Track of the week 28/8/16
A bit of Acid Jazz funkiness at its best.
Top tune, can be found on the “Wait a Minute” LP which I have (and, at the time of writing, can be found in the under the eaves cupboard on my side of the bedroom 😉 )
Sophie’s exam results
Pic of the week 28/8/16
So, after what seemed liked a long wait since June, Thursday morning arrived, along with Sophie’s GCSE results.
I never doubted her, and she got 2 x A*, 4 x A and 4 x B’s – an excellent and well deserved haul.
A*s in maths & textiles, A’s in Science, Add Science, Geography and IT (BTEC distinction), Bs in Eng Lit, Eng Lang, Drama & German.
Very proud of her!
Yeovil Town FC Ladies Development Squad v Cyncoed Ladies FC
This afternoon I refereed a pre-season friendly game between Yeovil Town FC Ladies Development Squad and Cyncoed Ladies FC from the Welsh Premier Women’s League and it was an absolute pleasure.
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My decisions, right or wrong, were accepted with good grace, players didn’t react or flare up when fouled, no back chat, I didn’t hear “in the back, ref” once. A fair way into the first half (first third) I realised I hadn’t yet blown my whistle, so I made a mental note to check the time when I first did: 14 mins into the game, and that was for an off-side!
And the standard of football was pretty good, too, particularly from Yeovil: pass and move, pass and move, rather than hoof and hope found in many men’s games. All capped off with a couple strikes that would have graced the game at any level.
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For the record, Yeovil won 8-0.
Match Stats
Yeovil Town FC Ladies Development Squad 8 Cyncoed Ladies FC 0
Open Age friendly, three 30 minute thirds
0 Yellows 0 Reds
Match fee: £25
Flames of Desire – ABC, & Piano Man – Billy Joel
Track of the week 21/8/16
Forget to do a track of the week last week, so a double bonus this week!
The first, a new track from ABC. I heard it on the radio a few times and thought it was an oldie from ABC, but its a new release. I do like it.
Bonus track of the week 21/8/16
Billy Joel’s Piano Man – you need to listen to the lyrics of this song and enjoy the story along with the music.
Paint-balling
Pic of the week 21/8/16
Yesterday Sam & I joined Rog, Joe, Ned & Oli for a day’s paintballing for Joe & Ned’s birthday.
Sam & I set off at 8.30am to collect Oli before heading to Delta Paintballing, right by Bristol Airport where we met Rog & co. and a few of their friends. We got kitted up and headed into the wood to do battle for the first of six game scenarios (or “maps” as today’s youth, brought up on a diet of CoD, would say.)
Was good fun but physically quite demanding. Day was dry for the most part, but we had a heavy shower around lunchtime which led to one’s googles fogging up in the later games. This, perhaps, explains the “patricide” incident: in the Zombie Apocalypse game had gotten myself into a good position, sheltered by an Iso container, just shy of the enemy forces in front of me. I was taking stock of my position, pondering my next move when I was raked by fire from above and behind!! Hit several times, there was nothing left for me but to accept my demise, hold my hand up and troop back to the deadzone to re-spawn. As I did, I called up to the tower to my rear to see if the blues had taken it, or if it was still in red hands. It was the latter, I was the victim of friendly fire – at the hands of my son!
Ah, the fog of war.
Glastonbury Tor
Pic of the week 14/8/16
Each morning, I fling open the shutters of my bedroom and gaze out at Glastonbury Tor, standing proud in the distance. The pic above was taken by Becky at 5.45am this morning before we set off for Cheddar and a car boot sale.
Yesterday, I decided to run up the Tor. Donned my kit and set off. It was almost exactly 4k to the bottom of the Tor – a fairly easy cruise, followed by a tough slog up to the top. I reckon I ran one third of the way up to the Tor (off and on), walking the rest.
After a brief moment to gather my breath & take in the view, I set off back down the hill. Halfway down, the 5th k kicked in, 4-5 k taking 9 mins something. Going back down the Tor was not that quick – despite the slope and gravity’s helping hand it was slower than running on the level.
Back on the level, I carried on home, running each k at an ace over 5 mins (annoyingly, my Fitbit didn’t load the splits), the run finishing at 9.72 km after 55.06 mins. (Regret a little not carrying on to make it a full 10k).  My route can be seen below:
Was a little (pleasantly) surprised as to how I took the whole run in my stride (pun intended), both the run itself and after effects which I would describe as minimal.
Have set myself two challenges:
- To run the Tor run at least once every holiday (including half terms)
- To run all the way up the Tor by the end of 2017.
Football – RAF College Cranwell v German Air Force College
These pics recently came to light, of me playing football for RAF College Cranwell versus the German Air Force Officer College.
I can’t recall exactly when the game was played – it was certainly whilst I was on either EOT 1 or EOT 2, which would make it either ’92, ’93 or ’94. I played left wing. The game was, as far as I can recall, unremarkable. I think we may have won by a single goal, but I’m not sure.
Major Tom – Peter Schilling
Track of the week 7/8/16
This track was used as the opening theme tune of Deutchsland 83 which I watched and enjoyed at the start of the year. A drama series following a young soldier from East Germany sent to spy in the West in the early eighties – a great piece of TV.
I’ve been re-watching Breaking Bad (another – even better- bit of TV) and there was a snippet of this track in it: Hank showed Walt & Walt Junior a dvd with Gale Boetticher (the chemist assigned to help Walt in the mega lab, who Jesse shot) singing this song and it firmly planted an ear worm in my head, hence it makes it’s appearance as this week’s track of the week.
You can see the whole of Gale’s karaoke version here:
Birthday Boy!
Pic of the week 7/8/16
Sam’s 14th Birthday and my how he has grown. The pic on the right shows him today, towering over his mother, the pic on left was from last summer. This year he has grown from boy to man. (Still not quite my height – but only a couple of cms shorter than me.)
For his birthday he was more than happy with a clutch of X-Box games and a wad of hard cash!
Westfield FC v Saltford FC
2nd game of the season (& career!) – another friendly between mid-Somerset sides Westfield FCÂ and Saltford FC (both 1st XIs).
Another baking hot day for a 2pm kick (not 2.30 as advertised.) Much more relaxed about the pre-match stuff than last week – now an experienced pro!
Game kicked off and instantly there was a bit more “chat” from the players – I think it was just trying it on, seeing what they would get from me (not a lot!), “In the back, ref” etc. I’ve surprised myself a bit in that I’m not much of a “chatty” ref, just waving appeals away and getting on with the game, rather than into a discussion or explanation. I think this is partly because often I genuinely have no idea what they are appealing for! I put this down to one of two possible reasons:
- I’m missing something, and don’t have a good enough understanding of the game or its laws, or
- There is nothing and they are just appealing out of habit/hope, to try and influence my decision.
I reckon its a lot like teaching: deal with it (by telling them nothing given) and move on and they soon realise that its not going to work, forget about it and stop doing it themselves.
Westfield (red & black) took the lead on 8 minutes, Saltford equalising on 18. Wesfield took the lead shortly before half time (43 Mins) to edge into half time with their noses in front, but on the whole a well balanced game.
Westfield started the second half briskly and four minutes after the restart netted another, their third and begun to show their dominance. In two minutes, around the twelve minute mark, the home team scored twice and the contest was effectively over. Better organised and more comfortable on the ball they ran the show, scoring again in the 27th, 30th & 42nd minutes to win the game 8-1.
As the game wore on, tiredness begaun to creep in, along with frustration for the Salford side and a little tetchiness started to creep in. On the whole, though, a good game played in a good spirit and I think I managed it well. Would still like a little feedback, particularly on those niggles, nudges and knicks – think I’m getting most of them right, be would welcome an external, unbiased observer’s opinion. Physically I found it much less demanding – partly because I managed my positioning better (in my opinion!) less worried about the patrol path and more concerned with being in the position I needed to be to see what I needed to see.
Enjoyed it!
Match Stats
Westfiled FC 1st XI 8 Saltford FC 1st XI 1
Open Age friendly, 90 minutes
0 Yellows 0 Reds
Match fee: £30