Category: Competition

Summer Caving (August poetry competition)

I know you lot are quite a bit older than me so this generation’s offering might not be for you. The Neutron bomb, although old enough to be our big sister, did it for us. Grease is the word.

Summer Caving

Summer caving, had us a whack
Summer caving, me, Debbie and Jack Black
We got fed up with the beach
So we went somewhere out of reach
Summer caving, in the depths
To, uh oh, those summer caves Continue reading “Summer Caving (August poetry competition)”

Blast from the past, the second

When Warner and Rogers left the pavilion separately this morning to bat at the Oval, a commentator was reminded of the days of the Gentlemen and Players, who disappeared (allegedly) from English cricket 50 years ago.

So I found this piece from Wisden which tells the tale.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/573224.html

PS as I write, Warner is out for 6. Is he an amateur?

Hemispherical variations

Mid-August is somehow on the cusp – either of Autumn in Europe and some parts of the Americas or of Spring in the Antipodes. The equatorial tendency of course never quite differentiates.

So cherished versifiers, kindly be inspired to celebrate either the promise of summertime or its passing; both thoroughly deserving of your attention in the next two weeks after which you’ll be judged on the quality of your efforts.

https://charioteers.org/2013/07/25/summertime-the-august-poetry-challenge/

Pic by PS Krøyer, one of Denmark’s Golden Age painters who lived and worked in Skagen

15 minutes with Backside, 3

First edition of the Treaty of Utrecht

My most jingoistic hackles rise whenever I see that the pesky Spanish are trying to negate the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) by which, with the agreement of everybody who was anybody at the time, Gibraltar was granted to GB in perpetuity, together with Minorca, Newfoundland and St Kitts thrown in for good measure. Not long after there was a bit of a scrap over Minorca and GB gave it up. Fair enough. Newfoundland of course was discovered by Vikings yonks before and should be returned to them but nobody can be bothered to argue about it.

What I don’t get is why Spain doesn’t tell the French they want to negate the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) under whose terms bits of Catalonia west of Perpignan were parcelled out. Surely it’s all Spanish land really – using the same arguments employed to claim Gibraltar?

What say you, cherished reader? Am I missing something here?

We won, we won!

The Beeb has obligingly promised rain and more rain for Manchester today, which means that England will draw the match with the Aussies and retain the Ashes, even if the last two tests go the wrong way.

Monday's weather forecast at Old Trafford

Forecast Summary

  • Today

    Cloudy with rain persisting for much of the day, very heavy at times with a risk of thundery bursts and localised flooding. Towards evening the rain will ease and slowly clear eastwards, perhaps allowing some late brightness in the west.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/7281603

Huge smiley thing.