Saturday 03 April

The last few days of March were spent quietly with walks in the countryside, reading with a cup of tea, and the odd afternoon nap.

On Saturday Jeff, Maeghan, Alexander and I headed to Peterborough via the train to attend another football match. As you can see from the photo Maeghan was 'thrilled' to be joining us. 

The ever-present swans and a narrow-boat on the River Nene.

The match was between Peterborough and Newcastle. Both are in the Coca-cola Championship League. If Newcastle won they would be promoted to the Barclays Premier League next season and if Peterborough won they might, just might, but probably not put off being relegated to Coco-cola League 1 for next season.

The beer tent below was awash with the black and white of 'Geordies' as the residents of Newcastle-upon-Tyne are called.
They seemed a bit in their cups so we gave them a wide birth as we were wearing the blue and white of Peterborough.

Maeghan and Alexander have planted the flag so to speak. Again you can see the great big smile on Maeghan's face as she looks forward to another exciting football match.
I should explain that Maeghan was with us because Louise was to join some friends to get in shape for their walk for charity in May. They will be walking the length of Hadrian's Wall, all 89 miles of it in one week, to raise awareness and money for the Bone Cancer Research Trust.
Getting back to Louise, her walk and Maeghan with us. Mark and Sue joined us for drinks on Friday night. The wine flowed as we listened to music from the 60 's, 70's and 80's; both mark and Jeff collect vinyl records. The next morning Louise was a little tender and did not feel up to a 17 mile walk; but she sent Maeghan off with us assuring us that she would do a shorter walk on her own. I have not asked if she did the walk that day.

The stands for the Newcastle fans face the stands of Peterborough's most ardent fans. They traded pleasantries and waved to each other using a sign language I couldn't quite make out. I'm just glad they were too far away to throw beer bottles.

It was the Saturday before Easter and guess who showed up. Most people seemed to accept that there would be at least one fan come in a bunny costume and left him alone.

There was much speculation about how badly Newcastle would punish Peterborough. Some suggested Newcastle could score 6 or 7 or even 11 goals. Newcastle led the Championship League with 95 points while Peterbourgh was last in the league with 31 points.
We wondered if Joe Lewis, the goalkeeper and captain would show up for the game. But as you can see, he did.

Now this is an interesting time for the fans. A trainer kicks a ball to a player and the player tries to kick it into the net. Most of them miss and come whizzing past you ears. I couldn't believe how fast those balls came flying at us.

Here is Mr Posh, all dressed up in top hat and tails passing out candy to the kids. There was also a walking mattress but it looked pretty pathetic and embarrassing so I skipped it.

The 'experts' may have predicted a blow-out but Peterborough was leading 1-nil by the end of the first half.

Maeghan and Alexander chillin' during half time. Great view of a bunch of old men's butts.

The yellow coats you see are all police officers. We couldn't make out why the descended on the Newcastle fans, but things quieted down rather quickly.

Newcastle went on to win the game 3-2, a much closer result than anticipated, and a very entertaining game even for Peterborough fans.

A quiet ride home on the train with Maeghan anxiously looking for Huntingdon station.

Nothing to say about this, just put it in to embarrass Alexander.