How far?

26 miles and a few yards actually, yes, as alluded to during March, No 2 son was running the London Marathon, so SWMBO and I went down to the smoke to support him.

We went down the Saturday afternoon and caught up with some old rugby friends before a reasonably early night in Lensbury. It was under refurbishment so a bit disappointing that we had not been told, but hopefully it will be finished when we next go down and stay. 

Never mind that, we were off bright and early  on the Sunday to hopefully catch up with him three or four times during the race. It all started so well with parking purchased near Gunnersbury station and a short 30 minute tube ride to Westminster. As it turned out this was my only chance to sit down all day!!

A couple of stops later we were at the 8 mile mark and managed to catch him there but hen our plans all went out of the window, stations were closed due to volume of people, there were extensive queue's and standing only on rush hour packed tubes and DLR trains,

So, we were lucky to catch him again after about 17miles and then headed to the finish to meet up with him. What a joke that was as everybody was piling off at St James to meet up near Pall Mall, only to find there was no way of crossing the track into the park. Big logistical error by the marathon organisation team as it took an hour to walk around the park up to Piccadilly and back to Pall Mall, only to then get bounced from the building he was supposedly meeting us in.

Anyway all ended well as we met up, he showed off his medal and did a respectable time of just under 4 hours. Longer than his target but it was very hot and most people were below their PB when they finished

.

All except the elite winners that is who broke the World record.

The escape from London worked well though as from Gunnersbury we were on the motorway home in 5 minutes and another adventure got ticked off. 

Sticky wicket

Before my golf fest started, SWMBO and I made our annual trip to Lords for the first test against New Zealand. It was a while since we had been there, and also a while since we stayed at the Lensbury Club.

First though the cricket. after a leisurely breakfast we set off for Lords. it does take a while from Teddington but we thought 11:30 was a reasonable time to arrive as we passed through the turnstiles. Imagine our shock then as we saw New Zealand were 12-3. Luckily more wickets followed as they were bowled out and England came out to bat.

We took a lunchtime stroll down St Johns Wood High Street,paying. particular attention to the charity shops, before rejoining the game.At this point we became aware of the large amount of alcohol the group in front were consuming and were just waiting for one of the girls in particular to stand up and promptly fall over!!

England only lost one wicket before tea and with Crawley in control we anticipated a final session devoid of drama, allowing us to depart early to our pre-booked dinner appointment. Joe Root came in and knocked a couple of 4's and with the score on 82-2 we made our excuses and left.

Our very pleasant evening at the Duke of Sussex in Waterloo was then shattered as I spotted a headline      ' England collapse again' and yes we missed a further 5 wickets at the end of the day.

So back to the Lensbury before home the next day for a 75th birthday party. The Lensbury is now a regular hotel which anybody can book into and like everywhere, they are suffering staff shortages. The clientele is different with the parents less likely to control their children than previously was the case. The hash browns at breakfast were pretty poor as well.

They seem to be fairing marginally better than the Anglers next door as we waited 35 minutes to be served there on the Wednesday night, and for a Fullers pub to not have any London Pride was just bang out of order.

Anyway, we are back on the horse so to speak and with a couple of rugby tickets for the New Zealand game in November, I can see if things have improved.