First time I've had a chance to get on the internet since I arrived. It's Thursday lunchtime and I'm in the Ipswich library in Suffolk. Surprisingly I have no jet lag. I hardly slept from Hong Kong to Heathrow and got in about 3:30 pm UK time. By the time I cleared the airport and caught the tube to Sth Kensington, checked in where I was staying and went for a walk round Kensington Gardens, then found a pub for a couple of "wind down" pints it was time for bed. At the pub I had a Fullers London Pride (very nice) and a Bombadier (shiezenhausen, smelt strange, tasted worse). Fell asleep about 8:00 and woke up at about 6am and I was good to go. I stayed at one of the halls at the Imperial College, nothing fancy but brilliant for the price and was all that I needed. It's nearly next door to the Royal Albert Hall and by god there are some posh neighbours nearby. Some rich folk live at Kensington Palace I believe. The gardens brought back childhood memories I never knew I had, those of hiring deck chairs and "99" icecreams (an ice cream with a Cadbury chocolate flake in it) that made me feel really strange, it was like I was in a different body and different time zone to mine.
Breakfast gave me visions of school dinners at boarding school, one large room with big heavy wooden tables that seated about eight each one. Walk in, pick up a tray, breakfast was a suasage, bacon, egg, tomato, a hash brown and baked beans and if you didn't like that lot you went hungry. Toast if you wanted, selection of about three cereals, help yourself to coffee / tea and juice and when you were finished take you tray back to a big rack near the door. Simple but brilliant !!
Checked out and went to the tube station to get a train to Kings Cross. God the trains in peak hour are full. Sardines in a tin have it easy compared to London peak hour commuters. I let about 4 trains go by before I dared try to get on one with my big backpack. Got in and as luck would have it I had to stand looking at a blonde Swedish girl which brought back visions of the blonde girl from Abba. Lucky at my age my hormones are largely dormant else it could have been very embarrassing. What is it about long blonde hair, a gorgeous innocent looking face and shapely suntanned legs ?
Caught the train to Kings Lynn and enjoyed the view out the window. Close my eyes and I could be back in Oz but it's different somehow, in place of gum trees its ash, beech and birch trees and instead of clay the soil seems to be more of a loam type and the temperate climate means it's far greener than Oz. Went through a place called Foxton and saw a gorgeous little walking track that looked like it would take you to a pub in the next village and I had to fight a desire to get off the train and follow the path. I'm not sure if its nostalgia or a touch of wishful thinking but it all seems so "English" somehow. I get childhood flashbacks that are scary. I had a fleeting wish I had visited more often and taken in more of the culture. Met a lady on the train with a one eyed dog that was the friendliest thing you have ever seen. Give it a pat and it licked you to death. My face was clean after the encounter though.
Got to Kings Lynn and found my hotel. Lovely old pub with a view of the town square that reeked of old world England and a working market town. Ended up in the bar for "one or two" for lunch and met the town eccentric called Brian. Six pints later Brian and I parted like life long pals with each others addresses in our pockets and promises to exchange Christmas cards that will probably never happen. I felt for the lovely young barmaid called Kelly who had to put up with two increasingly drunken old blokes giving her grief. She kept smiling and kept pouring, a good girl is Kelly.
Walked to Kings Lynn stadium. Funnily for some unknown reason I don't remember the walk. Got to the stadium to be served up with a dire meeting, 72-18 to Kings Lynn and Mildenhall may not as well have turned up. 75-15 is the maximum score possible and for a long while that looked possible. Mildenhall only saved it by a 4-2 in about heat 8 and a 3-3 in heat 15 against the Kings Lynn bottom two. It was dire racing. The evening was saved by meeting some wonderful people. Sarah (Shooting Star from the BSF) looked after me brilliantly and made my night. Trees from the BSF (Theresa) was also lovely and I gave her a little gift from myself and the SSRAV at Broadford to part repay what she did for us for our Ashley Jones memorial meeting and she was chuffed. It was an absolute pleasure and I can''t recall meeting as nice a couple of people as Sarah and Theresa. Good night apart from the racing. For some strange reason the walk back to the hotel seemed far longer than the walk there.
Anyway thats about it. Did a boring train trip to Ipswich to hopefully catch the meeting Ipswich vs Lakeside tonight but the forecast looks a bit ordinary. Never mind, we will see what will happen !!
