After a gruelling 5 hour journey (one hour train delays ftw) I stepped out of St. Davids station into crisp Devonian air. There is often a feeling of calm around the city outside of its immediate centre, something that I've not noticed in Brighton. It was into the immediate centre however that I would be headed, to the Old Firehouse, a popular haunt for the student populace on account of its cheap wine, late hours and delicious pizza. It is a large place, spread over several floors, and this spaciousness combined with warm and gentle candlelight, cheap wine and pizza makes it a wonderful place to relax, chat, and drink lots of wine. Team BoJ didn't hit it as hard here as we did last year; the hangovers of 2011 were fairly debilitating and we were keen to improve upon our previous results. So, after significantly less wine, beer, rum and pizza as may normally have been expected, we headed to Team HQ for the weekend - Globe Backpackers.
This hostel has been revamped significantly over the past year. Although we rarely make full use of its facilities I can assure you that the 4-person dormitories feel akin to modest hotel rooms, and that their new individualised showers are positively luxurious. Seriously. They've gone from leisure centre swimming style cubicles to fully tiled shower rooms, with water cascading mightily from the ceiling like a composed Niagara. On Sunday morning I took a good twenty minutes sitting cross-legged underneath the warm jets, meditating like Odin hanging from the Yggdrasil. It takes a special shower to inspire me to do that.
We had breakfast at the Imperial, a grand Wetherspoons close to the station. I find that Wetherspoons pubs fall into one of two camps, usually determined by where they are situated in a town or city. You've got your gritty grotty ones which attract a loud crowd through the promise of the cheapest alcohol around, and then you've got your darkly sparkly ones which are in interestingly converted buildings. There is a particularly nice converted church in Ayr which I would recommend, complete with pulpit. In fact, more churches should be converted into pubs. Or at least have bars within them. Churches are wonderful buildings, what with their high ceilings and intriguing stonework. Anyway, we had breakfast here before marching on up to the University's sports park, via the main campus to see what had been going on.
Whoever was in charge of overseeing the development of the Forum on Exeter Campus should be clapped in irons, thrown in the brig and then flogged soundly. And then shot. After a quick bit of research it seems as though the culprits are Wilkinson Eyre Architects. For shame. I don't care how sustainable, green and cultural this new set-up is, the fact of the matter is that it is a futuristic monstrosity, akin to something out of a Philip K. Dick novel. It feels like a cross between a supermarket and an airport (which I guess is what many universities are in actuality) rather than a place of academia. If this had been in place when I had been nosing around on university open days back in 2005 then no doubt I would have opted for Glasgae and developed a fine accent by now.
Fortunately it wasn't, and I went to Exeter and met lots of lovely people, including the members and associates of BoJ and TLEM. And that brings us back to the primary purpose of the weekend trip; the game of football. Last year I made a lot of noise about how TLEM are a big bunch of cads and that BoJ are the true defenders of the people, and whilst this remains true I am trying to write something more measured this time round. So let's deal with the facts. TLEM were ultimately victorious and claimed the Harry Redknapp Literacy Support trophy to add to their untidily packed trophy cabinet. They are a formidable team, amongst the finest I have ever had to play against, and fully deserving of all their accolades. Each player is comfortable playing in any position on the pitch, and the understanding they have as a unit is something to be admired. Multiple hats off to them. The Brotherhood of Justice are not a technically gifted football side. On this occasion we were also bereft of two of our biggest talents who were off working at the Canadian GP and in Dubai respectively. This meant that our team was composed of six players; two of whom had not played football in one year and another two who had not played football in two years. Despite this, we gave a good account of ourselves (admittedly playing with a two man advantage). Sykes was powerful and self-assured in the heart of defence. O'Connell was up and down the length of the pitch like a rabbit at the dogs and provided many a sharp shot. Dunkley came in offered both safe hands in goal and safe feet in the opponents' area. Voss scored the goal of the game by rounding the keeper in manner that was so casually Iberian I wept. Earwaker was his usual self, an ambassador of attacking who certainly knows how to shoot. It is a shame we had to lose the first game 8-2 and tie the second game 9-9, but this is how these things generally work.
After this we went to the Ram for a drink. The Ram is the bar on campus. I will not go into the details of how awful this place is now, but rest assured Wilkinson Eyre Architects were probably involved. It had all the atmosphere of a hotel lobby and came complete with some hilarious impractically-placed lighting. I'm glad to note that Exeter does not offer an undergraduate programme in architecture.
There was some more Wetherspoons action before the next step of the Exeter adventure; the obligatory visit to the Cavern. Saturday night is Indie Disco night and sees BoJ all-rounder Dunkley on the wheels of steel (well, laptop of steel). This was the first club I ever went to and is still my favourite. It is small and feels unpretentious. It is a hot cellar bar which provides cold drinks and well-known music for you jiggle, gyrate and singalong to. In the 6 years I've been going there the playlist has a warm familiarity to it. Recently though they've started running a vegetarian cafe there, taking it to the Next Level. All that Jake needs to do is start playing some Talking Heads and it will be the complete package.
The next day, after some wonderful shower meditation we headed to Boston Tea Party for breakfast. Click on that link. Look at the picture that shows how massive it is upstairs. The second picture. Wow. Like a church, for those whose religion is the hot beverage. Despite tripping on the stairs and spilling half of my coffee on my arm this visit was wonderful. I had completely forgotten how much of a beautiful place this was. Certainly none of the excellently quirky tea rooms of Brighton come close to matching this one for comfort, tranquility and inspiration. I long to be able to stroll down there and sit in one of their most cosy armchairs with a nice black coffee and caramel slice, ready to hit the books or hit a page with a pen. Alas, I made not full use of this during my studies there.
Finally, I headed across the River Exe to visit old friends Becky and Denny Ledger, formerly of Brighton and Aldershot, now of Exeter, along with their adorable daughter Belle. Last time I saw that little dude was when she had nary a hair on her head, and she has grown into one of the most charming and polite 2 year olds I've ever had the fortune to meet. There must be some good parenting going on I reckon. They've got a lovely flat, ingeniously furnished in places, and whilst there I was served delicious roast dinner. Although the weekend's football did not go my way, this visit proved to be a real victory.
And so, from there I began the long exhausting journey home, striving onwards despite multiple changes, replacement buses and trapped wind.
The weekend in Exeter had been a success. The last couple of weeks had been mighty tricksy in Brighton on most fronts, and so to take a step back from all of that into another world of happy familiarity along with friendly faces I don't get to see all too often was just what the doctor ordered. It's great to have somewhere like this to retreat to. I would definitely say that Boston Tea Party and the Cavern are two of the greatest places in the UK. If anyone could recommend a tea room or club that is superior then please let me know. We came, we saw, we played, we listened to music, some of us got engaged, we all had a good time. Hey hey, let the good times roll.
