The touring party splintered on this Saturday where Myles was off to meet his old childhood chum Ashton who travelled down from Leeds by train to meet at Kings Cross. Brother Matt and I were off to Twickers for our first test match of this adventure. Karen was pleased to be rid of us all and rest her knees for the day. Since I wasn’t with Myles, I cannot report on his misadventures, but Brother Matt and I headed off to Earls Court tube station after a light b’fast at the flat. Transit to Richmond was quick and easy whereat we located the Sun Inn (recommended by Logger) for first pints of Guinness. Plenty of friendly Brits to chat with at the self proclaimed Home of English Rugby, particularly the orthopaedic surgeon who was interested in Matt’s Burmingham hips and Karens full knees. Need I say the Brits were friendly before the game? We were then off to Twickenham on foot - how far could it be? The walk was pleasant but lengthy, such that we barely made it on time to Kneller Hall (actually a festival tent) 10 minutes beyond Twickenham. But what an event it was, with an open host bar serving pints of Bitter or Guinness non stop, wine and ADD’s to ones heart’s content. Lunch was fabulous and the interviews of famous international stars by Pooley made the price of admission worth it. Serge Betson, Ben Kay, Phillips St. Andre, Ben Earle (is it it a partial prerequisite to be named Ben in order for selection to England?) and finally Rory Underwood for the post game. What a thing to behold is Twickenham on game day! The crowd was extremely large but very well behaved as we circumambulated the stadium in search of our seats after mis-direction at the start.
View from the end zone in the lower bowl made for a great spot to see France score in the corner, repeatedly in the first half. Not much action at our end in the second. It was a sad spectacle for English fans as the home team suffered their worst defeat at home in the long arc of history (10-53). France were clinical in the surgical separation of England’s defence, with Antoine DuPont showing off his world class bona fides. Back to Kneller Hall for the post game, where even more Guinness was imbibed before making our way to the train taking us back to Richmond. I have to say that once more, while the security staff were very pleasant, the were also entirely clueless regarding the local environs surrounding Twickenham. “Shuttle? What’s that”. We found ourselves pressed into a throng of humanity being herded to the platform in a wildly inefficient manner. But, after shuffling along for a long time (we could have walked to Richmond in less time), we were on the loosely filled train and made the transfer to the “District” line at Richmond and on to Earls Court station swiftly once on board.
Next day found me a bit worse for wear, stumbled to the kitchen to bid Myles farewell as he had to head home this day. After laying back down, I was barely upright in time to meet my colleague Ryan to walk with K&I over to the Fox and Pheasant pub for lunch. This pub was purchased by famous singer James Blunt (who apparently lives nearby) and refurbished beautifully to it’s rustic glory. The classically British roast beef and Yorkshire pudding was very tasty, even if the order was messed up badly by our greenhorn waitress who seemed to manage to screw up every aspect of the service. That said, her teammates on the staff made it all good and we enjoyed a delightful Sunday pub lunch experience. Parted company with Ryan and settled into our flat to watch the Sunday test matching Scotland v Ireland on the Beeb. This match was far more compelling and saw the Brave Scots hold their own through the first half, but unable to keep the pace through the second falling 7-22 after several late try’s posted by the world number 1 side. Brother Matt had located his relly’s and headed off to the tube to find his way to Wimbledon. K&I took Ryan’s advice and walked to the very nearby Mia Momma where we enjoyed a wonderful two course classically Italian supper (primi et secondi piatti were way more than enough). Venue and staff were awesome and the meal was really great, so thanks again to Ryan for the suggestion. Even though the Hollywood Arms was just across the street, we couldn’t convince ourselves that a cleansing ale was going to be necessary, so it was back to the flat to try and finish off the laundry using the completely useless laundry machine. The no-dry dryer apparently making so much noise as to cause the neighbour below to wrap on the door and ask us to shut it down. (We had been told to not run the machine after 9:30, but thought the dryer wasn’t the noise problem, dopey us?). So ended our weekend in London, leaving me with a work day ahead prior to travel to Dublin on Tuesday.
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