We were making one of our regular trips to London for the weekend and had two main events planned. The first was to finally see The Mousetrap at St Martin’s Theatre. We had talked about it for quite a while, although it had never been on my to do list, Jill has always been an Agatha Christie fan so I gave in and agreed to go. I found the play entertaining, but with a plot that contained more holes than a student’s jumper. Never understood why it has run for so long… and still don’t!
As a reward for me putting up with this however; Jill had treated me to a guided tour of Lord’s, the holy home of cricket. It’s one of those places that as a cricket fan, I knew so well. Although I’d never been there, I had seen the ground and it’s interior so many times on TV.
I was afraid that Jill might find the tour a bit dry and boring, but even she was entertained by the history of the place, and the stories of some of the people who had passed through these famous rooms.
There’s a small museum full of cricketing memorabilia, including the original Ashes urn presented in a reinforced and alarmed case. Here is where the guide introduced us to the beginning of his story.
We then walked through the famous ‘long room’ where players have to walk through the members throng before taking to the field. Then up the many stairs to the changing rooms to see the honours boards, where centurions and demon bowlers have their names written in gold lettering.
Although as I say, I had seen most of this on TV, it was still really exciting to be here personally. I generally don’t get excited about things but this affected me far more than I thought it would. To follow in the steps of some of my cricketing heroes, and to sit in their places in the dressing rooms and players balconies was a real honour. Jill was only disappointed that she didn’t get to sit in Stuart Broad’s seat!
After posing for photos overlooking the pitch, we were then guided down to the stands to get a closer look at the ground. Unfortunately we were not allowed to go onto the pitch, but I did manage to reach through the railings to get a touch of the hallowed turf!
To finish the tour, we visited the amazing media centre which afforded a fantastic view of the whole ground. It was strange to see it completely empty, as I’m used to seeing it full of reporters on TV. It was still good to be here though and to round off a really interesting visit to place I’ve long wanted to get to.
Perhaps one day, I might actually return to see England play here!