Scoffed - I scoffed! - when my Dad asked me, somewhere on the A43, close to
Towcester, whether 'this virus in China' had affected the financial markets; in
my defence, at the time, it hadn't really … anyway, after a stop-off for lunch
at the decent Wetherspoons in Kirkby-in-Ashfield (where there's a statue of
Sir Don Bradman, and other cricketers from the Bodyline series, outside a
Morrison's superstore), we arrived at our Premier Inn in good time (i.e. the
drive took, as it should've, approximately 4.5 hours)
Unexpectedly,
Roker was rather charming (perhaps because of the harsh-sounding name, and the
fact that the football ground used to be there, I'd assumed it'd be a bit 'L.
S. Lowry'); photos with Promotion Close and other football club- related street
signs, before a walk along the seafront (cold and windy), and then an excellent Italian meal sandwiched between visits to a couple of top-notch watering holes (Harbour View - which was particularly good - and Poetic Licence)
No
chance that I would pass up an opportunity to try Titantic's Black Ice (slightly
disappointing although, TBF, expectations were high), during breakfast at the
Wetherspoons in Washington, en route to County Durham on Saturday morning;
photos followed at the home ground of Annfield Plain FC (my maternal
grandfather - who first took me to York Road, when I was a toddler, in the
mid-80s - grew up in the village) and, as rain fell, outside the Bird in High Handenhold (my Dad's grandmother lived, for many years, in a house across
the street)
Dun Cow for pre-match beers, after a taxi ride from the hotel to the city centre;
this was a cracking boozer, and I was a little deflated when it was time to
leave and join the massed ranks crossing Wearmouth Bridge
Even
- if largely uneventful - first half, with Rovers sitting back and inviting the
home side to break them down, as we watched on from our seats on the front row
of the upper-tier (away end, obvs.); the ground was OK - 'seen one new ground, seen 'em all' type
of thing - with, IMO, the most intriguing facets being (1.) it is closer to the
city centre than Roker Park was, and (2.) the name apparently derives from the
light on the helmets of the miners who'd worked in the colliery that'd stood previously
on the site (with shafts running out for miles under the North Sea)
Referee - Mr Toner of Blackburn - decided the game by first sending off Abu Ogogo, for what the BBC match report describes as an off the ball collision, then ignoring a clash of heads between Alfie Kilgour and his captain ('Millwall Tone') in the build-up to Sunderland's second goal. (3-0 the final score, ergo the majority of the 31,541 attendance went home happy after initially becoming quite restless at 0-0; the Gas
would get some form of revenge, only a few weeks later, with a 2-0 win in the reverse fixture.)
Lunch
had been conspicuous by its absence, so we headed straight to Motiraj (across the street from the
Dun Cow and recommended by my sister, whose best friend - in Sydney - is
an exiled Mackem); the Magpies had lost at home to Aldershot Town, so it was good that the food was decent and more so that subsequent pints of
Seacider (Blueberry), in the excellent Ship Isis (some Notts County lads in here, seemingly
staying over after their defeat at Hartlepool), tasted absolutely divine
According
to Google, there should've been a taxi company only a few minutes walk from the
pub, but, after this turned out to be fake news, I took us back into the city
centre - much to my Mum's obvious annoyance - and the rank outside the train
station; we passed some interesting sights en route, as you might imagine, with one
place - the Rabbit, close to the Dun Cow - reminiscent, with loud music blaring, and people spilling out into the street, of Faliraki back in the day … and it
wasn't even late! (I was freezing - wearing two coats plus a woolly hat, scarf, gloves
etc. - but the local females made of sterner stuff: vest tops and ripped jeans seemingly sufficient for them!)
Next
day (Sunday): breakfast again at the Sir William de Wessyngton (some of the
more youthful patrons had seemingly been up all night to watch the Fury-Wilder fight and, as such, they were a little worse for wear), several hours wiled away at Beamish museum (the mine shaft was a memorable if rather sobering
experience, while I particularly enjoyed the public house decked out in Maidenhead United colours), tea and biscuits with my Dad's octogenarian cousin and
her affable son (at her flat in Pelton), and pre-dinner drinks in the oldest pub in Sunderland (continuously-used by the same senior club?)
Drive
home on Monday (after photos in the 'other' Cox Green; broken up by another
pit stop at the Wetherspoons in Kirkby-in-Ashfield) was memorable mainly for
two things: (1) initial poor visibility due to sleet (incl. as we were overtaken on the A1[M] by a snowplough) and (2) discussions on 5 Live becoming dominated by talk of 'this virus in China' ...
No comments:
Post a Comment