Patties

Driving home in the pouring rain. The windscreen wipers are in overdrive. The road surface ahead is awash and the white lines upon it have become invisible. My concentration dial has been turned to full  and the speedometer is down to fifty, sometimes lower. I have heard about aqua-planing and have no intention of experiencing it on this sixty mile motorway journey.

Meantime, a few idiots zoom past or even undertake as though there was no rain at all. They threaten other people's lives in such dangerous driving conditions.

Radio 5 Live is broadcasting a football match commentary - Manchester United versus Chelsea. Even there, seventy miles west, the rain is lashing down. How many gallons must have fallen on the north of England? Millions of them - topping up the streams, the rivers and the reservoirs. A modicum of blessed relief after the driest summer on record.

In the late morning, I had driven over to Hull to see my beloved Tigers in person for the first time this year. First of all, I parked Butch at the Priory Park park and ride facility to the west of the city. Then I rode to the stadium aboard a double decker bus, sitting at the front of the top deck for views of the twenty minute urban journey. But I was looking through a curtain of rain.

I alighted at the bus stop on the edge of West Park feeling lunchtime hunger pangs. So instead of heading straight for the stadium, I instead visited the "Admiral" fish and chip shop on Anlaby Road where I purchased two patties doused in salt and vinegar.  I consumed them in a bus shelter because of the falling rain.

At this juncture, you may be wondering - What on earth is a "patty"? Well let me explain that it is a staple option in most fish and chip shops in the East Riding of Yorkshire. I have never seen them for sale in Sheffield or Leeds.

A patty is round - about 3.5 inches across and about 1.5 inches thick. It is made from  mashed potato seasoned with sage and onion. Then it is dipped in a batter mixture before being deep-fried. Perhaps not the healthiest option but a couple of patties really hit the spot when you are standing in a bus shelter  in the pouring rain ahead of an English Championship match - Hull City v. Southampton F.C..

By the way, our boys won quite convincingly by three goals to one. I witnessed this victory with 22,084 other people - the majority of whom went home happy.

Riding back on the packed park and ride bus, I observed how pleasant and civilised the atmosphere was. Nobody was shouting or playing music or causing annoyance to others. We were just a hundred quiet people in the early evening - riding back to Priory Park in heavy traffic as rain continued to teem down.