Wednesday 3 September 2008
One of the regular/irregular meet ups between me and John White. John had not yet been to Lord’s to see proper (i.e. red ball, white clothing) cricket, nor had he yet done the pavilion thing.
As it was my turn to choose the eating venue, I hatched a plan for the meal to be at Hereford Road (which I was sure would be to John’s taste) and for both of us to finish work early for a change, starting our late afternoon at Lord’s. My e-mail to John a couple of days before:
We’re meeting early at Lord’s if you are still on for that – I have 4:30/4:45 in my diary. I have booked Hereford Road for dinner – excellent restaurant between Lord’s and my place – owned and cheffed by the former chef from St John.
So John joined me at Lord’s for an hour or so of cricket and the informal tour of the pavilion, then the restaurant, both of which he seems to have enjoyed – John’s subsequent e-mail words:
As always a lovely evening. It was very kind of you to let me into Lord’s. Although nobody is really that interested I have been endlessly describing the various bars, characters and atmosphere of the place. I don’t know if you won? Orient managed a 2-0 win away at Walsall on Saturday if you’re interested.
The restaurant got and still gets good reviews:
- Tom Parker Bowles in the Mail 2013 – click here;
- Matthew Norman’s from the Guardian “back in the day” is funnier about Michael Winner than anything else – click here.
As for the cricket, I did return the next day…
Thursday 4 September 2008
…but again only for the last couple of hours, primarily as a convivial meeting place with Steve Tasker to go through some UNISON business; probably thinking through project budgets for 2009. I’m sure we got to see a bit of cricket and enjoy a beer at the end of the day as well.
As for the Friday and the remainder of the match – I wrote that up at length at the time for both MTWD and King Cricket – all linked up and explained through the following Ogblog piece – click here. Rain-affected draw for those uninterested in clicking through to read the slapstick exploits of Ged and Charley “The Gent” Malloy, yet interested in an ancient match result.