[Archived] Wow, What A Visit!

[Hypo-Luxa]

Right-o, I suppose this could/should be in the ICBINF side of things, but whatever, I want to let everyone know how absolutely grand of a time I had not only in Blackburn but England as a whole. I was able to meet a few boradmembers who were wonderful to chat with and who were wonderful in opening up their homes and ther like for my wife and I.

First off, the first glimpse of Rovers en vivo was agaionst Chelsea. I battled through jet-lag and a VERY moody missus as a result of the dreaded 'lag to meet up with some diehard Rovers fans. I found it almost too depressing to bear when I went up to the Chelsea ticket window to retrieve my tickets only to be rebuffed. Travel 4,500 miles to see me Rovers and getting turned away! I was not in good spirits. But luckily Big John who like our very own Jordan travels to every game (and even the Ressie's!) told me how most Rovers tickets come later wjtth the Coach. My hope for the day was restored! The game was great, though! The Away fans were in good voice out-singing the home crowd, at least it seemed to me! And I finally got to join in with the Friedel chants and the "Where were you when you were sh!t" (my personal fave) chants as well as singing the great No, Nay Never. And lo and behold Mourinho gets sacked or whatever...I will take the credit for that, thank you very much!

The next few days the missus and I putter around the great city of London seeing the sights, tearing our poor feet to shreds with all the walking, but enjoying every bit of it! Also got to meet up with Tris, who was great company, for a pint. Then it was off to the land of the Scouse..

Liverpool is...umm...not London. I guess we were spoiled by the environs of London, and the walks up and down the Thames. But to be fair, the weather was gray, the construction was everywhere and that accent...oof...I think I had a very good understanding of the Londoners and later the Lancastrians, but those Scouse were tough to follow! Watching Red Dwarf through the years I thought would prepare me, but not even close. Thursday comes along and I buy my ticket for Everton-Dinamo Kharkiv looking forward to watching a good game of footy as a casual fan of the game....Then the scores from the other English teams in the UEFA come on and I become utterly depressed and despondent all at once. Losing to Larissa 0-2!!! I couldn't believe it! Well the Everton game was not without it's own excitment and luckily it allowed me to forget about Rovers' unfortunate result for a few minutes here and there. The next day, off to Blackburn!

Taking the train to Preston, then to Blackburn I could notice a definite change in the landscape. NOW I was seeing the rural countryside I had always envisioned of England. Rolling pastures with sheep grazing about, hedge lined roads traversing the undulating fields of green, it was like a picturebook. And even the approach to Blackburn was never as depressing as some would have me to believe! I have seen some pretty depressing towns (I've had rural Vietnam, Russia, Mexico and the Deep South here in the States as my frame of reference) and Blackburn was never anything close to depresssing! Sure it was no High Street Kensington, but who cares! At any rate we check into the Fernhurst (the best hotel of our trip!) and go say hello to Uncle Jack, visit the club shop which lived up to it's reputation as being quite spare in it's selection, and get shown the town by Mr. and Mrs. Roversmum! Wonderful to see Brockhall and the great facilities Uncle Jack provided for our Rovers! By the way, Mr. and Mrs. Roversmum were great hosts. Recommend to anyone who might not know them to say hello at the next home match. Wonderful couple they are!

Saturday rolls around and missus Hypo-Luxa is pining to see some castles, so off we go to Lancaster! Nice little town that turned out to be. We could've spent the whole day there, actually, but in order to maximize our time we had to hoof it to Clitheroe to see the other castle in the area. Not nearly as exciting as the Lancaster Keep, but for us Yanks, it doesn't take much for us to get excited about ruins and castles and the Clitheroe Tower was exciting to see as well.

Then it was back to Blackburn to sup with some locals in Oswaldthwistle, (easy enough to spell, but really hard to contort yer tongue enough to pronounce!) and what a great evening we had!

Sunday rolls along and it started a little soon for the missus and I. We checked out of the Fernhurst and because we both have our Rovers gear on, the staff was only too happy to get us checked out and on our way. Understandable, but still a little strange to be homeless in Blackburn without even having our breakfast. Naturally we gravitate toweards the ground and we were lucky enough to see Sav, and Friedel enter the ground and then we went to Ewood Arms to get out of the drizzle. Then it was off to meet the Rovers PR guy who wanted to ask me a few questions about the Season Tickets for Charity...I thought! It turned out to be quite the impromptu VIP visit! I thought we'd be usghered into a broom closet under the Riverside, but no, we were taken into the Player's Lounge where I was walking past Roque, Mokoena, Roberts, Nelsen and the lot! I've met my share of celebs but I was really and truly star-struck walking amongst them. It was quite the event. Then we talk to the PR guy, and he says, you ready for a picture? Ok I thought, we'll get a good pic in the Player's Lounge, but no, he leads us out onto the bloomin' pitch!!! So I'm standing there and Zurab walks up and he's to be in the pic as well! Holy freakin cow what a surprise! So Zurab and I speak a little and I think he as a wee bit surprised to be talking in Russian from some Yank who he had never seen before. There's that college education FINALLY getting put to use! At any rate I then get ushered up to the Legend's Lounge and then watch the game from the Jack Walker Stand. Unfortunately it was closer to the Portsmouth fans and my head is still aching from them and their blasted bell. The game was...oof..it was painful to watch. Not because of the effort but because of how we were being outmuscled and basicly outplayed. Between Glenn Johnson, Kanu and even Diop we couldn't get a good flow going. I think I am to blame for Bentley's mis-placed passes in the first half. He must not be used to hearing "C'mon, Bentley!" in a Texan accent and after evey yell, he would mis-place his pass/shot. I apologize to David and the rest of the Rovers fans. In fact during my entire trip Rovers scored not a goal and ended up losing twice! I am beginning to think I am better served here in Texas than in Blackburn...

So in summation, I had a great time, and even the missus who I was wondering if she would have a good time following my rovers, had a great time. I think the best part of the trip for her was meeting and speaking with the various Rovers fans on our trip. Sure talking of the good times and of the current affairs of Rovers she was lost, but all in all, she enjoyed it which is a credit to everyone who was kind enough to meet us in the various cities of England.

Also some plans to meet up with some of the other members did not come to fruition which I really regret, but instead of not having anything to do in Blackburn (which was my initial fear) we ended up having too much to do! I really cannot thank everyone enough for their offers of assistance, their good words of advice, their great suggestions and their fabulous hospitality. The wife and I felt as if we were old friends, not strangers from a strange land. Makes me even more proud to be part of the Rovers family as well as the BRFCS messageboard crew. I'm sure if I could've stayed around a bit longer I would have had an even more stellar time!

Cheers again and I cannot wait to do it again!

[AggyBlue]

Enjoyed the account Hypo, glad you enjoyed the visit and were well looked after.

I wonder if it's a coincidence we didn't win a game while you were over here

You never mentioned the beer, visitors from across the pond don't usually like it

[MarkBRFC]

Excellent, glad you enjoyed yourself.

[b12_simon]

Also got to meet up with Tris, who was great company, for a pint.

It was the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pints where he started to get on your tits?

Seriously: glad you had a good stay Hypo.

[3rdpillar]

After reading that, I feel good. Thanks for sharing your experiences with the rest of us....

[roversmum]

We so enjoyed meeting you and your wife, the evening went much too quickly, not even giving us time to show you Accy Stanley and Turd Moor ('spose you didn't miss much there but it's the thought that counts )

Look forward to seeing you both again before too long and maybe able to catch some of the 'sights' you missed! If you need a place to stay as a change from a hotel the offer is open!

Glad you arrived home safely. Regards to you both and little Hypo.

[Ben-2000]

Then it was back to Blackburn to sup with some locals in Oswaldthwistle, (easy enough to spell, but really hard to contort yer tongue enough to pronounce!)

It's actually Oswaldtwistle

Seriously though, it's great that you both had a great time over here, just a shame the Rovers couldn't have won for you to put the icing on the cake.

[Billinge End Blue]

HL - nice to read; glad you had a good time!

[Neil Weaver]

Sounds like you had a trific time, glad to hear you both enjoyed your little trip! Thought things might be fun, getting to Preston station after the game on Sunday but pleased to hear you got back OK. Think you made a good choice going to Legends rather than to the Ewood Arms pre-match from what you say! So we might get a goal or two tomorrow night then

[philipl]

Great read Hypo. Glad you enjoyed the visit.

[American Rover12]

After reading this, I can not wait to get over there for my semester of studies

[Fife Rover]

Right-o, I suppose this could/should be in the ICBINF side of things, but whatever, I want to let everyone know how absolutely grand of a time I had not only in Blackburn but England as a whole. I was able to meet a few boradmembers who were wonderful to chat with and who were wonderful in opening up their homes and ther like for my wife and I.

First off, the first glimpse of Rovers en vivo was agaionst Chelsea. I battled through jet-lag and a VERY moody missus as a result of the dreaded 'lag to meet up with some diehard Rovers fans. I found it almost too depressing to bear when I went up to the Chelsea ticket window to retrieve my tickets only to be rebuffed. Travel 4,500 miles to see me Rovers and getting turned away! I was not in good spirits. But luckily Big John who like our very own Jordan travels to every game (and even the Ressie's!) told me how most Rovers tickets come later wjtth the Coach. My hope for the day was restored! The game was great, though! The Away fans were in good voice out-singing the home crowd, at least it seemed to me! And I finally got to join in with the Friedel chants and the "Where were you when you were sh!t" (my personal fave) chants as well as singing the great No, Nay Never. And lo and behold Mourinho gets sacked or whatever...I will take the credit for that, thank you very much!

The next few days the missus and I putter around the great city of London seeing the sights, tearing our poor feet to shreds with all the walking, but enjoying every bit of it! Also got to meet up with Tris, who was great company, for a pint. Then it was off to the land of the Scouse..

Liverpool is...umm...not London. I guess we were spoiled by the environs of London, and the walks up and down the Thames. But to be fair, the weather was gray, the construction was everywhere and that accent...oof...I think I had a very good understanding of the Londoners and later the Lancastrians, but those Scouse were tough to follow! Watching Red Dwarf through the years I thought would prepare me, but not even close. Thursday comes along and I buy my ticket for Everton-Dinamo Kharkiv looking forward to watching a good game of footy as a casual fan of the game....Then the scores from the other English teams in the UEFA come on and I become utterly depressed and despondent all at once. Losing to Larissa 0-2!!! I couldn't believe it! Well the Everton game was not without it's own excitment and luckily it allowed me to forget about Rovers' unfortunate result for a few minutes here and there. The next day, off to Blackburn!

Taking the train to Preston, then to Blackburn I could notice a definite change in the landscape. NOW I was seeing the rural countryside I had always envisioned of England. Rolling pastures with sheep grazing about, hedge lined roads traversing the undulating fields of green, it was like a picturebook. And even the approach to Blackburn was never as depressing as some would have me to believe! I have seen some pretty depressing towns (I've had rural Vietnam, Russia, Mexico and the Deep South here in the States as my frame of reference) and Blackburn was never anything close to depresssing! Sure it was no High Street Kensington, but who cares! At any rate we check into the Fernhurst (the best hotel of our trip!) and go say hello to Uncle Jack, visit the club shop which lived up to it's reputation as being quite spare in it's selection, and get shown the town by Mr. and Mrs. Roversmum! Wonderful to see Brockhall and the great facilities Uncle Jack provided for our Rovers! By the way, Mr. and Mrs. Roversmum were great hosts. Recommend to anyone who might not know them to say hello at the next home match. Wonderful couple they are!

Saturday rolls around and missus Hypo-Luxa is pining to see some castles, so off we go to Lancaster! Nice little town that turned out to be. We could've spent the whole day there, actually, but in order to maximize our time we had to hoof it to Clitheroe to see the other castle in the area. Not nearly as exciting as the Lancaster Keep, but for us Yanks, it doesn't take much for us to get excited about ruins and castles and the Clitheroe Tower was exciting to see as well.

Then it was back to Blackburn to sup with some locals in Oswaldthwistle, (easy enough to spell, but really hard to contort yer tongue enough to pronounce!) and what a great evening we had!

Sunday rolls along and it started a little soon for the missus and I. We checked out of the Fernhurst and because we both have our Rovers gear on, the staff was only too happy to get us checked out and on our way. Understandable, but still a little strange to be homeless in Blackburn without even having our breakfast. Naturally we gravitate toweards the ground and we were lucky enough to see Sav, and Friedel enter the ground and then we went to Ewood Arms to get out of the drizzle. Then it was off to meet the Rovers PR guy who wanted to ask me a few questions about the Season Tickets for Charity...I thought! It turned out to be quite the impromptu VIP visit! I thought we'd be usghered into a broom closet under the Riverside, but no, we were taken into the Player's Lounge where I was walking past Roque, Mokoena, Roberts, Nelsen and the lot! I've met my share of celebs but I was really and truly star-struck walking amongst them. It was quite the event. Then we talk to the PR guy, and he says, you ready for a picture? Ok I thought, we'll get a good pic in the Player's Lounge, but no, he leads us out onto the bloomin' pitch!!! So I'm standing there and Zurab walks up and he's to be in the pic as well! Holy freakin cow what a surprise! So Zurab and I speak a little and I think he as a wee bit surprised to be talking in Russian from some Yank who he had never seen before. There's that college education FINALLY getting put to use! At any rate I then get ushered up to the Legend's Lounge and then watch the game from the Jack Walker Stand. Unfortunately it was closer to the Portsmouth fans and my head is still aching from them and their blasted bell. The game was...oof..it was painful to watch. Not because of the effort but because of how we were being outmuscled and basicly outplayed. Between Glenn Johnson, Kanu and even Diop we couldn't get a good flow going. I think I am to blame for Bentley's mis-placed passes in the first half. He must not be used to hearing "C'mon, Bentley!" in a Texan accent and after evey yell, he would mis-place his pass/shot. I apologize to David and the rest of the Rovers fans. In fact during my entire trip Rovers scored not a goal and ended up losing twice! I am beginning to think I am better served here in Texas than in Blackburn...

So in summation, I had a great time, and even the missus who I was wondering if she would have a good time following my rovers, had a great time. I think the best part of the trip for her was meeting and speaking with the various Rovers fans on our trip. Sure talking of the good times and of the current affairs of Rovers she was lost, but all in all, she enjoyed it which is a credit to everyone who was kind enough to meet us in the various cities of England.

Also some plans to meet up with some of the other members did not come to fruition which I really regret, but instead of not having anything to do in Blackburn (which was my initial fear) we ended up having too much to do! I really cannot thank everyone enough for their offers of assistance, their good words of advice, their great suggestions and their fabulous hospitality. The wife and I felt as if we were old friends, not strangers from a strange land. Makes me even more proud to be part of the Rovers family as well as the BRFCS messageboard crew. I'm sure if I could've stayed around a bit longer I would have had an even more stellar time!

Cheers again and I cannot wait to do it again!

Excellent post HL! I really enjoyed reading that. Oh and by the way; you are not alone in your difficulty with pronouncing Oswaldtwistle. Best just to call it Ossie like most of us do.

[waggy]

you met the one and only john pittard brother off wendy

[Claytons Left Boot]

you met the one and only john pittard brother off wendy

When Rovers played Burnley at Ewood around 1975/76 I saw John Pittard walking down Bolton Road in a t-shirt that, on the back, had :-

BLACKBURN

F**K

BURNLEY

[Hypo-Luxa]

You never mentioned the beer, visitors from across the pond don't usually like it

Oh I enjoyed the beer alright. Had my first taste of John Smith's, of which I am now a fan. Not so much a fan of Carling, though. Too light for my tastes. Had a Thwaites beer but that was soooo light I couldn't finish it! Then had a local concoction, Triple B(?), which was quite tasty as well. I was surprised to see some Brits drinking Budweiser! Almost floored me! All that good product to partake in and they choose Budweiser! blech!

It was the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pints where he started to get on your tits?

Haha, yeah that didn't quite come out right...Tris was great company even after the first pint was drained!

Sounds like you had a trific time, glad to hear you both enjoyed your little trip! Thought things might be fun, getting to Preston station after the game on Sunday but pleased to hear you got back OK. Think you made a good choice going to Legends rather than to the Ewood Arms pre-match from what you say! So we might get a goal or two tomorrow night then

I did indeed, and I STILL owe you a pint! I regret not following up on that, but as I said once I walked into Ewood Sunday afternoon it all was a blur and then the game started. And if my presence was the reason for the impotent offense, I'll take full blame and I'll report to Mr. Hughes for a right good thrashing.

you met the one and only john pittard brother off wendy

The one and the same. he was a great person to have as guide for my first ever Rovers experience. I just wish I had time to see the everton-Rovers Reserves with him, but I got into Liverpool too late to head over there. That whole Pittard family is Rovers mad! I sat by the matriarch for the Portsmouth game and I swear she was ready to take on Diop after his many fouls!

We so enjoyed meeting you and your wife, the evening went much too quickly, not even giving us time to show you Accy Stanley and Turd Moor ('spose you didn't miss much there but it's the thought that counts )

The evening did indeed fly by! I'd have liked to have seen so much more, but there are only so many hours in the day. I hope that I didn't bore you and the missus to much while John and I talked politics!

And yes I do have a morbid interest in seeing Turd Moor. The masochist that I am...

After reading this, I can not wait to get over there for my semester of studies

You'll have a blast, mate. There is so much to see and do and the Rovers fans are some of the best I've ever met. Plus if you have the opportunity to meet any of these guys from the messageboard, I'm sure you'll have an even better time.

[thecomebackid]

As for your Scouse travails Hypo, count yourself lucky that you didn't suffer the same fate as an Israeli friend of mine who almost lost his jacket when it was snatched by an opportunistic Scally, as I showed him around the fair city of Liverpool. He clung on by instinct (he's a paratrooper reservist) oblivious to any malicious intent, & came away, not only with jacket intact, but with a very favourable impression of the locals nontheless.

[thecomebackid]

P.S. Glad to hear you were made so welcome in Blackburn Hypo & were undeterred by the Lancashire the drizzle...

[dj54nna]

If you want to see some good castles the next time you're over, be sure to check out Skipton Castle (less than an hour from Blackburn) and the almighty Warwick Castle (less than an hour from Birmingham). Infinitely better than Lancaster or Clitheroe.

I don't know why I felt I had to share about castles. I like them too though.

[RoversFanUSA]

WOW! Sound like you had tons of fun! Sadly i didnt get to meet up with anyone when i went. Dont feel to bad though, Rovers lost both games i went to as well....Wait...Mabye thats saying something...

Over all Glad you had a great time!

[frosty]

Apologies if it's been mentioned already but, did you have a two page spread entitled 'Just the ticket' about your journey in the programme on Wednesday? About a guy from Texas who did excactly the same as you, there's also a photo with Khizanishvili.

[bblue]

This is all just adding to my misery of never even having stepped to England before heh....oh well all's not lost