Travelling by train in Britain can be a joy.
I mean where else would you have a service that takes you from London to Newport, and even put (South Wales) in brackets just in case you thought they were going to whisk you off to the Isle of Wight, and go back into England and Hereford via Abergavenny!
In fact Abergavenny is a very important junction as well as being in the name of the very first company that ran the track, the Newport, Abergavenny & Hereford Railway. It's also got very pretty flower arrangements on the platform, surrounded by two mountains, the Blorenge and the Sugar Loaf, one of which you can clearly see as you look out from the train, (don't ask me which, they all look the same to me), and is home of the struggling Abergavenny Thursday F.C.
I can confidently predict that's the first time any of you have read Abergavenny five times in the first four paragraphs of any article on a footy web site.
There was a party for the line but you can read about that here:
Or maybe not, but DoDtS will be interested as it has an 18 at the start of the year involved.
And the sun was shining.
So a good start to the day as a few Shrimpers, two wearing very natty who 'Who put the ball in the Bury net' yellow t-shirts, hit the Welsh border town at 12.50, four hours after leaving Paddington but including a half hour wait for the connection at Newport.
Macca was sadly out injured but at least the Spitting Dog brewery was still in business
Fifteen minutes later I was ordering my first pint in the Victory, the £2.70 and 4.2% something dark and with a Malt & Hops in the title. Sadly the 5% Mutts Nutts was off!
I went outside, that's the first time I've written that this year, where there was a tent for outside events al la the Spread on the final home game. There was no one there, in fact there was only ten people inside and half of them were supporting Southend.
It was a touch disappointing, I'd heard the beer wasn't as good as it was with less selection, the Celtic Gold light ale was nowhere to be seen, but even as I can vouch for the £2.50/3.9% Hereford Organic Ale, there was another reason for the low turnout.
Once inside the five minutes away Barrel pub you could see why. If the fact that the beers on offer were from the excellent Wye Valley Brewery they also had Sky and Liverpool were hammering ManU. It was packed, but had plenty of TV's, one being outside, where I pushed my way too saving my Hereford Pale Ale, £2.30/4.0%, from any spillage. It was a close thing. (It was also cheaper!)
CAMRA West Midlands Bitter of the Year 2008 and Scarlett Johansson, you see where I'm going here
When I had the Dark Star American Pale Ale in Brighton on Tuesday I believed my season was complete, now I tasted the Butty Bach, one of the smoothest premium ales I've ever had the pleasure to drink. Full bodied and very satisfying, Scarlett Johansson on draught.
Now being a dedicated follower of Oz and James Drink for Britain show, and being very envious they can get away with all that on license fee payers generosity, I studied their episode on cider and perry and having never had a bottle of perry, not counting the Babycham my mum always offered round at Christmas, it was either that or a snowball, I was trying to get hold of the Gwatkins featured in the show.
However it had to be a rather large bottle of the more mass produced Weston's, £3 and, er, 7.4%, ouch! I did want to see the game. (I have to add it wasn't that nice, maybe it was because it was the brand but I could hardly taste any pear and I'm not keen on anything that sparkles, in a glass anyway!)
In the end there was not much worth seeing in the blustery wind with the shock being Macca not being fit, though Christophe is not a bad replacement, oh there was one more surprise, when the ref pointed to the penalty spot with five minutes to go.
However, having seen it from the ref's angle on Virgin, it does look a clear foul. Honestly, from behind the goal, it wasn't, but those are the breaks, especially for teams on a winning run.
And credit where credit's due, after seeing Clarkey and Walkers sad efforts this season Theo's penalty kick was a cracker. Keeper guessed the right way but didn't stand a chance.
For a full match report and player markings go here:
www.thelittlegazette.com/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=437912
Time for a very good curry and while in Herefordshire and, of course, an even better bottle of Cobra from India, though I was told it was brewed in Wales, there you go!
Time for a very good curry and while in Herefordshire and, of course, an even better bottle of Cobra from India, though I was told it was brewed in Wales, there you go!
Trains go smoothly all the way back with the 18.48 back to London in just over three hours this time, the connections a touch more closer.
So two down on the relegation threatened club tour in a week, one to go, three points from that and this play-off lark might look on, especially with two games in a row at the Hall, though it was there where we lost the two games out of the ten played. We like our road trips, Tuesday could even bring a tied record five consecutive wins.
Roll on Wiltshire and the more darker Arkells 3B, more Halle Berry than Scarlett, it's just too early for the Summer Lightning.