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There and Back
Jul. 21st, 2012 11:11 pmDrove up to Bedfordshire on Thursday to move my first load of stuff in. With Leighton Town, my new local team, having friendlies Thursday night and today, the original idea was to stay until tomorrow, but last week's rain scuppered that plan.
I'd been due to see The Villagers perform The Winter's Tale on Friday the 13th, but two days beforehand the rain saturated the garden where the play was due to take place (and as it turned out I couldn't have gone that night with my cold anyway). I just couldn't miss the show altogether - I have too many friends in the Villagers to let them down - so asked to switch my ticket to last night, trusting my cold to go away by then (it did). Which meant driving all the way back again yesterday.
After finishing unloading on Thursday, I had half an hour's rest before setting off for Dunstable for the football. A road that the AA route finder sent me down to get there was a real dirt track, and ended in a treacherous T-junction with a main road. And after all that, the football turned out to be an anticlimax. It wasn't even played in the main ground, but on an Astro pitch next door, so I can't tick the ground off. And both teams pretty much treated it as a training match. Still, I did meet a couple of friendly people from the club. One of them, the club's former chairman, was delighted to have a new supporter on board, and he and I spent the half-time break talking about the joys of non-league footie, and his pal - dressed in London 2012 cap and hoodie - joined us for a chat about the Olympics. The guy didn't have any tickets but his enthusiasm for the Games was boundless.
And so the long drive back next morning. The Villagers were worth it, though. As always they put on a lively engaging performance. It was raining pretty hard at the beginning, but they'd put up an awning over the seats in readiness, and by the end of the evening the rain had stopped. Special props go to my friend Carol Hicks, who'd stepped up to the plate to play Camilla at short notice after the original actress had to go away to visit her terminally ill father. Carol, unfazed, played the part superbly. Another pal of mine, Nigel Dean, was hilarious as Autolycus, playing the role of the old rogue firmly for laughs. In that he was ably assisted by the Villagers' musicians with their 17th Century instruments, as they played jolly renditions of the tunes of Nuts In May and English Country Garden for him to sing his little ditties to the tunes of. Another star was Glyn Wright, an attractive, warm and sophisticated Paulina.
My one weeny little criticism is of the editing of the end scene. I like the Villagers' tradition of changing the odd male role into a female one to suit the composition of the company, which has more ladies than men, and I'm generally impressed with the editing jobs they do on the scripts to fit this. With Camillo becoming Camilla, Leontes' proposal that Paulina and Camillo marry had to be cut - but they did this by just having Leontes telling Paulina "Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent, As I by thine a wife" - then jumping straight to "Let's from this place..." making things a little unresolved and odd. As there was an unattached man on the stage, Polixenes, with whom Leontes is after all seeking to repair his friendship, I believe the play would have lost nothing - and been better for having resolution - if Leontes had urged Paulina to marry Polixenes. Minor quibble, though, with a good night's entertainment.
And I won a box of three Theakston's beers (two Old Peculiers and an Old Tom) in the raffle :D
Back up to Bedfordshire today - this time letting the train take the strain - for the Totternhoe v Leighton Town friendly. Got off the train at Luton to find building work in progress, meaning nearly all the usual bus stops by the station are out of action. I finally found the town's major bus interchange in Church Street, but never did find which of the many stops was the right one for Totternhoe and so had to shell out on a taxi.
At least I didn't have to pay to get in, as Totternhoe's pitch is in a public park. But it does have a clubhouse next to it, and they are a Spartan South Midlands League club, so they count as a ticked ground :) The bar manager and the two barmaids were very friendly, and both Stowford Press and Magners were on sale. One of the barmaids went to put the golf on the big screen but found the Freesat box wasn't working. They did have a Spanish Sky box, and one of the sports channels on that was showing the golf, but the barmaid was reluctant to put that on. She phoned someone, who told her something that worked, because she pressed a button and the Freesat box sprang to life.
This was a better game with both sides creating plenty of chances. Leighton won 1-0. I got talking to Bob, a Leighton fan, Leighton committee member Iain and Leighton volunteer Hannah, again getting a warm welcome.
Leighton's 6 ft 8 in striker Leon Simpson - known as 'Ocean' - played well, as did a midfielder named Andre who'll unfortunately miss the first two games through a suspension carrying over from the end of last season.
No doubt about where to get the bus back - the stop was right by the pitch and, thankfully, a bus left 10 minutes after the match ended. And so, via Auntie Anne's pretzel stall in Luton mall, to the long journey back south.
I'd been due to see The Villagers perform The Winter's Tale on Friday the 13th, but two days beforehand the rain saturated the garden where the play was due to take place (and as it turned out I couldn't have gone that night with my cold anyway). I just couldn't miss the show altogether - I have too many friends in the Villagers to let them down - so asked to switch my ticket to last night, trusting my cold to go away by then (it did). Which meant driving all the way back again yesterday.
After finishing unloading on Thursday, I had half an hour's rest before setting off for Dunstable for the football. A road that the AA route finder sent me down to get there was a real dirt track, and ended in a treacherous T-junction with a main road. And after all that, the football turned out to be an anticlimax. It wasn't even played in the main ground, but on an Astro pitch next door, so I can't tick the ground off. And both teams pretty much treated it as a training match. Still, I did meet a couple of friendly people from the club. One of them, the club's former chairman, was delighted to have a new supporter on board, and he and I spent the half-time break talking about the joys of non-league footie, and his pal - dressed in London 2012 cap and hoodie - joined us for a chat about the Olympics. The guy didn't have any tickets but his enthusiasm for the Games was boundless.
And so the long drive back next morning. The Villagers were worth it, though. As always they put on a lively engaging performance. It was raining pretty hard at the beginning, but they'd put up an awning over the seats in readiness, and by the end of the evening the rain had stopped. Special props go to my friend Carol Hicks, who'd stepped up to the plate to play Camilla at short notice after the original actress had to go away to visit her terminally ill father. Carol, unfazed, played the part superbly. Another pal of mine, Nigel Dean, was hilarious as Autolycus, playing the role of the old rogue firmly for laughs. In that he was ably assisted by the Villagers' musicians with their 17th Century instruments, as they played jolly renditions of the tunes of Nuts In May and English Country Garden for him to sing his little ditties to the tunes of. Another star was Glyn Wright, an attractive, warm and sophisticated Paulina.
My one weeny little criticism is of the editing of the end scene. I like the Villagers' tradition of changing the odd male role into a female one to suit the composition of the company, which has more ladies than men, and I'm generally impressed with the editing jobs they do on the scripts to fit this. With Camillo becoming Camilla, Leontes' proposal that Paulina and Camillo marry had to be cut - but they did this by just having Leontes telling Paulina "Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent, As I by thine a wife" - then jumping straight to "Let's from this place..." making things a little unresolved and odd. As there was an unattached man on the stage, Polixenes, with whom Leontes is after all seeking to repair his friendship, I believe the play would have lost nothing - and been better for having resolution - if Leontes had urged Paulina to marry Polixenes. Minor quibble, though, with a good night's entertainment.
And I won a box of three Theakston's beers (two Old Peculiers and an Old Tom) in the raffle :D
Back up to Bedfordshire today - this time letting the train take the strain - for the Totternhoe v Leighton Town friendly. Got off the train at Luton to find building work in progress, meaning nearly all the usual bus stops by the station are out of action. I finally found the town's major bus interchange in Church Street, but never did find which of the many stops was the right one for Totternhoe and so had to shell out on a taxi.
At least I didn't have to pay to get in, as Totternhoe's pitch is in a public park. But it does have a clubhouse next to it, and they are a Spartan South Midlands League club, so they count as a ticked ground :) The bar manager and the two barmaids were very friendly, and both Stowford Press and Magners were on sale. One of the barmaids went to put the golf on the big screen but found the Freesat box wasn't working. They did have a Spanish Sky box, and one of the sports channels on that was showing the golf, but the barmaid was reluctant to put that on. She phoned someone, who told her something that worked, because she pressed a button and the Freesat box sprang to life.
This was a better game with both sides creating plenty of chances. Leighton won 1-0. I got talking to Bob, a Leighton fan, Leighton committee member Iain and Leighton volunteer Hannah, again getting a warm welcome.
Leighton's 6 ft 8 in striker Leon Simpson - known as 'Ocean' - played well, as did a midfielder named Andre who'll unfortunately miss the first two games through a suspension carrying over from the end of last season.
No doubt about where to get the bus back - the stop was right by the pitch and, thankfully, a bus left 10 minutes after the match ended. And so, via Auntie Anne's pretzel stall in Luton mall, to the long journey back south.
