A weekend of no football. Strictly not true I suppose as England were playing but I’ve always been a club over country man, besides it was only a friendly so as far as I was concerned this was a weekend off. As my time in London is ticking down, I felt the weekend was another opportunity to tick off some more things and one of these was on Sunday - the Oxford and Cambridge boat race. I’ve never paid any thought to this in the past as I have no allegiance to either Oxford or Cambridge, nor do I have much interest in rowing competitions. It’s always good to try out some of the free museums, and as the weather yesterday was unsettled at best by the early afternoon a group of us had sought shelter in the Geffrye museum. Leaving there we went to ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese’ in Fleet Street, rebuilt just after the Great Fire Of London, it oozes character especially on a cold wet day when the coal fire is going. It was on the way home from the pub that it occurred to me I still didn’t know what the England score was and that more importantly I wasn’t really bothered. Back at the flat I got some food and being at a loose end considered watching the highlights later on in the evening. Instead I was invited, rather randomly to a Japanese Bar near Holborn which specialises in karaoke. This was one of the most bizarre places I have ever been to; I had no idea what to expect as I was led down some stairs and into a small room which had been booked by our party of 10. 2 hours for £5 each was a bit of a bargain in my opinion and once the drink flowed it was pretty good fun. Having had a late night it didn’t seem unreasonable to have a little lie in on Sunday and when I woke up at 10.15 it didn’t seem overly late, especially as the boat race wasn’t due to start until sometime around 3.00. At about 10.45 I got a text - did you remember to change your clocks? Of course I hadn’t, and it dawned on me it was actually 11.45. I wasn’t entirely sure where the boat race was ending, but I decided to head for Richmond from Kensal Rise. The sun was shining and the train was pretty full which suggested that quite a few people had the same plan as me. At Kew Gardens most people got off but I didn’t think much of it. Arriving at Richmond it took a while to work out the way to the river, but once I did I realised that I wasn’t in the right area for the boat race. I knew this because it wasn’t crowded enough. A quick call confirmed it ended at Chiswick Bridge and a look at a map told me this was around 4 miles away. So I set off, thinking at least it was sunny and whilst attempting to dodge a number of cyclists and joggers. It only took me an hr and half to reach the destination and after a quick drink I found a place just to the right of the TV cameras opposite the finishing line/boat. It appeared I was amongst a group of ‘Oxford’ fans, and all I heard for about an hour was how great the university was. A family had taken a viewing position on the mud bank…the tide was now coming in quite quickly and the police were forced to descend down to ask them to move. Sometimes you wonder how peoples minds work. By the time the race had started their platform was well submerged, Eventually the race had started, the group next to me had a radio with the commentary loud enough for me to hear what was going on. The time waiting for them to get to the final section actually went surprisingly quickly and it was surprisingly enjoyable to watch the first boat go over the line. Having said all that I am (in a weird way) looking forward to the normality of worrying about how the ‘Orns are getting on next weekend. However soon enough there will be plenty of empty weekends to fill with other activities.
