...in Reading!
Beestlings and I were heading south this morning for a quick drop-in on Grandma (about all she has the stamina for these days.) Since we had the chariot for transport, I chose the marginally more involving Reading-Basingstoke-Alton route to the A3 over the dreary Bracknell-Bagshott-Aldershot-Puttenham one.
Mistake. We ran into this:
readinghalfmarathon.com
Not a problem in itself, we thought - once we'd realized what was happening - not much traffic about early on a Sunday morning, so we'll follow the diversions around the closed-off roads.
Only we found that the exit from the road we were on - A33 South towards the kicky-ball ground - had been closed before the entrance to it. So we and a couple of hundred other cars were trapped there for an hour and a half while the race ran its course.
Now I've no problem with public events closing roads. But what kind of left-hand-right-hand-bottom-elbow idiocy lets traffic into a road it won't be able to get out of?
By the time we were released, there wasn't time to get to the coast and back, so we simply went home. Nice morning to be out, but what a waste of everyone's time.
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Had an exceptionally enjoyable morning/luncheon beer and burger at
www.brooklandsmuseum.com/index.php?/events/details/brooklands-mini-day3/
no traffic jams.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 3 Apr 16 at 16:50
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>> Had an exceptionally enjoyable morning/luncheon beer and burger at
>>
>> www.brooklandsmuseum.com/index.php?/events/details/brooklands-mini-day3/
>>
That would explain the succession of (proper) Minis whizzing past our house today, and not just the lovely spring weather.
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Ahhh... I saw two "proper" minis on Friday on the A329M. They are really small!!! Maybe connected to the above...
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They were doing the Iron Man thing around our way a few years ago. Living then just off the main road that was closed for a three hours or so was irritating.
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And what a picturesque part of reading to be stuck in... :p
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Are there good bits then?
All this, of course, meant I missed my appointment for a chance meeting with a Tesla product manager over the chargers at Waitrose. Bother.
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>> Are there good bits then?
To see Reading at its best you need to watch it shrink in your rear view mirror.
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>To see Reading at its best you need to watch it shrink in your rear view mirror.
Heading towards Basingstoke?
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ooo, rock and a hard place.
Still, it is Reading at its best, even if the view through the windscreen is pretty dire.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 3 Apr 16 at 19:22
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Leave Basingstoke out of this ! - Very much under-rated
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I have cousins who lives in Tadley. They think Basingstoke is posh.
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I also have cousins in Tadley. They do not think Basingstoke is posh. They think Newbury is posh.
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>I have cousins who lives in Tadley. They think Basingstoke is posh.
Basingstoke is the chav mothership for Tadley.
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I worked in Basingstoke for a few years, enjoyed it, you got the delight of leaving every day.
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Not sure if I've ever been to Basingstoke, and I have been to most UK locations at some time or another, but can't remember going there anyway. Have been to Slough many times, that was frankly underwhelming but a very large online retailer used to have their headquarters there so it was necessary to visit the place often. Perhaps I should visit Basingstoke, you never know, sometimes when you kiss a frog...
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>> you never know, sometimes when you kiss a frog...
You get warts. Or as it is known in Basingstoke, STD.
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Or as it is known in Basingstoke, lucky.
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Never been there. I see it has a John Lewis and. A Waitrose so can't be that bad can it?
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>> Never been there. I see it has a John Lewis and. A Waitrose so can't
>> be that bad can it?
Its not a proper John Lewis.
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In what way is it improper?
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>> In what way is it improper?
Its a "JLP at home" corner of Waitrose.
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Ah right thanks, although tbh i don't know the difference between the two, can't remember the last time I went to a John lewis.
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It's a bit up from Poundland and Lidl though. Sounds posh to me.
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>> sometimes when you kiss a frog...
...you find you've chosen the one with hairy armpits....... 8-(
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I know what you mean about the hairy armpit thing, but back around 1980 there was this French girl...Oh look never mind, it was a very long time ago...
;-))
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....late 1960s, Newquay.......
....do the scars still show after all this time?
Don't worry about it old chap - I'm sure there are also (a few) people who like Basingstoke, despite...........
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Basingstoke has some remarkable history. The Church that was used as an armoury during the Civil War...the railway bridge with the shooting slits built as a last stand in WW2...the canals and railways....
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..the
>> canals and railways....
Canal, Singular, was cut off and drained in the late 1920s when the tunnel fell in. The rest of the canal was restored in the late 90s, the basingstoke end was left cut off.
Some say bats are to blame, but 30 miles of surrey and hampshire residents paid a pretty penny to ensure.......
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>Basingstoke has some remarkable history.
Rob, will you please stop singing the praises of Basingstoke. Don't you see what you are doing?
The place will soon be full of dodgy salesmen flogging shoes out of the back of an estate car!
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You know me and the underdog ! I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue had a vitriolic word or two to say about the place..
Oh, whilst I'm at it - whoever designed the shopping precinct - a drab grey almost brutalist concrete box - clearly had a heart and soul, one of the exits perfectly frames St Michael's Church in a really most attractive way. I really like to think that this was done deliberately...I have a photo somewhere.
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>..one of the exits perfectly frames St Michael's Church in a really most attractive way.
>I really like to think that this was done deliberately...I have a photo somewhere.
It was done that way with the expectation that, some day, Top Gear would want to get a Corvette in there without a crane.
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>> >> Are there good bits then?
>>
>> To see Reading at its best you need to watch it shrink in your rear
>> view mirror.
>>
The IDR really is a sight to behold ☺ï¸
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Almost got trapped in Malham today. Left chez LL @ 8:30 thru Settle over Malham Moor to find crowds of tourists at 11:30 in upper Malhamdale. Drizzle & low cloud cleared, the sun put its hat on so wandered via Janet's Foss & Cove to return home eight hours later. Never seen as many people , or D of E groups, wandering around.
That J Bradbury aired a programme Friday evening which resulted in today's crowds. It was like a Bank Holiday x 2. Amazing the effect a 30 minute TV programme has on an areas popularity.
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>> Are there good bits then?
>>
>> All this, of course, meant I missed my appointment for a chance meeting with a
>> Tesla product manager over the chargers at Waitrose. Bother.
>>
Not an appointment, a chance meeting in a car park....oh, hang on, that doesn't sound sound right.... :O Although, in Reading I'm pretty sure a chance meeting in a car park probably involves an old BMW with lowered suspension, blacked out windows and the acquisition of illegal substances ;)
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We-ell ... Four years probably seems old next to your Audi. And it does have 'sports' suspension. No darkened windows, though, which is why the only substances we acquired were the chocolate biscuits we'd bought to take with us.
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>> We-ell ... Four years probably seems old next to your Audi. And it does have
>> 'sports' suspension. No darkened windows, though, which is why the only substances we acquired were
>> the chocolate biscuits we'd bought to take with us.
>>
Haha :But that does depend which one; one is a year old,the other 22 years old!!
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>> ........the chocolate biscuits we'd bought to take with us.
>>
....biscuits? To Reading?
Oh, how times have changed.
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Through Reading, T&E. Fox's; not sure where those come from.
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...distinctly Northern, WDB.
As it happens, I was at my daughter's at the weekend (can you do us some electrical work, Dad?).
Ate out in Newbury on Fri and Sat nights, and she and her partner had 'emergency' shopping to do in Reading on Sunday, so we left early.
She'd just worked out as we left that access was going to be a pain, and was planning (by reference to the closures on the Half-Marathon website) the best method of getting into the centre.
Not spoken since, so I'm not sure if your experience was shared.
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>> Only we found that the exit from the road we were on - A33 South
>> towards the kicky-ball ground - had been closed before the entrance to it.
Can't quite work out what you're saying here. You were on the A33 southbound, presumably still north of the Madjetski stadium (also available for eggy-huggy as well as kicky-bally)? And you couldn't get off it because the exit was blocked and you couldn't turn around? Is that it? As you say, pretty poor form to have let you go down it in the first place.
Gratified to hear that you find Reading more scenic than Bracknell though. There are nicer bits to be stuck in than the A33 by the sewage works and the tip, of course.
www.picturesofengland.com/user/elever/pictures//England/Berkshire/Caversham_Court_Gardens
www.reading.ac.uk/merl/
loddonbrewery.com/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbury_Gardens
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Abbey
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I didn't say 'scenic', I said 'involving' - and even that doesn't really begin until out of Reading and across the M4.
We were level with Coopers BMW and - I now know from Google Maps - opposite the sewage works. Fortunately that wasn't evident at the time, although it was to the west of us; wind must have been easterly.
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That sewage works doth pong no longer. It is all indoor and gases are controlled internally and not vented. The Whitley Whiff is no more.
Sometimes you do get a funny whiff driving down there, but that's the rubbish tip.
That Coopers is the biggest BMW showroom in the country, I've heard.
Bad form that they let you down there rather than forcing you off/turning you round at the previous junction.
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Btw, WDB, did you come across Caversham bridge or Reading bridge? There's a big electronic matrix sign on Cav bridge which should have warned of the closure. Don't know if there is one on Reading bridge, I don't go that way often.
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Caversham. Didn't see a matrix sign but wasn't looking for one so who knows what I missed?
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There is one on Caversham Bridge, just after the Crown pub on the left. Look out for it next time, it's usually quite reliable with pertinent info regarding road closures etc.
And if you ever are passing and fancy a cup of tea, and a guided tour of a famous SAAB........
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Trapped... - Zero
