Up in smoke

The annual pilgrimage to Lords to see the first day of the Ashes test allowed SWMBO and I a few days in London. We started with dinner in J Sheekey, the renowned seafood restaurant, and the n spent the next day sightseeing.

I was keen to see what had become of Battersea power station, so we started there. It has its own tube station terminus so getting there was easy enough, albeit we had planned the river taxi, but they did not stop there from the Waterloo side of the river.

The main turbine halls have been turned into a shopping mall and food court, a bit of a poor man's Westfield, without the same level of foot fall. I think they might have been better going down the outlet mall route.

The main attraction though is the observation pod at the top of one of the chimney's. You take two elevators and walk a few steps, and the pop out of the top of the chimney already in the pod. The views are spectacular and give another perspective on West London. You would still prefer the London Eye if it was central London you wanted a good look at, but the chimney tour is still worth the trip. The whole area is now built up with flats and hotels, one of which had a cool pool and bar on its roof.

After a light lunch in one of the cafe's we did manage to get the river bus back to Westminster pier, and hit the West End before the must have burger in Joe Allen at Covent Garden. The restaurant has moved now but has tried to maintain the basement dive vibe of the old site, and with a fair amount of success.

The cricket was disappointing as England won the toss in bowler friendly conditions but failed to take the three or four wickets they needed to exert their authority over the Aussies. This year was the 60th year since I first went to Lord's as a ten year old with my Dad. I am wondering whether enough is enough now, although it would be good to get my 50 year reward badge from Middlesex first, and I think I have three more years to go to get that !!

Home sweet home

Golf is starting to ease down now as we approach the Winter season and a shortened course at Wallasey. There was still time though for me to tick of another course when I played Woolton with (another) Captain Simon, Ste and Andrew. I now have Wigan, Hyton and Prescott, Lee Park and Gathurst to play after which I will have completed the set. All the remaining courses are inland towards Northest Liverpool and Wigan so I will probably wait until the Spring before ticking them off.

I am hosting the group at Wallasey on Tuesday next week so hopefully the current Covid restrictions will still be valid and we can have some sort of social day as well as play some golf.

I had another presentation to do on Sunday as the club hosted the Frank Stableford Open competition for elite amateur golfers. There were the usual smattering of home counties international players and handicapping was balloted out at 5. Sam Prince from Stockport golf club won with a total of 75 points over the two rounds. He was a +4 player and showed his class as he added the Frank Stableford to the Cheshire Cat he won earlier in the season. Interestingly in 2014 Matthew Fitzpatrick played his last amateur tournament in the Frank Stableford  at Wallasey before turning professional. He has not done too badly has he!!

My highlight this week though has been the opportunity to make the last payment of my current mortgage, and to finally be the owner outright of a property, with SWMBO of course, and be mortgage free. It has only taken about 45 years in a variety of homes. The first was in Upper Norwood in South London, before purchasing on the Tudor Estate in Kingston, Surrey. I lived in Chiswick, West London  for about 30 years, and used the mortgage on that to buy in Waterloo,  Merseyside. We then moved onto the Wirral where we are today. The house itself is 150 years old in 2021. Given we have not had a chance to host our usual barbecue we will make sure we have a right good 'do' next time.

Deja Vous all over again

We are on the train back to Liverpool, following our annual trip to London for the Lord's test match. This year is an Ashes year but our hopes of seeing Jofra Archer throw a few down at the Aussies were dashed once again by the weather.
This is the second year running that we have had a complete washout following a similar experience when India were the visitors.

We adjourn to Crickets on such occasions, although it is disappointing that they have removed Fullers London Pride in favour of some pale imitation of an IPA. We did our usual trick of purchasing an umbrella from one of the numerous charity shops in St John's Wood high street, and SWMBO and I both purchase some clobber so not a totally wasted day.

After an early dinner the night before at The Duke of Sussex in Waterloo, we went to see 'The Bank Robbery That Went Wrong' at the Criterian Theatre. It had some very clever and amusing moments interspersed with periods of dullness, but that is farce for you.

Yesterday we met Cousin Mike and Val at the Ivy Cafe in Richmond which very pleasant. Marion joined us for a drink later before we deferred once more to Waterloo for night cap.

So all in all a good three days, and the refunded entry fees should cover all the r & r!!

Better than a hole in one!!

No posts during May is a bit of a let down, but was due in most part to a holiday trip to Turkey with some of Maxine's mad mate's, one of whom was celebrating her 60th birthday. I took my bats along and managed to get five rounds in including two on the Montgomerie course which will be hosting the Turkish Open later in the year. It was a very well turned out track and I played it pretty well.

I always remember when I was off on vacation from work, little of my backlog got cleared while I was away, so there was a huge work effort when I returned and the holiday quickly became a distant memory.

The same thing happened this time, although the backlog was a series of golf matches which needed to be played in short order, when I got back. The schedule finished yesterday with a rare win in the first round of the Nike match-play. I worked out that I have played nine rounds in 12 days.

The highlight of those rounds has to be a gross 79 which I hit in the Twickenham Legend's v Hero's match at Hersham Village Golf Club. It was the first time I have ever broken 80 and did feel just a bit special. especially as I travelled down and back in the day!!

Other matches saw a second place at Wallasey, a win against Prestbury and a defeat away at the West Lancs course close to where we used to live in Waterloo.

So now I am putting my feet up for a while before I tackle some decorating and other little jobs which are building up.

Interesting the football fixtures have just been released and I can see the mighty Green's at Tranmere this year, as well as at Morecambe and Accrington Stanley. Might even get to Wigan to see Brentford.

The standard of football will be a little bit lower than that on display during the World Cup, but I am sure the quality of refereeing and playacting/cheating will be the same. Such is the price we have to pay for 'the beautiful game'.

Canon to left of them, canon to right of them....

You can read about the latest Six nations Rugby weekend on my chum Dicks blog here. The focus of the evening was once again centred on The Prince Blucher public house, and at the bus-stop as we waited for our big red carriage to take us home, Dicks son Robert asked who he was.

So who is he and what do I know about the pub?

Well, Prince Blucher was actually a Prussian field marshall who led his army against Napolean I the Battle of Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington. Indeed had Bluchers army not intervened at Waterloo it is likely that Wellington would have been defeated. In that particular action, however, Bluchers army was directed there by General August von Gneisenau who assumed command of what remained of Bluchers army, after a defeat at Ligny. Blucher was trapped for several hours under his dead horse and assumed to have been killed in action. He dies in 1819 aged 76, however, in recognition of his service to, and support of Wellington, the British named a steam train after him. Better that than having to put your Bluchers on when it gets muddy!

So what of the pub? It has been in the ownership of Fullers brewery for many years. Rugby memorabilia adorns the walls and a plaque commemorates the founding of Twickenham Rugby Football Club in the pub in 1867. They no longer play their games on the green opposite the pub of course, but you can re-enact history during the summer months and bring your beer with you.

Members of the club still drink in there regularly, although it ceased to be the gathering place for the majority when 'Holty Corner' was removed to be shortly followed by the landlord John Geller, who subsequently moved over to the Sussex across the road. James, the manager who took over, was very tolerant of our Sunshine mountain at the weekend, although I think weight of numbers was in our favour!!

The pub used to have a bar top which was made up of old pennies, but the Health and Safety Executive had something to say about that and it was removed in the early Eighties . Some of it survives now in the Fullers museum in Chiswick.

It has sadly made the national news for all the wrong reasons in the last few years when Levi Bellfield, was recently convicted of killing Amelie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell. Amelie was killed on the Green outside the pub.

Prince Blucher was also part of my life when we purchased a house in Waterloo, a suburb of Merseyside, just North of Liverpool. Not surprisingly there is a Wellington Street, a Blucher Street and Picton Road, named after Sir Thomas Picton, one of Wellingtons trusted lieutenants who was killed in the battle.

Colonel Fuller, commander of the King's Dragoon Guards, was also killed in battle, I wonder whether that influenced the brewery to recognise the battle in the Prince Blucher pub name?

Into the Valley of Death

There once was a very famous man

On his famous horse he'd ride through the land

The people used to see him everywhere

When he died, they put a statue in the square

So say the opening lyrics of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band in their song, The Equestrian Statue.

It came to mind yesterday as I strolled from Victoria to Charing Cross, via Parliament Square and Whitehall. This area of London is to equestrian statues what the Coolmore stud is to horse racing. Amongst the people I passed were Charles I, George IV, Richard the Lionheart and George, Duke of Clarence.

Now there is thought to be a protocol about equestrian statues relating to the number of hooves that touch the floor. If the statue has two touching then the rider was killed in action, if they have three touching then they died subsequently of injuries received in battle. if all four feet are on the ground they died of non-battle related causes.

The statue of Earl Haig in Whitehall does contradict this theory . His equestrian statue has one hoof off the ground, although there is no evidence to suggest he suffered injuries in the various campaigns he was involved in, except PTSD, something unheard of in his time.

Backing the theory ,however, are the Civil War monument in Gettysburg and at Waterloo in Belgium where the statues have consistency with the theory.

And did you know that Parliament Square in 1926 was made into the first ever roundabout, I didn't?