Home CEWAP Mark Thomas 18:30 Club GM Food Car Cats Links		Others
		There used to be some other people that were regulars on the 18:30, but for various reasons they are no longer regular travellers.  Some have moved on to other jobs, some have retired and others still just got bored with the journey every day (I can't say I blame them). This page is dedicated to these absent friends.  If anyone has any news about them let me know. There's also a section here for honorary members.

Ex-club members

Spooky - With that hair she certainly looks spooky.  Another bright young thing, our daughter Spooks is often asleep.  If she isn't, you can guarantee that nobody else is as she has a habit of involving everybody in the conversation at a not unappreciable volume.  Actually Spooks is a medical mystery due to her strange sleeping disorder and her ability to woo strange men (and journalists) with remarkable regularity.

Country Boy (aka "Benny The Ball") - Hailing from the other side of the pond, this good old country boy introduced the card school to a new poker variant called "Montana", and then proceeded to lose his shirt whilst playing it.  Thankfully this trend has continued and he regularly leaves the train at Winchester considerably poorer than when he got on.  He regularly discusses granite with Mole and doesn't seem to mind having beer poured all over him (Sorry, mate!).  Country boy doesn't understand our English game of Brag and hence tends to fold very quickly whenever we play a poker variant that includes a brag hand or three.  Oh, and he doesn't understand "spoof" either.

"J" - An exceedingly fine drinker given half a chance!  J often joins the gang down at the Albion (now under new management, so you CAN use your mobile phones in there now) with her boyfriend who seems a bit overawed by the club members (well maybe that's under-awed!).

Andy Roo - A common sight this, Roo stuffing his face with crisps before we nick them all.  Roo often buys himself lunch like this and then makes the mistake of offering them around.  Moments later he is back to the bar for another pack as the gannets finished off the first without him getting a look in.  He's usually not as generous with the second pack!  "Dad, Dad, are we there yet?"

Angela - This replaces the unflattering photo that was here a wee while ago, which replaced the even more unflattering one that was here before that.  Angela actually visited a professional photographer (hence the sepia tint and soft focus) for this photograph and forced me to use it here under threat of something nasty.  Angela is a very occasional Coven attendee these days.

Roman - Our early morning bridge expert who is never far away from going "3-off" in after his adventurous Polish bidding style gets him to the giddy heights of "1 no trump".

Brian "the lager monkey" - Sadly (but not for him!) Brian recently stopped travelling giving up his job as a broker for a far more honest job as a builder, allowing him to be much nearer his family, especially his gorgeous daughter "Lemmy" (the Goddaughter!).  His most famous line - "I really, really love you!", spoken just before banging his head on a piece of bedroom furniture whilst trying to take his trousers off when pissed one night.  Known for being the last to leave the party (sometimes several days later), his new baby-sitting duties have curtailed those more exuberant evenings!  Several city pubs are likely to go bankrupt without his custom - Party on, Bro'.

"Young" Chris - Recently retired from travelling up to the Supermarket in London every day, we're not sure what he's up to at the moment.  Somebody pray tell!

Chris "the architect" - also recently retired.

Kebab Woman (as opposed to bag woman!) - Another superhero or a mad axe-woman? (Description to follow).

Bouncer - Slightly accident-prone, this hardworking Gentleman actually floats between the Coven and Poker ends.  He once fell off a building, but we're unable to tell if that affected him in any way as none of us knew him before he fell off, so we can't be sure if he was always mad or not.  In the picture here he is actually cutting his birthday cake on the morning train, using his trusty penknife.  Embarrassment caused me to avoid showing you the actual cake (they don't sell birthday cakes in the buffet car so we had to improvise, you see) or his large tool.  Bouncer must be working nights at the moment as we haven't seen him for ages.

GT - Ginger T***er to his friends stopped travelling on the 18:30 when he started a new job elsewhere in the country.  Famous for his occasional habit of arriving on the train completely off his head having "entertained a client", he was once spotted wandering around Waterloo attempting to eat a Whopper whilst looking for the train.  On eventually locating the correct platform he took a very interesting route along it to the Buffet car, almost falling under the train several times along the way.  GT is also one of the most garrulous people you could ever come across, and will wind you up as much as look at you.  The days when he is still able to speak have been some of the funniest in memory for the regular travellers.  If you haven't guessed by now, GT is a broker, and is *probably* the broker from hell.  We'll miss him now he's moved off to sunnier climes but I'll leave this here to remind you all of him.  His slightly satanic look in this photograph is not, as you would think, due to "redeye" from the flash, but due to drinking his own body weight in Stella and Kronenbourg that night.  But you should see him at his leaving do!

Tony - An occasional coven member seen here sporting an interesting item of headwear in an attempt to hide his duelling scar.

"K" - Trained in the ancient art of HR, agent "K" is young enough to be trendy, but has a great singing voice and knows lots of songs that are so old, that we are beginning to wonder if she isn't the result of some rejuvenation experiment rather than actually being that young.  During the morning journey to Waterloo, "K" is often seen consuming an ever increasing variety of pastries with her obligatory coffee, and during the evening there is often an empty B**ger K**g wrapper at her feet.  Recently "K" was spotted taking part in the "Carnival against Capitalism" by eating a takeaway pizza on the Waterloo and City line and refusing to let anyone else have a slice until she got on the train and the pizza was cold (Mmmmm, pizza...).  Actually, "K" has just escaped from the commuting racket and moved to London.  We'll miss her gentle banter, but I'm sure we'll be seeing her again soon.  A great loss for the 18:30 club and a great gain for Brixton.

Grant - Having recently announced that he is leaving Eastenders, Grant has just started regular travelling again following an extended absence due to his hectic filming schedule.  You see him here sporting his syrup to avoid the hordes of eager fans that seem to follow him everywhere.

Honorary members

The Albion - Where it used to happen (It's the Westgate now) on a Friday night, if not more often!  The Albion is very handy for the station and was Monster Raving Loony party headquarters during the last Winchester by-election.  It's part of a small chain of pubs owned by Albion Leisure.  The only other one I've been to is the Railway Inn in Hungerford, which is also a lovely little pub with a hall called "Platform 3" attached to it where there is often live music.  The Albion itself is an extremely small and cosy triangular pub with a great set of customers and some pretty good beer. You only need about 10 people in there for it to look busy, and Friday night can be a bit of a squeeze.

Lager Monkey II - This lad pops in the Albion occasionally and has been known to down a lager or five.  A rugby player, he's invited a few of us along to his club's tour in January.  We won't be playing, we'll just be in the bar before he is!

Guy - Until recently, Guy was the landlord at the Albion. He is now the host at the Westgate just up the road.

John "The Bank" - John used to be a regular on the 17:45 train from Waterloo each day with occasional forays onto the 18:30.  He's recently "retired" from commuting and can now be found play testing most of the pubs in Winchester.

A kebab - Well it's not a night out at the pub without a kebab on the way home, is it?  Luckily there's a kebab shop next door but one to the Albion.  As you can see here Grant is sampling it's delights before heading off home before another busy day's filming on the Eastenders set.