Mrs Poppleton has been in touch again, with news about her bulging mail sack and an odd encounter with an American celebrity near the fish farm in Pickering. Enjoy!
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Good afternoon, Flyertalkers. Mrs Poppleton here again, with my report of the third sector on my Yorkshire Coastliner journey, Malton-Pickering. Thanks so much for all your PMs and words of encouragement. You're such a lovely bunch of lads and lassies, and it's good to know you appreciate my efforts. One of the nicest cards I've received is from Captain Gerard Yeap of Singapore Airlines, pictured below. Gerard's a cracking lad. We first met in the late 1990s on the Herman's Hermits message board. Here's Gerard in the middle of this picture.
Gerard writes: "Dear Mrs Poppleton, It's been smashing reading about the Yorkshire Coastliner. Can you please fix it for me to travel with you in seat 1B from Leeds to Whitby? When LBA-SIN on the SQ A380 becomes a daily service in April 2009 I will have many days off to explore the Yorkshire countryside. I would like nothing more than to travel to the East Coast with you and suck on West Indian Limes. Kind regards, Gerard." Well, Gerard, I too am looking forward to the start of the daily LBA-SIN service, and will happily introduce you to the pleasures of the Coastliner. And you should know that if they're fully booked at the Holiday Inn, you can always stay at Poppleton Towers and enjoy complimentary Bovril and buttered crumpets
. I do wonder though if Gerard, by asking me to "fix it," is confusing me with another famous Leeds resident, Sir Jimmy Savile. Here's a photo of Jimmy, looking as mental as ever, for my American readers:
Jimmy is famous for "Jim'll Fix It," a 1980s TV show in which he made the dreams of young lads and lasses come true. My grandson Clive wrote to Jim in 1982 and asked if he could fix it for him to meet his hero, the magician Paul Daniels. Jim obliged and Clive met Paul and his lovely wife Debbie at a Wimpy bar in Cleckheaton, where they enjoyed a Knickerbocker Glory together. Paul was quite a charmer in those days. It's a shame that he's now a mardy pants who spends all day selling tat on Ebay
Anyway, Flyertalkers, back to the trip
. After a quick fag break at Malton Vernon pulled smoothly away from the bus station and we were back on the road and gunning toward Pickering - map below.
As you can see, the landscape between Malton and Pickering becomes quite dramatic after the dry plains that border Tadcaster. There are quite a few big glaciers in this area, and the slippery roads mean that the Coastliner's anti-lock brakes are really put to the test. Vernon, as ever, deftly handled the big bird and all us old biddies were able to enjoy the view without too much worry about our shopping bags falling off our seats.
By this point it was nearly lunchtime and the sun was quite bright. I took out my sunglasses and felt a bit more comfortable. I picked these up at the Argos for a fiver. My nephew Roger laughed when he first saw me wearing them and told me I look like "Bono during the Fly period." I had no idea what the heck he was talking about, the silly wazzock. I've never understood Roger's sense of humour. I've told him he should move to Malton and live with the other "alternatives." I know some of you have been dying to see a picture of me, so here I am. I think I'm still quite a catch!
Vernon took this of me when we'd arrived at Pickering. As you can see, I was having a lark - I do love the Coastliner!
We arrived promptly at Pickering at 1.45, and Vernon announced there would be a 45-minute break for refuelling and packed lunches. Rather than sit with the other passengers I always take myself off to the trout farm and hatchery. On a clear day you can see the Rainbow Trout in all their glory, and I love to buy a bag of fish food and watch them go absolutely mental when I chuck it in. Sometimes when they jump too high I get a little bit frightened. I always manage to take a photo though.
Just a bit of background on the Rainbow Trout. The species was originally named by Johann Julius Walbaum in 1792. In 1855, W. P. Gibbons found a population and named it Salmo iridia, however this name became deprecated once it was determined that this was a population of the already named species. More recently, DNA studies showed Rainbow Trout are genetically closer to Pacific Salmon (Onchorhynchus species) than to Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) or Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), so the genus was changed. Fancy that! ^
After watching the trout for a few minutes and polishing off my Wensleydale and Branston sandwich, I was about to head for the exit when who should catch my eye but TV's own Peter Falk! I was amazed to see him and managed to snap a quick photo. You can tell he was enjoying the trout as much as I was!
I've been a fan of Peter's since his Columbo days, and it was smashing to see him looking so well. We got chatting and Peter told me he has his own trout farm at his home in Santa Monica, so when he's passing through Pickering he makes a point of stopping off and admiring the Yorkshire trout. He told me he thinks the Yorkshire trout have a character of their own. Even though they might seem frugal with their affections, Peter said, on the inside they have hearts of gold, and are always willing to listen. It's lovely to know that even celebrities share the interests of us normal folk, although Peter's obviously as mad as a hatter these days.
Peter was on his way to perform stand-up at the Futurist Theatre in Scarborough (a triple-billing with the Krankies and Jimmy Cricket), so we exchanged email addresses and while he walked back to his second-generation Mustang, I pegged it back to the Coastliner, keen to tell Vernon about the star I'd just met. Vernon was less than happy with me though, as he said I'd kept him and the other passengers waiting for five minutes after the scheduled departure time, and he pointed up to seat 1A without the usual glint in his eye. I plonked myself down and pulled out a banana and custard to suck on. We were quickly away and back on the road to Whitby. Looking down from Pickering, the winding A64 looked sublime in the afternoon sun:
Stay tuned folks, that journey will be my fourth and final sector, and it's the most exciting of all!