Twenty20 World Cup

This was the 3rd annual trip to London to watch some international cricket and this year we had the rare chance of seeing Scotland play in World Cup finals - pity it was the wrong sport. Dave, of course, now has a pad in Reading so he was able to put me up and, for the first time, Colin came along for the trip.

CK and I flew down to Heathrow and Dave met us at Terminal 5 - with his new BMW 330i convertible - very nice:


Dave drove us out to Reading and we seized upon an opportunity to tick another box and add a photo or two to our list of the Stadia of the World:

The Madejski stadium is a modern, multi-purpose centre:

None of us - and, I bet, nobody else - knew that it was also home to London Irish RFC.

One more planned pit stop was to the Fox and Hounds, Caversham. Some of you may recall that, on our recent Merseyside trip to see the Liverpool - Everton match, we had gone on a Magical Mystery Tour, during the course of which our tour guide had held a Beatles quiz, and one of the questions asked about the only time John and Paul played as a duo - it was 1960 and it was in the Fox and Hounds, Caversham. We went there expecting some kind of commemoration of this event - perhaps not quite a blue plaque, but some acknowledgment at least - but it was a very ordinary, pretty scruffy boozer and there wasn't even a photo - nobody would ever know they had played there. They went under the guise of the Nerk Twins - Colin and I played out the parts:

If you've never heard of the story, check out this article - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1078752/Meet-The-Nerk-Twins--John-Paul-called-gig-double-act--8211-drinkers-sleepy-Berkshire-pub.html

After that, it was back to Dave's canal-side flat. Here he is standing at what is known in estate agent speak as a "Juliet balcony" - i.e. some railing to stop you falling from the window to the canal pathway below:

CK got the other bedroom this time and soon made himself at home:

Meanwhile, I was ever so slightly relieved - remembering our shared double bed at our first cricket trip a couple of years ago - to be sleeping on the living room settee.

We then went on a bit of a pub crawl through some of Dave's favourite haunts in Reading town centre. One of the places we stopped at had an unusual combination - it was basically a pie shop, but with seating and also real ales:

We set out to find the Nag's Head, which was reputed to be one of the best pubs in Berkshire - and so it turned out - probably even better than the Clarendon brewpub we had visited last year when we went to see Sunderland - Wigan.

Dinner was calamari and mussels at the Zero Degrees brewpub and we rounded the evening off at Dave's nearest local, the Hobgoblin - great little boozer with interesting ales and an even more interesting looking bartender - good pubs seem to attract unusual staff - memories of the Clarendon in Sunderland, and even earlier on this evening at the station bar, where the barman looked like he was playing with the Prodigy. Anyway, here's the Hobgoblin staff at work:

On Sunday we caught the train through to Paddington and from there the tube to St Pancras - Colin wanted to see the reconstruction of the famous old station - and also take in the new statues that had been put up. Here's Sir John Betjeman:

and the giant one of two lovers bidding each other farewell:

Down to the Oval and the mandatory purchase of Cricket Scotland caps:

We didn't need the "6" posters for Scotland's dismal showing against South Africa!

The modern stand opposite us:

The Scottish players are not exactly household names, so here's a short video of them coming down the stairs in the Bedser pavilion, beside where we were seated:

Scotland's match didn't take long - and the following England - Pakistan match was slowly heading towards a comfortable England victory, so we decided to skip the last 3 overs and make an early return to Reading and the Hobgoblin - a quick nightcap in a cosy cubicle for 3:

Great weekend!