45.
England versus Turkey, then North Oxford Freshers'
bops,
By 1 o'clock the following afternoon, I
had sufficiently recovered from the alcohol consumed at the Toyah
concert to participate in a revitalized Geolsoc XI's
6-2 demolition of St Peters college freshers, made
all the more memorable because, as it was an unseasonably hot day, the female
spectators were wearing summer tops. Dave and I decided to reward ourselves
before the arrival of Ed 'Smiley' Lewis that afternoon with a quick pub visit.
This we did by going for a swift pint in the Jack Russell on a Marston estate, and it is mediocre pub – though we
got a few looks from some tattooed punters. Our pints of Greene King IPA were
below standard so perhaps we should have elected to have drunk the Morland Original instead. The toilets were majestic
however: a quarter circle of porcelain trough. Wondering where to go next, we
popped into the Cavalier on the Northway estate which had no beer, though did
have some lager and some big screens showing the
The time was 4.40 and we were supposed to
meet Ed at 5 so we made a swift move via the flat to the Anchor. Ed had actually
got there at 4.30 in order to secure some seats which was most useful so I sat
down whilst Dave drove to the station to get Phil Cooper who was foolish enough
to chance his luck on the train. Phil arrived and we began to make our way
through the four Wadworths beers on offer, including
the use of jugs. The way to the toilets was quite treacherous, so I went for a
piss by the canal at half time, during which interval Phil manage to spill beer
on the table. After a second half of hurling abuse at the Turks and hoping that
Frank Lampard had come on solely to smack someone in
the face, we left the pub to celebrate the qualification at some fresh venues.
Food was now entering our thoughts, but we
thought that a quick beer break was in order before visiting Ali bab, so we nipped into St Hugh’s
for a swift pint which turned out to be reasonably palatable Tetley's Imperial
and at a super price. A schooldays bop was due to start shortly, and a few female
freshers had arrived a bit early. However, the rather
cavernous bar was still empty, so we adjourned in order to get some solids in
the hope that it would be more lively later. Ali bab presented traditional solid fayre to us, though Phil had to get some money so went to
the cash point whilst Dave ordered for him. A telephone call from Dave to Phil
in order to ascertain sauce choices informed us that Phil had actually popped
into the Duke of Cambridge too, but only for a quick dump. On his return Phil's
newly emptied stomach caused him to eat his bab in double quick time and then, against our
protestations, order some chips which were very hot and he decided that he
didn't want after all, so chucked a good half portion in the bin, how foolish.
Time for more beer, and sadly the bars at
St Anne’s and Green were closed, so we tried to get into St Anthony's. A
bop was starting there and we were going to be charged 2 quid entry by a couple
of Yanks on the door. Not having any of that, we left, via the gate to
Winchester Road, but then discovered that the side entrance of the hall was
wide open and unguarded, so sneaked in, purchased a tin of Carlsberg each, and
then left, shinning over the back gate. Had the bar been properly open, we
might have stayed a bit longer. Cans were nearly drained by the time we had reached
the back entrance to St Hugh’s, so we went back in to join the bop, but
the clientele wasn’t what we were looking for, so we left soon after with
pints in hand.
Last stop was Wolfson
college which was also having a school days bop, DJed by Gareth 'Funmeister'
Funning so had a decent bit of 80s on. Again the beer choice was restricted to pissflow, so we had some of them, from time to time having
to piss in their very cramped toilets. The evening got rather foolish when we
got bored of the music and pulled the table football table out and began to
play loudly. During one of the matches, Dave's pint managed to get spilled over
the entire playing surface, for there was no top to the table, and to drain it,
the opponents tipped the table and the beer ran into one of the goals.
Unfortunately the table was floodlit and the beer must have shorted the table
out so all the lights and music stopped for 5 minutes in the dancefloor area. When this was righted, we decided not to
have the thing plugged in... Eventually, it was time to go, so we sat on the
grass outside. Bored by this we left and got a taxi back to the flat, although
inexplicably, Phil stayed in and went back to
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
Last updated