Whatever I might have done during week 11 got shelved on the Monday mid-morning when I decided to do an air-step on my way through to the kitchen – I over stretched my knee ligaments as a result🙄 A week of resting the leg was the outcome. Even now there is a slight twinge when walking down stairs. It did have one positive benefit, allowing me to concentrate on playing Fishing Planet and getting together the screenshots I needed for my intro series blog-posts.
By Saturday I was fit enough to go to Wingate & Finchley’s home match vs Hashtag United. It was a match during which there were not many nice photographic opportunities despite the lovely weather. Here’s a little bit of defensive action with Camillo putting in a careful challenge while Billy and Charlie watch from the goalmouth…
…We scored, then they scored… That sums it up – I don’t know how our match reporter was able to squeeze five paragraphs out of it! Even Ahmet, our Manager, said it was a horrible game to watch. But a draw was a good result against a side that has been a bit of a bogey team for us 👍
Week 12 began slowly with some household chores to manage. It wasn’t until Thursday that I was able to venture forth onto the rail network. It was a lovely day with the temperature climbing to 20 degrees at lunchtime. I gravitated onto the North London Line and station-hopped from Highbury & Islington to Hackney Central and on to Hackney Wick.
I haven’t done any photography at Hackney Wick before so it was good try to catch some freight shots there. But first, here’s one of the Mildmay Line trains arriving…
…378204 with a Clapham Junction to Stratford service. First of the freights was an eastbound Garston to Felixstowe North intermodal with 66585 in charge…
…After which there were 4 westbound freights due though. Here’s 66115 on the Bow Depot to Heck Plasmor…
…coming up the slope from Lea Junction. 66516 followed with an empty spoil train bound for Wembley. 66513 would be next to tackle the climb…
…working a London Gateway to Leeds intermodal. After this the next Stratford bound service to arrive was formed of 710375 – the last of the 710/3’s that I need for haulage, so I decided to ride that rather than waiting for the fourth freight (which we then passed on the way).
At Stratford I digressed briefly from photographing trains to catching this young Lady contemplating life over a drink while waiting for her train…
There were the usual string of lunchtime freights to be photographed – The Masborough to London Gateway turning up the only new locomotive of the day for me in 66756…
A pleasant surprise in the early afternoon: The Norwich to Liverpool Street express was formed of 3 class 755’s, led by 755332…
…with ‘420 & ‘413. I wanted all three of them! 😎
I stayed just long enough to record one last freight before heading for home via Liverpool Street, Farringdon and Kentish Town. The day had one last surprise for me. My Northern Line train home at Kentish Town was formed of 51591 & ’92 – the last two units of 1995 stock I needed to log for the set 😀👌 Tally for the day: 174 logged of which I needed 10 and I picked up 4 new for haulage.
Friday was an unplanned expedition. I needed to do a 3 mile walk for a badge on my Garmin. I had sponsored Andy and Billy from the football club for a Charity walk that they were doing on behalf of the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation – The walk was called March of the Day II and was routing between various London football grounds. I realised that I could slot into the walk as it passed through Finchley Central on the way to Wingate & Finchley and then walk with Andy & Billy to provide moral support for part of the next leg to Tottenham Hotspur. Suffice to say that having got walking I didn’t bale at Arnos Grove or Green Lanes as I intended, but continued through to the Tottenham stadium. Over 7 miles in total for me! Add in a walk out with Epi in the evening for a meal and I did over 28k steps in the day!
Saturday saw a return to the tracks to attend our away match at Billericay Town which meant passing through Stratford once more. On the way out from Liverpool Street I saw 710125 passing Bethnal Green, the last 710 I needed to log for the complete class. A good start to the day. Then, when I stopped at Stratford for a pre-game lunch I got a shot of 66587…
…working a Garston to Felixstowe North intermodal. I’ve been wanting to get a decent shot of the ‘Pink’ locomotive for a long time – My second piece of good fortune for the day…
Chatting in the bar at Billericay with Tom and Paul I mentioned these pieces of good luck and we agreed that just maybe the 3rd would be a win that afternoon. However, the game didn’t start well with Billericay scoring from a free kick just 5 mins into the match…
…It couldn’t have been a better placed strike and I commented at the time that ‘Ricay’s player probably wouldn’t ever score another that good in his lifetime. Well, he had 3 more freekick opportunities in the match and put them all over the bar which suggests I was right 🤣
The match was hard fought throughout and there was some good football to be enjoyed. Here’s ex-Wingate Eliot Long having a tussle with Toby Byron…
…and Zack Newton getting clattered by their No.4…
Midway through the half Ore Bello scored our equalizer and, just before halftime, gave us the lead…
The second half was quite end to end with both sides creating few clear cut chances. The one good equalizing opportunity for Billericay was headed straight into Charlies gloves. By the 80th minute there was a steady stream of home fans leaving the ground as their team didn’t look like breaking down our defensive resolve. Then the sucker punch – A long clearance freed up Ogo Obi who, as a late substitute and having spent most of the game on the bench, had more than enough spare energy to outrun the ‘Ricay keeper and a defender before putting the ball in the net to make the final result 3-1…
Did Mr Chairman look happy!…
…A very enjoyable game of football which was closer than the scoreline suggests 👍
The trip home proved to be somewhat fraught due to trespassers on the tracks near Bethnal Green (perhaps they needed 710125 for their collection?). Initially terminating short at Shenfield because of the situation, our train was allowed to proceed towards Liverpool Street. When it reached Stratford, it was once again held and I decided to decamp and take the Mildmay Line. But there was some sort of issue going on with that as well – I didn’t find out what. With the Elizabeth Line crowded and lots of Egg-Chaser fans arriving from a Saracens match at Tottenham, I decided to take to the Central Line and wander my way home from there. It turned into a bit of a haulage fest as I chopped and changed lines. All unplanned but fun regardless. Tally for the day: 1 Away Win, 88 logged of which I needed 3 and 8 new for haulage!
Who knows what next week will bring 😎👍
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