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  • Wizz Air (Skopje to London Luton)

    Wizz Air (Skopje to London Luton)

    One of the slight annoyances about Skopje Airport is that I couldn’t complete online check-in in advance, I had to go and see a staff member at the Wizz Air check-in desk to check documents. Despite checking, the staff member at the check-in desks for earlier flights couldn’t check my documents, but he did tell me what desk would be opening and when so that I wouldn’t have to wait in a queue when my flight did open.

    It wasn’t the busiest of airports.

    The helpful check-in agent told me to wait at precisely this spot at a particular time. I looked like a very experienced traveller at this point and a number of people started to queue behind me.

    It worked, it meant I was at the front of the queue and was the first one through the security area and that meant I could have more time in the Primeclass lounge. I accept that there’s more to life than a free coffee and beer in an airport lounge, but there’s no point lingering about when that’s available.

    The signage, as ever for Wizz Air, was clear and there wasn’t long to wait despite the aircraft having been delayed.

    The aircraft was G-WUKY and this is the same aircraft that I was on two days before that got me here.

    This will interest no-one other than me, although that’s true for this blog in general, but not only was it the same aircraft but it was also the same row. This photo from my previous flight shows the window seat I had this time, so that’s handy planning in blog imagery terms. Some people arrange their lives around career development, relationships or spiritual growth. I appear to have reached the stage where I am pleased by the efficient reuse of an aircraft seating photograph.

    Wizz Air are very good at keeping the cabin relatively dark on late evening flights, they do their usual run of food and drink, but they did it quietly and try to avoid disturbing passengers. I was happy with my randomly allocated window seat as I fell asleep for half the flight.

    And safely back into London Luton airport and it was pretty much on-time as the padded schedule had enabled them to catch up. Unusually, there were very long queues for non-UK passport holders, I was through the border in under five minutes but it would have been a longer wait for those without UK or EU passports.

    Anyway, this was another £8.99 flight with Wizz Air where I was suitably delighted with the whole arrangement. The aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly, everything was just about on time and it was a stress free experience.

  • Norwich – Bar Billiards (Game 5 – Artichoke Hearts vs Disasterfarians)

    Norwich – Bar Billiards (Game 5 – Artichoke Hearts vs Disasterfarians)

    As my two loyal blog readers might have noticed, I’m in Skopje (well, I’m not now, I’m actually in Pret at London Luton Airport and it’s 03:50 in the morning) and so I couldn’t be at this bar billiards game. I’d note that writing this in an airport terminal with no sleep might add some bleak authenticity to arrangements….

    But I was not concerned, Luke is a very competent vice-captain and I took the view that he’d likely run things with greater efficiency than me anyway. A win-win. Anyway, that means that these are Luke’s photos and so the commentary will be a little less rude than usual.

    Someone had this. I approve as I like to see proper match preparation, especially when it involves a sensible refreshment strategy.

    There’s something shifty going on here, a birthday cake for one of their team, I think that there’s a plan to make us feel guilty about beating someone on their birthday. Emotional manipulation and I’m wondering whether we should try that in a few future games. It actually got worse, it transpired that they claimed they had two birthdays. But, we took them on trust and we decided to throw the singles so that they could win and have a nice birthday party. But we decided we’d try hard in the doubles games. We are perhaps the most charitable team in the league.

    Looks like a nice cake though. I am prepared to overlook quite a lot of sporting misconduct when sponge and icing are involved.

    Terri treated herself to some Rolos, which were very deserved given that she was the only player (on our team obviously, loads of their team had winning singles games) who won her singles game.

    The half time snacks. Very nice and look at those delicious Flumps. There is something deeply reassuring about a league where adults can gather around a bar billiards table and still recognise that a marshmallow-based snack has a role to play in elite sport.

    Look at those doubles’ scores! Some impressive playing I hear, well done to everyone involved in getting those scores. And thanks to Luke the Lion for stepping in, he’s quite good really.

    Well done to the Disasterfarians, I heard that they were a great team with loads of enthusiasm. Indeed, too much bloody enthusiasm. But happy birthday to Davide and Robin (Smith and Bones) on deploying the birthday strategy with such a devastating effect. And I’ll be back for the next match. I wrote that sounding positive, but it reads more like a threat…..

  • Wizz Air (London Luton to Skopje)

    Wizz Air (London Luton to Skopje)

    Another journey from Luton Airport, so another little snack at Big Smoke, this time the hot honey chicken tenders and a 0% Guinness. All very agreeable and a suitably balanced pre-flight meal.

    And that’s the end of Avalon, the little coffee shop, which apparently had closed just a few hours before. It was always a slightly quirky arrangement with some odd food and drink options, limited seating but always friendly staff. There appears to be a new Costa coming, which I can’t say delights me, but if that’s what the passengers of Luton Airport want, then so be it.

    My Lounge and the exciting beer option of 0% Heineken, although you’re only allowed half a bottle at a time. I thought half a bottle was perfectly sufficient.

    For about the first time I can remember, the cutlery was clean here. It wasn’t overly busy, this is a perfectly acceptable arrangement although for those not on Priority Pass or similar scheme, it’s expensive to enter for what is offered.

    “Plane on the way” means that it hasn’t arrived yet, but they’ll start the boarding process. Efficiency is important and all that, although they called the gate ten minutes early which felt aspirational.

    And here it is, sweeping in majestically, which is perhaps overstating the romance of a Wizz Air aircraft at Luton, but one must take glamour where one can find it.

    I have a temporary bag which isn’t very rufty tufty so isn’t going to be used for long on these expeditions, I’ll be repurposing it for LDWA challenge events at some point, where it can enjoy a quieter life being shoved into village halls and checkpoint corners rather than exposed to the brutal glamour of low-cost aviation.

    The aircraft was G-WUKY which is yet another one that I haven’t been on.

    The seating Gods not only gave me an aisle seat, but the other two seats in the row weren’t occupied during the flight.

    The prices are slowly creeping up, but they don’t feel unreasonable.

    And the sandwich prices. These are very much for the more wealthy people, it’s something that my friend Richard would order if on board, as he has the quiet confidence of a man who knows society needs people willing to keep the premium sandwich sector alive. And actually the premium sector everything…..

    Bearing in mind that I had a row to myself, the flight itself was relatively busy. As usual, this was another nicely operated flight with a friendly cabin crew, a clean aircraft and clear announcements from the pilots. No-one applauded when the aircraft landed and there were no issues of note during the flight, so I was once again impressed. Bearing in mind that I had only paid £8.99 for the flight, I felt particularly delighted and the fifteen minute late departure was caught up and we landed five minutes early. That’s the joy of padded schedules…..

    There were no more photos as the whole airport arrangement was far more efficient than I had anticipated. Border control took two minutes as there was no stamping of passports just a vague look inside and the airport was clearly laid out. Unusually for me, as I usually get a cheap bus, I had a shuttle from the hotel and that turned up just as I arrived outside. That means I was in a car within fifteen minutes of landing, so I didn’t have a chance to take photos. This efficiency does, admittedly, leave the blog slightly short of content, which is awkward given that the blog is rarely overburdened with plot at the best of times.

  • Heathrow to London Luton

    Heathrow to London Luton

    Another post for the sake of completion, so there were no major dramas getting from Heathrow to Luton. It was rather odd that I was staying around twenty metres from the country’s major airport and had decided to fly from Luton Airport. Such is the lure of the £8.99 Wizz Air flights. Geographical inconveniences don’t concern me though…..

    It was raining so I decided against walking the one hour to Hayes and Harlington railway station.

    I don’t find buses very exciting, but this was a handy option which only took around ten minutes. I also appreciate that bus content is not traditionally where great travel writing finds its highest expression, but there we go.

    I remember when this was all fields…. Well, I remember it before it was on the Elizabeth Line and it had this fancy frontage anyway.

    I might not love buses, but I do like trains and here’s the Elizabeth Line train sweeping in. I got the train into Farringdon to complete a little task involving free food and then decided that I’d walk the 30 minutes to King’s Cross St Pancras as the rain had stopped. I’m a natural athlete me, albeit one whose sporting career is mostly based around refusing to pay for short tube journeys.

    The delights of St. Pancras, a really rather beautiful shopping centre with some train lines.

    Platform 1 was the train to Corby and that would get me to London Luton Airport Parkway in under 30 minutes. I would add that the rail fare was £4.20 which is rather decent value for money I think bearing in mind I only booked it yesterday.

    One day I’ll find getting trains boring, but for the moment, it still excites and delights.

    In crawls the train…

    I don’t like five seats across as I don’t think trains were originally designed for this, but anyway, it wasn’t that busy. I also provided a free tourist service to the guy who was trying to get to Luton and I didn’t once ask him why he wanted to go to Luton which I think showed considerable restraint and perhaps even personal growth.

    Still the worst managed railway station in the country in my view, but I won’t labour that point as I might have drivelled on several times before about it.

    I walked the twenty minutes to Luton Airport and passed by the Vauxhall building, now closed down and staffed only by security teams and guard dogs.

    And safely at London Luton airport.

    And the longest queues which I’ve seen at London Luton, although, to be fair, I was still through in under 25 minutes and I was hardly in a rush as I had, once again, arrived five hours early for my flight. I can imagine that my two loyal blog readers can hardly contain themselves with excitement for the next post….

  • Harlington – Church of St Peter and St Paul (War Memorial)

    Harlington – Church of St Peter and St Paul (War Memorial)

    This is the war memorial at Harlington church which was designed by Charles Oldrid Scott and unveiled in 1920. At the time it was noted that it stood overlooking the main street so that it would be seen as a reminder for future generations. Harlington has changed somewhat since then, the road has been diverted because the M4 was built across it, the town has been moved out of Middlesex and the war memorial had to be updated with those died in the Second World War and the Korean War. I’m not sure what the friends and family of those who lost their lives would have thought about the changes ahead for their town.

    I was going to pull out just one name, in this case Horace White since that was the nearest to my name, but his name isn’t on the CWGC site and I can’t find out anything about him. There are a few Horace Whites in the wider area, but the only standard search identifies him only from being on this memorial which is all a little circular. So that’s another rabbit hole I’ll have to go down to resolve that to my satisfaction…. Also, more prosaically, I need to get out more.

  • Harlington – Church of St Peter and St Paul

    Harlington – Church of St Peter and St Paul

    Whilst meandering to the hotel last night, I made the effort to walk around the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Harlington for the first time. The church was mostly built in the twelfth century and is mentioned in the Domesday Book, so there was probably a Saxon religious building here as well. The chancel was rebuilt in the fourteenth century, the tower added in the fifteenth, and the porch in the sixteenth, with a Victorian restoration and a new north aisle added in 1880.

    I find this an intriguing building as it was once a country church in a rural setting and now it’s a few hundred metres from Heathrow Airport and around fifty metres from the M4. However, this is what the area looked like around 180 years ago when everything was much more peaceful in this area. I think it’s fair to say that anyone from 180 years ago the main drama would have been someone with strong opinions on turnips compared to today’s A380 or similar flying overhead.

  • Norwich to Heathrow (Skopje Trip)

    Norwich to Heathrow (Skopje Trip)

    I set off for Heathrow yesterday as there was a cheap offer advertised by Accor and, naturally, I hadn’t formed any other plan. This is what travel looked like before people insisted on having itineraries, aims and a vague sense of personal responsibility. Anyway, here’s the train to Stansted Airport which departed on time and without issue. There was no driver until one minute before departure and I was slightly hoping for a delay repay, but it wasn’t to be. I’d add at this stage that there isn’t any fascinating content in this post (not that there usually is), but I like a complete write-up for my own memory. And, imagine, a future historian might query why civilisation failed and they might discover the answer from this blog.

    Safely in Cambridge.

    There was a six minute connection time to get the Great Northern train to King’s Cross and it took me four minutes to cross Cambridge railway station so anyone with accessibility issues would have likely missed it.

    Setting off and the train remained relatively quiet, which made it easier for all the people with seats to keep them there. These trains, similar to Thameslink, don’t have power points but I do like the ironing board seats, although I seem to be about the only person who does.

    I always like arriving into King’s Cross, it’s a beautiful station.

    And safely into Hayes and Harlington railway station using the Elizabeth Line. There’s a decent fair from Norwich to here, it came in at £12 which felt rather reasonable.

    I thought I’d pop to the Botwell Inn, the JD Wetherspoon operated pub located near to the railway station. This real ale went back, it was vinegary on the taste, but the manager was quick at checking it and replacing it. Actually, the manager was very good in general, this always feels like a well-run pub and real ale based issues are inevitably going to occur.

    The replacement beer was the Wolf of the Woods from Twickenham Fine Ales with a biscuity, toffee and nutty taste to it. It also cost only £2.39 a pint which is the usual bargain price from the chain.

    I decided that it might be useful to actually plan my week at this stage, since it was already Sunday evening and I had no idea where I was going. I do know that I needed to be back in Bristol for Friday morning, so I needed a plan to get there cheaply. I decided on a route via Skopje, booked the flights, trains and National Express, ready now for the craft beer festival. I mentioned a few days ago that this is one of the countries that I haven’t visited, so it felt a wise choice.

    Given that I was lingering here, I paid £6.39 for the steak pudding with chips and that included the Guinness 0%. It’s not exactly going to surprise and delight those who like fine dining, but it’s hard to complain too much at that price.

    It was an hour walk to the hotel and this time I decided to have a look at the church in Harlington for the first time, but more of that in a separate post as I don’t want some ecclesiastical masonry interfering with this post.

    Back at the Heathrow Ibis hotel which I’ve stayed at numerous times before. The reason I stayed here is that with the Accor offer it came to £13 for the night, which I thought was reasonable.

    I also get my free welcome drink and here are some of the options.

    Not Magners, but the Eazy from Camden Town Brewery which is growing on me, it’s got flavours of orange, it’s hazy and it’s quite intriguing. That is a pint glass, it’s just that the chair the other side of the table is unusually large.

    A room. This blog really doesn’t fail to delight with riveting content…. But, I arrived here with a plan for the week and that felt like an achievement in itself.

  • Norwich Bar Billiards Doubles Tournament August 2026

    Norwich Bar Billiards Doubles Tournament August 2026

    This is another one of my good ideas. Well, hopefully….. 12 teams and an exciting event on 22 August 2026 at the Artichoke. There will be four mini leagues of three teams each (and Luke from the Artichoke Hearts has checked this as I need adults to check things like this) and the winner of each league goes through to the semi-finals.

    It’ll raise money for charity and there will be some extra excitement during the day as if all these bar billiards games aren’t enough! Every entrant will get two games and if they’re really good, they’ll get more 🙂

    12 TEAMS

    TEAM 1 : Julian & Luke

    TEAM 2 : Vaughan & PJ

    TEAM 3 : Terri & Kirsty

    TEAM 4 : John Ames & Jack Ames

    TEAM 5 : Pete Brown & Zak

    TEAM 6 : Dave Brewer & Phil Myhill

    TEAM 7 : Roy Dunford & Guy Wheeler

    TEAM 8 : Oscar Gerdes & Ian Stamp

    TEAM 9 : Chip & David

    TEAM 10 : Oli & Dennis

    TEAM 11 : Sharpy & Someone

    TEAM 12 : Another Sharpy & Someone

    …….

    Please email jw@julianwhite.uk to reserve a space and payment will be needed by 15 July 2026.

    For anyone bored, here are some more of my ‘riveting’ bar billiards posts…..

  • Chatham – Historic Dockyard Chatham (The Namur – The Ship Hidden Under the Floorboards)

    Chatham – Historic Dockyard Chatham (The Namur – The Ship Hidden Under the Floorboards)

    In 1995, workers at the Chatham Historic Dockyard lifted the floorboards of the Wheelwright’s Shop for what should have been routine maintenance. Instead, they found themselves standing above what would turn out to be one of the most significant naval archaeological discoveries since the Mary Rose. Beneath seven layers of flooring lay some 245 giant timbers that had lain undiscovered for over a century and they had been placed there deliberately in an attempt to preserve them for posterity. Effectively, someone decided that the best way to deal with a 90-gun warship was to bury a large part of it under a shed.

    After working out what boat someone had hidden, the vessel was eventually identified as HMS Namur, a second-rate ship of the line launched at Chatham in 1756. She was captained for a while by Charles Austen, the brother of Jane Austen, and crewed by Olaudah Equiano, an important figure in the abolishment of the slave trade. The Namur served with the Royal Navy for 47 years and participated in nine fleet actions, including the Battle of Lagos in 1759, which saw the destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet and left invasion plans in tatters. She also saw the capture of Havana in 1762, the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797 and the Battle of Cape Ortegal in 1805. This was all a symbol of British naval superiority, it’s not an entire surprise that someone wanted to save it.

    The mystery of why the timbers ended up beneath the floorboards of the Wheelwright’s Shop remains unsolved, though there are suspicions. It is possible that the preservation and hiding of as much fabric as possible from the Namur was officially sanctioned by the Captain Superintendent of Chatham Dockyard, James Alexander Gordon, who had served on the ship during the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. Recycling was commonplace at the dockyards and broken up bits of wood were often scattered around the site, but they weren’t usually carefully arranged in one place and hidden. Some people suggested that the wood was used as supports for the building above, but most of them aren’t actually supporting anything and everything is rather carefully laid out.

    The Namur was broken up in 1833 and it is 10% of the frame that has been found underneath the floor. Most of the Namur was recycled or destroyed at the time, but it is rather lovely that all of this has survived. It has presented the museum a problem in what to do with all of this heap of wood, so they’ve made the sensible decision to just leave it there. This was all one of my favourite things at the museum, a heap of wood someone has hidden for reasons unknown and I like odd storage decisions.

  • Wizz Air (Dortmund to London Luton Part II)

    Wizz Air (Dortmund to London Luton Part II)

    Carrying on from my previous post, I had settled into the gate area that was past border control and I had gone through the EES (European entry/exit system) and had my passport stamped. My flight was late and then there was an announcement that the flight was now on time and it would be departing from Gate 3. This was fine, until I realised that this gate was in the Schengen area of the airport and I no longer was. This presented me with a problem. I was now on the wrong side of border control, which is not generally where I want to be when an aircraft is quietly preparing to leave without me.

    So, I decided to go back to the border guard staff and mention the situation. They were helpful and told me that this was something of a mess, but they allocated me a police officer who walked me to my gate and around the newly opened border control area for the new gate.

    This was the scene until around shortly before boarding, as many other passengers hadn’t realised that they were now at the wrong gate. And, soon after this, there was something of a deluge of stressed looking passengers and numerous police officers who I assume had pro-actively rounded everyone up they had realised were in the wrong place. I think that everyone boarded the flight, but the queue for border control was thirty deep when boarding commenced.

    With that, it was time for me to board at least. It’s aircraft 9H-WNV, which is yet another Wizz Air aircraft that I hadn’t been on.

    Passengers were trickling on rather than the usual rush. The seating Gods had given me a window seat for the 80 minute flight and this was unusually for Wizz Air an aircraft that hadn’t really been cleaned from the last passengers. I think that this was more to do with Wizz Air trying to cut the delay so that we departed on time even thought the aircraft was late in, so more about efficiency than anything else.

    And there’s the aircraft I just disembarked from and I knew that this was my last flight for around a month, something I felt friends gave me insufficient sympathy for. Anyway, this was another £8.99 flight from Wizz Air with Multipass and it was smooth, efficient and the cabin crew were friendly as usual. The boarding process was a little sub-optimal, but I take into account the fare that I’ve paid and I can cope without jazz bands, champagne, silk cushions and whatever else decadent passengers might want. I also had some good news that my train from London King’s Cross to Ely was cancelled which meant I arrived into Norwich 75 minutes late and so got the entire £22 rail fare back.