We had a complimentary English Breakfast if we made it to the restaurant by 10:00 am. It was close. Duncan warned us that it wouldn't be very good food and that he would make us a "proper English breakfast" later. I figured at the least we would need a point of reference, and besides, I was hungry.
I spotted Dai Jones and his wife Kim, another face from past American Livebearer Association Conventions. Everyone should know a wacky Welshman. Dai is the one I know.
Duncan was correct. Breakfast was not good. Brenda had a bit harder time with it then I did, but to be fair that wasn't the fault of the food. It may have been due to the number of "yummy drinks with umbrellas" that kept appearing in front of her the night before.
After breakfast, one of us went to the convention talks and the other went back to the room and crawled into bed. The first talk was Brian Chittenden on "tank making". When I saw that on the schedule I thought, "yikes, how dull", but I learned a few things and was impressed with the finished product. He has been doing tanks for a long, long time, including custom builds on site. The most impressive thing was when someone in the audience challenged him. From a sheet of 1/4" glass he had cut a 1/2" strip, 36" long. I was impressed. The challenge was if he could split that in half. He could. I was more impressed. He later said he was too.
Ivan Dibble spoke next and then it was the lunch break. Trevor and his wife arrived which finished my re-acquainting with old friends. After lunch, David MacAllister spoke on collecting in Costa Rica. Duncan was frantically getting photos of fish in the show that were to be auctioned. It seems that there was some new ideas that were being tried out this year, but all the details had yet to be resolved. Such tireless dedication to the hobby is a testament to Duncan. Just look at the publications of the BLA that Duncan has been producing and you can not help but notice the quality and effort.
There were 2 more talks scheduled, but we had other plans. Duncan had discovered that Notts County would be playing a home match against Mcclesfield at 3:00 pm. This would be my first English Football match live and in person! I collected Brenda at 2:00 (she had been sleeping and claimed to be feeling better and ready to go) and we were off. The ground was about 5 miles away and we got to see a good part of Nottingham. Notts County's ground sits on one side of the river Trent, almost directly opposite of Nottingham Forest's Ground. If you had a good sling shot, I bet you could hit one from the other. It's odd to me to have 2 competing teams in the same town in the States, let alone within sight of one another. Just beyond Forrest's ground site one of the best cricket grounds in the world, according to Duncan. I still don't understand cricket, so I will leave it there.
I will try to keep this part brief as I could go on and on. We got out tickets, (Home section, please) found our entrance, and slipped inside. There was a little old man inside a little booth who took our ticket and let us through an old turnstile. We followed Duncan (as always) and were standing on the corner of our stand. What a sight! The grass was so close and the stands on all sides were just like what you see in pictures of classic English football grounds. Duncan informed me that he'd never been, but was impressed, as many clubs in this division (Second Division, which is actually the 4th division) don't have such large and nice facilities. We also learned that Notts County is the oldest League Club in the world, and they are very proud of that, as 1862 is plastered on nearly everything, including the players socks. The game itself had everything: The large group of black and white clad home fans chanting and singing in the Kop End, (I don't know what Kop means, Duncan didn't either. I thought the Kop end was just in Liverpool's Anfield...), the smaller group of away fans in blue doing their best to be heard, a home goal (which we missed due to not being allowed back into the stands with our half time beers), an away goal, two yellow cards and a straight red card for a poor tackle that at the time, we thought had broken the defender's leg. (No break I just found out, but there is some issue with his knee, which could be worse then a break), and Pukka Pies (Which are basically small, 4" diameter pot pies that are really, really good). The match itself ended in a draw, but was fantastic to be at. The weather was clear and cold, the play was good, and the sounds from the stadium were amazing. A gent a few rows back kept shouting "Come on you pies!" which I understood, but apparently Brenda didn't. It didn't help when Duncan explained to her that he was calling the lads that walked around the pitch selling sodas and food. Duncan can spin a yard on a moment's notice, but were catching on. Mercifully, he comes clean fairly quickly and told Brenda that Notts County were also known as the Magpies. They have a rule prohibiting "prolonged standing" and the beer rule is odd, but understandable. Since the Heysel and Hillsborough disaster, the terraces have been replaced with seats, and the thought is that fans are less likely to get completely smashed if they aren't allowed to drink while watching the game. I imagine it helps. We couldn't roam freely in the ground, so my pictures and experience is limited to about 30 yards from the gate, but it was absolutely wonderful. When we arrived, we noticed a section of gate covered with scarfs and notes and other items. It was a memorial for one of Notts County's legends, Jimmy Sirrel. We popped into the gift shop outside the stadium and got a couple of scarfs, a few pins and Brenda now sports a Notts County hair scrunchy. Yes, it has 1862 on it as well. As for Brenda, a few minutes into the match she had to run to the restroom, but came back feeling good for the first time that day. Football's healing powers!
Walking back to the car, we had to cross the river. Duncan has been enjoying telling the story of how Brenda tried to strike up a conversation with a gent who turned out to be deaf mute. Once again, Duncan came to the rescue as the extent of my help was to suggest that he couldn't understand her accent.
At my request, we walked around the Forrest ground for a look and a photo, and then it was back into the car. Duncan's beloved Crystal Palace was to kick off at 5:20pm and it was also to be on the telly. However, it was not on one of the 9 stations the hotel provided.
We wandered back into the show, and walked into the room to see the hotel staff setting up for a banquet. "We have a banquet?" I asked Duncan. (we ask Duncan everything) "It looks like it" was his reply. (Duncan doesn't, in reality, know everything). While waiting for the banquet, we went to the lounge to chat with friends and meet new ones. Several BLA members from Scotland had arrived during the day, and I have to say, they can be hard to understand. Apparently even Scots can have difficulty understanding Scots. I don't feel so bad.
The banquet was very nice, and the awards went quickly and smoothly. The table conversation was stimulating. We learned a bit about British slang and they learned a bit about ours. I'm going to leave that one there as well.
For us, day 3 ended at 10:00 pm. Palace won 3-0. It was a good day.
More pictures later.
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