Frugal February

 The Six Nations rugby is well under way now with Ireland and France showing World Cup winning form. The rest will be hoping they have peaked too early.

England beat Wales which shows they are moving in the right direction although the debate now centres around their captain rather than coach.

We planned to go to North Wales on Friday to watch the U20 game against England but we had a blow out on the way and watched the first half in a layby on the A55. That said the England back line looked very quick and they ran out deserved winners too. There was a Chessum brother in each England  team with younger one coming in at 6' 9 ".

Golf dinners have kicked I  again with three in three weeks, but now we are ab.e to relax for a couple of weeks. This entry is being composed in LHR T3 so watch this space for more news of the significant birthday adventure.

I do look forward ro meeting up with the S Club again next season and we have planned a trip to Nice during the Rugby World Cup. We plan to watch a few matches on TV and take in the atmosphere. Tickets are reasonably priced but flights and hotels are ridiculous prices when the home nations are concerned. So I have sold my England v Samoa tickets in Lille and instead SWMBO and I are off to Bordeaux for Fiji v Georgia. That should be a hoot.

Two other news items. Number 2 son is heavy with child, their first, and our neighbours house is up for sale, so potentially new neighbours after 20 odd years. Let's hope a family buys it and not a developer with an eye to turning it into flats. Time will tell.

OAP

Wow, March has just flown by. It started with an almost significant birthday as I reached the ripe old age of 65. I only celebrate when the year ends in zero, but I was coerced into a family do, as much because the grandkids like to blow out the candles.

So, we all sat down in The Refreshment Rooms for a Sunday lunch as luckily my birthday fell on a Sunday. We all had a good time, everybody enjoyed themselves and I am a year older. Tim came up for a few days from London sans children so we were able to have a few drinks as well which was good.

I applied for my pension to the DWP as you are asked to, but nothing has arrived, so I had to call them. They told me some applications had gone missing at about the time I applied. Lucky I rang really as they clearly have no check and balance for these sort of eventualities. The pension is paid in arrears, so I should get it as expected in a day or two.

March has also provided a couple of Six Nations rugby games. We travelled to Paris to see England fail to beat France, and we were at Twickenham for the anti-climatic end game against Ireland. In both cases the matches were the low point of the weekend . We stayed at The Farmers Club in Covent Garden as way of a change for the Ireland game and it was good to escape Twickenham after the match and enjoy a few drinks elsewhere.

Unfortunately we had two Chinese meals, which, coupled with the birthday celebration and a trip to Paris has stalled my weight loss campaign...couple of pounds added on this month!!

The beginning of the golf season has also stalled due to the bad weather, so my scramble to get six qualifying cards into the Virgin Atlantic golf competition and win a goodie bad, has been delayed somewhat.
Hopefully I can get it all done by Monday. There is a trip to Vegas as the prize for the best golfers this season so I must use the golf lesson presents I got wisely!!

Easter has now come and gone. It was a quiet one this year, with a bit of gardening and jovial evenings out to crown a pretty good month.

I have embraced Twitter now so you can follow me here if you want to, although at the moment its not too interesting!!
Just click on the Twitter follow button top right and after that I don't know what happens!!

A Porsche, a Porsche, my kingdom for a Porsche

The Six Nations rugby season is now well under way. The 'S Club' met up in London last week for the first England match v France, we were joined by a couple of Simon's who qualified by name(!) and various sons and friends, making it a very enjoyable first outing.

5pm kick-off's are always tricky, particularly for the spectators, but we were lucky enough to get a table in the White Horse pub in Richmond, just behind the Red Cow. Apparently the Black Dog, Green Dragon  and Pink Flamingo were all fully booked.

Pre-match discussion centred on business and Brexit, and neither came out too badly, as two of the crew had, only the day before, independently ordered new Porsche's as their new family runabouts.....I really must get those virtual reality goggles out and see what all the fuss is about. I am not sure a Porsche 911 or Boxster would suit me though as I am quite tall  and I am well past the SUV stage. Looks like a Beamer for a few years yet then.

As well as an inconvenience for the crowd, the 5pm kick-off did not seem to appeal to the England team much, and after a very rusty first half they managed to squeeze past a spirited French outfit right at the death. They seemed to adjust better to it yesterday though when they challenged Wales in Cardiff.

It was always going to be a tough day for me. One of my golf chums, George, was making a comeback after falling down the stairs a few weeks ago. George is 83 so its not in his best interests to start free running at his age!! anyway, we got him round 18 holes in one piece, and as it was a team competition we were able to make a good stab at winning. We were 6th in the end, our best result for some time in these things!

I then had Plymouth Argyle v Exeter City, Wales v England and Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspurs to contend with. Argyle did the business 3-0 so that was the most important result of the three. Spurs were blown away by Liverpool, well Mane actually, so that's the title challenge finished for another season, so that left England to continue their quest for a second consecutive grand slam, something never before achieved in the Six Nations era.

Well, it was a proper game of rugger, and one could not have begrudged Wales had they have won, but after getting a battering for the last 20 minutes of the first half, England once more showed their resolve, and not a little skill, to close the game out in the last few minutes. SWMBO and I are off to Snowdonia tomorrow to continue our climbing fitness programme, I might have to turn over a few stones, as I bet I won't be able to find a Welshman when I want one!!

Boom town rats....

Our Six Nations journey ended on Sunday as England defeated a gallant French side to win the Grand Slam. It was a strange weekend given the game kicked-off at 21:00, and Paris was much quieter than usual as many locals stayed at home not wanting to risk any potential terrorist activity. Little did we know what was to come.

The satisfying thing from the Six Nations perspective was that France at last showed some of their old guile and skill. Given that Wales and Ireland cannot possibly be as bad again next season it should be a very competitive competition. Whether Connor O'Shea can breath life into Italy though remains to be seen.

Hopefully the organisers will see there is no merit Friday night matches or ridiculously timed Saturday or Sunday evening games, and the fans needs may be taken into consideration.

Returning home to the news of the Brussels attacks was not a total surprise. Talk in the French press after the arrest of a key suspect on Friday indicated he was in possession of a contact list, and I suspect one of his lieutenants probably brought forward the attacks for fear of his operatives being arrested before more atrocities could be executed.

We live in difficult times but the French are to be congratulated with their Saturday night organisation. May it continue into the Summer when they host Euro 2016.

Genesis 2:1-3

I notice the second test between England and India is delayed by the rain. I find it strange that a test match in England is scheduled for a Friday start anyway, although I am told it is because players need three days rest between back to back test matches. Once again it seems players needs are put before those of the paying public.

I remember the uproar which occurred when the traditional rest day, Sunday, was abolished for test matches. The players would rather play right through was the reason given, although I suspect it was something to do with the TCCB feeling they could get a bigger crowd on the Sunday than on the following day. What of course got overlooked in all this was the fact that the rest day was really for the spectators who had spend three days on the lash and welcomed a day of rest to prepare them for work on the following Monday. But hey, the players have to come first, right?

Another aspect to bear in mind is the hospitality business. The Thursday and Friday are the traditional biggies, with fewer people wanting to go on the weekend. Well that's our own time isn't it, not work time when hospitality always feels that much better. This weeks Friday start has diluted that marketing opportunity as well.

Cricket is not alone in turning a blind eye to the needs of the spectators. The 'old farts' at the RFU and elsewhere modified the Five/Six Nations format a few years ago to do three things, all for the benefit of players and television. Some games are now played on consecutive weekends so making attendance, particularly away from home, less achievable. The fortnightly schedule at least gave some weekend time at home with the family.

Next, they have introduced Sunday games, the drawback of which mirrors the cricket problems above. After attending a game, home or away, the thought of having to go to work on the Monday is a real turn off and is starting to force many long term supporters to select their fixtures more carefully.

Finally there comes the question of kick-off times, with usually only one game of the three kicking off anywhere near 3pm. Just don't bring this matter up with supporters of premier league football teams, who only get to see their team kick off at 3pm in pre-season friendlies.