Another week, another month, another entry.
This Friday evening passed without incident although I did have to promise not to bring back a Chinese takeaway.
Unfortunately Saturday’s match at the Rec was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. In fact the first half was awful. However, fully gassed up from copious quantities of keg IPA consumed prior to KO we had a most enjoyable afternoon. Many thanks to our host Walkerman for his generosity.
On Sunday I received a missive from the Welsh bard describing how, on Friday evening, he had been involved in a fracas with a large group of “Taffettes" on the mean streets of Whitchurch while on his way home from his local boozer. Sounded quite scary and not something that fine upstanding mature old boys like us should be involved in.
It reminded me of a situation I once found myself in some 40 years before. Whilst driving past Portman Road, on the morning of a home game, in my newly acquired Triumph Herald Estate I encountered a group of a dozen or so away fans, Manchester City I seem to recall, who had arrived early and were kicking a football around in the road. I applied a suitable long blast of horn and put my foot down. As they leapt out of my way one of them kicked the ball at the car scoring a direct hit to the passenger door. I screeched to a halt and leapt out of the car intending to give the culprit a slapped wrist. The 12 fans were immediately joined by 50 or 60 others who came bearing down on me intent on ripping me apart. Now in those days I didn’t get where I was by turning my back on a fight so I leapt back in the car and got the hell out of it.
Moral of the story, if you are outnumbered, leg it! The problem is at our age it is not always possible to sustain a chase especially when overserved with IPA on a Friday night.
I suppose I’m lucky that the only antagonists I seem to encounter these days are wet leaves and kerbs.
On Monday, I braved a visit to my waterlogged plot and repaired the damage to the polytunnel caused by the snow. Repairs to the fruit cage are still at the planning stage. It doesn’t pay to rush into big projects.
I returned home to find that the March edition of Kitchen Garden had been delivered. Now I didn’t get where I am today by being told what to do but a list of tasks as a reminder is very useful to a gardener as timing is so critical in getting the best from your crops.
What I don’t want to be reading on February 1st is what to do during March just because the publishers want to get their bloody magazine on the shelf before their competitors. I have only just started planning for February let alone March and before I have even started March’s tasks I will have received the April edition and probably can’t find the previous one anyway. What nonsense! I think I'll rely on what Arthur was doing 1936.
The magazine did contain a very interesting article about a chap in Dundee who is trying to single-handedly introduce a new fruit crop to the UK. Needless to say I have purchased three plants and await their arrival with anticipation. You know you are getting old when you get excited about a shrub! My mate Savo would be proud of me. Full details about this plant and how to obtain them next week.
A few more seeds have been sown in the greenhouse (on the correct Moon days of course) and hopefully we will be rewarded with lots of early produce from the polytunnel.
The highlight of my week was the delivery of the new Pat Metheny CD entitled “Orchestrion” where he controls and plays all the specially built instruments from his guitar via solenoids. He continues to extend the boundaries of electric jazz to new limits.
See what you think in this 40 second preview.
Interested?
Here’s a 7 minute preview and narrative by the man himself.
He has just embarked on a 5 month tour of Europe, America, Canada and the Far East playing a total of 85 venues.
Bit of a logistical nightmare with that much equipment and instruments. No band members to pay though!
This Friday evening passed without incident although I did have to promise not to bring back a Chinese takeaway.
Unfortunately Saturday’s match at the Rec was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. In fact the first half was awful. However, fully gassed up from copious quantities of keg IPA consumed prior to KO we had a most enjoyable afternoon. Many thanks to our host Walkerman for his generosity.
On Sunday I received a missive from the Welsh bard describing how, on Friday evening, he had been involved in a fracas with a large group of “Taffettes" on the mean streets of Whitchurch while on his way home from his local boozer. Sounded quite scary and not something that fine upstanding mature old boys like us should be involved in.
It reminded me of a situation I once found myself in some 40 years before. Whilst driving past Portman Road, on the morning of a home game, in my newly acquired Triumph Herald Estate I encountered a group of a dozen or so away fans, Manchester City I seem to recall, who had arrived early and were kicking a football around in the road. I applied a suitable long blast of horn and put my foot down. As they leapt out of my way one of them kicked the ball at the car scoring a direct hit to the passenger door. I screeched to a halt and leapt out of the car intending to give the culprit a slapped wrist. The 12 fans were immediately joined by 50 or 60 others who came bearing down on me intent on ripping me apart. Now in those days I didn’t get where I was by turning my back on a fight so I leapt back in the car and got the hell out of it.
Moral of the story, if you are outnumbered, leg it! The problem is at our age it is not always possible to sustain a chase especially when overserved with IPA on a Friday night.
I suppose I’m lucky that the only antagonists I seem to encounter these days are wet leaves and kerbs.
On Monday, I braved a visit to my waterlogged plot and repaired the damage to the polytunnel caused by the snow. Repairs to the fruit cage are still at the planning stage. It doesn’t pay to rush into big projects.
I returned home to find that the March edition of Kitchen Garden had been delivered. Now I didn’t get where I am today by being told what to do but a list of tasks as a reminder is very useful to a gardener as timing is so critical in getting the best from your crops.
What I don’t want to be reading on February 1st is what to do during March just because the publishers want to get their bloody magazine on the shelf before their competitors. I have only just started planning for February let alone March and before I have even started March’s tasks I will have received the April edition and probably can’t find the previous one anyway. What nonsense! I think I'll rely on what Arthur was doing 1936.
The magazine did contain a very interesting article about a chap in Dundee who is trying to single-handedly introduce a new fruit crop to the UK. Needless to say I have purchased three plants and await their arrival with anticipation. You know you are getting old when you get excited about a shrub! My mate Savo would be proud of me. Full details about this plant and how to obtain them next week.
A few more seeds have been sown in the greenhouse (on the correct Moon days of course) and hopefully we will be rewarded with lots of early produce from the polytunnel.
The highlight of my week was the delivery of the new Pat Metheny CD entitled “Orchestrion” where he controls and plays all the specially built instruments from his guitar via solenoids. He continues to extend the boundaries of electric jazz to new limits.
See what you think in this 40 second preview.
Interested?
Here’s a 7 minute preview and narrative by the man himself.
He has just embarked on a 5 month tour of Europe, America, Canada and the Far East playing a total of 85 venues.
Bit of a logistical nightmare with that much equipment and instruments. No band members to pay though!
Hey ho.
