Rutland columnist Allan Grey visits Bath to watch Leicester Tigers play - but he still hasn’t been to Newcastle
Do you have a reputation, something your friends know about you, something that amuses them, something they constantly rib you about? I do, writes Rutland columnist Allan Grey.
I have a reputation for being widely travelled, justifiably, having spent over 20 years travelling the globe, visiting countries and cities around the world, a grand total of 153 cities in over 100 countries. There are however a several towns and cities in the UK that have evaded my wanderlust and most notable among them is Newcastle. Nope, never been to Newcastle, although I did shoot past a signpost to Newcastle just last week on my way home down the A1 from ‘up north’ - the closest I’ve ever been.
Readers of my columns will also be aware of my passion for alliteration, and actively anticipate all Allan’s able attempts at amusing anecdotes. Well that’s dealt with A, but now, returning to travel, let’s alliterate with the letter B, and although I’ve visited Beijing, Bethlehem and Buenos Aires and 14 other ‘B cities’, I’ve never visited Belfast, Bristol or Bangor. I have however been making up for lost time in the last couple of weeks on the ‘B home front’ visiting both Bamburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed as part of a Rutland Velo club cycle tour of the North-east coast with my elderly lycra clad mates, and last weekend visiting the beautiful city of Bath with a good friend.
I had visited Bath before, on both occasions to watch Tigers play Bath at The Wreck, sorry The Rec. Well it is far and away the least well appointed rugby stadium in the Premiership, albeit beautifully located in the centre of the city. Last weekend it was fun, the sun was shining on the open terrace where we had seats, unlike previous times when torrential rain had been lashing down on several thousand of us totally unsheltered terrace seated supporters. This season Bath are the runaway league leaders with Tigers in second place, both looking likely to nail down a home semi-final in the playoffs and so quite conceivably could meet one another again in the Twickenham final in June.
Having lived in Rutland for more than 45 years, I know a lot of people, quite a few of whom support the Tigers. My good friend challenged me to find someone I knew, but after repeatedly scanning the crowds, particularly those in Tigers shirts as we strolled amongst the joyous pre-match gathering, I could find no-one I recognised.
We started to make our way to our seats, my friend trotting off to the loo, when I noticed two Tigers supporters, a man with his son, waiting for his wife doing likewise as it turned out. I introduced myself: “Excuse me guys, I’m Allan and I want to impress my friend that I have met someone I know, so when they reappear can you greet me like a long lost friend, and if you let me have your names, I’ll do the same with you.” Father and son were sufficiently amused to go along with this juvenile scam, all three of us waiting with baited breath for the moment of return.
The first returnee was the wife and mother, and then my friend a few minutes later, and as us three blokes loudly enacted the ‘hail fellow, well met’ scam, it immediately transpired that my good friend knew all three of them from way back, far better than I did given our mere five minute acquaintance. Just another example of the small world we live in, but sufficient for all five of us to have a jolly good chuckle at the somewhat bizarre coincidence before going to watch Tigers get trounced.
On match day morning we had visited Bath Abbey, scaling the Tower and taking in the magnificent views across the ancient city. From the tower the famous Roman Baths are visible, or at least the manky green pool in the centre of the ruins. The following day a visit to the Baths as well, learning much about the natural hot spring that the Romans developed, using their amazing engineering skills to create a bath and spa that would comfort, cure and cleanse the local population.
The genesis of the baths was the hot thermal spring that emerged from far below ground level at temperatures up to 96°, continuing to do so to this day. When the banished Prince Bladud, living as a swineherder, noticed in the 9th century BC that his pigs seemed to be cured of their warts and sores after wallowing in the steamy swamp of the spring, he jumped in himself, reappearing without a blemish, instantly curing himself of his leprosy, and thus being accepted back into his father Ludhudibras’s court. As a consequence the city of Bath was developed around the thermal spring. Although we didn’t witness any curative submersions whilst we were there, it was clear that bathing was very important in Roman society.
It was a fascinating weekend, learning just a little of the long history of Bath, the widespread and elegant Georgian architecture, exemplified by The Royal Crescent and its history as a spa town from Roman times, demonstrating that you don’t have to travel the world to embrace some amazing history.
Now, moving onto C, I’ve visited Calgary, Cape Town and Cologne, and in the UK, Cardiff and Cambridge, but there’s still Coventry, Colchester and Canterbury to get to grips with if I’m to impress my mates that I’m learning a little more about my homeland, how exciting is that?
