OAP

Wow, March has just flown by. It started with an almost significant birthday as I reached the ripe old age of 65. I only celebrate when the year ends in zero, but I was coerced into a family do, as much because the grandkids like to blow out the candles.

So, we all sat down in The Refreshment Rooms for a Sunday lunch as luckily my birthday fell on a Sunday. We all had a good time, everybody enjoyed themselves and I am a year older. Tim came up for a few days from London sans children so we were able to have a few drinks as well which was good.

I applied for my pension to the DWP as you are asked to, but nothing has arrived, so I had to call them. They told me some applications had gone missing at about the time I applied. Lucky I rang really as they clearly have no check and balance for these sort of eventualities. The pension is paid in arrears, so I should get it as expected in a day or two.

March has also provided a couple of Six Nations rugby games. We travelled to Paris to see England fail to beat France, and we were at Twickenham for the anti-climatic end game against Ireland. In both cases the matches were the low point of the weekend . We stayed at The Farmers Club in Covent Garden as way of a change for the Ireland game and it was good to escape Twickenham after the match and enjoy a few drinks elsewhere.

Unfortunately we had two Chinese meals, which, coupled with the birthday celebration and a trip to Paris has stalled my weight loss campaign...couple of pounds added on this month!!

The beginning of the golf season has also stalled due to the bad weather, so my scramble to get six qualifying cards into the Virgin Atlantic golf competition and win a goodie bad, has been delayed somewhat.
Hopefully I can get it all done by Monday. There is a trip to Vegas as the prize for the best golfers this season so I must use the golf lesson presents I got wisely!!

Easter has now come and gone. It was a quiet one this year, with a bit of gardening and jovial evenings out to crown a pretty good month.

I have embraced Twitter now so you can follow me here if you want to, although at the moment its not too interesting!!
Just click on the Twitter follow button top right and after that I don't know what happens!!

Just a minute

Dining experiences take all shapes and sizes these days and right now I am experiencing their extremes.

Last weekend was the s-club annual pre-Christmas rugby international at Twickenham.

The opposition were the Argentines, and the events during the match have been well documented. Our after match tradition at the moment seems to be a visit to the Richmond Chinese, a place I have frequented for years.
I seem to remember having my 30th and 40th birthdays there as well as celebrating Chinese New Year several times with my late great mate,Figs.  I still have a mud man and monkey puppet the restaurant gave me when they had the artifact shop next door. The same family still run it.

We were a bit revolutionary this year though on the Friday night. We decided to stay at the Farmer's Club in Whitehall, and on my recommendation we went to the Faulty Towers dining experience in the old Charing Cross station hotel, now called the Alba.

The show featured Basil, Manuel and Cybil and was a parody of the famous restaurant scenes from the Fawlty Towers sitcom. It started with drinks in the bar follows by a three course dinner punctuated with comedy sketches. It was both humorous and entertaining, and I would definitely recommend it.

The tickets were £70 plus drinks and its interesting to note it is at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton in January where prices are £42.50. There are a few seats left for the Sunday lunch, otherwise it too is sold out.

John Cleese is pretty browned off with the show as he and his colleague actors get no royalties.

So onto today, which finds me in a unit in central Liverpool called Ziferblat. Its the name of a new kind of social space where everything is free except the time you spend there. It's 8p per minute and that's it. I have had toast and jam, cake, minced pies, bananas, soup and loads of coffee!. The concept was founded in Moscow in 2011 by a chap called Ivan Meetin. Apparently it means clockface in English and is billed as a tree house for grown ups.

There are two in Liverpool and one in Manchester and its ideal for me as I have just popped the car into BMW for a service, I bet they charge more than 8p per minute gulp!

Flat caps and farmers

It was always on the cards that I would be on the Tele last weekend. I had a front row ticket for the Australia v Argentina game between the halfway line and the 22, right opposite the cameras.
There was a false start when I featured on the big screen right after the anthems. That did not make the live coverage though as ITV cut to the adverts, as they do.
Did not have long to wait though as an Argentina line-up five minutes into the game allowed me a chance to doff my cap to my adoring fan base. Job done.

The whole weekend had gone well. We watched the SA v NZ game in a bar in Charing Cross and were glad we were not there when the weather closed in. We were joined briefly by a group dressed as animals who were out for a significant birthday. They had trotted out to Covent Garden by half-time and after the match we joined them.
We had supper in Joe Allen's in Exeter Street. No celebs, but a very fine evening which we finished off in the Farmers Club in Whitehall.

On Sunday (but not after supper!) farmer Simon used a contact to get us a plum table in the Bluebird Cafe on the Kings Road. I can't remember the last time I was on the lash in that area of  the capital. One pub I used is now a burger joint, and the Click and Whichity's have both long since shut down.

The Bluebird was swish and we would not have been surprised if Jose Mourinho or a few of his players had been in there...but then they could have been as we would not have recognised them!!

So back to Scouse on the Monday and now geared up for the final. We have embraced the tournament. Tickets were expensive, the fanzone in Trafalgar Square was a bit of an embarrassment, as were the host nation, but the times with rugby mates are always priceless, so look out Japan in 2019, make sure you have enough mobility scooters!!