As you might remember from last year, my mum is obsessed with snooker and always watches the World Championships when it's on the television, and for the past few years she has bought us tickets to go and watch some of it at The Crucible in Sheffield. I wouldn't say I love the sport, but I do like watching it when it's fun, and when it's live there's a whole atmosphere and vibe which I really like. So I've agreed to go with her and we've had a really fun day watching. This year my stepdad said he wanted to go. My mum bought us all tickets for the morning and afternoon sessions on the fourth day, which was expensive, yes, but she likes it so much so it's fine!
We asked Lee to drive us all to Sheffield and he then worked in the office all day. His new job is in Sheffield and he goes in to the office twice a week, so it was fine for him to go on the Tuesday. We set off at 8am because, you know, Sheffield traffic. He dropped us off by the Crucible at about 9am and we headed to Marmadukes for breakfast.
It is absolutely the cutest place and I love that this is tradition now when we go to the snooker. My mum really likes it. I didn't know how busy it would be but we went straight in. Steve Davis was in there having his breakfast which is apparently his tradition too. We got a table and ordered. I went for the avocado toast which I've had before and which I really needed because I needed some fresh, savoury food after the weekend I had had. I had a decaf cappucino too.
We went over to the theatre and got our seats. The session started just after 10am. We were seeing Pang Junzu and Zhang Anda. And oh my gosh, it was quite a dull session. They both faffed about quite a bit. I prefer it when they actually play snooker instead of playing safety shots. They have a mid session break after a few frames and in this case that didn't happen until past twelve o'clock! Some of the frames lasted forty five minutes! Come along, stop shilly shallying. We went out into the foyer for the break and had our photo taken with the cup - which we were told to not touch! - which was pretty cool. We headed back in for what was more interesting snooker, thankfully.
We left the theatre at around 1pm because we wanted to get some lunch before the afternoon session. They were still going so I don't know what time it had actually finished.
We went into the Winter Gardens for some lunch. My mum and I have been in there before and we liked the sandwiches. She and I just had crisps and then a piece of flapjack each because we were going out for tea. Norman had a sandwich. It is nice in there and it's also where the BBC commentary happens with usually Hazel Irving but this time it was Sue Barker. We watched that for a little bit. Then just as we were walking out Ken Doherty was wandering about so my mum got a photo with him - he was rushing off so I couldn't, but he was very nice! In the square in front of the Crucible they have a big garden with screens where you can watch the snooker and seats and stuff, and in there was Cliff Thorburn and the cup! There was a queue to meet him so we joined it and it was moving really fast.
He was an absolute gent! He shook our hands and I said it was nice to meet him (which it was! He's a world champion!) and my mum said it was a privilege to meet him and he said it was lovely to meet us. It's a cute photo, too. I'm glad we bothered to join the queue!
After that we went back in to the theatre and got our seats. On one table was Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Ali Carter, which is an old rivalry, but we were on the other table watching Ding Junhui against Zak Surety. Oh well, that's the luck of the draw. But it turned out to be really good! Zak was a debutante this year and he broke a record, he scored four centuries in his debut match at the Crucible, beating the record of three by two previous players. So that was pretty cool! He seemed to be doing pretty good but then Ding came back fighting and ended up winning the match. It finished early so we got to see the last frame of Ronnie against Ali! So that was really cool too.
The session finished around 5.45 and we headed out to meet Lee, who had been in the vicinity since he had finished work. We ended up in Smoke Barbecue for tea which has two veggie options but they both sounded so good, so it was good for me. I got the vegan hot dog and onion strings, and a rum punch cocktail. It was all so good and the portions were very generous. We all enjoyed our food for sure.
After that we headed home, it was about 8pm by the time we got home and I was very tired. It's exhausting enjoying yourself!
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