by SnookerFan » 18 Apr 2016 Read
My Crucible trip, so far.
Arrived Friday.
New hotel easy enough to find, came in and ordered a pizza for my dinner and a pint. The pizza was lovely, but the pint tasted like somebody had wanked into a glass. Awful. Tried the pub next door, pretty chavvy even for those of us used to Croydon pubs. Beer not much better. Went to the hotel I usually stayed in, gatecrashed the bar. They still don't sell pints, or evening meals. Had a bottle of budweiser, and decided to find a good hotel next year.
Saturday.
Watched the 10am session of Bingham vs Carter. Bit slow moving at times. Thought about asking if they had any Maguire returned tickets. Decided I couldn't be bothered, watched it outside on the big screen. The Old Monk has changed it's name, and is now a really, really rubbish pub. Waited ages to be served, missed an entire frame of Maguire match and ended up just grabbing a pint from Crucible Corner instead. They had the Eurosport player streaming the Mags match to a big screen. A nice tough, I felt. Went back outside and drank my pint watched the match. Ended up having a Burger in The Graduate for dinner.
Watched the end of Bingham vs Carter, the last frame was an epic tussle. Was tired, and a bit beery. Flipped between enjoying the match, and being so tired I wanted to die.
Sunday.
Being that I was off work Friday, I was confused as to what day it was. Got a text off of Sundaygirl telling me how jealous she was that I was watching Walden. After four frames, I texted her back saying the match sucked, or some such. marmite match.
Quick pint between sessions, went into Mags and McManus. Rob Walker talked of a big announcement. The big announcement was Steve Davis had retired. I applauded him, as he's a legend, but found his running around with the trophy a bit naff. Still, Steve is Steve. Legend. Nipped out after frame 11 for a snake hiss, and watched frame 12 in the foyer. It lasted 40 minutes, I got impatient. Got back in, and it speeded up a bit. Was in two minds about whether to try for Williams vs Dott. Decided to watch it in the hotel with a few beers. Snuck some tinnies into my room, instead of having that snake hiss wáter that passes for a pint here. Ended up coming to the hotel bar at MSI anyway, having a bottle instead and got talking to the nice lady on the bar. I did brave a pint at the end, but didn't even taste nice in my drunken state. I put it down and spilled half of it. Luckily the barmaid found it amusing, and I made a few jokes about the beer being so disgusting I had to throw it all away. It wasn't far off. After the session finished, and realising I'd got no idea who won frame 9 because I'd been telling the barmaid a funny story about my gran, I decided it was time for bed. I went to offer my hand for a handshake to said barmaid, but she didn't clock what I was doing. So I came a bit close to looking like I was stroking her hand.
Today, I am in the first session of the John Higgins match. Annoyingly that finishes as I am travelling home tomorrow. Kind of wished I'd have watched last night's match inside The Crucible, but hey ho. I have the final few frames of Mark Williams match today. Will attend that. I have no intention of seeing the Walden match. Zzzzzz. I'll be back in the bar tonight. Nothing like a hangover when you have a four hour coach ride tomorrow.