A sunny day at the Cricket

Time to wake up says Mr F, it is 5.30 am Saturday May 25^th and I am struggling to open my eyes. However the sun is up and shining and the promise of a good day’s cricket soon has me up & about. We are going to watch England V New Zealand at Headingly. This is Ian’s Christmas present, well all good things are worth waiting for.

A speedy journey has us in Leeds for 9 o’clock and soon we are at the ground. Clear blue sky and the promise for it to remain so all day. It is however a tad nippy and our seats are at present in the shade. I keep myself amused by taking photo’s whilst we wait for play to start.

 I have managed to get very good seats, well they will be when the sun finally moves round. We are right where the players enter & leave the field and they come along in front of us to sign autographs for the kids, which are wildly excited at seeing the England players. I manage to get some good close ups. Mostly the players just frantically sign the ever increasing line of people and stop occasionally to have a photo taken. Stuart Broad however is chatting away to the kids, how he likes their shirt, when was his / her birthday. Hope they enjoy the cricket etc. etc. Bet his mum is really proud of him, such a nice boy.

Root

Who?

Swann

Broad

Finn

Jimmy Anderson is signing autographs just below us. A woman asks a steward “who is that player?” is she mad?? How can you like cricket & not know who Jimmy is. I did check & she was not blind. Later on she was also checking on her iPhone what Joe Roots name was. A Yorkshire lad and he had just scored his first test 100. She was flummoxed as the crowd were singing Joe Root to the tune of hey Jude. His name is Joe not Jude she says, I don’t know why they are singing hey Jude (er they are not). I felt like explaining it to her but then realised it would be in vain. She seemed content enough as she shoved another slice of cake in her mouth which had the added bonus of stopping her inane conversation for a few minutes.

The crowd in the west stand were on form and a fabulous beer snake made an appearance late in the afternoon. Cries of “feed the snake, feed the snake” rang out. There was frenzied activity whilst more pint glasses were drained and added to the plastic reptile. However, I was again glad not to be sitting anywhere near them as the beer was dripping out all over the crowd and when they got bored with the snake, they just threw it up in the air. Beer and glasses literally raining down.

Lots of people were in fancy dress, strangely no Jimmy Savills this year (See last Augusts post) wonder why that is? Bandy legged men in silky wedding dresses, lots of where’s Wally’s and some people dressed as bananas with Alex Ferguson masks on. I don’t get that one. It was very sedate & all about cricket where we were sitting. I do find the goings on amusing but some people do not. One couple said they should call the police and get them all evicted from the ground. I can understand people, me included, do not want to get drenched in stale beer and it is all a bit distracting if you want to watch the match. But they are only having a bit of fun, evict them from the ground Really?

We had a lovely day, caught a few rays of sunshine, imbibed in a couple of beers / Prosecco and a really nice picnic, (despite the lack of pork pies.)

Late we met up with Jeremy & Nic for a drink and then went to the Olive Tree for a really lovely dinner. Back to hotel and was soon was fast asleep as a bit tired after all that excitement.

Looking forward to next year already

Prague

We have wanted to visit this city for some years now. Finally Ian had the chance to go there for work so I tagged along for a couple of days.
Flight from Heathrow was preceded by a few glasses of champers at Heathrow. A short flight and straight off the plane was a bonus and the taxi driver was just coming into arrivals. Very soon we were cruising through the deserted streets of Prague. It is about 10.30 so we were shocked to see there was no traffic and no people about. The hotel is in the new part of town (chosen by ARAMARK) by it is reasonably priced and quite near to everything. The room is good although it looks out onto a block of flats which is very eastern block in colour and design.

Next morning we are up early, breakfasted and on our way into the old town. Well we do the usual Floody thing by going in the right direction, decide we are going in the wrong direction, turn around, argue & finally get on the right track. It is cool and overcast we decide that we do not need to lug our rain jackets around, a decision we might later regret. Soon we are in Wenceslas square, well it is really just a long street lined with shops. We mosey on down and soon are in with the throng waiting for the astrological  clock to strike & do its thing. The square is full of the most picturesque and beautiful adorned buildings. Cameras are out although it is difficult to get a shot without the top of someones head in the way.

Nearby vendors are setting up for the day & I am lured by the smell of hams being smoked over wood fires and a pastry snack being cooked over smouldering coals. Not being hungry get we move on but the smell still lingers on in the air. I am now regretting we did not have any.

We move onto the Jewish quarter which is mainly shut down as it is Saturday, holy day. This is quite good as there are not many people about and we can get a good view of things.

Now this is a whistle stop tour for me as I am only here for the 2 days. No no dawdling in museums, churches or exhibitions. There seems to be a lot of scaffolding being erected around the place no idea what is going on.

We then literally flight our way over Charles bridge, there are many statues to look at if you can get near. They are very dirty, black & sooty which is strange as the buildings are very clean. Some of the adornments of the statues are painted gold. Crowns, spears, arrows & crosses but the statues are very black. Weird. We do stop to listen to a man making the most wonderful music from glasses filled with water (most of it rain I suspect).

We decide it is time for a beer & try to get away from the tourist area. The Floody compass takes over & we go to a street where there are no bars, touristy or not. Eventually we end up in a hospital. hmm.

I am starting to get grumpy and my feet are screaming for some respite. We do find a place where we had beer & shared a platter of cold meat & cheese for about £6 oh and some lovely lemon cake. That was £6 for the lot.

Back out again & up to the castle, it is starting to drizzle quite hard now. We have managed to keep relatively dry up until now as the drizzle was light. Mr F has been warned NOT to mention the weather again for the rest of the day. We watch the changing of the guards and then head off into the main part of the castle. At this point the ground is very wet, I am then knocked off my feet by a Japanese woman who decided to run backwards to get a better photo of her friends. I am literally sent flying and cannot regain my balance. I land in a large puddle of water and am soaked to the skin. She is velly solly, velly solly. Mr F rushes to my rescue, for once it was not my fault, I did not trip or twist my ankle. Mr F later has a wry smile as he recalls watching the action. One look from me soon wipes the smile off his face, I am less than amused and have to tie my jumper around my soaking wet backside as It looks.. well you can imagine.

Cold and wet we decide to walk back up to the hotel and find somewhere to have a drink, we get thoroughly soaked and only after a couple of beers are we cheered up.
Later after a nice soak in the bath and change of clothes we wander down the street to a micro brewery. here they brew all different types of beer, nettle, banana, cherry to name a few. They also do traditional Ceczh food. I opt for the beef in candle sauce with dumplings and Mr F has the pork & smoked ham with yes dumplings. Mine was ok but just really a plate of thick gravy a bread dumplings. We ask for an apple strudel which never appears and finally the bill. I think we are ready for bed by 9.30 and certainly our feet are glad to be off the ground. We have walked for miles.

Sunday 7.30am and the sun is shining. A quick breakfast & see if we need our jackets, no its lovely. Might regret the decision again.

Today we are going to the gardens via the funicular railway. We have a bit of trouble trying to get some tickets and end up with tic tacs and tickets. ho ho. Up at the top it is lovely to walk around in the warm sunshine. The gardens are very lovely and will be stunning when the roses are in full bloom. We walk around to the monastery and then into Loreta. This is a precinct of pretty cobbled streets, mind you all the streets are cobbled as my poor feet and ankles will tell you. We are then back at the castle where a major changing of the guards is going on. We stop a while and then take advantage of the blue sky to get some better photos than yesterday.

Ah I forgot to mention that all the scaffolding going on yesterday was for the Prague marathon which is taking place this morning. We are heading for a restaurant in the Jewish quarter but our plans are soon curtailed as the city in transected by the marathon route and there is no way across. We aim for another restaurant ( Mrs tetchy is making an appearance) which when we finally get there is closed. (Mr & Mrs Tetchy are both here now) finally we find somewhere that sells food & beer. Well I have 2 large glasses of wine and an unappetising Goulash and yes bready dumplings. Mr F has pork neck grilled which is very nice. On route back to the hotel we decide to visit a church that we spy a little way in the distance. However the heavens open and we have to take shelter in a coffee shop. The day is not helped as without my glasses on I put salt in my rather pricey coffee, oh how we laughed!

Post Marathon pain

I pack my bag, as soon I have to leave. the sun comes back out so we decide to go to the church after all as we have an hour to kill. Upon coming out of the front door some ARAMARK collegues are on the terrace, needless to say we did not get very far. Too soon the taxi was waiting to take me away just as Mr F was starting on his 2nd beer.

Prague - done it. Liked it when the sun shone. Tick.

Feet still painful 2 days later.

Prague is full of wonderful and peculiar sights. here are a few we found