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Welcome, March!

Pic of the week 3/3/19

Didn’t post last week – the day ended up running away with me, and now we are in March, always a great month!

The middle pic above is a montage of the month of February, which ended with some beautiful weather, fantastic sunshine and unseasonable temperatures. All that has since changed and we’re currently being battered by Storm Freya. Not to bad, a bit blowy, a bit rainy (on and off) and typical temperatures for the time of year.

Last Sunday, I had my first game on a new league Bridgwater and District Sunday League, and I had another game today – the first of my promotion season! So far, I’ve enjoyed both games – today’s, featuring the top team in Div 1, was a good standard, last week (a Div 2 clash) was more traditional Sunday league fare, but with a 10.30 kick off, I’m quite liking doing the Sunday mornings.

Other news – current problems with BT internet email, hopefully will be resolved soon …

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Half Term

Pic(s) of the week 17/2/19

Its half term – at last.

Its been a long six week stint since the Christmas holidays, always a difficult time of the school year, and a week longer this year than normal (although the corollary of that is that now I have nothing longer than five weeks in a row before a break.)

Sophie cam home from uni on Friday evening, lovely to see her again and have the whole family back under one roof for a week.

For some reason, only fathomable to 16 year old boys, Sam is going to have a boxing match v one of his pals in the Easter holidays. Not a good idea, but at least it is giving him some motivation to get a bit fitter. Yesterday he & I “sparred”  on the deck: he has bought some boxing gloves, I get to hold the pads we he then hits. Madness (& surprisingly hard work.)

The weather has definitely perked up, last Thursday & Friday were beautiful. Typically, its not been so good since half term began, but its dry, bright at times and still light at 5.30 which is remarkably uplifting.

I’m sure I’ll blink and it will be over, but right now its wonderful to think that the next week is mine!

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Legends v Castle Cary (a) 17/2/19

 

You can’t win anything with kids … 

… but you might win with Trevis in goal. 

Those who made the journey to Castle Cary were treated to a one man masterclass in the art of goalkeeping. Clearly channeling the spirit of the late, lamented, Gordon Banks, DJT threw himself around the goalmouth with the abandon of a man released from silent shackles of the library.  

Low shots, high shots, in-swinging corners and whipped in crosses: our man was a match for them all. It was a sight to behold, for unless you had seen it with your own eyes, you would not believe the brilliance we witnessed today. The Libraryman truly ascended to Legend status today. 

So, with such a performance we must surely have won? Sadly, no. Despite the heroic efforts of our number 1, we still lost 4-1. To coin a cliché, it was a game of two halves.  

The first few minutes saw some keystone cop comedy football at both ends, with the ball bouncing here, there and everywhere, except into the goal – true Sunday morning football. However, the game settled down and we found our composure, sometimes surprising ourselves with the time we had, and we began to play our brand of calm, collected, sophisticated football, building from the back. Our pressure was rewarded when a Whatling cross from the right was rifled home. Again, in true Sunday morning fashion, it was not one of our players who struck the ball so sweetly into the onion bag, but a Cary defender who lashed it past his helpless keeper. Half time saw us lead one-nil. 

The start of the second half, and it soon became apparent we had a mountain to climb. Literally. The pitch slopped significantly down towards our goal, the right corner flag being, perhaps, some six feet lower than the centre circle. Unable to effectively clear and gain any respite, the opposition launched wave upon wave of attacks, peppering our goal with vicious, swirling shots. But time and again our hero of the hour was more than a match, leaping to his left, racing to his right, diving at the feet of an oncoming striker to thwart their every effort. 

We began to hope, the opposition to despair. Perhaps this was to be our, to be Dave’s, day. But alas, no. Eventually the unstoppable force overcame the immovable object and the home side headed home to level the scores. And as the cracks in the damn began to widen, DJT could not keep plugging all the holes and eventually the trickle became a surge and three more times the master was beaten. 

It was a fantastic, and thoroughly enjoyable, game of football. Many thanks to all who played, and particular thanks to those youngsters: – Joe, Robin & Dan – who answered the call to swell our numbers in our hour of need. 

And, on a final note, I feel vindicated. In the run up to today’s game my keeper selection had been questioned: “why don’t you play Len Bond?” was a question asked more than once. Jake “The Cat” Mawford was asking to once again play between the sticks. But one man’s magnificent performance today will live long in the memory of all who took to that south Somerset pitch today.

 

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Committed

Pic of the week 10/2/19

(A hint of Spring to come today – a mix of blue skies and showers. The above are all flowering somewhere on the garden. Particularly pleased with the Hyacinth, bottom left, as this will be one that I planted after Christmas last year.)

Committed.

Today I paid my deposit and signed up to go on the referee promotion programme 2019/20. The big struggle will be getting the 20 qualifying games in (14 OA) – I’ll do more games than that, but not necessarily at the right age group. I need to explore officiating on the Uxella Bridgwater Sunday League, if I do so, along with the odd Saturday on Yeovil & District and the handy fact that for this promotion season only runs from March 1st ’19 to May 31st ’20 – giving me an extra couple of months to get the games in.

Looking forward to the challenge, and new experiences it will bring.

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Snowmaggedon

Pic of the week 3/2/19

So it wasn’t quite the snowmaggedon brought by the Beast from the East last year, but Thursday night into Friday morning saw a fairly hefty dumping of snow.

We had a bout a cm or two, was worse in Wells – the Blue School shut for the day – and was even worse towards Bath & Bristol. The road outside the house remained clear and it was work as normal for me.

By Saturday, all the low lying snow had gone, but all our fixtures had been cancelled so I went up the Tor with Sam on Saturday afternoon. Always a pleasure, particularly with the clear blue skies contrasting against what snow did stay lying on the ground.

After cold nights, Friday and Saturday, the temperature is set to rise to a balmy, but damp, 10 degrees for the week a head.

This morning, the boiler didn’t fire up, but a quick check showed the water pressure was low, so a quick 30 second job to refill the system and bring it up to pressure and the wonderful white box fired into life. Phew!

Other news – purchased two tickets to see New Order at the Bristol Harbourside in July. Looking forward to it already.

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A bit blowy

Pic of the week 27/1/19

And so January rumbles on, with little to commend it, except that it will soon be over.

Its been cold, but not crisp, clear, cold, nor exceptional snowy cold, just cold, often damp, and often windy – like today, very windy. And, although the evenings are getting noticeably lighter, its still dark in the mornings and, three weeks into term, with another three still to go, the days don’t seem to get any easier.

Ran 8K this morning, and enjoyed that and pottered for the rest of the day, listening to plenty of music – I think one of my favourite things.

Did some Six Nations stats and plotted them on my maths blog – I do rather enjoy dabbling with data sets and glad I taught myself the rudiments of “R”, meaning I can now quickly turn a spreadsheet of data into any many of colourful charts.

And here’s a bonus pic, of our lovely, bright airy kitchen – even in the bleakest months our house is a wonderful place to be.

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The Ten Year Challenge

Pic of the week

A lovely long sleep, a long (8K) run at a quickish pace, and then a day mucking about with some stats and “R”, producing the above*

A great way to spend a Sunday in January.

* Full details can be found on my maths blog:

The Ten Year Challenge

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A new normal

Pic of the week 13/1/19

The new normal.

Sophie has returned to uni, Sam is at work (& when he’s not, he’s out with his pals or hidden away in his room.)

As a family, we have transitioned into a new normal, a new phase of all of our lives.

Not necessarily good, not necessarily bad, just different – one has the definite sense that a milestone, a marker, has been passed.

Perhaps symbolic of this new phase, I spent 20 mins outside today, tidying away the geraniums that have finally succumbed to the frosts of late, and getting the daff pots from the bottom of the garden and back into prominence ready for the Spring that is, hopefully, not now too far away.

Green shoots – the knowledge that warmer, brighter times are ahead, both in the garden and metaphorically.

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Legends v Ashcott 6/1/19

Pic of the week 6/1/19

Every Day’s A School Day

A new year, a new term and two new faces gracing the pitch and achieving Legend status.

A new year, a new term but the same old perennial question of would we have eleven, come 11 am?

McEwan had mis-read the memo – a vague recollection about committing to the vets on Sunday saw him in Wellington getting treatment for his dog Charlie rather than lining up alongside his brothers in arms on the 4G pitch at Strode. No problem, the last minute arrival of new signing Tom Churchill saw us kick off with eleven men.

Playing on a 4G pitch is wonderful. The ball runs true, the bounce is always even, the weather no barrier to play. They are the future of football. Unfortunately, we are the (pre) History of football and lacking the leveler of an un-level pitch we were soon found out by an opposition who play week in, week out, knew where each other was, knew how to string passes together and knew the route to our goal.

Débutante Dave was magnificent in goal, frustrating the opposition on many an occasion but even he could not keep out a thunderous volley and hammered header. We found ourselves four nil down at half time, having been comprehensive schooled in the art of football.

The second half began in a more positive tone, as we began to find and exploit space; ironically, our defence became more fluid, making it more solid, and for some time neither side could break the deadlock. But, inevitably, our fluid solid defence ultimately led to confusion and Ashcott netted a couple more, without reply. When Peabody saw his blistering, dipping, swirling 30 yard free kick tipped athletically over the bar by the keeper at full stretch it looked as if we were destined not to trouble the scorer.

But that would be to dismiss our new signing. Following a magnificent goal saving block from Mo, the ball fell to Paul W deep in our half. He looked up, and pinged an inch perfect 40 yard pass to the waiting feet of Tom Churchill, who gathered calmly, ghosted past a defender, swept into the box and finished with aplomb, drilling the ball low and hard into the bottom corner.

The opposition managed another goal, before the final whistle blew. Every day’s a school day – we had learned our lesson from a well skilled, well drilled opposition. We lost the first half 4-0, the second 3-1: definite, measurable progress has been made.

Ashcott 7 Millfield 1

*The pic is a shot I took in November(?) at Abbey More Stadium, Glastonbury, not Strode Astro, where we played today.

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2018 – How did I do?

So how did I do?

At the start of the year, here, I listed my goals, aims and targets for the year. 2018 now draws to a close – time to review how I did …

  • Run 10 Km in fewer minutes than my age in years. This one is my “biggie” for the year. Its doable, but by no means a given. Am targeting the Glastonbury 10K – conveniently after my birthday – but there are other events if I fail first time round. Will need to average 4 min 53 sec per Km – achievable on the flat, but on in an incline … Challenge complete. Didn’t do it in an official race as my knee injury prevented me running the Glastonbury 10K, but ran numerous self-timed 10Ks in sub 49 mins.
  • Run 400 Km. Nearly hit that total in 2017, should be able to do so on 2018, particularly given the goal above. Ran 424 Km in the year, all the more impressive given that there were some months when I didn’t run at all.  Did a lot of running in the summer hols.
  • Swim 100 Km (3,000 lengths). An achievable, but not a given. If I swim regularly should be no problem. Swim at least once a week.
  • Spinning. Spin for a total of 2 days (48 hours). Started the year in good form, swimming on Tuesday evenings to keep up the once a week swim, but this tailed off after Easter. Swam 63.8 Km, 1914 lengths in almost bang on 24 hours of swimming.
  • Weight. I finished 2017 with a long term established weight of 12 stone 9, and I have allowed it to creep up over the Christmas period into the 13 stone bracket. Need to get that down. 12 stone 6 as my long term established weight is the goal. Reckon my weight averaged 12 stone 8 – was quite a bit of fluctuation throughout the year. More detail, and a fancy chart, can be seen here.
  • Garden. Enjoy it! Less construction and landscaping required this year (but some still needed) Grow sunflowers and sweat peas (in addition to some basic veg) Enjoyed the garden, no sunflowers, but did grow sweet peas and runner beans. Lawn took a bit of a beating in the heatwave, but think its in a better state now than 12 months ago.  Graveled the area outside the sitting room, and built the adjacent mini-deck, pleased with the result.
  • My maths blog – keep blogging. Write a new post at least once per month, and write a minimum of 15 posts over the course of the year. I kept on blogging, writing 15 posts, but not consistently throughout the year (i.e. not one a month).
  • Sleep. A somewhat nebulous aim, but when I think about it, sleep – or perhaps I should say tiredness – is the thing I’d like to change most about my life this year. No target, but I shall aim to think about my sleep, my patterns and routines and what I can do to improve it/get more of it/reduce/manage my tiredness. Still get tired at times, but know a little more about the science behind it, manage my sleep a little better – I do think I’ve made progress with this, but hard to measure.