Failing to utilise the technology available for allowing the addition of comments to my web log I’ve copied and pasted some added amusing notes from the footy and pubbage on Saturday. These have been sent by James and go to show that it wasn’t just me who had fun at the weekend!
James on football:
“The match started off the day with a bit of a hard question “When your hands are full where else can you put an empty pint pot?” . Anyway match was very very entertaining with the phrase “Rubbish number 7” being an absolute classic, followed by a 3 man rendition of “Super Kevin Rapley”! You had to be there to appreciate it all, but come April 2nd there’ll be a few confused looks in Darlo. Infact anyone reading this other than the three of us would make no sense of any of it.”
James on drinking in Farndon:
“Farndon was never the place for a great night on the pull, but you were always managed to bump into someone you knew, could hold a conversation without shouting and get served on your 17th birthday. Standards have slipped, with a change of personnel in all three pubs not helping. Yes you won the first pool match, out-scoring Andrew and then were unfortunate in potting white & black in the final showdown against me – moral victory to you. Andrew put his poor playing down to the serving of vinegar in a pint glass. My offending of the barlady was quite impressive, what was more amusing was that I nearly got that couple to get a round of drinks in for us!!”
James describes The Greyhound:
“Had all the feel of a bring your own paint brush party. Didn’t realise I had to push past Paul Burrell to get back from the bar, one of those people I wouldn’t know if I fell over them. If I had of known I’d have got him to spill my pint then sold my story to The Sun – “Di’s Butler in Beer Bribery”. The beer was pretty good (Black Sheep), although the place had an elderly feel and no Karaoke for Daniel Beddingfield (you should have got photo evidence for the site). My score is 6 as there is some potential there and it was nice to see someone behind the bar who we knew (even if no-one could be ar@ed to say anything).”
James describes The Nags Head:
“This is very sad, in my early years of alcohol inducement this was my regular haunt with Chris Hughes, but that goes back 10 years ago! Have to say that though I spent many a night here I do feel that 3 is rather generous, I would say 2 given that they had the video for “I Want to Break Free” on VH1, although reduced to 1 for the poster saying that it was a pound a pint on Sunday “untill” (sic) the first goal. It used to be great, Mr McEwan serving you before you walked in through the door, the fear of Nigel following you into the gents, or Margaret asking if you’d abandoned anyone on the outside benches. Even the pool room wall had only been half pulled down and it wasn’t clear if the outside gents was still in use. Should never have removed the saloon doors from pool room to bar, always funny trying to a) not spill your pint & b) not squash someone against the fruit machine. When I got home Katie said it felt like a “chicken in a basket style pub” – enough said it’s living in the past, should be avoided like the plague.”
James describes The Farndon Arms:
“IMHO should never have renamed The Raven to The Farndon Arms. Think it should have got 5 for the pool player ;o) Actually I think 4 is a fair score, not a lot of atmosphere, but they didn’t rush to throw us out, although I’m guessing the beer prices were higher? (It was your round Kev only you’d know).
Anyway our absent friend Tim says “Hi. I’ll be delighted to attend the annual gathering and telling some witty anecdotes from the year. For the avoidance of doubt I 2 vote for Andy’s 1st round. T”.”
Additional Chester weekend comments by James... 0
Football, friends and family 0
I’ve just had a fantastic weekend up in Chester catching up with friends and family.
On Saturday I saw Chester beat Grimsby 2-1 with Andrew and James. Spending time with those guys is sooooo much fun; I haven’t laughed that much since the Knob creek incident in Seattle (but that’s another story entirely).
In the evening, the three of us were disturbed by the lack of happening spot in Farndon these days. Our traditional haunt, The Greyhound has recently changed hands and it seems to have lost the usual clientele although it was being frequented by Farndon’s resident celebrity. I guess these things take time. Anyway, undeterred, we headed to the next pub in the village, The Nag’s Head. This was even quieter and the only liveliness in there was brought about by James offending the barlady and by me somehow managing to win games of Pool despite not really being able to see properly! We headed over to The Farndon Arms (yes Farndon has three pubs!) and this was also quiet.
The tricky decision arising from all this is where to spend Christmas Eve! In my pub verdict at this stage I’m going to rate the pubs out of ten as they stand. Guessing there’s a fair chance of trying at least one of the three again on Christmas Eve, this might provide a good pub-progress report if I rate them again in the new year…
The Greyhound – 5/10 (formerly 10/10 as a result of a great Landlord, good beer and nice locals!)
The Nag’s Head – 3/10 (this used to be the local in times gone by but not since the Margaret and Nigel days!)
The Farndon Arms – 4/10 (pretty bland really)
In conclusion maybe we should be having a house party!!!
Anyway I also had the pleasure of spending the weekend with Mum, Dad, Steve, Lia and my baby niece, Grace. Grace has grown into a lovely little character and I get a major buzz out of seeing her learning new things and watching her react to situations and bizarre behaviour on the part of her family (mainly Steve and me actually!)
To see the lengths that we go to in order to entertain Grace, have a look at the video!. Photos of Grace’s trip to the homeland are on my photos site at http://kevpurcell.fotopic.net.
Afan biking 0
You know when you drive along alpine roads and there is a massive drop on one side and you think “I wouldn’t like to go down that drop”? Well I suffered the mountain bike equivalent today at Afan on the Skyline trail descent.
I was tanking it (technical term!) down the descent and having no problems and I think somehow I caught the front on a small rock after just flying over one of those crests and the next thing I know I am hurtling head first through the air into the abyss.
Anyway, somehow I managed to land in ferns and foliage just short of a fine arborial selection. I picked myself up and the worst injury was a bit of fern-rash and a couple of grazed legs (could have been worse – I was actually wearing my pads). The bike thankfully stopped dead just off the track about 20 feet above me!!! (no exaggeration!)
Got back on the bike and belted down the rest of it so that I could ask Gerry if he heard me screaming (“I heard something but I was in the flow” was the response.) Went and did the Whites Level and that was awesome. Flew off every big rock available – or at least they used to look big when I rode it on the hardtail!
Now just need to get Cletus to see to a couple of minor frame chips in my Eli!
