quite handy as it's easier to get everyone out. We headed up to see the two statues of Upsy Daisy and Pudsey Bear as well as walk over the bridge towards where the Coronation Street set is, before then heading back to some picnic style benches close to the BBC studios, where The Love had got a little packed lunch prepared for the little ones, which Little Miss E in particular loved. I headed to Costa to get The Love and I a coffee and a toastie which worked well as a good little lunch deal, and we could all munch together which was nice.
After a trip around the Blue Peter Garden and also seeing some of the boats down by the Lowry, we headed off and this time it was over to my Mum's. My brother was there with his wife and one of the two children (the other one was a little poorly) and so was good to see them and how they all were too. Little Miss E was happy colouring away too and it was nice to be able to drop off a card and present for Mum for Mother's Day next weekend, which I can't make becuase trains and so on, so all positive there.
Once that was done, we headed out to Didsbury Park. There is a nice playground in there but also this nice little woodland trail with carved wood animals in there, incluidng rabbits, foxes, squirrels and so on, which Little Miss E adores, and we managed to wheel Little Miss O's pram through too so she could see it, and she was fascinated with her happy giggly face was that is so infectiously lovely. We spent a fair bit of time on the playground where Little Miss E was more than happy to be on the slides, swings, little trampoline etc, and in fact we had Little Miss O have a swing too which made her so happy.
We then headed out for some tea later on and that was all good, and headed back to The Love's place where it was time to relax after tea with some telly, and admittedly it was nice to chill out with Gabby's Dollhouse on the telly which they both adore, and the theme tune was tune of the day for us both, because it's so catchy. Of course that settled them in nicely, and later on The Love settled down Little Miss O whilst Little Miss E and I watched some more episodes. She told me her favourite characters - Cakey Cat and Baby Box. They happened to be the two Lego Gabby's Dollhouse serts I got her for Christmas, so epic win. And for the record, I like Baby Box too!
The Love and I then settled in ourselves later once Little Miss E had headed to bed and pretty much fell asleep after hitting the pillow, and it was nice to have some us time after a busy but worthwhile day, and certainly for us both the joy from both of them was plain to see. It was also nice that they had both been so well behaved all day, with smiles and giggles throughout. It made me feel quite humble too that Little Miss E was happily chatting to me about all sorts and was just her smiley self! Awww.
Wednesday 19th March – Be My Boogie Woogie Baby
After having the Monday working from The Love In My Heart’s place, and then in the office on Tuesday, it was good to be at home today and waiting in for a parcel delivery, as well as then heading out later to get two parcels that I had opted for click and collect in the appropriate stores that I needed to visit. The good thing about that is that two of them are presents, so made a lot more sense to be able to sort those out and then can wrap them up as I need. I did though end up waiting most of the day only for Evri to do their usual stunt pull of claiming it was out for delivery with the courier concerned (who is local) and then never turning up whatsoever. I know the regular courier, so suspect that something is AWOL as per usual with Evri there. Sadly a lot of places don’t give the option of which courier to use when you order online, and they really should for transparency – or at least tell you who they use. Royal Mail all the way, with DPD a close second, they’re the two reliable ones for me.
Anyway, with work done it was time to settle in to playing some Commodore 64 games and not least an arrival that came earlier in the week – the original release of the game Kikstart. This is not on Mastertronic as people think (in fact that is a re-release there) but instead Mr Chip Software themselves had a release in 1984, a year before the reissue. There are some subtle differences though – there is no loading screen that appeared on the reissue, and indeed although the loader is similar, no loading screen means less time taken to load. Sure enough, Shaun Southern’s version of Orpheus in the Underworld (aka the Can Can) comes on and the scrolling message gives you all the hints and tips for the game itself, as well as being able to pick the courses to ride on.
I had a good play to check out the eight courses over time, and they all played just as well albeit with some difficult sections where if you crash, the bike doesn’t get put back in a good position for some time and that can really impact the overall time taken. It does show though how impressive it still was back then with smooth scrolling for both players (although in one player mode there isn’t a computer opponent) and some lovely graphics, albeit a bit twee, with even trucks with the Mr Chip Software logo appearing to make themselves well known. It definitely still is, even after all these years, immense fun to play and I’ve been after the original release for some time, so to finally get it – an epic win. Now I can’t get Be My Boogie Woogie Baby by Mr Walkie Talkie (the Kikstart theme tune) out of my head which will be tune of the day for that reason.
In any case, I have also been listening to my two new albums quite a bit. The Throwing Muses one could have potentially been another Kristin solo release, as the main accompaniment appears to be someone she calls Cello Pete, who did tour with her on the last solo tour I saw (three times too, in Bristol, Manchester and Brighton!) – so there has to be something about the way he plays which appeals. It does certainly appear more stripped back than the more sometimes eclectic electric style that the Muses often would have, so definitely of interest there for me anyway. I do think though that it often goes to show just how much I adore the work in that I am making those sort of comparisons as a diehard fan would, well to a degree at least.
On the flip side, the new Jethro Tull album Curious Ruminant definitely has an intriguing mix of songs with one of them being mainly instrumental apart from some verses later on and runs for over sixteen minutes, definitely less accessible and more progressive rock inspired for some. Natrually that harks back to the likes of Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play, which takes up pretty much the whole album, but notable nonetheless. The title tune is a beautiful thing though, complete with a haunting opening flute from Ian Anderson which gives way to a full band feel and really does showcase the work excellently. I’d certainly love to be making this quality level of music at the age he is, without question. Well worth checking out the video for the title track on Youtube to whet the appetite I reckon.
Sunday 16th March – A Trip Into Town
I woke up this morning (blues song style) and felt perfectly fine, as I hadn’t drunk a lot last night and was having some nice beer I brought with me, but obviously at a reasonable pace (because with some of them you have to.) In fact I got showered and ready and was in good time to see the repeat of Match of the Day and was able to see the game highlights from yesterday. What is clear is that Joao Pedro for Brighton should have had a second yellow card, feigning an elbow to the face when Josko Gvardiol got past him. If Jeremy Doku was booked for a dive and playacting, then the letter of that referee’s law should have been the same there for simulation. It wouldn’t have made a difference to the result to be fair, but would have been more interesting I think.
Once the three of us were all up, The Love In My Heart made us all some bacon sandwiches for breakfast which went down well (as did the coffee and orange juice) and that set me up for the day. We later on headed back to Piccadilly station so that we could drop off our visitor, and he had an enjoyable time, even if the result wasn’t a win for City. He did at least have a longer train journey home due to engineering work and so that was good for him to set off earlier. It was all good though and certainly we may need to make some plans for a couple of games next season to return the favour of course – and of course he did mention he wanted to be in the South Stand with all the diehards for some more atmosphere – which would mean standing up all game to be fair. I’m old now, you know!
Anyway, once we settled in for a while and Brian the cat had a good fussing over and some play out time, we decided that with the weather being nice it would be good to head for a walk and into the city centre. I was not on a train back tonight (hurrah) and so that meant we could have a leisurely afternoon. We picked up the canal path close to The Love’s place, and did the two miles or so along there and to the city, then following along through New Islington Marina and Ancoats, where we stopped off at a deli for a coffee and tried that out, which did seem pretty nice, even if for some reason my latte took some time – it transpired that their coffee barista machine needed some maintenance hence the delay, but all good in the end which was decent.
We did walk down Oldham Street and I stopped off at Piccadilly Records where I was able to pick up the new Throwing Muses album Moonlight Concessions, and where the album opener Tunnel of Love is tune of the day as it’s a real reflective piece which reminds me a little of Kristin Hersh’s previous solo album Clear Pond Road too – and that may be a good or bad thing to some. We did also head down Market Street and whilst The Love was in Primark, I went over to Fopp and picked up my second album I was after, the new Jethro Tull one, Curious Ruminant, so good to be able to snag that, if a little pricey for some reason. In fact they had the Throwing Muses album but Piccadilly Records had been cheaper for it, so epic win there and definitely well worth me supporting indie record shops when I can for new releases. In fact there’s a good place in Brentwood I’ve used before too which is another of my go to’s at present.
After that we headed down to Cross Street and to Sostrene Grenes where The Love managed to get some craft stuff for both home and work including some nice little boxes and gift ideas too, which was plentiful in there. In fact we were debating whether to get some gift boxes and make up some little present for Little Miss E and Little Miss O, but there was just too much temptation to be honest. We decided to head back along King Street and round Spring Gardens over to The Bank on Mosley Street and stop for some late lunch / early tea, with The Love and I both having the very nice fish and chips as they had ran out of Sunday roast chicken for The Love – and I managed to get a nice session ale with The Love having some Camden Hells which was a good move all round. We later on headed back on the tram after a quick nip into Tesco for some bits for tomorrow, and it was a double tram due to a gig at the Co-Op Live happening a little later on.
Saturday 15th March – Brighton Rocks
It was an early rise for myself and The Love In My Heart this morning, as we had one of my family relations (the son of my second cousin, who I get on really well with, being Manchester City fan and all that) arriving today. We had got tickets for the Manchester City home game against Brighton and Hove Albion and The Love very kindly offered to let him stay over, so that meant it would be a good weekend all told – more so as it was his birthday later this week and so meant that we would be able to have something good happen around that time.
The Love and I were all good to go after some breakfast, and Brian the cat was purring contentedly after playing out in the dry weather, so with me tracking the train into Manchester, we knew that it was going to arrive relatively on time, so left for the station. The Love parked up and I headed to Platform 3 for the train, and all was good as he got off. It was a longish journey and an earlier start, but worth it to see the blues hopefully. We went back to The Love’s place and had a brew and chatted about all sorts, and good to see what his future plans were including a possible year working abroad, which sounded interesting.
We decided to head off earlier so we could walk around the ground and he could go into the club shop – where the retro shirts were the best thing, and we both agreed that the 2000 laser blue Eidos home kit was decent, but that away kit with the silver – not very god at all. The queues were massive, so we spent some time walking around, seeing the Lee, Bell and Summerbee statue and then the building work taking shape for the new stand, before then heading back round for the other statues and the entrance J, where we were taking one of the round towers up to the third tier of the East Stand and Block 308 where our seats would be.
We did note the special today which was the steak and Guinness pie (quite apt considering what day it was in a couple of days’ time of course) and with that in mind one of those and a soft drink was purchased, so we could have those and chatter about football before then taking our seats fairly high up, but we did at least have a good view of the goal (the right hand one when you look on telly) which may not prove to be a bad thing depending on which goal we score in. The crowd filled nicely and Brighton did bring a full quota of fans all the way up which was pretty impressive – in fact later we noted two of them were staying over close to The Love’s place, so I suspect they had booked an AirBnb to save themselves the hassle of travel – sort of makes sense to be honest.
The game kicked off and Brighton almost scored early on but the finish was ruled out for a foul by Mitoma, thankfully. City though were pressing especially down the wings with Jeremy Doku doing all his trickery. We kept going and eleven minutes in Omar Marmoush turned the Brighton defence inside out, was cropped to the ground and the referee gave the penalty, and even a check didn’t stop that thankfully. Up stepped Erling Haaland to take it and confidently put it into the bottom corner for the opener and that was a relief all round. However, Brighton did look dangerous going forward and using their wingers to expose our lack of tracking back. Eventually, Georginio Rutter was fouled outside the box and from the free kick, Estupinan curled one that went in off the post and left Stefan Ortega stranded on the goal line. Not a good look that really and 1-1.
We were both concerned about the attacks Brighton had but knew that City could unlock the door at any time if needed. Down the left side, the ball went to Ilkay Gundogan and he passed it into Omar Marmoush. His low shot cannoned off the psot and in with the Brighton keeper stranded. 2-1 to City and two quality finishes for the last two goals, well worth anyone’s admission to be honest. It was that way at half time and that looked good but at the start of the second half, Brighton got a corner and after some confusion in the box, the shot from Hinshelwood was deflected in off the unfortunate Abdukodir Khusanov, and that was the equaliser and 2-2. Not ideal, and to be fair, Brighton had two golden chances to win it which they should have taken, one through Minteh who slid in and didn’t connect with a cross and late on the ball was pulled back to Baleba and he skied it – and a better finish would have been a 3-2 win to them. So I guess we were lucky to get a point to be honest and not ideal!
After a brew and keeping an eye on the other scores plus of course some telly, we headed off later to my Mum’s place, where she was having a little get together for my brother’s birthday which was earlier this week. It was all buffet food so had some sandwiches, snacks and all the usual stuff (no vol-au-vents for me though, disgusting) and it was good to have a couple of drinks and be able to chatter to the family and friends accordingly. It was actually nice that all my brothers and sisters were there along with my uncle and auntie too, so was good to chat to so many during the evening. Someone did bring a DAB radio with tunes on for background music and this included Swing Out Sister’s classic Breakout, so definitely tune of the day for me there. Overall it was reasonably nice, but I suspect that there may be some sore heads in the morning if they were drinking a fair bit!
Sunday 9th March - Sunday in Sunshine
I was debating what to do with myself today as the weather looked decent and it would be good to be out, and in the end I thought that it'd be sensible weather to go and visit an outdoor car boot sale. Of course there is always some potential for a bargain, but in addition, it would be a leisurely thing to do. I had worked out one that I hadn't been before, checked to see if I could get there by public transport, and sure enough all was well. So I got the train from East Croydon to Clapham Junction before then swapping over for the Overground (well, the bit that is now the Mildmay Line) via Shepherd's Bush and Willesden Junction before then arriving at Gospel Oak.
It wasn't far to locate the school that hosted the car boot from the station, literally a minute's walk or so - and in fact a lot of the car boot sales use schools because they are hard standing, and less likely to be called off because of weather - and some even have indoor parts. In this case, the main playground area was choc full of sellers with all sorts available, sadly nothing I was after, but it was good nonetheless to have a good mooch and I did notice they also set up a place inside for a little café with hot food being available, so I bet that is pretty nice for the organisers. You also get a loyalty card which you can have stamped - 6 visits is free entry next time, and 12 is a free coffee. Can't say fairer than that and the £1 entry fee is reasonable too.
After that mooching, I felt a walk was on and because of the close proximity of Parliament Hill Fields and indeed Hampstead Heath, I walked under the two railway arch bridges - one taking the line to Stratford, the other taking the Goblin (none of this Suffragette line bobbins for me, it was called Goblin locally, leave it at that!) to Barking. From then it was on to the fields past the lido and I stopped off at the nice café there for a latte, and noted it was very popular with locals who wanted Italian food - the portions of pasta looked very good for the price and I bet the risottos would be gorgeous. Noted for future reference.
I then took the path to the right and headed uphill and at the top of the second hill was indeed the famous viewpoint that people know when they see Hampstead Heath - it's the Parliament Hill Viewpoint. I did take the path down from there and pass the bridge that takes you past the bathing pond, where there were some out swimming, and I was tempted to walk further up the Heath towards Kenwood House, but decided to take a circular route instead which would then curve down back towards Hampstead Heath station. It was a nice little walk all told though and obviously that station was busy with people visiting and taking in the sunshine.
It was back on the Mildmay line and back to Gospel Oak, where thankfully going Eastbound the interchange for the Goblin is much easier, and a train was in too, so literally off one and on the next. These were slightly newer trains similar to those on the Euston to Watford Junction bit of the Overground (called the Lioness Line now) and nice and air conditioned too, and before long I had arrived at Blackhorse Road station, so I could walk up Blackhorse Lane to what's now becoming a good spot for beer lovers in East London, the Blackhorse Beer Mile.
In fact the beer taprooms are spread across a number of industrial units and walking round I did find most of them and the one I really wanted to go and pay a visit too (because they are sadly closing soon) was Beerblefish, and they also concentrated more on cask brewing which was of course right up my street. I found the location (with a hot dog concession close by too which was good to see) and the only difficulty to be honest was to which beer to have. In the end I decided to stick with cask and go halves, so I could try three different beers before it was too late, which to me at least made perfect sense. The atmos was chilled and they had a very unique pool table - if you've been in there you will know why!
Anyway, I went for at first the 1820 London Porter - brewed to an old recipe and really flavoursome - and also vegan too for those that need that sort of thing. It was fairly strong at 6.6% but I guess that was how they brewed them at the time. I was sorely tempted to be honest to have another one of those, but then I saw that they had a really nice saison on called Infinite Improbability. That had a great kick to it, but again I drank and savoured this slowly due to this being 6.7%. The dark ale was last and that was a little bit lighter in terms of volume but still pretty good. All three were spot on, and with good tunes in the backround too including Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams which somehow seemed apt so tune of the day there.
I could have very easily spent the rest of the day (and some fair amounts of money) if I wanted to go in all of them but wanted to at least give the ones in Beerblefish a good go, which is what I've done. It'll be sad when they go as their focus on cask is to be really admired, and judging by the beers I had, they know what they are doing. Hopefully I might be able to order some from their site and get them delivered pronto, but we shall see. I took the bus to Stratford from close to the taproom (158) and did Hopper fare on the 108 to go through the Blackwall Tunnel to North Greenwich, then picked up the Jubilee Line and Overground home later. A good day all in all!
Saturday 8th March - The Long Walk To Forest Row
I decided that today would be the day that I would recommence doing the Vanguard Way walk, as the weather had got better and hopefully this would mean that the paths would be less muddy to walk on and actually be quite nice to do instead of a treacherously muddy slog. I did note that this was the longest section in terms of distance, over 10.3 miles or so, so that definitely would be a good sense of achievement to get it done. I also knew that public transport links to the start point (certainly by bus) weren't as good on a Saturday, although train was an option - but the price of singles against returns counted against it.
Anyway, I invoked Plan B, which was to get a return train ticket from East Croydon to Lingfield, then from near the station I could walk to the road close to the racecourse and depending on time either get the earlier 231 or later 233 to Edenbridge and start the walk that way. I went for the 0810 train out, so the 233 at around 0859 was what I aimed for - and got too, so all good. Once at Edenbridge it was time to retrace my steps back to Crouch House Farm and to start the walk in earnest. Straight away, a couple of muddy fields where clearly the dry weather wasn't enough, but got past that and was soon making my way along some hedge lined paths and down to Lingfield Road.
Once across there it was over to the Kent Brook and crossing that, before then having to navigate a former airfield, the Haxted Farm one at that. It appears to be disused now but one of the taxiways is part fenced off, so had to divert around the fencing and then come down the other side, and take a path towards the River Eden. Once I'd crossed that, the recent rain and flooding of the fields close to Cernes Farm really came into its own - the residual rain was still in all the grass and felt immensely sticky underfoot, and also needed to divert around all the grazing sheep in the final field before getting to the very nice signpost at the farm itself which at least showed me 22 miles from Croydon and 44 to Newhaven, so that is something.
Once past there and skirting around Starborough House and Nurseries, and spotting the German inscription writing on the side of a house, I headed down a nice bridleway through a copse and this felt dry and sunny all the way which was pretty nice. In fact it was a gradual climb up and past some farms and also some horses too, all lovely to see, before then ascending past another farm and heading along a single track lane, and on the way down, seeing a house with its gate called Vanguards, named after the way. The next part was all road walking which wasn't nice - Smithers Lane was fine, but then turning on to another road was a little treacherous and I hope one day an alternative route can be found, as definitely had to pause and let traffic past.
After this, it was thankfully a quiet private driveway but as it turns right to descend (and I missed this!) you have to turn left to a little narrow obscure path, and that was caked full of mud and slop everywhere, not nice. Indeed the bridleway beyond was not too good either, but once past that it was a gradual climb to a road which took you along a ridge, past a very posh house indeed with massive front gates to protect the driveway and intruders, and then as I got to the end of that road, I spotted a woman walking her two horses who was super lovely - and the horses were calm and placcid, and allowed them to get past where I was going.
I soon followed another single track road and reached the path for the descent into Forest Row. This was the original route and the path has again been subject to flooding and more mud - I did manage to avoid the worst parts to some degree, but the alternative slightly longer route might be the better one to take as it also heads past a nice farm and café too. I was thankful though it was downhill and arrived in Forest Row itself in around 3 hours 50 minutes after I started, and considering the hills and a couple of steps to retrace, I didn't do too bad. I was just glad to have completed it and I was also appreciative of the Co-Op being there to get some supplies too!
I did grab some lunch and then spotted a nice little brewery bar, so went in there and had the Westerham Helles Belles beer, and that allowed some nice chill out time before getting the bus later on. In fact, the vibe was very chilled out indeed and some nice tunes were being played, and can certainly see this as a good place to be on a Saturday night and a good night out for the locals too - and they did brew some of their own beer too. It felt really good to take that moment out to chill a bit, and also get the breath back somewhat, those long gradual hills were deceptively tiring it has to be said!
I left in good time to get the 291 bus back from Forest Row to East Grinstead train station, which was a pretty quick journey overall, and then from there I could either get a bus to Lingfield and pick up the train there, or just get a single from there to Lingfield and stay on the same train - which I ended up doing as the price difference was negligible, and would also get me home around half an hour quicker too. It had been a positive walk and I contemplated on the train as it made its way back to East Croydon just how much of a good time I have when doing these walks - the fresh air and exploring new places is just the thing, and I really want to get all ten sections done and with a sense of achievement. With that in mind, tune of the day is Heroes by David Bowie, because we can all be heroes, just for one day...
Wednesday 5th March - Absolutely Brilliant, the Disk Version
After a couple of days in the office, one in central London and the other in Hoxton, it was time to get on with some essential maintenance work which meant working at home so I could concentrate on a couple of spreadsheets and be able to get on with what I needed to do - and this would mean looking at a potential mail merge to contact some colleagues. I had an idea of what I needed to do and so it was sensible to effectively get on with collating the data I needed and being able to work things out.
And actually the report I output was useful because it showed a couple of things I may have missed out on when doing a pile of removals. This is thankfully where a couple of useful Powershell commands and scripts come in hand, as they can effectively unlock a couple of previously locked instances so that they can be then amended or deleted as needed, provided you are the overall admin. It actually did what it said on the tin (cue Ronseal advert man of course) and that definitlely helped massively today. Isn't it good when stuff actually works right?
I did have a delivery over lunch and this was one I had been waiting for since I had won an eBay auction at the back end of last week. It was the culmination of a bit of a game hunt, and it was more to enhance my Codemasters collection of Commodore 64 games released by them. It was the first time also I'd been subject to the buyer protection fees (similarish to how Vinted works) since eBay made the change for sellers, presumably because they were losing custom to the other platform. So this now means that I proudly own all four of these - the Commodore 64 disk versions released in this square slipcase type packaging with the disks inside:
In fact, I had owned BMX Simulator since around 1991, when I actually paid £2.99 in a shop for it (as that was the disk price they set for the games back then) but the remainder I have managed to get over time. This also has survived multiple house moves and use - as this was regularly loaded for two player fun back at my Mum's prior to the first house move. As the price tag sticker might damage the packaging underneath, I felt it best to leave it on as some sort of momento to whe I purchased it. Notably on the disk version of Grand Prix Simulator, note how the Ferrari front number is covered by the Codemasters logo - where it isn't on the cassette version, having compared.
Anyway, I went to play it and sure enough, the game loaded from the trusty 1541 disk drive first go and it was time to check it out. I got to my usual fifth track before the computer opponent becomes rock hard and uses a shortcut to win, which if you don't do yourself, it becomes very hard too. Still, all worked well there and showed that everything behaved as intended including the controlled skids around the corner, getting the angle right on the mud to do the 360 degree turn, and that speech. "Car! One! Position! One!" as it barks out very loudly via the SID chip screaming for something better. Nonetheless, all good, and another nice gap completed.
As for tune of the day it has to be The Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater, primarily because of its many time changes, but also because over the last year Mike Portnoy did a drum performance of the song for the Drumeo channel, and Jordan Rudess did the keyboard part for Pianote, a sister channel and both part of the Musora family. It was only going to be a matter of time before a side by side performance was shown together split screen, and it truly is awesome to see both at work at the same time nailing the impossibly hard track. Imagine this on Guitar Hero or Rock Band back in the day? It'd be hardest tier no question.
Sunday 2nd March - Mad About the Boy
The Love In My Heart and I had had a good night's sleep, which I definitely needed after a long day yesterday. We were heading out to the city centre later on as we had booked to see a film, and for a change, trying out the posh Everyman Cinema. We had been in the one on Baker Street in central London, primarily to enjoy the chilled out bar vibe when The Love was getting a present for one of our friends, but we had never seen a film in there, so thought it might be a nice experience to be able to go and watch something.
And with Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy haivng been released a couple of weeks before, and The Love being a big fan of that film series, it made sense to nominate that one and let the audiences die down a bit before taking the plunge. Of course because you get super comfy sofas and the like, it isn't cheap, but we thought it would be a nice treat for us both. We made our way into the city centre on the tram and due to the tram works going on in the city centre, we walked down from Market Street towards St Peter's Square and then onwards to Quay Street where the cinema was at, Manchester St John's as it also faces St John's Gardens and there is an entrance there without going through the art gallery at the front.
We ordered a drink, and as per London, the Purity Ubu ale was my best option as this comes in a 500ml bottle, and The Love got herself a glass of wine. We could take these in with us, and in fact at the side of the sofas were little tables and they had QR codes on, so you could order food and drink all the way up to the end of the trailers, with the staff explaining once the film was on, you had to go to the bar. We were fine with what we had and settled in for the film, with us getting a prime seat in C9 and C10 that we had booked, so all good there.
So what of the film itself? Well, The Love enjoyed it thoroughly and I didn't find it too bad at all to be honest. I did see the first two at the cinema myself back in the day with a female friend, so I get the whole attraction of Bridget Jones and the Helen Fielding novels. It definitely looked like parts of Hampstead were used for filming this time around and the place in Borough Market close to where her old flat was back in the days of the first film. I also spotted Petersham Nurseries and its private house in Richmond, which is delightfully posh and plays host to the swimming pool scene (you will know what I mean when you see it.)
As with the other films and something that The Love herself touched on, the music really does play well in the films and no exception was made here either. From joyous pop to more reflective soul, and the rather lovely It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be from Olivia Dean at the end, which just has that sense of uplifting that you need at the end, so understandable why people love that one and tune of the day because I know The Love will adore it. It was just nice being cosy in the cinema, enjoying our drinks and watching the film, and felt special, the sort of thing we definitely will be doing again.
We headed over to the Old Wellington for some late Sunday lunch, and The Love had a roast and I had fish and chips, and being sat above close to the old Shambles Square was nice, and it just felt a good way to round the weekend off before I headed on my train back to London from Manchester Victoria, going via Leeds due to engineering works and so on. In fact it was nice just to relax on the way back and take it easy, knowing how lovely the weekend had been together.
Saturday 1st March - The Magic of the Cup
It was a relatively early rise for me this morning as I was off up to Manchester to spend the weekend with The Love In My Heart and also to see Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round against Plymouth Argyle, who had knocked out no less than Liverpool in the previous round, so not to be taken lightly at all. I had booked the train for this morning as it was on the rail sale a month or so ago where the fare was a mere £28, which wasn't too bad all told and meant that I could at least chill out on the Friday night instead of taking the train.
So it was up and about and on the 0753 departure to Manchester Piccadilly, with me getting a breakfast meal deal from Sainsburys in Euston station along the way - and that did mean sausage barm, hash browns and a Costa coffee from the machine for £3.75, which is way cheaper than anywhere else on the station itself. Handy hack there of course. The journey was really quiet as well which meant I could chill out and relax with the headphones on and just blast out some Dream Theater - so Sacrificed Sons is tune of the day and helped me pass the time well.
After taking the tram over to The Love In My Heart's place, it definitely was nice and relaxed with Brian the cat all sleepy and then waking up for a stretch and having his usual tummy tickles as he loves to have. I settled in for Crystal Palace v Millwall and saw a rather horrible challenge from the Millwall keeper which needed VAR intervention to dertermine it was red card challenge, despite Jean-Phillipe Mateta for Palace being concussed down and needing oxygen - oh, and having lacerations to his ear that needed multiple stitches. And the Millwall fans as ever showed why they are disliked so much in that moment, I'm afraid.
Thankfully common sense prevailed and Palace did the job and won 3-1, and as Manchester City and Palace fans go back with respect for each other, most of us Blues would have been cheering them on anyway regardless of that incident. The Love's sister had come over and we all had a good natter before she headed home to avoid the football traffic, and The Love and I headed to Marks and Spencer to get something nice for tea later, as she had a gift card for there and thought it nice to use it for a posh meal together. And why not?
I went over to the Etihad later on for the football, and Manchester City certainly were taking no chances. Even with a changed side it was lots of regulars starting and with the likes of Erling Haaland on the bench, just in case. Plymouth Argyle brought their masses of fans with them and made a good noise supporting their lads, and considering the distance travelled, huge respect to them all for that. The game commenced and although City were attacking most of the half, the opposition looked dangerous when counter-attacking and at least were not content to hang on all the time.
This proved to be the case around thirty five minutes in as a cross from the left was cut out by Vitor Reis for a corner to them. The cross came in and up popped Maksym Talovierov to head home powerfully and send the Green Army into rapture, and fair play. It was even more so when you saw the post match interview with him on ITV4 and what he was going through: you could not begrudge his moment one bit, and in a week where the UK showed they stood firm with Ukraine and behaved like adults (USA take note) having the support from everyone here was huge for him, and well done all round.
I did figure that City needed a goal before half time and in the one minute of stoppage time we got a free kick. Kevin de Bruyne took it, and Nico O'Reilly headed it into the bottom corner, although you could argue the Plymouth Argyle keeper Conor Hazard may have been able to do better to stop it. Mind you, he was on fire for the rest of the game, repelling many City attacks and getting their fans hyped up with each excellent save he made. I was just relieved to get to half time and 1-1, and as I contemplated at half time, I hoped we could get the breakthrough.
City pressed on in the second half with lots of pressure, and some excellent saves from Conor Hazard, from a cross shot from Kevin de Bruyne tipped over to a close range stop to deny Erling Haaland, who had come off the bench an hour in. When moments like that happen, you think it is going to be your day and I am sure that the Plymouth Argyle fans thought that. City got a succession of corners and from one excellent cross from Phil Foden, Nico O'Reilly ghosted in at the far post to head home for 2-1. VAR did check it for any fouls but all was good - O'Reilly was just physically stronger to get to the ball and wanted it.
I did feel City needed a third to put the game to bed, especially with our current knack of conceding late goals, and for once we got one late. The ball was released spot on for Erling Haaland to run on to, Hazard saved well first time btu Haaland composed himself and put the ball across for Kevin de Bruyne to finish from close range for 3-1 and to seal our passage into the quater finals. I did feel relieved but every single Plymouth Argyle fan shoud be proud of their team for giving it a good go, and their win over Liverpool a few weeks back, plus the new impetus with their good manager Miron Muslic (way better than Wayne Rooney!) seems to have the team together. Can they now stay up I wonder?