Travelin’ Man
Sep. 6th, 2023 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiffel_71
Up at sparrow’s fart on Sunday morning for the longest trip of the season. Norwich. Left Portsmouth Harbour on the 6.43 train, long before the station cafe opens, so had to wait until King’s Cross for my hit of decaf mocha and to start feeling half with it. No problems on any of the trains, though the cafe at Cambridge station was woefully short on hot drinks and food.
Reached Norwich station on schedule, at 13.13, but found no taxis on the rank and a guy already waiting. A cab came for him after ten minutes, but then time dragged by without another cab coming. My attempts to summon an Uber just had the app searching fruitlessly. I was starting to think I’d come all that way to not even see the full bloody game when a people-carrier taxi pulled up. The driver was a chatty guy with a broad Norfolk accent. On hearing the purpose of my trip, he asked how Norwich City Women were doing, then said there was also a big cricket match on at the Nest that a mate of his was playing in.
The Nest was a very impressive facility with a newly built main building. On the front gate was Nicol, a Norwich City Women volunteer I know from Twitter; I introduced myself and she shook my hand. I needed to head for the Gents. Got to pitchside with two minutes to kick-off and found Dave, Keith and Gary.
Said hello to Jo when the ball went out for a throw-in. Had a bit of a pleasant chat with a Norwich lady fan. Norwich took the lead midway through the first half with an admittedly magnificent curling 30-yarder from their main danger woman Natasha Snelling. Sam Lanza got an equaliser about ten minutes later. I got to say hello to most of the players and coaches as they came off for half-time, then headed for the cafe in the main building. Pizzas were the only hot food on and there wasn’t enough of the break left to wait, so had to settle for chocolate and crisps.
Norwich went in front through Snelling again, Megan Burrows equalised and it ended all square. I hung around to say my goodbyes to the players and coaches then went to catch the Kanary Konnect bus back to the station. Was there in time to get an earlier train to Ely than planned, though I still had to wait around at Ely for my booked train to London - which was ten minutes late.
Still made it to Victoria in time to get a very welcome Footlong at Subway before the Portsmouth train went. Made it back home at 11.30 pm. After tweeting ‘Back home - longest trip of the season over with’ I got lovely replies from manager Dan and several of the girls thanking me for coming.
Dentist today for post-root canal redo debriefing. She wants to give my tooth a three quarter crown, as there are a couple of crack lines. She said she needs to check the original X rays before contacting me to arrange dates for what will, please, please, be the last two treatments. Another burden for my flexible friend coming up.
Reached Norwich station on schedule, at 13.13, but found no taxis on the rank and a guy already waiting. A cab came for him after ten minutes, but then time dragged by without another cab coming. My attempts to summon an Uber just had the app searching fruitlessly. I was starting to think I’d come all that way to not even see the full bloody game when a people-carrier taxi pulled up. The driver was a chatty guy with a broad Norfolk accent. On hearing the purpose of my trip, he asked how Norwich City Women were doing, then said there was also a big cricket match on at the Nest that a mate of his was playing in.
The Nest was a very impressive facility with a newly built main building. On the front gate was Nicol, a Norwich City Women volunteer I know from Twitter; I introduced myself and she shook my hand. I needed to head for the Gents. Got to pitchside with two minutes to kick-off and found Dave, Keith and Gary.
Said hello to Jo when the ball went out for a throw-in. Had a bit of a pleasant chat with a Norwich lady fan. Norwich took the lead midway through the first half with an admittedly magnificent curling 30-yarder from their main danger woman Natasha Snelling. Sam Lanza got an equaliser about ten minutes later. I got to say hello to most of the players and coaches as they came off for half-time, then headed for the cafe in the main building. Pizzas were the only hot food on and there wasn’t enough of the break left to wait, so had to settle for chocolate and crisps.
Norwich went in front through Snelling again, Megan Burrows equalised and it ended all square. I hung around to say my goodbyes to the players and coaches then went to catch the Kanary Konnect bus back to the station. Was there in time to get an earlier train to Ely than planned, though I still had to wait around at Ely for my booked train to London - which was ten minutes late.
Still made it to Victoria in time to get a very welcome Footlong at Subway before the Portsmouth train went. Made it back home at 11.30 pm. After tweeting ‘Back home - longest trip of the season over with’ I got lovely replies from manager Dan and several of the girls thanking me for coming.
Dentist today for post-root canal redo debriefing. She wants to give my tooth a three quarter crown, as there are a couple of crack lines. She said she needs to check the original X rays before contacting me to arrange dates for what will, please, please, be the last two treatments. Another burden for my flexible friend coming up.
