lupestripe's lair

A rare Sunday off meant a forray to the other end of the number 4 bus route in Leeds - to the small sleepy hamlets of Seacroft and Whinmoor. Not exciting, you may say, but do you ever wonder what the places are like at the other end of your bus route? With an idle day and inclement weather, we decided to head on over and discover what was there. The answer is not a lot unless you like housing estates.

Whinmoor had a shop and a library with little else but Seacroft Bus Station has the excitement of a Tesco and a Jack Fulton Foods attached so we mosied around there for a bit, looking for bargains. I picked up a shreader and another bottle of wine for our increasingly diverse wine rack. We also grabbed a tomato and cheese pizza from Greggs, my first ever, which was wonderful.

We went to The Cricketers Arms next, on Seacroft Green opposite a wonderful little church with a black clock face. The clock was stuck at 8.40 but the beer and company in the pub was most excellent. We talked about last night's England match with the barman and also watched a small Jack Russell in a pink glittery collar (yeys!) yapping for something. Five minutes later, we realised she wanted to get her owner to get a bouncy ball toy from one of those twisty turny machines you put 20p in to dispense candy like Tooty Fruities. With ball got, we threw it around the pub and watched the dog chase it, paws skidding on the black shiny tiles as she crashed into the bar and games machines. Still, she was having a great time and it made me yearn to have such a simple life of a dog. Sadly, her teeth were too sharp and decimated the bouncy ball soon after.

We drank Budweiser in those limited edition World Cup bottles made out of thick steel, like the cans are. It made the beer taste a lot fresher and it was very easily drinkable, and certainly didn't taste like a 5% beer. We drank three and ate new Pringles flavour Chili and Cheese (note to Walkers - chili and cheese works, chili and chocolate tastes like a burp with a little bit of sick in it) whilst watching the hugely entertaining Serbia v Ghana match. I had backed Serbia to get to the semi-finals of the World Cup but that chance has pretty much gone now with an enthralling 1-0 win for the African outfit. The European side were unlucky but the game was riveting - far better than the earlier Slovenia v Algeria game, which proved that neither England nor USA have anything to fear in Group C.

With football and drink done, we headed back into Leeds City Centre to a Persian (read Iranian) restaurant I have been meaning to try for a while. The lady who runs it is from Tehran and she advised us on the food we should have. Sadly, we wanted to try everything and ordered masses of food only for us to struggle eating it all. Three starters and two mains - no wonder I am getting hideously overweight, if I am not already. Anyway, we had falafel and hummus, naan bread and a sharp yoghurt mixed with shallots and a traditional mixed salad to start off with. After that, Wolfie had lamb on the bone with special rice (I think it was mixed with tea leaves) and I had a lamb stew with pickles and tomatoes with saffron rice. The food was most tasty, full of flavours, and surprising in its depth. It was a little similar to the stews my mother used to make and not as spicy as perhaps I would have expected. We also tried a traditional kebab, which was amongst the best I have ever tasted, the meat being so tender and succulent. We had traditional lassi (a bitter yoghurt drink) and Arabica coffee and Persian Tea to drink. Another definite winner I feel, even though I am still bloated some five hours later.

After that, we went home and caught the second half of the Germany v Australia game. Some may say Australia were unlucky to get Tim Cahill sent off but the match was realistically over before then and the Germans look a threatening side. Losing skipper Michael Ballack seems to have galvanised them more and they have definitely been the best team I have seen at this tournament so far, regardless of the 4-0 scoreline. I am still glad I have backed Lukasz Podolski to be World Cup top scorer too, he has one already and I think he could be a good outside chance. Anyway, after last night's affair, Germany are not a team England want to face in the next round so England need to finish top of Group C, you feel, to avoid them. Even then though, I still fear England could struggle against Ghana, the likely runners-up in Group D. We'll have to see what happens but the Germans were so fluid and on top of their game this evening, it is a bad sign for England fans.