For One Night Only

14th July 2018

On the outgoing journey the great British public made a mockery of the quiet carriage signs around our seats on the train. Not a great start!

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park created for the London 2012 Olympic Games is a vast area of what was once a neglected and deprived area of the east of London. It is now home to West Ham United FC, a swimming and diving pool, a velodrome, various eateries, a few waterways and lots of wide open spaces to walk, cycle, picnic and just spend time outdoors. We strolled around the parkland for some time viewing the Olympic stadium and the ArcelorMittal Orbit “helter skelter” before reaching the velodrome and popping in for a look. There was some kind of open event where it seemed the average punter could have a go on the steeply banked circuit. We do like our cycling but we did think that they were far braver men and women than us.

Lunch stop, which included salted caramel shakes (a first for us), was at The Breakfast Club on the banks of the River Lea in Hackney, before following the course of the river back towards the stadium passing all the narrow boats “parked” along the banks. Funnily enough for July, at least three of them had Christmas trees, one had an AstroTurf lawn at the blunt end, and one had a standard lamp at the sharp end. Handy little identifiers in case you forget the name of your boat after a few drinks maybe.

Had a closer look at the helter-skelter and the description of a truly hair raising slide down a 178 metres long tube was enough to persuade Michelle to keep her feet on the ground, and I thought the gentlemanly thing to do would be to keep her company. Even more terrifyingly, some people had decided it was a good idea to abseil down it.

Stopped for a drink on this very hot day to find that England vs Belgium for third place in the World Cup was on TV. That didn’t end well - funny how that match had slipped our minds.

Madness does not get more obvious than this!

We didn’t manage to see the stadium and park all lit up at night, as they had blocked off the road leading to it so that the hordes of athletics fans attending the championships could be herded safely away from where we were sat in a noisy bar. Still it gives us an excuse to go back again sometime.

We headed back to our hotel via a shop which supplied us with some late night refreshments to finish the night off.

15th July 2018

The next day was even hotter, and called for a spell of shading under a tree by the river next to the aquatics centre, whilst we consumed some delicacies purloined from the complimentary breakfast bar in the hotel. It seemed just like a Sunday morning should be - fairly quiet, and very relaxing.

Westfield Shopping Centre

Plenty of time was spent in the Westfield shopping centre which gradually got busier and busier as the day went on. The rest of the day was spent finding places to get nice cold drinks and avoid the buffeting of the crowds watching the World Cup final on the large screens situated in some of the bars. We did manage to sample a Chilean beer (lager style) called Rothhammer Nasca, and a Swedish cider called alska which went down well.

Aaaaaah!

Tea comprised a fast food outlet which allowed for a choice of pasta, sauce, and cheese in any combination - bespoke and very tasty.

Thank you Stratford!

The return train journey included the very special treat of a drunken man sprawled across many seats who was thrashing around and managing to kick me at various times. The joys of public transport.............