It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby TheOstrich » 13 Oct 2018, 22:18

13/10 – A visit to London last Monday, escorting Mrs O who was staying over with Master O and (a newly-expectant :o ) DiL for a couple of days. After meeting up with Master O at Waterloo, we walked to the South Bank Centre and Royal Festival Hall for lunch - 3 plastic pots of stew, two coffees and a coke for a very reasonable £17 or so :D , before promenading across Waterloo Bridge, past Somerset House, and down the Strand to the Royal Courts of Justice (where Ossie perched on the famous steps in the forlorn hope that a BBC camera crew might want to interview him :roll: ). We then strolled on along Fleet Street to the iconic 12th century Temple Church, which is off the main thoroughfare and in a quiet backwater surrounded by various Inns of Court. It’s all very much linked with the Knights Templar, the warrior-monks who defended the Holy Land against the Infidel back in the days of yore, and in more recent times, Dan Brown and “The Da Vinci Code” book. It’s a beautiful old building, especially with the stained glass windows illuminated in the autumnal sunshine.

I then returned to Waterloo to catch my return train; luckily I made the 15:20 – the 15:50, which was the last train I would have been able to travel on before my ticket became invalid for the evening rush-hour, was, I later found, cancelled!

On Thursday, the RMT trade union announced a further series of Saturday strikes from the end of October all the way through November :evil: , so I am having to re-think all my planned footie outings. Today, taking advantage of a rare strike-free day, I opted for a rail excursion via Salisbury and Southampton to Bournemouth station, from where a number of bus services, principally routes 4 and 5, run up the Wimborne Road to Peters Hill, Winton, a 10 minute walk from Wessex League club Bournemouth Poppies’ Victoria Park ground. A relatively straight forward two-hour journey saw Ossie arrive at 13:00, and by 13:20, the bird was firmly ensconced in Winton’s KFC for a rare fried chicken treat! :lol:

The walk through the backstreets to the ground was easy enough, but the entrance off Victoria Avenue which you can see on Google Maps turned out to be gated and padlocked shut, so one has to walk on down the length of the strangely-named Namu Road to gain access to the stadium from the far end.

The ground has just the one pitch, but it’s on quite a large campus, so it all feels quite open and spacious. The bar is on the ground floor at the Victoria Avenue end of the main pitchside building, and sports big picture windows and comfy sofas it’s difficult to haul yourself out of :oops: . Pasties and teas are also available from a servery in the bar, hidden away at the back and round the corner by the electronic remains of a gutted fruit machine. The grandstand has rows of wooden bench seating, nicely painted chocolate brown and numbered, and wooden flooring, although the latter felt a bit wobbly to me. Overall, you rather get the impression that the facilities are just a little bit needy of some TLC, but a pleasant venue nevertheless.

As for the match, Cornish club Newquay were darn lucky they weren’t on the end of a double-digit defeat today. It’s a long time since I’ve seen such a one-sided first half - I recorded that Bournemouth created 16 goal-scoring chances, converting 4, but also missing 2 complete sitters, hitting the post, sending one ball into orbit :shock: , and shooting tamely at the keeper on at least 4 occasions :roll: .

A couple of half-time substitutions stiffened Newquay’s defence somewhat, but although proceedings were more even, the Poppies still squandered a further 7 reasonable chances after the break, including one comedy falling-over when through on goal, and one off-the-line clearance, before notching two late goals to make the scoreline more representative of the one-way traffic. Newquay had a few attempts on goal in the second half, but these were mostly long range, and blazed over the bar.

Add a couple of minor bouts of handbags, and it was as thoroughly entertaining a game as I’ve seen all this season, despite the one-sided nature! :D

Although the Wimborne Road bus services should combine to provide a daytime 4-5 minute frequency, I had a lengthy wait for a return bus, and then the bus driver dawdled and sat at one bus stop for a minute or so before continuing. :evil: When this happened a second time, I went up to him and (nicely) “ ‘ad a word in his ear”, advising him I needed to catch the 17:22 Waterloo train. And kudos to him, he then put his foot down and we rocketed down Cemetery Road and round into the Railway Station bus stands, arriving at 17:18, so I thanked him on disembarking, made a run for it, and caught my return train with a couple of minutes to spare.

A decent day out in warm sunshine, which was certainly not what the BBC Weather app was forecasting just 48 hours earlier! :|

FA Vase Round 1: Bournemouth Poppies 6 Newquay 0
Admission £5 including programme, not one of the better ones as I noted certain statistical information provided in it hadn’t been updated since 2015/16. :roll:
Refreshments: Available at the ground, but I didn’t sample any, being stuffed with a chicken fillet burger, fries and a diet coke (£6.59) :D
Attendance: 101
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby Kaz » 14 Oct 2018, 11:29

Oh Ossie, so many congrats from me on impending grandfeatherhood!!! :Hi: :Hi:
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby Ally » 14 Oct 2018, 18:16

Wonderful news Ossie. :Hi: :Hi:

Your report has played second fiddle with that news! :lol:
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby TheOstrich » 14 Oct 2018, 21:34

Thank you both! :D

It was a bit unexpected, to be honest …...
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby Kaz » 15 Oct 2018, 18:26

:D
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby cromwell » 17 Oct 2018, 07:49

Kaz wrote: grandfeatherhood!!! :Hi: :Hi:
:lol: :lol:

Many congrats Ossie!

Rail strikes have caused many problems up here too.
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby JoM » 17 Oct 2018, 16:19

That's really lovely news Ossie! So happy for you all! :D

We're not affected by the rail strikes here but the engineering work on the Chaseline is still ongoing. There have been no trains at all at weekends and late at night on weekdays for some time now and it was all supposed to be up and running by the end of the year and that's now changed to May '19.
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby TheOstrich » 22 Oct 2018, 19:39

but the engineering work on the Chaseline is still ongoing.


Why does that not surprise me, Jo! :D Down here, the last storm we had breached the "Dawlish Wall" yet again, cutting the line between Exeter and Plymouth for a spell whilst they re-ballasted the track, and we have a month of engineering works ongoing at Axminster, again trying to stop the River Axe from flooding the tracks just outside the town …

20/10 - apologies for the lateness of the Ostrich’s week-end sports report (cue “Match of the Day theme, but I’ll spare you the Lineker impersonations :roll: ). A persistent head cold developed during last week (seems to happen to me each and every Autumn these days :| ), and I’m still suffering a bit under it. Additionally, a routine trip to the dentist has led to a further appointment for a “precautionary filling” which has not improved the bird’s demeanour in any shape, manner or form, as he is firmly of the opinion that where dentics are concerned, a bit like with car bonnets, there should be no internal tinkering unless absolutely necessary. :evil:

So back to Saturday, and in the light of Ossie’s minor bout of bird flu, I made an unusually sensible decision to forgo my intended long-range trip and stay reasonably local. And thanks to the vagaries of the FA Cup, another of those Step 3 ex-Isthmian League (i.e London-based) sides who now find themselves having to ply their trade in “furrin’ climes” (i.e. Dorset!) were in fact coming to town! :D

I don’t find Weymouth a particularly easy place to drive around at the best of times, and the actual journey down there was rather fraught as well, because driving into the blinding, low Autumnal sun proved quite troublesome. Moving constantly from dark shade into bright light, with rogue hedgerows and cyclists popping up in front of the car seemingly from nowhere :shock: , it wasn’t a pleasant trip. The main road into Weymouth itself was “improved” at the time of the London Olympics because the sailing events were held there, and now it’s all roundabouts and varying speed limits which can be hard to keep track of (a friend was done for 38 in a 30 limit there a year or so back, so I’m overly cautious now, myself), but I managed to successfully weave my way across to the Granby Estate and therein, the Bob Lucas Stadium. I last visited this ground a couple of seasons ago; the only noticeable change seemed to be the introduction of a number of white, painted “X”’s on the concrete floor in front of various seats in the stand. I am unsure if these are merely targets, designed to assist the aiming of the pigeons in the rafters :lol: , or an indication of just where the rainwater will drip down from the numerous rusted holes in the stand roof …… the metal supports for the bucket seats were all rusting away nicely as well, and I suppose that’s what sea air does for you. 8-) The large main stand still provides fantastic views of the match action and the surrounding countryside (well, from left to tight - junk yard, herd of cows, electricity sub-station, Dorset Police HQ and Custody Suite, and golf course), and the 4 tall traditional corner floodlight pylons make this a classic ground to visit. The other three sides of the pitch merely sport lengths of covered concrete terracing.

This League match had been brought forward to this last weekend from December; as mentioned above, this was possible because both Weymouth and Walton’s scheduled opponents for today were otherwise engaged in the FA Cup.

The Weymouth programme contained no less than three articles in which there were pleas for their hard-core supporters to stop moaning at the team on the pitch, and start encouraging them more. :) Given that the Terras (they traditionally play in terracotta and blue shirts) are currently leading the league, you might think that’s a valid point, but the team’s somewhat bland performance today certainly got the “Old Gits” in the crowd in the stand around me ticking a fair bit :evil: - and you could see why. Walton did not look a particularly threatening side, and Weymouth cruised to a 2-0 half-time lead without really having to exert themselves. The first goal on 16m saw Baggie, on the edge of the area, somehow manage to bring down a rather hard-hit cross-field pass, and he then took off in a straight line for the goalmouth, somehow stumbled through three hard tackles on the way, and poke the ball home from close range. The second goal was an incisive strike through the middle by Wakefield (34m).

Weymouth made most of the running in the second half but never really got out of second gear. However, on 70m, the home defence lost the plot somewhat, and after Walton had had a shot initially parried by the keeper, the ball fell to Roberts who had an easy chance to make it 2-1. I was thinking it might make for an amusing finish if Walton could somehow conjure up an unlikely equaliser :cute: , and after 87m, they did just that, Jack Battle slotted in from a right wing cross. The Old Gits were stunned to silence! :shock:

But if you are ultimately going to win leagues, sometimes you just have to win ugly, and on 90m, Goodship spared Weymouth’s blushes by literally kneeing in Baker’s cross at the far post. An entertaining enough game, but I’ve seen far better this season.

Chaos trying to get out of the carpark at the end – more than a few eejit drivers were behaving as if it were a mass rolling-start in a Formula 1 race. :roll: Relieved to get out unscathed and back on the main road out of town.

Evo-Stik League South – Premier South (Step 3): Weymouth 3 Walton Casuals 2
Admission £8 (concession), parking £2, half-time draw ticket 50p.
Programme: £2 (44pp b+w with colour advertising, a lot of content and quite a decent read.)
Teamsheets: 30p, on sale from the club office from around 2:30. It also might have helped if they had been accurate … :P
Refreshments: A Pukka Pie, £3. The one in the black foil container, which is purported to be steak, although I’ve always regard the chunks in the gravy as “indeterminate”. :? And I remember when they used to be £1.10, not all that long ago, either …..
Attendance: 808
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby miasmum » 22 Oct 2018, 21:49

Congratulations from me too. Just catching up with your reports, love the thought of you promenading :lol:
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Re: It's Murder, On The Orient Express ....

Postby cromwell » 23 Oct 2018, 08:21

Great read Os! Do the teams adhere to the rules in the Evo-stick league? :D

The old gits - yes, a lot of teams have "supporters" whose main reason for attending matches seems to be to have a good moan. Back in the pre-superleague days I was a regular watching Wakefield Trinity and there was one older gentleman who used to spend most of the match shouting abuse at Billy Conway, Trinity's hooker. Useless this, dwarf that (he wasn't the biggest player), give the ball to someone who can do something with it, etc etc.

One time Trinity attacked and were tackled just short of the line. Conway went to acting half back at the play the ball, which was a signal for a fresh burst of vituperation from his number one non-fan. He was in mid rant when Conway took the ball, sold a sweet dummy which wrong footed the defence and crossed for a try! Sunned, our friend was left silenced with his mouth wide open mid rant and his friends around him all falling about laughing! Boy, did he get his leg pulled!
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