Summer Sunshine
Jul. 16th, 2018 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiffel_71
Down to Lewes yesterday for the Rookettes' first pre-season friendly, with Cambridge United Women. I only found out on the train down that kick-off had been moved up an hour to 1pm. Clearly some misguided people wanted to see a bunch of French and Croats have a kick-about. That put the kybosh on my plans for a relaxed pre-match sesh with Jane in the Rights of Man, a pub about a 15-20 minute walk from the Dripping Pan. On Messenger she suggested we meet in the Lansdown Arms just down the road from the Pan.
The train pulled in to Lewes at 12.05 - a quarter of an hour behind schedule - and I made straight for the pub to find Jane waiting with her friend Matt who was linesman. She asked what I wanted - I went for a pint of Sussex Best, the only Harveys on offer. We sat and chatted till we'd drunk up then made our way over, past the Dripping Pan to the 3G pitch round the corner where the game was being played.
Got to say hello to Leeta before kick-off. The sun was a demon. Jane had an umbrella with her that we used to keep the heat off for the first half, then after the break we found a shady spot by the fence. There, we met the parents of a Cambridge player who remembered me from my ill-fated visit to a Watford Ladies game just over a year ago - they recognised me when they were talking with a Lewes fan about the recent developments that have shaken the English women's game, the Lewes fan mentioned the demise of the Lady Pies and I corrected an observation he made. Happily, there were vending machines by pitchside dispensing bottles of water.
Jane said the result of the match is embargoed, but the Rookettes' performance was promising. The two new girls Lucy Somes and Charley Boswell played well.
Jane and I joined in fetching the equipment and putting it away in a hut, then went to the main ground to join the players and officials for a buffet. As we all dispersed, Jane had to be getting away. I had 40 minutes before my train left and wandered into a building with an arch saying 'Harveys Depot'. I assumed it to be an eaterie of some kind, but it was a cinema - happily it had a cafe not restricted to cinema patrons.
Train back to London jam packed, thanks to being a 4 coach train when an 8 coach one was scheduled; the driver apologised for the situation but gave no explanation. The one home from Euston was similarly rammed, but that one always is - it is always a 4 coach train, sadly inadequate for the number of people who always travel at that time.
The train pulled in to Lewes at 12.05 - a quarter of an hour behind schedule - and I made straight for the pub to find Jane waiting with her friend Matt who was linesman. She asked what I wanted - I went for a pint of Sussex Best, the only Harveys on offer. We sat and chatted till we'd drunk up then made our way over, past the Dripping Pan to the 3G pitch round the corner where the game was being played.
Got to say hello to Leeta before kick-off. The sun was a demon. Jane had an umbrella with her that we used to keep the heat off for the first half, then after the break we found a shady spot by the fence. There, we met the parents of a Cambridge player who remembered me from my ill-fated visit to a Watford Ladies game just over a year ago - they recognised me when they were talking with a Lewes fan about the recent developments that have shaken the English women's game, the Lewes fan mentioned the demise of the Lady Pies and I corrected an observation he made. Happily, there were vending machines by pitchside dispensing bottles of water.
Jane said the result of the match is embargoed, but the Rookettes' performance was promising. The two new girls Lucy Somes and Charley Boswell played well.
Jane and I joined in fetching the equipment and putting it away in a hut, then went to the main ground to join the players and officials for a buffet. As we all dispersed, Jane had to be getting away. I had 40 minutes before my train left and wandered into a building with an arch saying 'Harveys Depot'. I assumed it to be an eaterie of some kind, but it was a cinema - happily it had a cafe not restricted to cinema patrons.
Train back to London jam packed, thanks to being a 4 coach train when an 8 coach one was scheduled; the driver apologised for the situation but gave no explanation. The one home from Euston was similarly rammed, but that one always is - it is always a 4 coach train, sadly inadequate for the number of people who always travel at that time.
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Date: 2018-07-17 10:48 am (UTC)