Wednesday 22nd June - the business part of the trip begins for real

Wednesday 22nd June

Speedway day !! (I hope)

Did the train thing and boy will that be fun for the next three weeks. Walked to Euston and got caught in the rush hour crush but survived. A big backpack comes in real handy for pushy people who need an accidental thump as I “accidentally’ turn round. Found the underground station strangely as it may seem, underground below the proper above ground railway. Then a quick trip to Kings Cross to connect to the above ground service. More stuck up business type suited stampeding cattle on the way to work to contend with and it was as if I was swimming upstream against a surging torrent of London bound commuters heading the other way. No luck with a direct Kings Lynn service so it was all change at Cambridge and a 30 minute wait for a connecting train. Nice and sunny on the way Cambridge but regular readers will know what is coming next. The sky started to turn grey as we left Cambridge and worry levels were heightening as we pulled in to Kings Lynn. The walk to the hotel was meant to be about 30 minutes. Ten minutes in and there was a charming little three minute deluge. A quick duck under a shop canopy, off with the backpack and rain jacket on and brolly up. Onwards and upwards and away I trudged again. Five minutes later the sun came out and I was sweating like a pig so off with the backpack and off with the rain jacket. Off I merrily trudged again to be greeted five minutes later with another rain shower. I was starting to see a pattern emerging. I exhausted my entire vocabulary of swear words and off with the backpack and on went the rain jacket again. This was getting beyond a joke. You guessed it, out came the sun again and an unseen passing mother I hadn’t noticed was forced to cover her childs ears. As Elton John so eloquently put it “Sorry seemed to be the hardest word”. She muttered something under her breath as she scurried off. To cap it all off I missed the hotel and walked straight on by. The address was Clenchwarton Road but the entrance was off a side road and the hotel was hidden behind some trees and I didn't see it first time around. I finally found the hotel only to be told they had no booking for me. Turns out the web booking company I used does some funny encoding with their bookings and my name was down as Howxard Willxiams. maybe they thought I was Polish. Lucky I had a copy of the booking email with a confirmation number. The girl at reception was brilliant about it and we had a good laugh. Adjourned to the bar for a Adnams Bitter (best brew of the trip so far) and a feed of liver and onions that should arrive any minute. Not getting my hopes up regarding tonight, it’s a funny old wet / dry / wet day and the track could be anything from brilliant to awful. … to be continued

Liver and onion arrived and omg ... SENSATIONAL. A massive hollow square shaped golden yorkshire pudding like a walled castle filled with liver, onions, bacon, mash and peas. All mine for the grand total of seven quid. People have been knighted for less and I'm nominating the cook for the next Queens birthday honours list. I have no idea what tonight's speedway meeting will bring, as I type this there is blue sky to the left, dark grey sky to the right (don't ask me for directions like east or west etc) and steam coming off the footpath outside the window. It all depends on the mixture of rain and wind and how the combination works out, the wind is a good drying wind which is about the only plus. It's only Wolves that are visiting so it's not like it's a team full of wonderful Aussies (with due apologies to Ty Proctor).

I've decided I hate BT, I bought a 30 day wireless plan and so far my batting average is awful at two days for zero connection. I think where ever I go I should sleep in the foyer of the BT offices and I might get lucky. I ended up getting a hotel internet wirless connection, hang the expense ..... to be continued

What a brilliant night that was !! The rain and wind must have been just the right amount and despite a few drops of rain just before the kick off and overcast skies we got a meeting in and it was absolutely off the top shelf and of A1 quality. The track turned out to be brilliant. Wolves deserved better than the zero points they ended up with but Kings Lynn batted that little bit further down the order and in the end took all the points on offer in winning 50-43. I make a note of passing in my program and in many races I have made notes that tell me (for example) in Heat 1 Kenneth Bjerre went from fourth to second. My Aussie mate Ty Proctor even chipped in with a superb heat eight win !! Niels Kristian Iversen was specializing in losing the lead and getting it back again and in heat 12 Sitera and the lesser Lindgren (Ludvig) had a brilliant battle with Sitera making a pass round the outside stick and then Lindgren came off trying to return the favour. It was brilliant stuff … at least I thought it as brilliant till the next heat came along. Heat 13 redfined brilliant. The background was Lindgren the elder (Freddie) had the black and white tablecloth on for a double points ride after Wolves had fallen 10 points behind. Iversen and Bjerre gated for KL and for over two laps team rode keeping the very frustrated Lindgren in third. On lap three Lindgren somehow found a gap and took second and on lap four conjoured up another miracle to find a gap that he had no right to see let alone use to make a pass and take the win. Fair play to the Kings Lynn supporters, everyone around me applauded the ride, it was that good. If you weren’t impressed with that you must have had ice in your veins. More please. In ”seen in the flesh” terms for me it would rank right up there with Darcy Ward’s effort in winning is first U21 title at Gosford.

The lowlight of the night was that some scoundrel who shall remain nameless but who has the initials “Big Fat Dave” dobbed me in to the track announcer Mike Bennett. Mike read out “I’ve got a message to look out for a dwarf waving an Australian flag who can talk under water and who is the resident announcer at Broadford in Australia”. I eventually found Mike and introduced myself and we had a nice couple of minute chat. It was really good to see him go about his work and how he is a normal guy like any other speedway fan to talk to when it’s private but as soon as he is on the mike his public persona cuts in and he is very good to the point of being depressingly good given that I know a very little something about the perils of talking into a mike at the speedway. I wish I could project my voice like his, he does a brilliant job of upping the volume without yelling and without his voice going up an octave or two. Something to aspire to !! The fun didn’t end there because during the interval he grabbed me and did a quick interview. I remember talking about the Cardiff GP, tipping Jason Crump to win the GP, Ty Proctor, why Australia breeds great speedway riders, Leigh Adams, the quality of the racing in the Elite League and how long I was over here for. I hope it came over ok.

Met Brian and his wife who gave me my ticket for the Word Cup meeting qualifier in July. Also managed to catch up with Theresa who I knew from the BSF and had a quick chat to her as well. When it was all over I got a lift back to the hotel, fell into bed and dreamed the dreams of a contented man.

The end (for today)