It all started off with such high expectations: in honour of Welsh Legends, a pre-match drinky at the Owain Glyndwr. Unfortunately the beer was being served by an amateur, and headless Brains was the result.
Not to worry! A text arrived from a colleague of the mister’s (a Tigers fan) announcing that he was at O’Neill’s, so we made our way there. The colleague was nowhere to be found, and the beer (and wine) was equally shit. The main point of interest was that the owner must be a County Antrim man, judging by the exquisite photographs on the walls.
Next on the agenda was to find somewhere to watch the Munster v Racing match. After considerable traipsing, eventually found a pub that was both showing it and had drinkable booze. Hooray!
As you’ll all know, that was quite an exciting match, ending in a draw.
On to Arms Park for the main event!
Arms Park is a civilised ground that serves Courvoisier doubles. Whoever designed the signage must have been overly-appreciative of said cognac, because the signs in no way resembled any of the seating information on our tickets.
With the help of a friendly usher, we eventually found our seats, in the middle of a garish sea of Leicester supporters. A particularly large-lunged one was sitting directly behind me, and was given to shouting YESTIGAHS every time Leicester touched the ball.
Noticing me flinching, he said, “Sorry, I’ll try to warn you before I shout. But I don’t always know when I’m going to do it.”
“Oh. A bit like Tourette’s, then?”
As for the rugby itself:
.
.
.
(Yay, try Cardiff.)
.
.
.
.
Ah shit.
Further Reading
Weekend team selections start here.
ClydeMillarWynant’s views on known knowns and unknown unknowns.
On the telly this week
Friday 29th November
| Munster v Edinburgh | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Ulster v Scarlets | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Bath v Saracens | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 30th November
| Wales v Barbarians (women) | 11:45 | S4C |
| Wales v Barbarians (men) | 14:45 | Channel 4 |
| Northampton v Leicester | 15:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Treviso v Cardiff | 15:00 | FreeSports / PS2 |
| Connacht v Southern Kings | 17:15 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Dragons v Zebre | 17:15 | S4C / Premier Sports 2 |
| Glasgow v Leinster | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Ospreys v Cheetahs | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 1st December
| Harlequins v Gloucester | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Ovally Balls 
‘Did a goose once when I was in the UK for Christmas – spectacular.’
And what did you do to the poor goose Deebee, and was it still alive?
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Ha, quite, Ticht!
sadly looks like I’ll miss the M-field leg as will be with in-laws. Boo.
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I’m looking for some consumer advice, has anyone bought a mah-jong set?
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Morne Steyn is back at the Bulls this year – they’ll lift the trophy no problems. Is the wooden spoon actually a trophy, is the only debate I suppose. The Wooden Spoon probably is. Wetherspoons missing a trick to sponsor that.
“Wooden Spoon again? Never mind – come to Wetherspoon’s for a hearty breakfast and free Brewdog Nanny State.”
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*Throws a potato at Craigs*
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Ticht, like a duck (except more so, I think) a goose has a huge amount of fat. The secret is to keep pricking it during the cooking process to allow the fat to drain out properly. This also helps with crisping it up and providing the fat to cook your roast potatoes in. Jay Raynor eh? Critic, but no cook.
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*Throws two potatoes at Slade*
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Chimpie, I cooked it to perfection. Was already deid.
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Catch them potatoes and roast em in the goose fat. I am with Deebs, goose is stunning .
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Here is the article, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/18/what-does-a-food-critic-cook-for-christmas-jay-rayner
I liked this, “I went back to turkey and learned not to cook it for nine hours, like it was a baby camel. It’s just a big chicken. Turkey, it shall now remain.”
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Shots fired at London Bridge.
Fuckers.
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……caught, diced and sauteed in duck fat – sans pareil!
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“Shots fired at London Bridge. ”
at the moment it looks like the police shot someone who was running about stabbing people
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fucksake, the graun have just published footage of the police shooting the attacker
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Lucky for me I don’t commute at this time of the day.
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Things are going just great down in Swansea.
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did someone say potatoes?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/29/how-perus-potato-museum-could-stave-off-world-food-crisis
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Roast goose is superb. Unfortunately, I’m the only one who likes it.
As Deebee (nearly) said, it needs a lot of pricks. ;-)
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Gât Gatz
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My trips to Brighton always follow exactly the same pattern:
Day 1: My god, this place is so vibrant! So alive! It feels like a party that never ends! Right, we’re moving here.
Day 2: Wow, Brighton sure does love being Brighton. Also, how much did I just pay for that pint, and why is everything so keen to broadcast how achingly cool it is? Maybe take the house off the market.
Day 3: JESUS CHRIST, I JUST WANT A STEAK BAKE AND SOMETHING NON-ARTISANAL TO DRINK. THAT’S IT – WE’RE LEAVING!
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/nov/29/rubbish-seaside-a-backhanded-love-letter-to-urban-britain
There is something I can’t help noticing with these sorts of articles, I’ll wait to see of anyone else here spots it.
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Shit transport links though Ticht. Otherwise I would totally live there.
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Thaum, have I told the story about my first attempt at Peking Duck?
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Really hope the London thing isn’t major. That sounds all wrong, but you know what I mean.
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@ticht
The one thing I notice about them is that they are never about somewhere like Richmond-upon-Thames, or Harrogate. The places they sneer at are always somewhere for the, er, lower classes.
I think Brighton is the poshest place on that list. Or perhaps Southport.
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Deebee – not that I recall!
Know what you mean about the London Bridge thing.
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I decided to make Peking Duck from scratch. Bought the bird, lovingly basted it it, hanging in my kitchen for 24 hours, to get the baste infused and the skin slightly drier. Then you immerse it in hot water and prick it to release some of the fat. From there you use a duck blower to blow air down the neck to separate the skin from the flesh to ensure you get that beloved crispy skin, before you eventually cook it.
Now. I didn’t have a proper duck blow thing or a bicycle pump (they actually do say you can use that), so my mate suggested doing it manually. He was at my place to help with the prep and watched for a while as I manfully blew down the orifice, before gently telling me that it wasn’t the duck’s neck I had latched onto.
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:-D
I’ll skip the obvious joke, and just say that I hope he got video.
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I’m at my work Xmas party about 5 mins walk from London Bridge. The main impact on those that weren’t directly involved is that we can’t get the train back from London Bridge Station.
I think this is another incident to chalk up to the competence and professionalism of the police who managed to contain the situation. It’s a ballache now, nothing more.
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4 pints in chimpie. I know that you are interested.
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@craigs
The incident was contained by the actions of the passers by who tackled the bloke with the knife and disarmed him.
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Thaum, he woulda got video but was charging his phone on my charger. Because he’s tighter than a duck’s arse. There. Did it for you.
The story gets worse: I decided to make my own Mandarin pancakes (dead easy – flour salt, boiling water, teaspoon of peanut oil). You just mix the whole lot together, roll it into a long tube, cut into 20 pieces and roll each one out very thinly, with a coating of either sesame or peanut oil on them prior to frying.
Numb nut here jumped straight into the neading of the dough and got his hands coated in boiling flour mixture. No, he didnt get video of that either because he was laughing too much.
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Flour, salt etc
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Finally, managed to cook and carve the duck, do the pancakes at another mate’s place who’s birthday it was and who I’d done the duck for. Obviously I got there later than most because of my slaving in the kitchen and they were all pretty well oiled at that stage.
Wrapped the duck in the pancakes, with different sauces and veggies, hand cut, only for stupid Birthday Boy to trip overvhiscown carpet and send the entire tray across the room. His dogs loved it.
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“The one thing I notice about them is that they are never about somewhere like Richmond-upon-Thames, or Harrogate. The places they sneer at are always somewhere for the, er, lower classes.”
That is certainly another thing, for sure.
I’ve been to Whitby and Scarborough as a kid and loved them both.
Margate must be great, Chaz and Dave always made it sound like fun, I’m being serious.
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OT – agreed. Still dealt with well though.
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Southend is a great place to take the kids for a day out.
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“Ticht, like a duck (except more so, I think)”
Got away with a lucky typo there, you perv.
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I’m still on strike. Been scabbing a bit, working on my book at home, but it’s due with the publishers on 15th December (a Sunday, not sure why I picked that date) and I don’t know if it’s really scabbing when I’m still not being paid and it’s not part of my contract to publish… My feet are still cold from the picket line this morning!
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Our flat has one living area, so the kitchen, dining table and living room are all packed together in one place. This rules out cooking goose, as we’d be smelling the fat and smelling of the fat for evermore.
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Yum. Crispy Deebee spittle duck.
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Sniff. The dogs liked it.
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Went to Margate for an afternoon in 1989 and would have happily thrown myself into the sea to end it all.
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I really liked Broadstairs in 1976 though.
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Ticht, if it’s a Brighton thing in that article, is it that they never ever leave the Lanes?
Have spent many a happy day and night in Brighton. The beach is rubbish, obvs, compared to Bournemouth but there are much better chippies than you get in Bournemouth.
Favourite South Coast of England resorts – Bexhill (rubbish beach, magnificent arts centre, good second-hand shops), Swanage (probably my number 1, really love it – very good Oxfam bookshop and good chip shops) and Lyme Regis (very swank).
Agree with OT, Southend is very good.
Also had a good holiday when I was 6 in Cromer. Morecambe is fabulous, Blackpool is a different world for me. Gower and Tenby- super. Barry – ok. Weston Super Mare – deeply strange. Scarborough is very nice as well.
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Tam, the beaches along your way are superb, I spent a lot of time wandering about in the early morning before they got busy – it’s my favourite time of day.
Yeah, it does sound like they never got out of the Lanes, or probably the North Laine, which is a different thing, way more cool, way less expensive or at least that was the case until fairly recently
Laine means field, and a lot of people think there is the Lanes (the narrow streets with restaurants, designer label shops and jewellery shops and the North Lanes, but no, the North Laine had its own identity (ok, full disclosure, our first flat was there), but it has become less different recently, but there is still a bit of an underground feel to it. The Lanes are still full of expansive shops and restaurants, the North Laine is where the artisanal flip flop makers have moved in.
St James’s St and Kemptown is the beating pink heart of Brighton, but there is a rough edge to it too,
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Great lad. Shame about his namesake town.
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That’s not what I was meaning though.
The article is titled Rubbish Seaside: a ‘backhanded love letter’ to urban Britain
The towns are all in England
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Yos, I’ve never been so aware of Barry as since my daughters all became addicted to Gavin and Stacey
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Also, there was a chipie in Bournemouth my wife and sister in law took me to at the start of the year, I’ll ask the name of it when she gets back, but it was good. Their dad used to take them to it when they were little, it has green tiles outside and in
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