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One Step Further
Apr. 26th, 2024 11:12 pmHello folks, it’s been a while, I’ve been busy - nothing heavy, just catching up on my recorded TV shows, voting in interactive song festivals, rehearsing with The Villagers and campaigning for a family friend standing in the upcoming local elections.
Sunday the 7th brought a real trip down memory lane. Normally this season, my visits to London Seaward haven’t given me more than a little glimpse of my East London - just passing through familiar tube stations and brief sights of the odd street out of the tube window. But this time there were replacement buses running between Stratford and Leytonstone.
Most tube travellers dread a journey on a replacement bus, but I lapped it up. Nothing nostalgic as I exited Stratford station to find the buses - the bus station and the Westfield centre opposite are all new. Once the bus was in motion, though, it wasn’t long before the memories came flowing back. Chobham Road, Stratford, where Michelle and I had an almost romantic encounter. Along the Leyton High Road, past pubs I used to frequent, and I got a glimpse of Colville Road where the Leyton lasses lived. Coming into Leytonstone, we passed the Tesco and the Co-op both of which I used to do my weekly shop in and the McDonald’s where I was a regular (and where a West Ham supporting assistant used to banter with me when I wore my Portsmouth shirt). Getting off the bus outside Leytonstone station, we faced the curve of shops that were haunts of mine back in the day. The 7 Star convenience store is still there (if I hadn’t been in a rush to get to the game I’d have popped in and checked out their cans of pop) and so is the ‘Dog’s Dinner’ pet accessory shop whose name amused us students so much, but the chippy/kebab shop is now a Subway (at least there’s a new chippy/kebab shop a couple of doors along) and the discount store where I bought Sandra the talking watch is now an Argos. In the tube station the newsagent’s is still there though it’s had a makeover; the dry cleaner’s is now a coffee shop.
I wandered along the platform filled with nostalgia. Looked wistfully at a poster for a gig by Heart, supported by Squeeze, at the O2 this summer (my continuing credit card debt mountain renders that one a non-starter). Then the train came to take me to Barkingside and back to reality.
To South Wales on the Monday with a party from my social club, as that evening a former member of our branch, and old friend of my family, who now lives there was being honoured by the local branch. Paul drove us down. He’s a Wave 105 listener in mourning; he had Greatest Hits Radio on in the car but confessed he isn’t over impressed with it. I got him to try out V2 Radio and he stuck with it until we were out of signal range. I thought I just might have converted him, although when we were out of range he put Nation Radio on and I think he may prefer that.
We had fun and games finding our Premier Inn as Paul had put the wrong postcode in the sat nav, which took us to a residential house in a quiet street. He reckoned he’d typed in the right one and the wrong one had auto-filled. The hotel and the Brewers Fayre next door were really nice; the barmaid was a diamond, keeping her cool and her smile even as one of our party trolled her over their not serving Brains beers or port. In the foyer I bought Mark Walters’ autobiography from the charity book rack for a pound.
It was a good do, good to see our old pal again and the locals were a friendly bunch. The raffle went on for ever. The buffet was nice with plenty of nuts and breaded chicken pieces.
On the men’s football front, Fleetlands had a run of games postponed due to the pitch being waterlogged, so I went over to AFC Portchester quite a bit, occasionally accompanied by Jade, and we’ve found we prefer the matchday experience there. There’s always friendly faces from the Arancione supporters’ club around; they play banging 80s tunes on the PA before and after the game and at half time; there’s burgers and bacon butties available from the tea hut with a good range of sauces.
Portchester’s blackout cards are the best around. Most clubs’ blackout cards have an array of familiar Premier League and Championship teams, maybe with Rangers and Celtic added. At Portchester they appear to print their own cards, and they have all the teams of their own league the Wessex League, plus, wait for it, ‘Scotland’ and ‘Wales’! How gloriously random is that? Getting to buy a square can be tricky, though, as the lady who goes round with the card is quite an Elusive Pimpernel.
At the night game with Andover New Street, I met Lewis for the first time since early January as since then he hadn’t made it to the few games I came over for. We stood on the Curva Portchy having a good catch-up chat during a dull 0-0.
On Wednesday night Lewis gave me a lift to Shaftesbury for the play-off semi-final. We saw Gold Hill where the Hovis advert was filmed and met up with a group of fellow Portchy fans in the Mitre pub. The grub there was expensive so after drinks we opted to call at a chippy just outside the ground. The clubhouse was great but jam packed. The food menu there looked pretty tempting but, having sat outside while we had our fish and chips, there wasn’t time to order anything except a quick drink.
We stood behind the goal and put up our flags on the fence. Through the first half both teams pressed but neither got a shot on target. Just after the half hour I wandered to the tea hut to beat the rush and ordered a burger. The tea hut ladies had cheeseburgers and bacon and cheese burgers ready, but regular hamburgers would take time. As I stood to one side waiting, one of the ladies came out and asked me where I’d be standing. I pointed to the knot of Portchester fans just to one side of the goal. She said she’d bring my burger over when it was ready so I could watch the match in the meantime and asked what sauce I wanted. I replied burger sauce. Sure enough, during half time the lady came over to me with a regular burger with burger sauce on. It was first class too.
We went round to the far end for the second half. Shaftesbury were awarded a penalty. It was down at the other end from us so I didn’t get a clear view as to whether it was deserved. Naturally Shaftesbury’s star marksman Brett Pitman, who was with Portchester last season, took the kick and sent Steve Mowthorpe the wrong way.
Portchester never stopped battling. In the dying minutes we got a series of corners, and Steve Mowthorpe came out of his goal to join the rest of the team in the penalty area. The last corner, though, was shot wide - after Mowey had had a header parried by the keeper; I think every Portchy fan there was willing him to be the hero and score. But it wasn’t to be and the final whistle blew.
Several of our fans were incensed by the refereeing, which they thought had favoured Shaftesbury, and went on to say they hoped AFC Stoneham would stuff Shaftesbury in the final. A bit of sour grapes, I thought, as dodgy refereeing isn’t the other team’s fault. I’d found Shaftesbury a pretty friendly club so was thinking I wouldn’t mind them going on to get promotion (and them being promoted would take the longest away trip out of our calendar), though on the other hand if they do stay down I’ll be glad to visit again next season. Lewis and I did our best to raise spirits by reminding the others that we still have two Cup Finals to look forward to. On our way out I met the helpful tea hut lady and wished her good luck for Saturday’s final.
As we drove away Lewis told me something that helped explain why some of our number were harbouring an animosity to the home side. While Nigel and I had been at the tea hut before half-time, a group of locals had come over to our group of Portchester fans and got lairy with them, not overtly threatening violence but definitely trying to intimidate. When Nigel and I walked from the tea hut towards rejoining the group, the local hoons had decided they didn’t fancy the numbers and moved away.
We come to non-league football to get away from that nonsense.
Despite the result and the hoons, a good trip overall, great to reconnect with the gang, and cementing AFC Portchester as my men’s team of choice.
Two great episodes of Top of the Pops tonight - after an hour’s delay because a pre-recorded snooker match overran! Janice Long looking stunning on the show from this week in 1984.
Sunday the 7th brought a real trip down memory lane. Normally this season, my visits to London Seaward haven’t given me more than a little glimpse of my East London - just passing through familiar tube stations and brief sights of the odd street out of the tube window. But this time there were replacement buses running between Stratford and Leytonstone.
Most tube travellers dread a journey on a replacement bus, but I lapped it up. Nothing nostalgic as I exited Stratford station to find the buses - the bus station and the Westfield centre opposite are all new. Once the bus was in motion, though, it wasn’t long before the memories came flowing back. Chobham Road, Stratford, where Michelle and I had an almost romantic encounter. Along the Leyton High Road, past pubs I used to frequent, and I got a glimpse of Colville Road where the Leyton lasses lived. Coming into Leytonstone, we passed the Tesco and the Co-op both of which I used to do my weekly shop in and the McDonald’s where I was a regular (and where a West Ham supporting assistant used to banter with me when I wore my Portsmouth shirt). Getting off the bus outside Leytonstone station, we faced the curve of shops that were haunts of mine back in the day. The 7 Star convenience store is still there (if I hadn’t been in a rush to get to the game I’d have popped in and checked out their cans of pop) and so is the ‘Dog’s Dinner’ pet accessory shop whose name amused us students so much, but the chippy/kebab shop is now a Subway (at least there’s a new chippy/kebab shop a couple of doors along) and the discount store where I bought Sandra the talking watch is now an Argos. In the tube station the newsagent’s is still there though it’s had a makeover; the dry cleaner’s is now a coffee shop.
I wandered along the platform filled with nostalgia. Looked wistfully at a poster for a gig by Heart, supported by Squeeze, at the O2 this summer (my continuing credit card debt mountain renders that one a non-starter). Then the train came to take me to Barkingside and back to reality.
To South Wales on the Monday with a party from my social club, as that evening a former member of our branch, and old friend of my family, who now lives there was being honoured by the local branch. Paul drove us down. He’s a Wave 105 listener in mourning; he had Greatest Hits Radio on in the car but confessed he isn’t over impressed with it. I got him to try out V2 Radio and he stuck with it until we were out of signal range. I thought I just might have converted him, although when we were out of range he put Nation Radio on and I think he may prefer that.
We had fun and games finding our Premier Inn as Paul had put the wrong postcode in the sat nav, which took us to a residential house in a quiet street. He reckoned he’d typed in the right one and the wrong one had auto-filled. The hotel and the Brewers Fayre next door were really nice; the barmaid was a diamond, keeping her cool and her smile even as one of our party trolled her over their not serving Brains beers or port. In the foyer I bought Mark Walters’ autobiography from the charity book rack for a pound.
It was a good do, good to see our old pal again and the locals were a friendly bunch. The raffle went on for ever. The buffet was nice with plenty of nuts and breaded chicken pieces.
On the men’s football front, Fleetlands had a run of games postponed due to the pitch being waterlogged, so I went over to AFC Portchester quite a bit, occasionally accompanied by Jade, and we’ve found we prefer the matchday experience there. There’s always friendly faces from the Arancione supporters’ club around; they play banging 80s tunes on the PA before and after the game and at half time; there’s burgers and bacon butties available from the tea hut with a good range of sauces.
Portchester’s blackout cards are the best around. Most clubs’ blackout cards have an array of familiar Premier League and Championship teams, maybe with Rangers and Celtic added. At Portchester they appear to print their own cards, and they have all the teams of their own league the Wessex League, plus, wait for it, ‘Scotland’ and ‘Wales’! How gloriously random is that? Getting to buy a square can be tricky, though, as the lady who goes round with the card is quite an Elusive Pimpernel.
At the night game with Andover New Street, I met Lewis for the first time since early January as since then he hadn’t made it to the few games I came over for. We stood on the Curva Portchy having a good catch-up chat during a dull 0-0.
On Wednesday night Lewis gave me a lift to Shaftesbury for the play-off semi-final. We saw Gold Hill where the Hovis advert was filmed and met up with a group of fellow Portchy fans in the Mitre pub. The grub there was expensive so after drinks we opted to call at a chippy just outside the ground. The clubhouse was great but jam packed. The food menu there looked pretty tempting but, having sat outside while we had our fish and chips, there wasn’t time to order anything except a quick drink.
We stood behind the goal and put up our flags on the fence. Through the first half both teams pressed but neither got a shot on target. Just after the half hour I wandered to the tea hut to beat the rush and ordered a burger. The tea hut ladies had cheeseburgers and bacon and cheese burgers ready, but regular hamburgers would take time. As I stood to one side waiting, one of the ladies came out and asked me where I’d be standing. I pointed to the knot of Portchester fans just to one side of the goal. She said she’d bring my burger over when it was ready so I could watch the match in the meantime and asked what sauce I wanted. I replied burger sauce. Sure enough, during half time the lady came over to me with a regular burger with burger sauce on. It was first class too.
We went round to the far end for the second half. Shaftesbury were awarded a penalty. It was down at the other end from us so I didn’t get a clear view as to whether it was deserved. Naturally Shaftesbury’s star marksman Brett Pitman, who was with Portchester last season, took the kick and sent Steve Mowthorpe the wrong way.
Portchester never stopped battling. In the dying minutes we got a series of corners, and Steve Mowthorpe came out of his goal to join the rest of the team in the penalty area. The last corner, though, was shot wide - after Mowey had had a header parried by the keeper; I think every Portchy fan there was willing him to be the hero and score. But it wasn’t to be and the final whistle blew.
Several of our fans were incensed by the refereeing, which they thought had favoured Shaftesbury, and went on to say they hoped AFC Stoneham would stuff Shaftesbury in the final. A bit of sour grapes, I thought, as dodgy refereeing isn’t the other team’s fault. I’d found Shaftesbury a pretty friendly club so was thinking I wouldn’t mind them going on to get promotion (and them being promoted would take the longest away trip out of our calendar), though on the other hand if they do stay down I’ll be glad to visit again next season. Lewis and I did our best to raise spirits by reminding the others that we still have two Cup Finals to look forward to. On our way out I met the helpful tea hut lady and wished her good luck for Saturday’s final.
As we drove away Lewis told me something that helped explain why some of our number were harbouring an animosity to the home side. While Nigel and I had been at the tea hut before half-time, a group of locals had come over to our group of Portchester fans and got lairy with them, not overtly threatening violence but definitely trying to intimidate. When Nigel and I walked from the tea hut towards rejoining the group, the local hoons had decided they didn’t fancy the numbers and moved away.
We come to non-league football to get away from that nonsense.
Despite the result and the hoons, a good trip overall, great to reconnect with the gang, and cementing AFC Portchester as my men’s team of choice.
Two great episodes of Top of the Pops tonight - after an hour’s delay because a pre-recorded snooker match overran! Janice Long looking stunning on the show from this week in 1984.
