Back on another trip down south, with a change to our plans leading us to a tour of some posh pubs in London along with a couple of old favourites, and a second visit in 6 months to the town and football ground of Aldershot.... It was an early start on a Friday morning as my brother and I set off from West Yorkshire via the Grand Central. We were due into London about a quarter to twelve. Our plan was to head off from Kings Cross to the other side of London and catch an hour or two of cricket at the Oval, where the final innings of Yorkshire's match with Surrey was interestingly poised. All was going well, the train was pretty quiet, but as we approached Doncaster that all changed. The announcement came over the tannoy that the train would be going no further as there had been an incident on the line at Welwyn that was causing cancellations and delays and for some vague reason this train could not carry on. So abandoned at Donny, we were left amongst chaotic scenes as people scramb...
New blogging territory for me this time around as I headed over to Merseyside and what a great day I had in a town with some excellent community pubs that were chock full of superb beer and lovely, welcoming people.... My visits to St Helens have been very few and far between over the years. Indeed, my previous visits had all been to the former home of the town's rugby league team, Knowsley Road, back in the days in the 1980's and early 90's when I watched Halifax RLFC regularly. My most recent visit to the ground though had been in early summer 2008 for my then-boss's 40th. He was St Helens rugby-mad and had booked the executive suite at the ground for the event, which I remember principally for the fact I'd virtually completely lost my voice, the sales manager who fancied himself as a nightclub crooner claiming the mic during the karaoke and destroying various songs for what seemed like an interminable period, and repeated plays of Valerie by the Zutons which has...