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):
2025 |
Dec |
Nov |
Oct |
Sep |
Aug |
|||||||
2024 |
||||||||||||
2023 |
||||||||||||
2022 |
||||||||||||
2021 |
||||||||||||
2020 |
Sunday 31st August - Roasting The Albion
It was good to have had a decent night's sleep last night, although admittedly I've been bunged up with a bit of a head cold of sorts and so have been trying to shake that off a little with making sure I take some tablets for that. In any case it was good to let The Love In My Heart have some more sleep without Brian the cat doing his best to wake her, as he would do at home. I got on with sorting us both a coffee later on, and then made us some breakfast. Due to a few dietary changes I've been making, sausages are out, but did do some bacon, eggs, mushrooms and also some plum tomatoes for The Love, so at least that was nice and enjoyable along with some fresh orange juice too.
We settled in for the morning with some Four in a Bed on 4Seven. I suspected it was a repeat as I did seem to remember one of the stays was at some form of glamping farm, where you could stay in the farmhouse, or have a yurt or other outdoor tent which looked a little nicer than standard. For one couple though, even having their accommodation changed was not enough - they found the bed was damp and a little bit below standard, so they ended up being extreme and sleeping in their car. I'd have felt insulted a little if I was an owner, personally, but each to their own.
In any case we were heading out later to meet The Love's niece for Sunday roast, and she had very kindly booked a nice pub that was a little hidden away amongst the suburbia in Islington, so we took the train from mine to Victoria and then got on the somewhat warm Victoria Line to Highbury and Islington, walking along Upper Street, past the town hall and turning right along Barnsbury Street to Thornhill Road and on to The Albion. We had got there first and the staff showed us to nice big table in the very nice back garden, which meant fresh air and some chill out time too.
The Love's niece arrived and we ordered some drinks - I went for The Albion Pale Ale, which was on cask and a mere £5.25 a pint, which for London prices is reasonable. The Albion Lager was had by everyone else, and that was around £7 on draught, which felt much more standard priced. We all decided after checking the Sunday Roast menu was to have the roast pork porchetta, which came as two spiral shapes of pork with the crackling on the outside, and some lovely vegetables, roasties and gravy to go with it, which was really nice. It was good just to chatter about all sorts and of course Little Miss E and Little Miss O may have been mentioned a few times!
It was also good to hear how The Love's niece was getting on, and with schools starting back she was having some days of training before then having the kids back at the primary school she teaches at. I do think that it must be rewarding especially at primary age, but also somewhat difficult if you need to take them outside at lunch time or whatever, so full kudos for that really. It was also good to chat about holidays too and we both recommended Donostia / San Sebastián to her and her boyfriend - as he works in hospitality and is also really good as a chef himself, I am sure that would have plenty of ideas and also plenty of nice places to go as well, which just has to be done.
We said our fond farewells later as The Love's niece was cycling back to her place on a bike, and headed to Islington Town Hall to get the 30 bus back to Euston. This worked out well and gave us time to get The Love a cold drink for the train and then head back homeward after what had been a lovely weekend. I will miss her of course, but it did feel better for having her here with me (cue Dido song being tune of the day - which was also on The Hit List last night incidentally) and that made us both feel a lot happier being together too.
Saturday 30th August - Costa del Croydon
The Love In My Heart was coming down to see me this weekend, which is always nice when she is able to come and see me, which makes for a welcome change in surroundings for her as well. I got up and sorted out the flat, and also as I had had the food delivery from Sainsburys yesterday, was able to have some nice breakfast and then get myself all ready and sorted. The Love's train was on time and despite some delays when it was between Macclesfield and Stoke on Trent, did at least play catch up a little so that was a positive.
Once The Love arrived at Victoria and was heading towards East Croydon, I headed out to meet her there - and it did start to rain a little as we were heading back to my place. The rain was on and off a little but not heavy, and so got back to mine and dropped off the case. We thought it would be good to head out for lunch, go round some of the shops and then we had free tickets for the Costa del Croydon event, which we went to last year and was decent despite the weather, so thought it'd be good to stay local.
We went to the Green Dragon for lunch, which I could have had a free drink at had I seen the fact that the place has a new app called Mixr, where you get a free drink on sign up. As it was, we did order some light lunches, but they did take a while to come out and although they were fine when they did, I suspected a large table not far from us was probably ordering food as they went and so may have delayed things. On the plus side I did have a chocolate and cranberry porter called Porter in a Storm, which was deliciously dark and lovely, so can't really complain there to be honest.
We did mooch in both Primark and Flying Tiger, where The Love did manage to get some Autumn bits for both home and for work, and took advantage of some nice offers in Flying Tiger, and signed up to their new app, which meant 10 per cent off the first purchase when she scanned that in at the till, so that worked nicely. We then headed across to the Centrale shopping centre and followed the escalators up to the top and where the top floor rooftop car park had been transformed into Costa del Croydon, and the weather at least was a little better than last year when we went.
There were plenty for families and the little ones to keep them entertained - with a massive beach of sand in the middle, paddling pools, giant chess and Connect 4, and also some fairground games such as hook a duck and one where you fired water jets at the mouths of targets, as well as a bar, a new chill out zone with hammocks and sofas, and all sorts. It was actually nice and families were out, and today they also had a nail technician doing nails too. We had a drink and relaxed in the chill out zone for a while, and it definitely had such a friendly vibe overall too - so again, nice to see.
Later on we rested at mine and had some nice chicken along with potatoes and carrots for tea, and enjoyed some good telly including The Hit List. The celebrity one it was this time and it was pretty entertaining, not least as Shane Lynch and his wife Sheena, as they got to the third round in the head to head, just about survived with a final skip with one second left, and as the round was punk era songs based out of New York, the other pair could not get the superb Because the Night by Patti Smith Group (and make that tune of the day as that is still a classic even now). As ever, always good fun to shout the answers out at the telly and I did surprise myself a fair bit too!
Thursday 28th August - Playing And Archiving
I had a couple of deliveries earlier this week with a number of computer games in - namely three games for the Commodore 64 and one for the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 series. They were all games that I was after for different reasons, and so it was out with the real hardware to play test them on there and check they all worked, with a view of archiving them to tape images as well so a clean copy could be made if the worst came to the worst with the original tape. Surprisingly, plenty of old game cassettes still work well after some close on forty years since being produced, which really shows the longevity of some of them.
In any case, the one I was really pleased with was getting the iconic Thalamus game Hunters Moon, which for me is one of the more advanced shooting games you could get - with you having to think a lot more before you shoot, with some really interesting ways of defeating some of the enemies in space and collecting the all important stars and progress through each section. The loading music from Matt Gray kicked in (make that tune of the day as a bit of a classic) and the game loaded - first go. I had a good play of that and managed to get to the third system before losing all my lives, but it worked perfect, so happy. Considering the prices I've seen this go for, to get it for a tenner, winning.
The other two games I had for the Commodore 64 were both for more personal reasons: Slap Fight as well as being an arcade conversion from Imagine was also the first known release of a game which had Ocean Loader 3 (aka Ocean Dries Up) music from the late and sadly missed Peter Clarke, and wanted that one for historical reasons - and because I had the game originally many years ago. Needless to say it still plays well now although you can sometimes end up losing lives quickly if you manage to lose one and lose all the power ups you built up over time.
There was also The New Zealand Story which Ocean released, and another Taito arcade conversion. And yes, it is adorably cute with Tiki the kiwi heading around a number of platform levels, getting past enemies, and freeing up other fellow kiwi chick friends along the way. It's still great fun and the music converted by Jonathan Dunn retains all the nice cuteness of the original arcade version - although I've not played it that often but when I did I noted how good it was, so nice to see something ported pretty well. There is another back story in that the conversion could have been done by another team - and what did they go on to produce? The classic budget title CJ's Elephant Antics - a game any Commodore 64 user should have.
The last thing I had to check over was the Blue Ribbon label budget re-release of Steve Davis Snooker, originally released by their parent company CDS in 1985. For the 1988 budget version they changed the loading system, but still had the black and green table setups depending on what television set you had (yes, really, this was a thing.) I also noted that the game had not been archived over at Plus/4 World as yet, so once I had got the DC2N hardware set up, I was able to capture the data from the tape and convert that into a suitable tape image - and one for each side with each table on.
Monday 25th August – Train In Vain
It was a nice relaxing lie-in and all was good, with us having had a nice evening last night with some telly and with some drinks. All was set fair for today, and that was until I received the email from LNER. I was having to take a diversionary route home tonight due to some engineering work anyway, so it was Manchester to Leeds, then Leeds to Kings Cross. However, the latter portion was affected tonight, as it transpired that the train that was going to run had already developed a fault and so the train was cancelled.
Now, normally, the one before or afterwards would work – although my ticket to Leeds would not get me there in time for the earlier departure, and the later one would get me home quite late which I didn’t fancy so much. However, LNER do allow more leniency if a train is cancelled – you get effectively two hours either side for any train, and with that in mind, I thought I would aim for the 1746 departure instead, and then take an earlier train over to Leeds – and as that worked out, it was a cheap Northern advance single that left at 1557, getting in at 1720, and time to change over. Job was done and that revised schedule was fine for The Love too – she appreciated that I’d want to get home in one piece and all that.
We decided instead to have a nice little breakfast, which was lovely, and once we got ourselves changed and ready with a little bit of Escape to the Country thrown in, where the couple spent a few days exploring some houses in Cornwall which they thought they could also make into a holiday let, although then after the three viewings and the chat with host Nicki Chapman, they decided at the end to go completely off piste and then head off to North Wales instead for their house hunt for the future. Maybe they went into a local pub and got that look of “you’re not from round these parts, are you?” – and got scared off at the prospect.
We headed off to Ancoats and we then walked over to Cask, which is a nice bar that does real ale too and is close to the New Islington Marina. We managed to get a space outside, and that was good so we could chatter and chill out. I went for the Sonoma from Track on cask and The Love had the Manchester Union Lager, and then changed that up for the Alhambra, a Spanish beer that we may have had a few of when over in Donostia / San Sebastián last month! Either way it was good to be able to enjoy some time together and make the most of the last bit of the sunshine of the Summer, or so they say anyway.
I then said a fond farewell to The Love and arrived at Manchester Victoria station. Yesterday when we passed the AO Arena on our way out we saw some fans queueing up, despite there being no gig on that night – and when we checked, it was the South Korean band Enhypen – and they were playing tonight. As the station has the entrances to the arena too, lots of young fans were everywhere, waiting for the stairs to be opened so they could head up and try to get front row - all dressed up and with numerous pictures of the members of the band that they had a crush on too. Definitely a phenomenon for those of that age anyway.
I got on the train to Leeds and that was fine, the one that goes over Hebden Bridge, Halifax and Bradford before then going to Leeds. Once there I had plenty of time to head over and get my reserved seat on the 1746 departure. I had to show the guard proof that the 1916 train had been cancelled so she could be sure my ticket was valid (which it was) and then I did a meal deal at the shop as that meant I could have a nice coffee, sandwich and crisps for £6, and also blast out some tunes on the iPod, including the lovely Polly by Little Sparrow, from my 2014 album of the year, and therefore tune of the day too. Definitely for me good to wind down as I headed homewards.
Sunday 24th August – Southport Seaside
After a nice lie-in, where The Love In My Heart and Brian the cat were snuggled together for ages and both looked adorable together, with Brian all spread out with having little tummy tickles from his Mummy, it was up and having some breakfast for the morning to set us on our way. With the weather looking good and with me not having to get a train back home tonight due to the Bank Holiday, we thought it a good idea to head out for a day out and to make the most of it before the weather turns much more rainy next week. With that in mind, we looked at what was on and it was sensible to head towards the sea, and have a nice day out there, and as we had not been there for ages, and despite the pier currently being closed (boo) we chose Southport.
We filled up with fuel and it was off in The Love’s car, taking the M61 towards the back end of Chorley and then cutting across on the A581 around West Lancashire, past Euxton and on to the lovely village of Croston, before then following the A59 for a little bit and the A565 down to Southport. This is more of an approach from the North but also means we avoided Ormskirk on the A570, which was handy due to the Motorfest taking place there today and no doubt the roads being very busy indeed. With that in mind, we soon headed along past the old Pleasureland (now called Adventure Coast) and got close to the pier and found a nice little car park which was £4.60 all day and right by the seafront – not that you could see the sea mind you as the tide was out.
We headed along and stopped off at the Guelder Rose for a drink, as this meant we could be outside and close to the pier and seafront, and the beer selection was not the best but we decided on some Cruzcampo which was perfectly fine. It was good just to rest and take that all in before deciding that we’d do lots of seaside type fayre, including going on the old miniature railway that links the marine bridge at one end with what was Pleasureland (Adventure Coast) at the other. It still calls itself the Pleasureland Miniature Railway and it’s £3 one way or £4 return, but with the return you could get off at one end, spend time there and head back later showing your return ticket, which was all card only now, how times have changed when cash was king. I suppose it means less risk for the staff, but still.
After that return ride (which included a delay heading back to sort out one of the engines) we headed over the marine bridge and in the amusement arcades. There were grabber machines of course which you knew would swallow money up, and a Lilo and Stitch one was tempting, but we did have some small change to use for the 2p falls, and in addition, we spotted a Kentucky derby type four player roll ball game that was not working. Gutted, quite fancied that as did The Love to be fair. However, we did spot an old school horse race one where you put 2p in and picked a horse, and the winner got the money, which was an old relic from the 1980s and still in good working order. Ah, good old nostalgia eh?
What is classic though is the crazy golf course. It is a proper old school one with the windmill, the rotating barrel and the lighthouse involved, as well as some nice obstacles to get around. The couple playing behind us had won a soft toy Stitch character on one of the grabber machines, so we knew that we weren’t going to win one soon if they had done. In any case it was good fun and £5 for 18 holes is very good value to be honest. The Love came very close to holes in one on a few occasions, but none of us managed it sadly. I did though get a low score of 40 overall, with fourteen twos and four threes, with nothing above that, so felt quite pleased with myself that I had done so well, consistent if nothing else. And the course played perfectly to be fair, and we got close to ringing the bell on the 19th hole for a free game but did not quite manage it sadly.
We did then head in a couple of more arcades and one of them did have a working Kentucky Derby four player machine, so we had a go of that which was good fun – you do have computer opponents if you play without all four, so I ended up second and The Love third, with some tickets being won overall. The same there was with the basketball game as well which was okay and I did at least get to the third stage which was nice, but really wanted to finish it all and get a good score, but the shooting let me down later on which was a shame. We did walk back towards the arcade close to the promenade as next door was a fish and chip shop with indoor seating, so had fish and chips for tea with a soft drink.
In fact, below us and not far from the crazy golf course, there was a bar with some outdoor seating, and they had a bloke singing all sorts of 70s and 80s songs with some karaoke style backing track. To be fair, he was alright though and did not murder the songs which was good, which included the likes of Love Plus One from Haircut 100. The fish and chip restaurant had some good 80s tunes on indoors too including Nik Kershaw’s iconic I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, so that has to be tune of the day really – it’s a rather good song still after all these years. We headed back later on and the roads were quieter, so took less time, and after tea snuggled with Brian the cat on the sofa. Awwww.
Saturday 23rd August – Midfield Mastery
It was an early start for me today, and this meant me heading up and out and off on the train to St Pancras, followed by a walk over to London Euston in good time to get the train from there to Manchester. It was a long Bank Holiday weekend this time around which meant some time with The Love In My Heart. In fact she had Little Miss E and Little Miss O with her overnight, and had had a nice picnic yesterday which was lovely. So no doubt that they would be full of beans when I got there. The train was less busy than I thought it might be, although it did seem to go slow around Watford and Milton Keynes for some reason.
After I had got the tram over to The Love’s place, I saw the happy smiling faces of Little Miss E and Little Miss O, and they were all chatty and having a good giggle. They were occupied with toys, colouring and some telly too, but they both gave me a nice high five when I arrived which was lovely. I then got my top changed to a Manchester City retro top and it was shortly off over to the Etihad Stadium to see City’s game against Tottenham, and my first game with my new season ticket, so I could see how the view was from Block 302 in the front row and how much I’d be enjoying it around the other fans there.
Getting in the ground did prove troublesome – not for me when I eventually got to the turnstile, and managed to use the NFC on my phone to scan in the ticket and get in, but it seemed that there was no fallback option to go back to the barcode scan, so those phone users without NFC did not have suitable fallback. It was that bad that eventually the turnstiles had to open ten minutes before kick off with people manually showing their tickets to the staff. Clearly, a major screw up there and one that Manchester City really need to get a grip on – especially when you consider that the next home game happens to be the Manchester derby, where you really do not want anything to go wrong. This though did mean that it was less of a queue for me inside to get a cold drink (and with 10% discount now so that was nice) and take my place in the block.
The game itself hinged on a couple of tactical issues and mistakes from City in truth. Whilst it was unfortunate that Rayan Ait-Nouri went off, and Nathan Aké came on in his place, the midfield was where battles were being won. Tottenham wanted it more and having Rayan Cherki close to Tijjani Reijnders wasn’t working at all – with Nico Gonzalez left often to try and mop up. Tottenham saw their chances down the right and each time they looked to go forward it was there once Ait-Nouri was off. Indeed, one through ball found Richarlison who was just onside, and he squared it to Brennan Johnson for a tap in. VAR correctly over-ruled the initial offside call, and it was 1-0 to Tottenham.
City had pressed to try and score all game, but just before half time more calamity struck. James Trafford in net reverted to his Burnley Premier League era, and made a howler passing a ball out, which was intercepted and it didn’t take long for Paulinha to score for Tottenham, right on half time and 2-0 to them. As the second half wore on I was more concerned that we may concede more, as we did not look like scoring until Phil Foden came off the bench, and at least he tried to do something. We maybe should have had a penalty when Oscar Bobb was stood on the foot by Micky van der Ven, but that was clutching at straws a little when in truth we were not good enough on the day. Reality, as they say, bites. And that hurts.
What was nice was when I got back was that Little Miss E and Little Miss O were still there, as their parents were delayed getting to The Love’s place to collect them. So there were more fun and games as they played with the catch ball, were the ball sticks to the Velcro catch round bats well, and they can throw and catch happily. In fact Little Miss O was full of happiness and giggles as she did this, as well was walk around looking constantly for Brian the cat to say “Hi!” to – not that Brian was that impressed, I should add! In the meantime tune of the day is the excellent 5000 Miles by She Makes War, certainly a song made for train travel this morning.
Sunday 17th August - Tea For Three
It was nice just to be able to relax and chill out this morning. I got up whilst The Love In My Heart settled in back to sleep for a bit, with Brian the cat being all happy and snuggly up next to his Mummy. It was so sweet. He just had that gentle purr of happiness as he was getting tummy tickles, and I looked at them both and left them to it, knowing Brian was in his very happy place (understatement.) In those situations it is always best to be able to take things relatively easy, and watched the rest of Match of the Day that I didn't see last night with me being a little tired, and that worked out nicely.
It was quite a muggy day and we were keeping an eye on the flight back from the holiday which involved Little Miss E, Little Miss O and their parents. The Love had agreed to have Little Miss E overnight later today which meant I'd hopefully get to see them too and suggested we go somewhere for tea before I got the train home tonight, which of course would be nice. As it turned out The Love got a call to say that the flight was slightly delayed, but not too bad overall, so we were able to make sure we got ourselves showered and ready to head out later on.
In fact we had time spare, so we detoured into the city centre and because the parking all around Ancoats near Cutting Room Square is free on Sundays, we stopped off there, got an outside table at Seven Bro7ers Beerhouse and had a drink there - sadly though no Vault City Iron Brew on tap that they had the other week but Lucky Saint instead, so a sensible move that was to be honest. We were able to sit in the sunshine and just relax a little bit before then heading over, and the timing was pretty good - the family had landed, got their luggage and a cab from the airport back home and we were around ten minutes later when we arrived, so all good.
Needless to say the little ones were super happy to see their Nana, and Little Miss O had some giggles with me as she had a play which was sweet, and her and The Love had very similar matching dresses on, which was so adorable. We decided to head to The Woodside as it's a nice place to eat, they do outside tables too and that meant that the three of us could relax a little and enjoy some tea before I got the train. This did mean a good kids menu for Little Miss E as well, so she was more than happy with some fish goujons and chips along with a side salad, and The Love went for the chicken parmigana. For me, it was the sea bass dish which looked similar to what I had last weekend, and just as nice!
Little Miss E had got a new Lego Friends set whilst she was on holiday and insisted on taking it with her and we ended up building it in between having our tea. It was quite a nice set really and when built it resembled a little play area with a roundabout, and two little figures as well which looked sweet. One of the pieces came off the table and on to the pebbles and stones below underneath the table, but thankfully I found it and all was good as the set was built. Because as the song from Tegan and Sara says from the Lego Movie, everything is awesome, and so that has to be tune of the day just because.
It was then off to Manchester Piccadilly where I had to make a quicker exit due to the traffic being bad up to the station, and said a fond farewell to them both. Later on Little Miss E had settled in and had a lovely time with her Nana and off to bed, so that was all good and she was being super good, so that is a bonus. I definitely think that she wants to come down to London too at some point so that may need to be arranged, so she can have a fab time and get to see all sorts.
Saturday 16th August - City's Season Starts Here
It was an early rise for me as I was off to see The Love In My Heart for the weekend, and I was booked on the 0733 train from Euston to Manchester Piccadilly, primarily because of the fact that as the trains are still diverting around Wilmslow and Styal due to the bridge repairs near Stockport station, it made sense to account for more time on the journey up. That said, with some new albums on the iPod and ready to go, it was nice just to relax and chill with those, including the superb track Fallowfield Loops by GoGo Penguin (make that tune of the day) and all was well as the aircon was nicely on and it was all cool on the train heading up.
I got the tram over to The Love In My Heart's place, and all was well there with Brian the cat miaowing a little bit. It transpired that he wanted lots of fussing and attention as well as playtime, so once he was outside on the patio there was a very contented purr, which said a lot really. I think he definitely wanted to have more playtime but we were heading out later on, so we got him the little tent he likes to sit in, and was happy just mooching in that looking outside for a bit.
We headed out to a really nice café called Brew and Bee to meet up with The Love's sister for a bit of light lunch. All was well there and even though it was lunch time you could still have stuff from the breakfast menu instead so two of us went for a bacon barm, which was pretty good (and pretty big). I also fancied a change for the latte and so seeing that they had the barista version of the soya milk, gave that a go instead - and it was alright to be fair. It certainly did not curdle in the coffee like the soya milk used to, but I think them having the right one helped considerably.
After getting back to The Love's place, and making sure Brian was all good, and he was, we headed out on the tram to New Islington before then taking a walk over the new bridge to the canal there, then walking down and over to Track's tap room where a space outside was ours along with some nice beer too. In fact I had the Sonoma on cask (with a proper beer glass to have with it too) and then later I tried the New Zealand pilsner they had on, which was decent. The Love had tried a Vienna lager and that was okay but switched back to their dependable Arosa helles lager instead which is always a solid choice (and the 0.5% version is good too incidentlally.)
Later we headed to the local Chinese takeaway to get some tea, and we both went for a chicken dish each and so we could basically share between us - so I did the crispy shredded chicken in OK sauce and The Love went for the chicken with mushrooms. Both were very nice with some egg fried rice, and I was keeping an eye on the Manchester City game against Wolves during that time - no Sky TV for The Love, so it was a case of keeping eyes on the BBC Sport app for the score and watching Match of the Day for the highlights later. And oh yes, that went very well indeed!
Manchester City looked good enough, with a lovely move meaning Rico Lewis crossed across the six yard area for Erling Haaland to have a tap in. Oscar Bobb ran through the middle, spotted Tijjani Reijnders on the left and the Dutch midfielder slotted it into the bottom corner for 2-0 before half time. In the second half, Bobb and Reijnders were involved again before setting up Erling Haaland to smash one in from outside the box for a thind, and as the subs came on, Rayan Cherki finished off a good move with a low placed strike into the bottom corner. 4-0 and top of the league - not going to argue with that!
Sunday 10th August - Contemplation and Chilled
One thing I knew I needed to do today was to rest up a little after the walk - the legs were not that sore to be honest, primarily because I had at least had a good night's sleep, but definitely needed to get some Compeeds on for the back of the left and right feet with the blister and scrape there. Needless to say it did feel better once they were on and they'll stay on for a good few days to help the skin heal naturally. Even The Love In My Heart who normally can withstand pain well tells me that for the feet, Compeeds are awesome and do the job properly when she has suffered with shoes too.
So at some point I know I will need something new to do long distance walks in. I have some ideas and there are a couple of pairs out there which have caught the eye and at a fair price too - but the proof of course would be to get them and give them a go. Ideally I'd want to do the final section of the Vanguard Way next month before the weather gets too bad (and bear in mind it'll be some walking by the sea as well) so I'd like to really have them in and maybe give them a quick walk out prior to that so I know they will do the job. Either way, it's noticeable that all the Clarks pairs and shoes and trainers I've had in the last few years have all fitted me well, feel really comfortable and do not rub - at all. Maybe there's something in that and a shame they don't do more activewear walking shoes really!
With the feet all attended too, I decided today to some catching up - starting off with last night's The Hit List, which I was on the way home and missed. Needless to say I had a big smile on my face when there was a mod music related hit list and it came up with not only That's Entertainment by The Jam (something that The Love In My Heart would wholeheartedly approve of, of course) and All or Nothing by The Small Faces, but best of all, the under-rated Time For Action by Secret Affair, so make that one tune of the day - and maybe as I think, it is time for action after all.
It was good also to be able to watch some pre-season football, albeit not the Community Shield (as that was not on normal telly, and Crystal Palace won 3-2 on penalties after an entertaining 2-2 draw) but I did see highlights of Manchester City's win at Palermo last night. One thing was for definite - the power from midfield of Tijjani Reijnders may make him a very worthwhile pick and one I may need to debate for the Fantasy League team coming up if I decide to do that. Erling Haaland did also score as well which was a bonus to see him back in the goals too - so we shall see what happens next week.
In any case, it was nice to see that The Love In My Heart had also taken today to be a chilled out day too, and with the weather warm where she was, Brian the cat decided that he would have some play out time in the shade and he also was making sure Mummy kept him well fed and watered too. The Love did also have Little Miss E and Little Miss O yesterday so she sent me over some pictures, and as ever, they were adorable. In fact Little Miss E asked where I was too which was lovely.
Saturday 9th August - Eight and Nine
It was an early start for me today as I was off down to East Sussex to carry on my attempt at completing the Vanguard Way, all ten sections of it. I had got up to the end of section seven at Golden Cross, and had two options open today. I would definitely do section eight (Golden Cross to Berwick Station) as that seemed relatively flat and a shorter distance. If I felt up to it, I could also do section nine (Berwick Station to Exceat Bridge) but that did involve some climbs. However, I had got myself a Southern Daysave ticket (which you have to order 3 days prior) which gave me unlimited off-peak travel on Southern all day. And as all the routes are Southern, it made sense for me to do so.
I worked out that the best place to get a bus to Golden Cross would be from Polegate as I had two different bus options - one close to the station and would arrive nine minutes after my train, and another a further walk but would set off a little later. Well, Southern pulled a Southern and the train was ten minutes late at East Croydon which became eighteen by the time it got to Wivelsfield due to it being behind a Thameslink one. Eventually it tried to make up some time but it was seventeen minutes delayed at Polegate, so I had missed the first bus, but at least had time for the number 28 as second option, heading through Hailsham on the way to Golden Cross.
Once I'd walked down Deanland Road and to the start point, I had to navigate five fields - the first two had sheep, the last cows and a bull, so did my best to go a longer way around as to not disturb the animals, as the last thing you do was to have a bull charging at you. It was then past the gardens of Limekiln Farm and onto Sheepcote Lane for a fair while, passing barns and farms with a gentle ascent before the road ran out and became more of a byway. I saw no horses or motorbikes along the way here, but it was all good heading out on to another road, turning off soon for some farm fields, heading up to Mays Farm and its impressive house.
Descending from the house here, it was then through some more nice fields and passing another barm, this time at Ludlay, but this looked a lot nicer with its red brick, which matched the house that you pass in the distance (and all fenced off to prevent intruders of course). Part of the driveway was also part of the walk here, and veering off to the right to follow a couple of small fields and past some dog walkers, then on to basically the back of houses before turning left and arriving at Berwick Station, as the barriers lowered for the stopping train to Brighton to arrive.
Once the barriers were up I stopped off at the Berwick Inn opposite for a cold soft drink and thought about my plans. Do I do the remaining six and a half miles, then get a bus to say Eastbourne at the end to take trains back later, or do I hop on a train or bus from Berwick Station and maybe go to the sea? All thoughts ran through the head but ultimately I decided to press on. I left there and headed out and up through fields of corn (cue the Green Giant advert theme, ho ho ho - definitely tune of the day there) and then off along close to a farm, down the hill to a nice tree-lined road, and crossing over to another field, and more corn growing - this time much taller and much more to wade through even though the path was clearly marked. Someting you'll see less of in winter, but with of course the risk of the ground being muddy.
I soon left the fields behind and headed to the actual Berwick village, with its Cricketers Arms pub being tempting. I carried on and passed the local church and could see walkers in the distance, as you headed up, down and up another hill before reaching the top of a hill and a road which headed down to the village of Alfriston. The market cross square was nice as was the village itself - and even Alex Polizzi runs a hotel here which looks posh and expensive (a check online later proved it - £280 per night for a Sunday night!) and with all the views over the Cuckmere River, the green called The Tye with the church in front, all very nice. And knowing you can get a bus here on Saturdays and Sundays during the Summer, that might make it doable (albeit you need to get off at Berwick first.)
Anyway, leaving alfriston behind, it was along the Cuckmere River for a while before turning off and passing the Plough and Harrow pub in Litlington - and what I didn't realise was how close the Long Man Brewery is down the road. Their beers are nice and it would have been sorely tempting! Anyway, I carried on up the first large climb and was rewarded with some stunning views and over to the Litlington White Horse, which is a chalk horse on the hills to the right (called Hindover Hill). So that was nice to see. The path descended down and then it was a mammoth 87 steps up (steep too) and onwards to Friston Forest, which looked very nice, as well as being lovely and shaded too.
The descent from Litlington Forest into the very small hamlet of Westdean was nice, but then the big one - 152 stairs heading up the hill, and this took me some time to head up it slowly. I got to the top, and the view of the Cuckmere Meanders and the river and sea beyond was just majestic. I definitely took some time to take it all in before descending past the Seven Sisters visitor centre and finally alongside the A259 and past Exceat Bridge on to the Cuckmere Inn, where a well earned pint and a lovely lunch of sea bass with king prawns, potatoes, tenderstem broccoli, peas and broad beans in a nice cream sauce awaited me. And it was utterly delightful.
I did feel a little sore on the feet so decided the best plan of action was to head back on the 12X bus to Eastbourne, take the train out to Bexhill to check out a retro collectables shop there (all very nice but no 8-bit games for me sadly) and then from there get the train back to East Croydon via Eastbourne. I was glad to kick off the walking shoes when home, but in reality, I may need to bin them. Last time I got a scrape up the heel and that took time to heal - this time as well as that, I had a blister at the back of the left foot too. Something isn't right here, and I think before my next walk I'll get a different pair that suit the feet better - I still would prefer rugged and waterproof for any Winter walks, but they need to be comfier really. In fact one of my older pairs I binned when I did other walks years ago I seem to remember being far better in the sole especially, so I've got some ideas at least.
Sunday 3rd August – Diecast Dinner
It was nice to have had a good night’s sleep overnight, and The Love In My Heart would have had more sleep had it not been for a miaow or two from Brian the cat, wanting to hint at his Mummy to get up. It was raining though, so although he wanted to play out on the patio, the rain meant he stood by the door and just got the fresh air before then chancing it, realising his paws and fur was getting wet, and rushed back inside. Needless to say he still wanted to do his usual shower after his Mummy mind you, where he catches the water with his tongue and has a good little preen at the same time. Creature of habit, really.
We got ourselves showered, changed and ready for later, and The Love had got herself a new dress from Oliver Bonas that she had wanted to get before the holiday – very inspired by the blue tiles on the walls in the likes of Lisbon and Porto. She looked beautiful, and I had my French Connection shirt from holiday that is blue with some nice white leaf type patterns on, which certainly felt comfortable too. The rain had stopped and was just about holding off as we headed off to the tram stop to get the tram into the city centre. As we were heading to Diecast, then Piccadilly is about the nearest and we had ideas to keep the rain off as needed.
So we got to the tram stop in the station and headed out down the ramp towards Piccadily Gardens, stopping off at the Piccadilly Tap for a well earned drink. They did have the Thornbridge Lukas Helles, so got The Love that (she has had it before and it is really nice) and I had one of the local cask ales which was blonde and also had a nice citrus tang to it, really lovely. Definitely for me, a place that does have some good beers in and the pool table upstairs is also free to play. We did sit on the balcony and watched the world go by as well as the numerous rail replacement buses ferrying people to Stockport (as the station is closed for three weeks due to bridge works just South of the station itself.)
We headed over to Diecast and our friends were there and had already got the booked table – a nice booth of four that we could comfortably sit around, so that was all very nice indeed. We got ourselves some drinks – and The Love went for one of the daiquiris whilst she was in there – and decided on the roasts to have. The Love and one of our friends went for the porchetta of pork, which looked really nice – and our other friend the vegetarian option of porcini mushroom wellington. I had the chicken breast, which was really nicely cooked and not any bone at all, whereas the half chicken would have been messier. All the roasts came with Yorkshire pudding, carrots, roasties, stuffing, greens and some gorgeous gravy. I can highly recommend it.
After a drink or two inside we decided to head outside as the weather was holding off and being nice, and this did mean we could try some of the other drinks too. I did try their own Diecast Helles which wasn’t too bad to be fair (and better than the Hofmeister one by all accounts) and did also have one of the Deya beers as well – the excellent and lighter version of their Sunshine ale which was a cracking session drink to have, perfect for those lazy Sunday afternoons. We caught up on lots too, so the holiday was mentioned, and whether we had booked the next one, as well as all sorts of chatter, which was all lovely.
Time went by far far too quickly and before we knew it, it was around 6.30pm and time to head off back to Piccadilly Station so I could get the train home and The Love could get the tram – which by all accounts she got on one straight away – so an epic win there. It was a lovely afternoon and always good to catch up with friends, so it felt like a journey home wasn’t too bad, even though the train had taken longer overall. With the iPod on blasting out some excellent tunes such as Penfriend’s Seventeen (make that tune of the day) then it made the weekend and the journey all the more worthwhile, which is what it should be about really.
Saturday 2nd August – Catch Up Time
It was another Saturday morning early ish rise and a train trip to Manchester to see The Love In My Heart for the weekend. She had suggested some time ago that rather than head up on the Friday night and maybe suffer some of the hassle of Avanti Worst Coast on those evenings, where things seem to go wrong, maybe take that stress out a little bit? I thought that at least for the Summer where there is no football to consider (12.30pm kick offs for example) then that would be at least worth doing. I managed to get to Euston fine and treated myself to a coffee on board as I headed on the 0753 departure to Manchester Piccadilly and then from there the tram to The Love In My Heart’s place, picking up some Azera coffee on the way.
Literally around five minutes later Little Miss E and Little Miss O arrived with their Mum and The Love went out to see them – and Little Miss E ran towards The Love in a scene reminiscent of the end of The Railway Children, saying “Nana! Nana!” and coming up to give The Love lots of hugs and saying how much she had missed her. Awww, it was so sweet. It was lovely to see Little Miss E too and she was telling me about the next holiday she is going on with the family as well as enjoying the pictures of our holiday with The Love. In fact she wants to come down to London with Nana, so we’ll have to arrange that so it can happen and they can stay at my place of course.
The Love’s sister arrived too (it is her birthday tomorrow, as well as The Love’s nephew and the sister’s son as well) so it was nice that The Love had made a cake, which of course Little Miss E had eyes on and had a piece with the rest of us. Little Miss O was happy to seek out Brian the cat and stand her distance whilst waving to him. Brian was unmoved but a little contented miaow said all you needed to know really – nice nonetheless. We had a good chatter for a while before the Little Misses headed off with their Mum, as one of them had a friend’s party to go to, so popular as ever I see, and had a good chatter with everyone, so that was nice.
Later on we went to see my Mum for a while too and had a good chat about the holiday we had had, and Mum said she really liked the pictures. I think for Mum she would like to go abroad again at some point, but probably maybe as part of a more organised trip rather than say going with friends as they may want to have different experiences. Mum is like me in that staying on the beach or by the pool every single day would just bore her, and she would want some nice places to visit and experiences when there. The Love and I have always managed a good compromise and this time around it worked well as she could be on the beach whilst I went exploring a little bit too, so that was pretty good really.
We then were going to go to Wallop (formerly Wine and Wallop) in West Didsbury but sadly that was closed for refurbishment, so we headed along the same parade of shops to Neighbourhood instead. That did mean an Augustiner Helles for The Love and a nice local Cloudwater ale for me, and was nice to sit outside whilst the sun attempted to make an appearance too. One thing I did note was that the bar prices were getting a little bit more expensive, maybe because of Didsbury, and maybe because of the lack of cask ales generally, but worthy of note anyway. We headed back later and Brian the cat was all happy once he got some of his salmon dry food off Mummy (The Love had tried something different but Brian was as fussy as ever!)
We settled in for the evening with The Love making some lovely steak later, and as per usual, The Hit List had to be watched. We both adore this primarily because it’s a case of getting the song and artist, but also that does mean (as co-host Rochelle Humes says) “lots of shouting the answers at your telly” – and she isn’t wrong. In fact one part of the third round (where the two couples left get 45 seconds counting down til they got the tune) and what they called a goth round, well sort of. The intro got played and you got the song. The contestants to be fair did get Friday I’m In Love by The Cure, but Rain by The Cult and the superb This Corrosion from The Sisters of Mercy (make that tune of the day) they skipped, and the last one took time for them to get Happy House by Siouxsie and the Banshees, a song I absolutely love and had played on the iPod on the train up too!