I arrived at The Hurdlemakers early and after some faffing in the garden entered the bar. Another cyclist was sat with his back to me so I plonked my stuff down on the table next to him. The other cyclist looked over at me and imagine my surprise when I realised he was Del … with hair!
Tomsk then turned up looking reassuringly like the last time I saw him. As Del recounts, weighty topics were earnestly discussed although at one point Tomsk had to go to the bar to tell the pretty blonde barmaid all about cycling – I’m sure she was impressed, who wouldn’t be?
Ways were parted with Del heading back down south to those balmy trade winds, palm trees and girls in grass skirts whilst Tomsk and I headed north to The Cats. Given that I had only just recovered from the shock of Del’s hair I was ill prepared to deal with another mind blower – Wally was as cheerful as you like and mega chatty! He greeted us like long lost sons and told us all about his 30 years at The Cats and how he used to be the landlord at The Hurdlemakers and The Cherry Tree in Rochford.
Got home 15 minutes before midnight after a very pleasant evening. Many thanks and much love to Del and Tomsk.
NB: I will have to post a snap of Del’s hair later as photobucket is down, routine maintenance or some such nonsense.
