Dave 'Dodgy' Jones (1954-2025)

 I heard the news yesterday that my great friend and social activist Dave Jones passed away recently. I can't say that I will miss him, as I have already had that experience while he has been shut away in a dementia care home in Teddington West London for close to 15 years. I visited on occassions when other reasons took me down South, but as is always the case, his memory of me or SWMBO diminished to nothing very quickly. One has no idea if the visits do register as certainly the exchanges indicate they do not, but I was advised to keep going as long as I was able, to keep the care home on their toes, and in case there was some cranial activity I was stimulating.

Dave was a long standing member of the Tuesday club, a group who convened at 9pm in The Prince Blucher in Twickenham, and pretended we had all been rugby training and needed a recovery pint or three. Clearly in our fourties, our rugby training days were long behind us, but the social couple of hours were always rich in stories and memories.

There were memories for SWMBO and I as well. We would often meet him in Paris when England were playing, although his allegiance was always to Wales!! We stayed in his apartment in Amsterdam and in Rome when his work with Cellnet took him away for months at a time, but most memorable, we were with him in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic Games as he was liaison officer for Helen Rollenson of TV fame, and we were working in the Georgia Dome. Dave sorted accomodation and had a good knowledge of  Buckhead and its bars and restaurants and we had a real blast for two weeks. 

The World was always a livelier place with 'Dodgy' around, and I felt priveliged to call him my friend. May you finally be free .

Fields of Green

 Today the BBC web-site had interviews with Danny Care (England) and Sam Warburton (Wales) in which they ranked the Six Nations stadia. Their order was:

1.  Cardiff
2. Twickenham
3. Murrayfield
4. Paris
5. Dublin and
   
6. Rome

That is fascinating and from a players point of view they see little of the 'weekend experience' where we have often commented that the game is often the low point of the celebrations. My choice would be this:

1. Dublin
2. Rome
3. Twickenham
4. Paris
5. Murrayfield
6. Cardiff

Almost a reverse order. Interesting.

2d back on the bottle

What a strange weekend just gone. It always seems to be not quite right when the rugby international matches are played on a Sunday, but we embrace the home games anyway. Paris is a dead loss as the whole City seems to shut down on Sundays and as the rugby federation are only tenants in the Stade Francais, they get to play at the ridiculous times the landlords dictate. Rome is a bit better so we have been known to go over there for a Sunday game, but the other venues, forget it. That said we don't go to Cardiff these days fullstop!!

So Twickenham weekend was shifted a day, and numbers were down considerably. Just two of us for the Saturday night pre-match drinks and five for the game itself. I was amazed to read how positiive the reports of the England performance were. Ireland were dreadful  and like Scotland before, they exectuted schoolboy errors to gift England a substancial lead. So in my mind England have played three games and discounting the two pieces of magic from Jonny May late in the game against France, England have created nothing through thier own imagination or ingenuilty. I can't help thinking that The All Blacks would have put 50 points on both sides easily.

Tuilangi disappeared after about 30 minutes, Farrell has no imagination or flair and both scrum halves are on borrowed time. I fear the Welsh will find us out.

The apres match was a very good craic and I have returned home in one piece, but recieved an interesting e-mail from one of our S-Club members who has just had 6 weeks in Australia and New Zealand. He and his wife have decided to instigate a self imposed 3 week isolation period as they have been near to countries which are part of the Corona virus outbreak. This means he will not be with us for the Wales game for fear of being a carrier. It's a very noble gesture and gets them out of baby sitting duty for a while, so we might try that one ourselves.

So we are now long on wales tickets and hotel rooms, somethoing which has never been heard of before.

Arrivederci Roma

We were in Rome at the weekend for the Italy v England rugby game. The previous weekend had seen Rome carpeted in snow for the first time for about 25 years, so we were not surprised when the skies went dark on the Friday night, and about three inches of the stuff deposited itself on us.

We were in the rooftop bar of the hotel at the time, so the sights were very spectacular. Our need to eat got the better of us though, and as there were no taxi hires available we cancelled our first choice venue and walked, or more likely slide, down the hill to a nearby pizzeria.

We had a tolerable meal, however the highlight was watching the Roman equivalent of a grit waggon in operation. Coming slowly up the hill was a builders truck of the type you would expect your jobbing roofer to have. Open at the back it housed several bags of grit and two men with garden trowels. These two individuals then sprayed the salt onto the road before a bulldozer followed along behind and picked it all up again!! Priceless.

The game this year was played at the stadium built for the 1960 Olympic Games, and a very fine stadium it is too. There was no under soil heating though so the game went ahead on a partially snow covered surface, and suffered a bit for that, but a win is a win and England move on to face Wales in a potential grand slam decider.

The stadium was my sixth Olympic stadium, although I have no particular wish to tick the rest off.

So all in all Rome was extremely cold and extremely expensive. Most meals worked out at about £50 per head and our top bar bill was £157.00 for 12 drinks. The Euro zone needs to get itself under control before I think about going there again.

Still at least we got a match in, pity the poor Irish supporters in Paris who had to travel from the centre to Stade France only to be told the game was off, so having to travel back into town only to find somebody had nicked their seats, they have to do it all over again on 4th March, c'est la vie.

Interestingly the reason it was built without under soil heating is because it was build on a rubbish tip and there are, therefore, pockets of potentially explosive methane still underneath which the heating pipes could ignite.

Ring, ring......

My 200th post, well that's good going........and what a great moment to celebrate it with the news that number one daughter Rebecca, got engaged yesterday in Rome.

John, her childhood sweetheart, proposed in traditional style in a restaurant in Rome. No news yet whether the whole place clapped and cheered but lets hope so.

She is there to meet her mad mates from Oklahoma so I am sure they will all be drinking the local fire water well into the night.....I wonder if they will make it to Jonathans, near Plaza Navarrro it would be a fitting place to go.

Talking 'bout my Generation

I saw a trailer for a new film last night. Its call 'The Bucket List' and features two old guys working out what they still had to do in life before they popped their clogs. It got me wondering.

I had a list when I was at school identifying bands I wanted to see, and sporting events to go to, and much of that list was successfully ticked off. I got to see The Stones, The Who, Simon and Garfunkel and Led Zep, and went to an England International at Wembley, and the League Cup Final, under whatever guise it was called then.

I never saw Cream, although I have seen the sum of its parts separately since they disbanded, and I have not been to an FA Cup Final as I vowed only to go when Spurs or Argyle actually made it there.

So if I started a new list, what would I put on it?

Well the Cup Final would be a carry over, although I have seen Argyle win at Wembley in the playoffs some years ago, Spurs getting there is a bit out of my hands though, so it would be sensible to include events over which i have some control.

I decided to start learning the piano when I was 40, with a view to being able to go into a pub, lift the lid on the beer stained Joanna and bash out a tune before I was 50. I missed that deadline big time, but am still persevering. I will be able to do it one day.

All golfers want to shoot a score lower than their age, on current form I would need to live into my eighties to do that. It could happen though, check this interesting article out about age expectancy.

Holidays have started to be linked with the bucket list. I want to cruise to Alaska while there is still ice up there, and visit the Indian sub-continent, probably to watch some cricket. Seeing Aussie play in Aus would be good too, although whether they would better the Windies in St Lucia for atmosphere, I am not sure.

I have done an Olympics, and seen the All Blacks in Auckland and attended a Rugby World Cup or two. The kids are all reasonable settled so there is not anything I particularly need to do for them over and above the usual parental bit. It would be good, though, to see a grandchild play or perform on a major stage or sporting arena, something else over which I have no control though.

Culturally, I have done the last night of the Proms a couple of times, but never been to a ballet or opera, Paris or Rome seem good venues to do that in. I have stared in wonder at the Grand Canyon and taken the tram to the top of the Peak in Hong Kong.

So it looks like I need to spend some time getting my top ten together, and then hope I don't find a bucket where a footie should be, in the foreseeable future!

...faces all a glow ow ow ow.....

Rome is a delightful city, particularly when it is bathed in brilliant late Winter sunshine. It was this weekend, and I was fortunate to be there.

The continued 6 Nations rugby had forced me to leave the comfort of my warm cosy bed at 04:45 on Saturday morning and make the short trip to Heathrow. Now, I was not aware that the time was ever 04:45 on a Saturday morning, however, the amount of traffic on the M4 indicated that many others obviously did!

Still we got to Rome mid-morning, and found a very hospitable restaurant for a long and leisurely lunch somewhere near the Spanish Steps, we followed that with a quick change and an evening meal in a posh restaurant near our hotel. Following that we ended with Irish coffee in Harrys Bar, where we watched the world go by before retiring to bed. So much for sightseeing.

The game this year was on a Sunday, although I am sure it always is!! So down to breakfast to find the referee team are staying at the same hotel. We eavesdropped in on their pre-match briefing and learnt that the 'ref mikes' were not working for the Scotland v France game, much to everybodies embarrassment, and that the Italian number 2 was used in so many examples of potential flare-ups that he must be worth looking out for!!

So, more food before the game, then off to the stadium. England ground out a win, although I thought the papers were unkind to them. Their play without the ball was world class, it was just when they were in possession that they lacked a bit of composure. Give them time and I am sure it will come together. Guess what we did then, yep, more food at a restaurant owned by Luigi, as in 'Hey Luigi'.

We fell on our feet here though. He was a mad Lazio football fan, but his son at 9 years old had decided he wanted to play rugby. Dad not too enthusiastic until he found out Lazio have a rugby team. Now his son plays for the U15s and he is in the Vets, both of them are props!!

Nightcaps to follow in a suspected gay bar but that was never confirmed, and up the next morning for home. It took us 30 minutes from landing at Heathrow to arriving back in Chis with our luggage! I must use that as a house selling point.

Oh yes, we did not use a taxi once all weekend, just one tram ride back from the game, and tube and train too and from the airport. Excellent.