More Viewings

We have had a deluge of viewings arranged and some promising news from those that have already been around. Here's hoping that we can effect a quick sale...

Typical

A day after putting the house up for sale I get an e-mail from GPS to the effect that one of our members could save a considerable amount of money for anyone selling a property.

Devastated !

:(

Market Rates

It took an hour all in to put the house on the market. By five O'clock a viewing had been arranged.

Resolve

Not only did I need to take some to help recover from last night but I instilled some in myslef. I had got my shit in order and decided to move on a few things...

Leo Sayer

With no game today and a bank holiday the following day we all converged on the Club with the intention of going on a "Leo Sayer". The Carlton Colds flowed a plenty as we whiled the early afternoon away enjoying what we knew was going to become a huge drinking session.
A mammoth hand of poker ensued, a game which if you remember I am no good at, and for the first time in ages I partook. I got the distinct impression that I was being favoured by my mates as one by one they were dropping out whist me a mere rookie began collecting chips for fun. Victory was mine as a punt on a bad hand went my way which left me feeling on top of the world, albeit if I had been handed the win.
As more drinks came and went in the usual manner our thoughts turned to sustenance and Pizza's became the order of the day. A quick bite and then we were preparing to head out to a local club to round the evening off.
Having queued for over an hour I was desperate for a drink as we entered the club, JD and cokes by this point had taken centre stage, a favourite tipple of mine. The club played on around me as my stupour began to take hold. I had been drinking since before midday and it was taking it's toll on me, until I finally gave in and fell asleep. I woke up still in the club to find a girl talking to me, quite how she hadn't noticed I was sparko I don't know, but with a head on me already I had to just get up and go. Fortunately H was on hand to pick us up and Herman, one of his mates, Robins and me all piled into her car and got taken back.

Victory denied

On one of the worst days of the year so far we comprehensively outplayed the opposition only to have our victory swiped away from us by a sour groundsman/player/arsehole!
We had worked hard in the field to bowl them out for 141, a total which they would probably not have reached had it not been for some dubious umpiring decisions and some of our players getting carried away with an on field argument. Once this had been calmed over a drinks break we got back to the business of seeing them off in a constant drizzle.
Tea came and went with the weather still gloomy and wet but they took to the field awaiting me and Skip to come to the crease. We had in the region of 45 overs to get the 142 target and set about their bowling with promise. Although we survived a couple of chances each our partnership grew and soon Skip was celebrating his half century. Before long we had passed the 100 mark and the target was easily attainable given the time and the number of wickets in hand. That's when it started...
...the opposition had approached this game in the way it should have been. They wanted to play on regardless of the weather and see it through to a result, all bar two of them that is. Their two most senior players, people that you would normally expect to have had the polar opinion, began moaning about the conditions and arguing that the weather was causing them problems in the field. To be fair to the rest of their team they just wanted to get the game finished and get back into the bar, whilst these two were clearly trying to use the weather to call the game off in order to deny us what was a certain victory.
In the end we needed 26 runs to win having faced only 21 overs and still had 10 wickets to get them with. Skip and I had put on a 116 run partnership and I was close to joining him on 50, finishing with 43 not out. One of the opposition fielders had slipped slightly on the wicket whilst trying to retrieve a ball and their groundsman (who was also playing) insisted that the game be called off due to safety and damage to the ground that he had to tend to. Skip's opposite number had been harangued by these two protesters for some 5 or 6 overs and eventually gave in pulling us all off when it had got so close. He cannot be blamed, he had tried everything in his power to get the game completed and he deserves to be applauded for that. If only ever team we played against was made of people that approached the game in the way he did.

Best yet

This evening's youth match for the under 9 age group proved to be their strongest display yet. Playing against a strong side who made no bones about approaching the game to win rather than give everyone a go we managed to restrict them to an attainable target and were unlucky to fall short. Some strong bowling spells from each pair in the first innings made me proud as their coach whilst the best batting score that they have so far achieved was the icing on the cake. A good deal of their parents were able to come along and support them in their venture which I'm sure helped them. It's matches like this; the excitement on the kids faces and the pride displayed by their parents that makes all this worthwhile.

Unwell Part III

Not quite right still I decided to take another day off and try to get shot of this flu.

Unwell Part II

I took today off and spent most of it in bed. My sore throat had grown into full man-flu. By this evening I had started to feel a little better so fingers crossed...

Unwell

I have had a really sore throat all day today. Yesterday's news puts things into perspective though so I must not complain.

More bad news

I found out that a good colleague and friend is suffering with stomach cancer. I hadn't even heard that he was ill and assumed he must have been on holiday. Apparently the prognosis is good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him.

Heat ! ! !

It's the only way to describe today.

Sunburnt whilst umpiring a colts match, dehydrated whilst legging it round the field and pinned by a bowler of serious pace!

MG Owner

I bought a Damask red MGB GT today! I love it!

The deal was struck fairly smoothly mainly thanks to the gentleman (and here I mean the term gentleman sincerely) on the other end of the deal.

It purred all the way home and then onto the away match where Pritts got to see it first, running round to the car park to have an ogle and congratulate me. Although not in the same class as his MkII Jensen Interceptor, it's my pride and joy!

A hard fought knock of 33 saw us post 150 odd before dismissing the opposition for just 140. Handing us our first league win of the season. That will teach them to sledge SemiPro with the fated line, "You're the worst cricket team that I have seen in 10 years!".

They must be feeling pretty sick :-)

Home Improvements

Tonight saw a massive improvement in the fortunes of our colts sides. Not only did we bowl and field well and leaving a target far more reasonable than before, but our batsmen stepped up to the mark producing the best performance I have yet seen.
The young captain led the way with a fine knock of 23, which had not long ago been a team score, ably assisted by the others reaching 66 in reply. Although defeated our boys can stand proud of their efforts today. Having only had 6 batsmen dismissed was also a personal best for the lads who once again managed to use up the overs.

Visiting Hours

We travelled to Brompton Hospital this evening to see our Uncle. He was recovering from major heart surgery.
When you hear about someone in that situation but don't see them straight away your imagination takes over and you build a mental image of what to expect. Often it can be a bigger shock than what you had prepared for. When I saw him the day he had his heart attack I was stunned at how different he looked; tonight he looked somewhat better than I had envisioned. He was clearly very weak and emotional with it but there was something about him that put my mind at ease regarding his welfare. A couple of little wisecracks left me feeling that he was on the mend and the journey home was that bit more comfortable than the journey there.
The staff at the hospital seemed magnificent. Although a big party of us had appeared they were untroubled and quietly got on with their business of helping him recover whilst allowing us to speak with him. Our Aunt has been able to spend every day with him which I'm sure in the long run will help her by seeing a little progress each day.

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow

A wet evening almost saw the end of another colts match but with a little perseverance we managed to get the game through to a result...

...not the one we wanted but still a completed game.

The lads were, to be blunt, a little disappointing tonight. Their fielding let them down albeit in the rain and their batting left a lot to be desired with only 10 and 11 avoiding a dismissal. Although costly in terms of the runs we could have scored the youngest player in our side this evening was the only one to play with a straight bat in the way that we have been coaching them. To his credit he stayed at the crease for 10 overs. It was his first game, playing against kids 3 years his senior, but it was definitely a promising start. If he continues in that vein he will become a good player.

Washed Out

I am but that is not what this is about...

...Our colts had yet another match called off thanks to what must surely be the wettest May in living history!

They were devastated and so was I.

Flawed Prospect

We have a young player at our cricket club who will I'm sure become an absolutely fantastic cricketer; the sky is indeed the limit.

The only flaw is that he has a slight skip in his delivery stride as he comes into bowl which I have now made it my mission to fix. Getting a bowler to remove a habit like this is a notoriously hard thing to achieve so I have my work set out but fortunately he is young enough to allow for this to be done and keen enough to learn, making me believe that this is not beyond him or indeed myself.

Please wish me and him luck :)

The Great Escape

With a washed out Sunday in terms of upcoming cricket matches all that was left to do was watch West Ham United scrape themselves out of the relegation quagmire with a smash and grab raid against Manchester United on the final day of the 2006-2007 Premiership season.

I met Teed at the clubhouse after popping in to see Ma and Pa and regaling them with the latest dispatches, whilst quaffing a cheeky red. In a second display of what seems to be my unplanned lifestyle change, favouring all things retro, I veered toward an old style pint glass with handle and drank bitter at the club.

Put it down to experience

Today was pretty much a write off , a blitz of the house was the only worthwhile event. The weather seemed to be coming out in sympathy of the mood, that dull, overcast gloom threatening a downpour. I snapped at Babe over something ridiculously unimportant and spent the rest of the day regretting it, I don't know why, but I had woken up so angry this morning.

It was the first match that I have played in where we failed to score above 100. 67 all out chasing 236 to win was a dreadful showing. None of us can put our hands up and say we batted well. I tried to sweep a spinner just three balls into the innings and was given out albeit off my forearm. The shot deserved the end result though and a couple of people lent their advice on that one so I will be putting that stroke away until I'm being well set next time.

Bandai was near suicidal after his dismissal. He was saying how he had been struggling for form recently and today his luck hit rock bottom. He was facing a clever spinner and popped one in the air from the shoulder of the bat. The ball looked certain to fall into empty space as a fielder tried to make up the ground; he stuck his boot out, caught the ball before it hit grass and sent it looping in the air to a gleeful short cover who gobbled the catch. Bandai will never see another wicket like that let alone be on the receiving end of it but that did little to console him.

And finally British entry, Scootch, mustered a lowly 19 points in this evening's Eurovision song contest.

All of us should put today's events down to experience...

Fantastic Service

Twice now I have ordered a large number of cricket shirts from Owzat over the telephone of an afternoon and twice they have managed to get my order delivered to me the following morning! I'm completely amazed that during the cricket season they can keep up this kind of service. The first order some weeks back had been in the off season and so stock levels permitting I could just about see a next day delievery (free by the way) as being possible. To repeat that just a few weeks into the season makes me think they must be miracle workers. I'm sure that one day I'll receive a delivery of an order that I'm about to phone through ;)

Keep up the good work guys, I'm spreading the word!

One step closer

My dream of driving a classic sports car is a little closer today.

I was concerned that as a young man my insurance premium on such a vehicle was going to be astronomical but a quick call to Footman James for a quote gave me the best news that I have heard in ages. They quoted me almost £400 less than I currently pay so an issue which I thought was going to be a show stopper actually meant that the extra cost of maintaining an MGB GT compared to a normal car would be covered to some degree by the savings in insurance. If you add the fact that I'm particularly interested in a model which was registered before 1973 and therefore would be tax exempt then the dent in the potential running costs is even greater.

I'm so excited about the thought of a beautiful car that I have forgotten to impart that I had a sound nights sleep last night and feel chipper for it. Here's keeping my fingers crossed that this may long continue.

Insomniac

I guess that it was the fact that I couldn't sleep what-so-ever last night that I spent most of today feeling like shit. To be honest it's probably been about 2 weeks since I have slept properly and things are beginning to take their toll. I could sense that I have been getting crabby and easily irritated but today I didn't feel that I even had the energy to get moody.
A walk home in the cold air was hard going but did the trick for a while in terms of pepping me up. Babe cooked whilst I tried to ring round players for the forthcoming matches, a chore that I could have done without. Dinner was delicious, chicken and asparagus pie with new potatoes and sweetcorn, and thankfully kept me going until about 22:30. I was going to have a sleep when I got back in from work but thought better of it, sleeping in the evening would only make it even harder to doze off tonight.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things improve otherwise I might be taking a trip to the GP.

Classic

I am no car enthusiast but have always loved the look of an early 70's sports car. I have recently had a yearning to buy a modest one and with the ever increasing cost of maintenance and ever decreasing time on the road with my current heap of junk I started to look about.
I had always been drawn to a Triumph Spitfire before but had recently been advised to look at a Stag. Neither really did it for me so I called my Father who is a classic car nut and asked what he thought.
Within an instant he responded "MGB GT, it's perfect for you!" So I looked around and found a whole host for sale online and a wealth of information. I must admit that I fell in love with the look of them straight away and now have my heart set upon purchasing one.
Watch this space...

Bank Holiday Weather

Today was a typical bank holiday in terms of weather. The rain came in torrents making up for the whole of April it seems. Things cleared somewhat for the early afternoon and held on enough for coaching to go on. Although it doesn't look pleasant I'm sure that most gardeners are pleased that finally they'll have some moisture in their turf.
Babe, having washed her car yesterday was desperate as we wound through the back lanes to Chief's place, splashing through numerous muddy puddles, but on inspection there wasn't too much mess.
It's always nice to have a three day weekend though.

Half Century

They put on 288 in 40 overs. Their opener hit the ball like nothing I have ever seen. The majority of our fielders were nursing sore hands for the rest of the day.
It was a daunting total to chase but Skip and I were asked to open in order to set a platform for the team to make that total. We made a fantastic start together, both reaching 50 around the same time. It was my first of the season so I was pretty chuffed. I managed another 11 runs before holing out to a great catch at mid-on but Skip turned up the heat with a classy 128. We came within 3 runs of winning, the game having seen a total of 574 runs scored during the day. It was a good game to be a part of in cricketing terms but the atmosphere turned sour when our opposition (in what was a friendly match) started to whinge about everything that was happening from us making a legitimate run when they made fielding errors to suggesting that the only reason we prevented a 15 year old spectator from coming out to do the umpiring was that he might give us out. "Yeah, he might give me out when I'm not supposed to be!" Skip quipped. It's a shame because it marred a good competitive game of cricket and foul language in front of some of the club's ladies just made matters worse, however it all got settled over a beer and they stayed around at the club for a while, showing an interest in joining the Sunday league that we play in. Now that would be a fiery encounter!

Credit where credit is due

We were slaughtered today by a side that we really should have beaten to progress to the next round of the cup. To be fair our fielding display was pretty good and the bowlers that were asked to bowl today did a sterling job. Missing SemiPro was always going to hurt but the track was lethal, it was the third match to be played on it in a row with mowing being the only preparation; he would have been unplayable today.
Ground fielding was like playing 'dodge the minefield' on a desperate oval but as the saying goes "they have to play on it too". In another display of fickleness I was promoted to opening the batting with Skip and fared OK making 18 with some beuatiful drives to the boundary albeit littered with some awful slashes too. Our batting collapsed with no-one making more than 25 the only player that looked at all in good shape was Pritts.
After the match Skip sat down with me and told me over a beer that I had impressed him as opener and that he wanted to take back what he had said to me on Tuesday. It's a big man that can admit that he is wrong and he deserves credit for having that conversation with me. Here's hoping that I can continue to deliver on what he has seen so far.

Delayed Write Failure

When I started this blog I used to update it each evening with the highlights of that day's events. The odd slip or prior engagement sometimes meant that I didn't write the post until the following day. Recently however it has been a number of days between updates or in the most extreme case almost 2 weeks.

At first I thought that this was a problem (well 2 weeks is a problem) but sometimes that little delay in penning typing your thoughts can help to clarify exactly what you want to convey to the reader. It can calm what at the time was an emotional moment or conversely it can build the strength of feeling missing from an off-guard situation.

Either way reflection on the events of your last day, week or fortnight in my case, is a healthy thing. I will try to ensure that my blog is updated as regularly as possible but I won't worry if posts must wait for a day or so.

League Match and the AGM

Our oldest youth side played in their first league match this evening yet still playing against kids a number of years their senior. They bowled well taking four wickets but the opposition were very strong and took advantage of the numerous fielding errors to amass a huge total of 198.
Our boys didn't make a dent in that score but still made an impressive show against some very quick bowling in worsening light.
Ou football team's AGM took place tonight too, I made it there late but was able to deliver my report on all things player related and present TaxiTom with his new shirt to celebrate his stellar debut where he stepped onto the pitch with his shirt on back-to-front.
An American football top in the right colours did the trick ;)

Unwelcome News

Babe phoned to say that her uncle had suffered a heart attack and had been rushed to hospital. I didn't know what to say. It was his birthday today too.
We went straight there after work and thankfully he seemed better than I had hoped.
"We all hope you get better soon."

Selection Update

Well following last week's selection meeting and my despair at what I felt was unwarranted treatment by the captain I am stunned to impart that I have been promoted from 9 to first drop!
Skip in his usual display of self importance asked to speak to me quietly outside the club rooms. I was expecting to be told that I wouldn't be needed in the first eleven this weekend and had begun to prepare a barrage of abuse.
After about 4 attempts to spit it out he finally opted for "Casper, where do you think you should bat?" My response was that I would back myself to bat anywhere in the side (diplomatically passing the buck straight back to the fella) but I went on to air my grievance re: Saturday.
I was told that a large number of the team believe that I would make a good opener for the side which was nice to hear but he followed this up by saying quite bluntly "I don't think that you're good enough." I figure that was his stab at building the morale of one of his team that was clearly unhappy. Just another example of his incompetence in the position.
So finally he told me that I was to bat at 3 on Saturday, which most cricketers would tend to agree is as good as opening or maybe even better. His logic therefore is somewhat flawed but I guess I have my chance and it's now down to me.