Category: Sport

A cracking time

You know how it is when you come back from having a couple of days away, people are interested. They ask you where you went. If you had a good time.

When I told them we’d been to Weymouth for a surprise weekend, the reaction was generally that of masked disappointment with the subtext “Oh. ..so he only took you to Weymouth..hmm…that’s a bit crap.”

It’s as though they were hoping for Cornwall, or Brittany or Bali. Actually they were really hoping I’d been somewhere they had visited, of which they have fond memories; a cloudless summer, a fabulous beach, maybe a Kirrin Island look-alike that they could swim to at low tide.

Instead of all that, they said “Yeah. I remember going there as a kid with mum and dad, year after year. Have they still got the trampolines?”

They didn’t say “It was wonderful.” or “It was really good.” Their unsaid words indicated there weren’t too many happy memories. Caravan holidays, no doubt. Continue reading “A cracking time”

Ferry good cider

I’m not very imaginative with my cycle rides – at least, the ones from home that I fit in before or after work during the week.

They are all within the same fifteen mile radius with innumerable variations; some off-road, some on road, some circular, some there-and-backs, some figures of eight, some routes reminiscent of tangled knitting wool, some no-hands practice, some  little hills several times. Continue reading “Ferry good cider”

Barbeque anyone?

I didn’t go into the supermarket on the way home from work, but heard several people discussing their first barbecue of the Summer. Maybe, just maybe I’ll think about putting one on tomorrow.

Any favourite recipes for marinating / barbecuing ?

Any barbecue quotations?

“It will be fine for a barbecue tonight, all this talk of hurricane force winds is rubbish” – John Fish, October 1987

So very very green…

You know how it is when you’re returning to Blighty having been abroad somewhere hot on holiday?

You’ve had a week or two of sand, sea, parched-looking potato fields (I’m thinking Cyprus) and dusty tracks and you’re gawping out of the little window of the aircraft at beautiful Britain laid out below and feeling inordinately fond of it with it’s patchwork fields and lakes and stuff and as the plane descends for the landing you can’t believe just how very green it all is?

Well it was like that today when we were cycling in the Forest of Dean. I kept saying, inanely “I can’t believe how GREEN everything is! Just look at the green. No, but seriously, it’s really REALLY green. Beeoooootiful and green.”

Well DT man can only put up with so much of that stuff and eventually dropped behind me so that he was out of earshot. But I didn’t care. I just kept thinking it anyway. This time of year is the most spectacular time – when all the young leaves and fresh ad vibrant with colour, the big soft foxglove leaves are out and the bluebells have pushed up and are a haze of subtle blue with buds coloured up and waiting to burst open. Continue reading “So very very green…”

Sport

There is a part of the game of cricket that many foreigners don’t get, even people from other cricket mad countries. When I lived in America, Indians would try to taunt me about the latest defeat for England, but for me cricket always meant sitting in a deckchair at a village game, slightly disorientated from the alcohol and unable to get out of the chair except by slowly toppling over sideways and collapsing in a heap on the grass. Sometimes something would happen on the field and an uncertain applause would trickle around the edge of the green as the spectators tried to figure out what had transpired.
Continue reading “Sport”

Mud, mud, glorious mud….

I got caught in a bog yesterday on the bike.

I thought it was just a bit of soft ground but it was genuine pedal-stopping,  smelly bog.  For a couple of seconds, I was balanced there stationary, thinking  “Bugger.  This hasn’t happened for years!”  before gloop – one foot went deep down into the soft stuff above the ankle.

There are some things you can ride through and some things you can’t.

I haven’t encountered unrideable territory for some time.  I blame the expedition leader, Bob,  who was determined to go off-piste to stop me and my pal V.  slacking and chatting.  He was successful in that, at least.

CB’s pic of the bridge with the mud pool underneath it reminded me how things used to be in the Forest of Dean, before they constructed the cycle trails and invited the world and his wife and kids to come and cycle there. Continue reading “Mud, mud, glorious mud….”

57 minutes and 5 seconds

Just to let you ‘well wishers’ know, today was the ‘Swimathon.’

I completed the 100 lengths, (2.5 km) breaststroke, and achieved it in under an hour as I had hoped. In 57 minutes and 5 seconds, in fact, which my son tells me is an average of  34. 25 seconds per 25 metre length.

Not too bad.

What was my prize? Continue reading “57 minutes and 5 seconds”

Women & cricket

I’m parking off (relaxing)  on Sunday afternoon watching the cricket and Mrs. S waltzes in and asks me if this is “still the first half”

Brilliant! Mrs. S has been to perhaps 50 cricket matches with me over the years but the analogy wasn’t “is this the first innings”

So, in the spirit of gender equality I now refer to the respective innings in one day internationals or 20twenty matches as halves, and why not?

I mentioned this to my mate Arthur today, he tells me about a Polish flatmate of his (a lady) who was introduced to cricket (via TV)  and became quite an enthusiast. Continue reading “Women & cricket”

No sport?

Is nobody on this site interested in sport? (Well, I know Soutie and John Mackie are, but they need to be drawn out.) These are interesting times, but not a whisper here … it’s as bad as ‘the other place’.

First, did anyone watch Barcelona dismantle Arsenal on Tuesday? I’ve followed Arsenal since I was ten years old, but I’d have been disappointed had they knocked Barca out … the football that Xavi, Iniesta, Messi et al. play is so wonderful that I’d like to see them win every match. Man U v. Bayern was primitive in comparison.

It’s a pity Barca are up against Inter in the semis … it might have made a great final. No English clubs remain, whereas there were three in the semis last season … then it was presented as incontrovertible evidence that the Premiership is the greatest league in the world; now we see it was just part of the ebb and flow. Man U look a spent force, and the Ferguson era may finally be drawing to a close.

As for rugby, an exciting weekend is in prospect with the Heineken Cup quarter-finals. Leinster and Munster have tough ties, but at least they’re both at home. An entirely French/Irish semi-final line-up is not unlikely, in my opinion (only Northampton and Ospreys can prevent it, and they’re both playing away).

I’m looking forward to the weekend, starting with Leinster v. Clermont Auvergne tomorrow night. And looking forward to Barcelona v. Inter already.