Jen and I were down in London for the weekend, primarily for a Saturday night gig. We were staying in Camden, which made it easy enough to walk down to Soho early morning. We’d signed up for the ‘In the City’ tour, which is run by Paul Weller’s sister, old mate and biographer. That’s three people, rather than one.
It was very good, calling at a few recording studios, including Solid Bond. Some defunct and some still going gig venues, as well as what was the highlight for me, the Apple building where The Beatles did their rooftop concert. It’s smaller than it seems in the footage, so no wonder the noise carried easily down to street level.
After lunch I took the tube out to Leyton, for the League One fixture between Leyton Orient and Rotherham United. Leyton seems ok, with lots of Victorian/Edwardian terraced houses that I imagine probably go for a couple of million quid.
There was a statue of former Orient player Laurie Cunningham, who had previously got a mention on that morning’s music venue tour. Apparently, he was a regular at some daytime disco on Wardour Street in the seventies.
I’d bought my match ticket online in advance for the East Stand, which looks to be the oldest of the four seating options. Even though I’d had my lunch, I couldn’t resist a pre-match snack of that East End staple, pie, mash and liquor. I’m more familiar than most with pie and mash, but liquor was new to me. I don’t see its appeal spreading northwards though, as it is a watery, tasteless green gravy.
I’d looked up the players at each club that morning and was pleased to see that former Boro players AJ Matthews and Aaron Connolly currently play for Orient, whilst Duncan Watmore and Jordan Hugill are on Rotherham’s books.
The fixture meant little to Rotherham, who had already been relegated earlier in the week, but Orient were still in a four-way scrap to avoid the drop. The people around me were nervous and saw the fact that Rotherham had nothing to play for as a bad sign.
They were correct to be pessimistic as an away goal in each half clinched the points that were no longer of any benefit to the visitors and made an Orient relegation more likely.
Of the ex-Boro players, the was no sign of Matthews or Watmore, whilst Hugill didn’t get off the bench. Aaron Connolly came on as a sub in the second half for Orient to the kind of reception reserved for players who have been missing for a while and whose reputation has grown during their absence. He tried to make things happen but was hampered by being just as fucking useless as he was for us. Maybe if Orient do go down, he might find his level.
Trail of the Lion King 