EOTL15*: Mind the Watford Gap

[David Scott]

Pictures

Biggs and I are becoming aware that the end is nigh for EOTL. There’s been some controversy recently about how many EOTLs we’ve actually done* but we can agree at least that most of them are behind us now. With only half a dozen or so trips left we decided to face up to one of our last major challenges. A Metropolitan Line monster: Watford.

Granted it’s not quite the mighty (Zone 9!) Amersham but Watford is undeniably out there. Let me ask you this: after the fact that Elton John presided over their football team, what else do you know about Watford? Exactly: it’s the place where The North starts. In less PC times people used to talk about “North of Watford”, by which they meant a dark outland; a place that was essentially remote and "other". Biggs and I come from this place of course. You might do too. All the same we live in London now and sometimes we entertain ourselves by travelling to the end of underground lines. Surely, we reasoned, a place that was once viewed as the outer limits of civilisation must have something to tell us about The Edge. The Edge of course is what EOTL is all about... as well as modernist architecture and beer. EOTL has revealed various faces of The Edge to us, but never a definitive one. Perhaps Watford could offer this.

 

I sat down with my laptop on Thursday afternoon to prepare myself for the evening’s trip. Did you know that Michael Bentine, Nick Leeson and Geri Halliwell have all called Watford home? No? Terry Scott from Terry and June? Indeed. The case for Watford as a fortress outpost of civilisation seemed to be a strong one. Wikipedia can help us out with all sorts of things of course.  Sometimes, however it brings only confusion. In the process of my studies I stumbled across an uncomfortable fact. Some people did once refer to “North of Watford”, however some OTHER people referred to “North of the Watford Gap”. The problem here is that (again troubling news from Wikipedia) the Watford Gap is not in Watford. The Watford Gap is in fact closer to Birmingham. Not only does Watford not have a Gap, to some people’s way of thinking it is was never really on The Edge of anything.

 

When I met Biggs on Watford’s tube platform that evening I blubbed out my concerns. He told me not to worry: the sun was out.  He also revealed that although it had taken us about an hour and a half to get to this point by tube, we could get home via Watford Junction, which was a mere twenty minutes from Euston. This did nothing to lessen my concern about the status of Watford as on the Edge.

Biggs led me to The Horns, which, he said supported the idea that our location was metropolitan; it was a premier music venue. The Horns website is more open about this: “Watford’s only real music pub”. All the same the pub has a fine beer garden where we spent some hours enjoying the sun and the beer. After a while we were approached by a burly chap who told us that if we wanted to stay we’d have to buy tickets for “the gig”. We asked him who was playing.

“The Rod Stewart Experience” he said. "Ten quid each.”

This seemed steep but the beer had weakened our resolve.

Later that night Biggs and I agreed that this accident of beer had been a gift from above. The Rod Stewart Experience had put on a magnificent show. We spent the night singing along to “You wear it well”, “Maggie May” etc from the heart of a scarf waving crowd. It had been a fine musical event and one that felt almost as if it had taken place in the Glasgow of the mid 70s.

“Rod” himself also goes by the name of Gary Pease. Biggs and I thought that it was possible he came from North of Watford but unlikely that he came from North of the Watford Gap. Still rocked like a younger Rod : as the band's strap line puts it “One Pint and You Won’t Know the Difference”

 

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*Biggs is adamant that we visited but didn’t document a tube trip to Hammersmith Olympia last summer. While I can remember meeting him one July afternoon after an exhibition and drinking some bottles of wine, I can’t remember a tube trip home. Admittedly I can’t remember any trip home, so I’ve decided to concede the point. Watford is therefore EOTL15 and not the EOTL14 that you might have expected.

[David Wright]

That's my outfit for the next EOTL night sorted.

[David Scott]

I add this picture not because it's relevant but because, having obtained it from Julia this weekend, I can...

[David Scott]

Cockfosters Olympia

[Eleanor Dowling]

I meant to say Kensington Olympia - but see I got "Hammersmith Olympia" from Dave's blog - ya tube!

[Eleanor Dowling]

I can verify that Biggs did describe his trip to Hammersmith Olympia with you last year... you wear it well!

[David Wright]

I actually thought Pease's thick Brummie accent suggested he came from Birmingham.