Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

Today Sara had an open house all day demonstrating and taking orders for Vie at Home products with a percentage of her profit going to the Clic Sargent cancer charity. I decided it would be a good day to go into Salisbury and deal with my end of the month banking exercises when I move funds around. This entailed visiting three banks. I parked at Waitrose, as I needed to attend to some business in the post office, and then went into the city centre. I bought Easter cards to send to the children's godparents and relations and sat down in Cafe Nero for an hour drinking a large latte and writing the cards. I really enjoyed the relaxing morning and felt under no pressure to be anywhere else or doing anything else. I returned home just as Hilary L was leaving. It was good to see her and she briefly told me some of the news from the old Company. Serena turned up just as I was about to leave again, following a low-caloried lunch (I started my Weight Watcher's diet in earnest today!), to play golf at Otterbourne with Richard. We arrived at the golf club at about 3 p.m. and played nine holes in the most wretched muddy conditions imaginable. Every hole was full of water and we literally squelched our way round the course. I hit a par at the first hole and after that it was downhill all the way. We were cold, wet and covered in mud. The rain held off but the wind was biting. We were both sprayed with mud every time we struck the ball. Balls turned from white to brown well before they reached the greens! I now remember why I decided to be a fair weather golfer! We finished the nine holes and decided that we would go to the Lion's Head in Winterslow tonight - which we did, at 9 p.m. However, because my latte this morning was full cream milk (I should have asked for a "skinny latte" apparently) I had used up my allocation of points so had to drink diet cokes in the pub rather than my usual London Pride and restrict myself to a pickled egg whilst I watched Richard tuck into his porky scratchings. I went to bed hungry tonight. Sara did very well and made a good contribution to the charity.

The Hungry "Oruga"

Another day at home today and yet more rain. Sara spent the morning shopping at Tesco's and I did a little more clearing of the study shelves - finding all sorts of things including a cheque given to me by a Chinese friend for my 50th birthday in 2003! Can't cash that now. I also dealt with a few queries from clients. At lunchtime, Sara and I started our calories counting. This afternoon I went with Sara to attend a special assembly at Winterslow School being put on by Mary and the children of Years 4 and 5. It was given in Spanish and told the story of The Hungry Caterpillar in that language - demonstrating the children's language and IT skills. Very well presented. After a tea of tacos I took Mary swimming at Five River's Leisure Centre in Salisbury. It was really lovely to spend some time with her (I seem to spend more time with Tom) and she really enjoyed showing me how proficient she is at diving and swimming underwater. A real delight. I have ordered some ice skates for myself and look forward to taking her ice skating with them soon.

Sarum Rehearsal

A relatively quiet day today after all the excitement of yesterday. The weather was poor again with rain for much of the day. I left the Saints flag on the pole to continue the celebrations. Quite a bit of tidying up to do and a large amount of mail to deal with today. Mary was feeling unwell after such a hectic weekend so stayed at home today. She did some school work in the morning and watched DVDs in the afternoon. Tom went to his friend Sam's house after school so we had a quiet afternoon. During the afternoon I received an email reminding me that there was a Sarum Lodge rehearsal this evening and as Bryant, our Director of Ceremonies couldn't make it, it fell to me as his Deputy to act as preceptor this evening. The meeting started at 6.30 p.m. and I was able to push it along to an 8 p.m. finish with a swift pint at the New Inn afterwards. It went reasonably well although there were only five of us present and I had to double as the candidate.

A Perfect Day (at Wembley)

What a fantastic day - one to be remembered for many years to come. It started very early with an early wake-up call at 6.30 a.m. (really 5.30 a.m.) as we had put the clocks forward last night. Tom had to be woken and after a quick breakfast of cereal and tea we set off for Wembley calling in Norman Court School to pick up Hamish. Although he has followed Saints for all his life this was the first ever live football match he was going to attend. We arrived at Uxbridge via Basingstoke and Reading at 10.30 a.m., parked the car for free on a side road near the tube station and caught a tube to Wembley Park. The place was already buzzing with Saints supporters, both on the train and around Wembley itself. Indeed, it was hard to find a Carlisle supporter anywhere and you had to look hard to spot one. The place was awash with red and white! Hamish was absolutely bowled over by the facilities and "plushness" that is Club Wembley and I had tell him that this was not usual for the average football supporter. We found our seats and ate hot dogs. I had a strange premonition that Saints would win 4-1 and I placed a small £1 bet with Betfred the stadium bookie! Saints were awarded a penalty about ten minutes into the game when a Carlisle player to pushed a Southampton attempt on goal out with his hand. A blatant hand ball. Ricky soon finished off the advantage with a fantastic strike into the back of Carlisle's net. A second goal came just before half-time from Lallana. Saints went in at half-time 2-0 up. Two further goals in the second half finished off Carlisle and at 4-0 I was then hoping Carlisle would score to provide my winning scoreline for the bookies. They duly obliged with a goal towards the end. My premonition came true! The excitement as Saints went up to collect the huge Johnstone's Paint Trophy was electric. With an attendance of 73,000 (44,000 Saints supporters) today saw the biggest attendance ever for a JPT Final. Anthony G gave us a lift back to Uxbridge and we were back home by 7 p.m. - very tired but elated. Sara and I celebrated with lobster and champagne (the lobster prepared and cooked by me). Mary has performed brilliantly at her Dance Show again today and will now take up tap and the next ballet grade. It was lovely to see the children both having such a wonderful day with their differing interests. I was so tired that I went to bed at 10.30 p.m. A great day! A perfect day!

Sara's swollen foot

Mary had the first night of her dance show in Salisbury City Hall today. She was required to be at rehearsals again today before the full performance at 6.30 p.m. This meant taking her to and from the city hall three times today. Sara took her this morning but injured her foot returning from the City Hall this afternoon. She is now laid up with a swollen foot as I write this. I have had to take Mary in again this evening. Tom and I played eleven holes of golf at Grateley this afternoon. I managed to go round in 38 (a respectable number as confirmed by Roger M). It had been raining heavily in Hampshire and the greens were slow and rough. I am sure with smoother greens I could have done better. Anyway, this is the first time after a long absence that I have gone round 9 holes in under 40 so I am pleased even if some of the shots were a little wayward. Tom did very well too with some great shots. He needs to learn not to hurry his swing. Grimsby Town lost again today against Rochdale (4-1). Fortunately so did Cheltenham so the gap is still 4 points but only 8 games left now. It's not looking good. Their defeat was nothing in comparison to that of Aston Villa who went down 7-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Mary came back tonight exhausted but very content with her performance. Sara's ankle has swelled up quite badly and she cannot walk hardly. She will need to get Sarah McC to take her to the dance show tomorrow if she cannot drive as I shall be at Wembley in the afternoon for Southampton's match against Carlisle in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final.

Lunch in the Lord Nelson

This morning I went into Salisbury first thing to pick up a pair of steps from Argos and also bought a new DVD player for our bedroom TV as the old one we had acquired on "Freecycle" had stopped working properly. It was time to consign it to the recycling skip at the amenity tip. The steps will be useful for painting and decorating and for sorting out the high shelves in the study and family room. Other than that it was a quiet day in the village today. Tom wasn't feeling too well so stayed at home. Sara worked in the Lord Nelson's Arms this lunchtime and as I hadn't really expected Tom to be with us today, hadn't organised any food for lunch. Tom and I, therefore, went down to the Lord Nelson for lunch. The pub was very full with "Seniors" and Roger only had Sara and Will to help him. Sara was having to manage the bar and serve the food with Roger and Will cooking the meals. Tom has a burger and I had scampi and chips to keep things simple. We went into the bar and played darts whilst we waited for our food. It was quite clear that he has insufficient resources at busy times and less patient customers would be likely to take their custom elsewhere. This evening I took Mary into Salisbury for her rehearsal of the dance show at the City Hall. Sara and I watched Eddie Izzard again doing his 43 marathons around the UK.

A Day of Prayer

A day at home today - in fact apart from a brief trip to post some letters and to attend Mary's parent's evening (a ten minute chat with her teacher) I didn't leave the house. Sara went off to the Oasis Ladies' Study and Prayer Group at St. Paul's Church in Salisbury this morning and I dealt with the correspondence and made further inroads into clearing the study. I moved some boxes out to make room to get to the bookcases and in so doing discovered many items I had been looking for including Klynn's Ethernet cable which I was convince I had returned to him! Sorry Klynn, I know you've turned your own house inside out looking for it. Searching through the study is going to be quite an adventure. Sara and I received letters from our former company advising us of the bonuses they were going to pay us for last year's work. Quite frankly, I was pleasantly surprised! Very useful for our proposed foreign trips (must remember to book the flights to Raleigh!). Mary's teacher advised us, this afternoon, that she is pretty well on course for her age and going well in literacy and numeracy. We agreed to help her use a more "ambitious vocabulary" in her writing. We had a torrential thunderstorm this evening and the roads were flooded with muddy water. We had a lake in front of our door which, fortunately, did not rise high enough to flood the house. We gather many were not so fortunate. Sara pulled her back this evening whilst removing a beef casserole from the oven and went to bed early in pain. We had seven for the House Group this evening. Following the Lent Course, we talked about prayer, the power of prayer and the methods of praying. The Group was quite lively and the discussion did not flag. It was interesting to hear others' views and find that where we, as individuals, struggle with prayer, we are not alone. It was interesting that few couples ever pray openly together but individually. Klynn stayed behind for a couple of hours over a bottle of wine discussing his new position and matters connected with the church. After he left I watched a very interesting documentary about the assassination of Lord Louis Mountbatten in Co. Sligo in 1979. I remember the event well as I was staying with a friend in Gloucester that Bank Holiday Weekend.

Visitor from Canada

This morning I had to take the car into the Mercedes garage in Salisbury to have some warranty work done on its diesel injectors. They once again gave me an A-Class loan car but this time it was a manual gear drive with a 1600cc engine which I found somewhat under-powered. If I am to get an A-Class it needs to be an 1800cc at least. This lunch time, Sara went to the Landford Poacher on the A36 to have lunch with her old colleagues Maggie H and Serena. I had pate and toast for lunch. I dealt with a number of letters and went off to collect my car at 2 p.m. On my return to the village I lowered the Jolly Roger flag, which I had hoisted to mark Budget Day (2p on a pint of beer, 2p on a bottle of wine and 10p on a bottle of cider), and replaced it with the Canadian Maple Leaf as Nicola, our bridesmaid who now lived in Canada, was visiting us with her father, our friend Paul, for tea and cakes. They arrived at 4 p.m. and left at 6.30 p.m. We discussed Nicola's new life in Canada (she has picked up a distinct Canadian accent just like my old friend Alan), our proposed trip to Dublin, football and many other subjects of mutual interest. It's been a strange kind of day - I started off with the intention of doing so much but time flies by these days and with two trips into Salisbury and visitors the day has just flown by again. There's always tomorrow I guess!

Revenge for the Monkey

Woke up this morning at around 7 a.m. slightly disorientated as Sara was already up and for a moment I thought I was back in Grimsby until I viewed the bedroom wardrobe doors. Sara brought up tea and I had a shower before eating a breakfast of scrambled egg and smoked salmon. I put together the letter for Mum to send to the North East Lincs Council and placed this in an envelope together with a stamped addressed envelope to the Council, the original letters from the Council, after I'd taken copies, and a copy of her response. Richard called around at 10.15 a.m. for us to go and play golf at Wilton after having dropped off Helen at South Wilts School and me having called in at the post office in Waitrose to send off the package of documents to Mum. It started to rain heavily as we arrived at the golf course and we played our first two holes in quite heavy rain. Fortunately the weather did improve, as did our golf, and we finished feeling that we had played much better than last week and relatively dry too. This afternoon I wrote my letter of acceptance of my promotion to the Sussex Provincial Grand Secretary and at 5.30 p.m. Tom and I picked up Richard and drove to Southampton for the match against Hartlepool United. After parking at our usual car park in College Street and eating a supper of cod and chips at the St. Mary's Street chip shop we picked up Richard's ticket and entered the stadium chatting to John, Andy and Andy. The rain had stopped by this time and it was quite warm within the stadium. Hartlepool (the Monkey Hangers) started well and within three minutes were one goal up on the Saints. Saints came back with an equaliser about 12 minutes later and at half time were winning 2-1. In the second half each team scored again, Saints first and the a cracking goal from Hartlepool sent the scoreline to 3-2 where it finished. Hartlepool played very well and Saints players were playing softly - it being obvious that no Saints player wanted to get himself injured before the Wembley game on Sunday. 3-2 was also a nice finish for the Monkey!

Goodbye Grimsby

My final day in Grimsby. Woke early again and made tea for Mum and me. Breakfast today consisted of poached Grimsby Haddock with a poached egg and a croissant washed down with coffee. I spent the morning packing and also took Mum to her doctors to put in a prescription for some more tablets. I left Grimsby after a light snack of a cold pork sandwich and set off for Winterslow along the A180. I called in at the Brigg Garden Centre to pick up a few presents including a couple of meerkat statues for the children. Unfortunately, since Friday when we had called in, the two small ones I wanted to get had been sold - apparently there was a rush on meerkats over the weekend. I returned to Winterslow via Lincoln, Newark, Leicester, Northampton and Oxford. I got back home at 6.10 p.m. and Sara prepared a supper of Mexican fajitas before she went off to Southampton to attend a Vie at Home branch meeting. She received a prize for being Consultant of the Month with all her charity shows. Richard came round and we had a few beers whilst putting the world to rights and arranging to play golf tomorrow morning. He might also come to the match at Southampton tomorrow night. I had quite a bit of mail which I still need to open. One which did look interesting I opened to find it was a letter from the Sussex Provincial Grand Secretary advising me that I was being offered a Provincial promotion to Past Provincial Grand Sword Bearer -a good first promotion.

Old Friends

I woke at 6.30 a.m. with the sun streaming in through the bedroom window. I made tea for Mum and me and had some quiet prayer time after reading my word for today and some scripture. After breakfast of scrambled egg and bacon, I drafted a letter for Mum to send to the North East Lincolnshire Council about the proposed re-siting of the bus shelter and the disruption to the road over several months. Mum accompanied me to Old Clee Church for the 11 a.m. Holy Communion Service. It was interesting again to sit in my old church where I was a chorister for six years. There were about 30 in the congregation plus a small choir, Warden and Priest. I had met the priest before and his relaxed style and excellent talk on the topic of Mary and Martha’s hospitality just before Holy Week, was most thought provoking. He likened the gathering that evening as a microcosm of what the church should be – a place of joyous worship and service to the secular. He felt that the role of the church was and should change and the theme of helping neighbours abounded the whole service. After church and stopping off at Tesco’s to get some flowers, Mum accompanied me to Auntie Mim’s where we spent an hour with her and Harry chatting about ailments, the family, football and other varied subjects. Harry and Mim were both delighted with their birthday presents which I brought with me from Wiltshire – York Fruits for Harry and Vie freshener pads for Mim. I took Mum back home and after a quick snack of cold meats and pickle, I drove down to see David Kaye in his sheltered flat overlooking Louth Bus Station. He was delighted to see me. His Parkinson’s Disease has really taken hold and physically he is in poor shape but mentally, as interesting and witty as ever. He related to me many anecdotes of when he was Mayor of Louth and we discussed the material for his re-published book on old Trolleybuses. I’ve agreed with him that I will re-write the Current Situation, Further Reading and Places to Visit sections and send drafts to him to look at. After leaving David, who gave me a box of books and Corgi models to sell at Sandtoft, I drove to Tetney to have a cup of tea and a chat with Tim. On the way I called in at Ludborough to see the work being done on the old East Lincs railway line which used to carry the express trains from Cleethorpes to Kings Cross. Many times when I was a lad I would cycle to Peaks Tunnel to watch the expresses thunderinh along on their way tio London. I took some photographs (see above) and had an interesting chat to one of the workers there. Tonight Mum cooked a roast pork dinner and we drank a bottle of Echo Falls rose wine before watching a tribute to Stephen Gateley. Mum went to bed early tonight in great pain in her arm leaving me to write this blog.

Mariners and Saints go marching in!

Awoke much later this morning - 8.30 a.m. After breakfast of grapefruit and croissants I went to Cleethorpes to have a coffee in MacDonald’s on Kings Road where I spent the best part of two hours updating this blog and dealing with emails. I had some difficulty on logging on with the laptop for a little while but was able to send emails using my iPod Touch. I rang Mim to say that I would call and see her tomorrow sometime between 12 noon and 2 p.m. after I’ve been to church and before I go off to Louth to see David. I went to Marklew’s to get fish and chips and mushy peas for lunch. Tim Baldock, my old school friend, called at 2 p.m. and we walked in the rain to Blundell Park to see Grimsby Town (the Mariners) play Bournemouth. This was a vital match for the Mariners who are six points adrift at the bottom of League 2. The weather was very warm when we arrived at the ground and I took off my coat and scarf when we sat down. In a short time we watched as a cold front came sweeping across the Humber Estuary bringing with it torrential rain and a freezing conditions. The pitch quickly deteriorated as it became cut up by the players. The Mariners scored first amongst tumultuous celebration from the Grimsby fans but this was tempered shortly afterwards as Grimsby let in a soft header from Bournemouth during a set piece corner. At half time the teams went in at 1-1. Cheltenham, who were hosting Port Vale, were also level at 1-1. Grimsby need to hope that Cheltenham slip up over their remaining games and they, themselves, can win the majority of theirs. Grimsby came back quite early on with a great goal but minutes later the Grimsby keeper saved a strike friom Bournemouth only to slip it into the back of his own net when the slippery ball slid out of his hands. Now down to 2-2 with only about 15 minutes to go, Grimsby needed to push forward and were rewarded when Bournemouth had a man sent off. With only a few minutes to go Grimsby managed to slip in the third goal to win the match 3-2. With Cheltenham’s scoreline remaining at 1-1, Grimsby have narrowed the gap by 2 points to only being 4 points adrift. Darlington lost meaning that their chances of overtaking Grimsby look to be gone. At Milton Keynes, Southampton beat the Dons 0-3. Another fantastic result for the Saints. Now of 50 points with a massive positive goal difference, they have secured that they will not get relegated and are still with an outside chance of getting into the playoffs. It was therefore an incredible day – both my teams scoring 3 goals each and winning their matches. Tim came back with me to Mum’s for a cup of tea and I’ve agreed to go round to his home in Tetney tomorrow afternoon after I’ve visited David Kaye. Tonight I watched the France v. England 6 Nations match with France winning a Grand Slam Championship by beating England 12-10 in a very close match. I’m looking forward to seeing Grimsby’s and Southampton’s goals on TV tonight. A very busy schedule for me tomorrow.

A day in Lincoln (shire)

I awoke at 6.45 a.m. today and wondered where Sara was until I remembered that I was actually in Grimsby! I made tea for myself and returned to the bedroom where I wrote up the Mission Giving Report for the Church’s Annual Report. Unfortunately I was unable to send it to Richard as I have no Internet connection here in Grimsby. At some point I’ll need to find an open server in order to check my emails and post my blog. Mum prepared breakfast which consisted of cornflakes, bacon sandwich and yohgurt. We decided to spend the day out in Lincoln but Mum wanted to visit the Brigg Garden Centre on the way. We therefore took the old A18 road from Grimsby to Brigg where, after buying fuel at Tesco’s, we tried to find the Garden Centre which, from Mum’s description, was in the Scawby/Hibaldstow area. Unfortunately we couldn’t find it so we continued on to Lincoln. We managed to get parked close to Lincoln Central Station and walked into the High Street. We had a light lunch of baked potatoes and cappuccino coffee before spending the rest of the time visiting a number of shops. Mum managed to choose a belated birthday present of a jumper from the Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop. On leaving the car park, we found ourselves in a difficult one-way system and a traffic jam. I decided to take the road to Bardney and Market Rasen via Wragby and we drove back up to Brigg to try and find the garden centre. As luck would have it the road into Brigg, which we had to take, from Caistor took us directly to past the Garden Centre we had been looking for. It was a really exceptional place, an enormous emporium of garden and craft products. I bought some French beans and chili pepper seeds in the hope that I can, at last, grow my own vegetables successfully for the first time. Tonight we visited the Hainton Inn Carvery – real ale at £1.75 a pint! And a roast beef dinner for £3.50. Quite a bargain. As I write this, the rain is now coming down heavily. Tomorrow Blundell Park beckons!

Driving to Grimsby

I had quite a busy morning today packing to go away this afternoon to Grimsby. Sara went to join the Oasis Women's Group at St. Paul's today with Maxime and seemed to enjoy it. She intends to go again. Apparently there were about 100 women there who joined together for a period of worship and then they broke into small groups of six or eight. A wonderful opportunity to grow in faith. It would be even more wonderful if we could do something like that in Winterslow. After a lunch of sandwiches and yoghurt, I set off for Grimsby at 1 p.m. and journeyed up via Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Stamford, Spalding, and Boston stopping off briefly at Stamford for a comfort break and at East Keal for an Appleby's ice-cream - the taste of Lincolnshire! I also stopped off at Haugham to take a picture of the village church which is a miniature of Louth St. James's Church (see photo). I finally arrived at Carr Lane at 6.15 p.m. Mum prepared a supper of cold ham and baked potato and left me at 7.30 p.m. to go to her Bingo Night at the Conservative Club in Cleethorpes. As I type this Liverpool have just been awarded a penalty against Lille in the UEFA Cup tie at Anfield. Liverpool went on to win 3-0 (4-1 on aggregate) to get into the Quarter Finals.

A Frustrating Game

The week is certainly whizzing by - Wednesday already. I attended the Mid-Week Eucharist which was presided over by Elizabeth. Again there were about 15 of us there. Maxime came back to ours for a coffee and to discuss the size and costings of the Parish Magazine which was an enormous 58 pages this month. It has been suggested that this could be cut down by reducing the size of some of the event advertisements. Richard came over at 1.30 p.m. to continue this discussion and then he and I went over to Wilton to play golf - the first time this year. We were both very rusty and found ourselves topping the ball and putting badly. I haven't played since October and he since November last year. We simply didn't have the touch and I kept under-hitting the ball or topping it - being anxious to look up and see where it had gone. We played 11 holes in all and as we were not really improving decided to call it a day. We need to get some more practice to get back into the swing again - literally. We have pledged to play again next week when I get back from Lincolnshire. I shall take a couple of short clubs up there in the hope of playing on the mini-golf course in Cleethorpes - if it's still there. Tonight we had a family night in and watched the Will Smith film Seven Pounds. Although it got a slating from the critics we enjoyed it. It is worth seeing again and is a bit of a tear-jerker at the end. My last night here for a few days so it's early to bed.

Last Post

Woke in Peter's house at around 7.00 am and read World's End" for a little while. Peter was still feeling very unwell - he thinks it might be the effects of the antibiotics he has been prescribed. Needless to say he was not feeling well enough to go round to Wheelies so we had a light breakfast of tea and buttered toast - just the thing actually after a good dinner last night. I gave him some advice on an overdue debt he is chasing from a client and we discussed the progress of the initial research work for our proposed extension. I left Peter's at a round 10 a.m. The weather was absolutely gorgeous as I drove westwards with the Sun behind me. I stopped off briefly at Cosham to take some photographs of the remaining traction poles used to support the former Portsmouth trolleybus system. Last time I had been in Cosham there were still quite a number being used to carry street lighting. Today I could only find two - one a very rusty specimen in the middle of a roundabout and the other supporting electric sodium street lighting (pictured above). New lamp standards have been installed throughout Cosham but this one has, somehow, survived. Back home in Winterslow I wrote my two articles for the Parish Magazine and this evening, Tom and I went to St. Mary's to watch a very disappointing performance from Saints against Swindon. Swindon Town were clearly the better side in the second half and although we had a number of chances to score, including hitting the woodwork twice, I have to hand it to Swindon - they were the better team winning 0-1. It is easy to see why they are doing so well up in the play-offs. I think tonight also signalled the last post on Saints's play-off dream.

Sussex Provincial Grand Chapter

Woke early this morning as I had to get over to Hove in Sussex for 12.30 p.m. for Peter to take me and five other Royal Arch masons over to Worthing for the Annual Convocation of Provincial Grand Chapter. Both Peter and I were to receive honours at the meeting - he to be promoted to the high office of Provincial Grand Registrar and me to receive a first appointment as Past Provincial Assistant Grand Sojourner - a decent rank on a first appointment. It's been 3 years coming as due to some administrative errors I have missed the honours' list twice - so this is the third attempt. I made sandwiches for Peter and me but Peter was unable to eat his as he is on anti-biotics and feeling groggy. We arrived at the Worthing Masonic Centre in good time and had a drink before taking our places in the Chapter Room. We were graced with the presence of the Second Grand Principal and Grand Superintendents from several Provinces including Wiltshire who sent not less than four senior delegates - the Grand Superintendent, Second Provincial Grand Principal, Third Provincial Grand Principal and the Provincial Grand Scribe E. It was a very regal affair indeed and the Grand Superintendent was most personable as he handed me my collar asking me to "kick his Second Provincial Grand Principal" (a member of my own Chapter) and my way back to my seat. We finished the meeting at 5 p.m. and dined at 6.00 p.m. - earlier than expected. During the break I phoned a friend of Klynn's to give him some employment law advice - although I am not sure he has a case against his employer as he had hoped. We will speak again in a couple of days. Dinner tonight consisted of smoked mackerel, steak and kidney pie, lemon torte, cheese and biscuits and coffee and mints. An excellent meal very well cooked. Peter and I got back to his house at around 9.00 p.m. where I am now writing up this blog. A satisfying day and I am very pleased to have made it to be a Provincial Grand Officer in Chapter - especially as the past rank I have been given is the same as that held by my proposer, Geoffrey Knights, who died earlier this year. Thank you Geoffrey for introducing me to RAM and for being my proposer. I dedicate my honour to you.

Beware the Ides of March - It's Mothering Sunday

An incredibly busy day today. Despite Tom's promise to wake Sara up with a cup of tea (it being Mothering Sunday) I woke up at 6.30 a.m. and made the tea - I could only get a grunt out of Tom who was still laying in bed. I discovered last night that the Early Morning Eucharist was at St. John's and not East Grimstead so attended the St. John's service. The reading and sermon was on The Prodigal Son and the theme was very touching today. After the service I had 45 minutes to have some breakfast and take Tom to Salisbury City's Ground where Clarendon were playing Salisbury City Juniors. Clarendon won 7-1. Tom only played in the second half and whilst he played some good football he didn't manage to score anything today. This afternoon Sara and Mary went into Salisbury for a photo-shoot for the Dance Show. I prepared and cooked an early roast beef dinner as a special Mother's Day Treat. During the meal both my Mum and Sara's Dad phoned. Apparently, Sara's Dad and Andrea and her brother Lee and his new girlfriend, Christy, are coming over to England in September and hiring a boat on the Thames. We have been asked to join them if we can. Mum had rung to say that she enjoyed the flowers which I had had delivered yesterday. Tom, Mary and I gave Sara some roses last night (see photo). Tonight, Klynn, Richard, Jeremy and I took part in the Lion's Head Pub Quiz. We named our team "Need More Crisps" and as a result were given a second bowl of them for our cheek! We went on to win (yet again) and another bottle of wine adorns our sideboard in the dining room. Fortunately, we had two rounds on football stadia which Richard and I could answer well. Came home to find Sara watching......"Desperate Housewives" again!!!

To the Pensioners 1-0

Found it difficult to wake up this morning - must have been all the exercise and fresh air yesterday. Usual arrangement in the morning - Sara and Mary off to ballet and shopping in Salisbury, Tom and I were left to clear up and, in my case, write some emails and book the hire car for the Dublin trip. We left home at around 12.40 p.m. and drove to Southampton for the game against Leeds United. On the way we saw the cruise liner Saga Pearl in dock. This reminded me that the cruise season starts again in earnest soon and many liners will be calling in Southampton. I hope to get some good photographs over the next few months. Tom and I bought JPT Final scarfs today for our trip to Wembley before going into the stadium. The ground was absolutely packed this afternoon - 30,794 in attendance. Andy was back (having recently missed 10 goals in two matches) and quipped about my damaged camera! I produced a rug and a packet of Werther's Originals to remind him that he was now an honorary pensioner amongst pensioners. John for his part, bless him, had brought a packet of Starburst Choozers knowing that we sometimes suck those during a match. So as not to disappoint Andy, whom I know reads this blog, I've posted his picture with John and the packet of Werther's! It was a tremendous game - Saints were on fire again and Leeds hardly had a shot on goal. There were, like last week at Tranmere, some dodgy refereeing decisions but following a goal from Harding, we were able to hang on to a 1-0 lead and come away with 3 points. Poor old Grimsby however, could only manage a draw against Morecambe and Cheltenham beat Burton Albion away with a massive 5-6 scoreline. The Mariners are now six points adrift from safety. Their days as a league club are rapidly running out. I see little hope for what was once a great club. Tonight Sara cooked a haddock kedgeree and managed to explode two boiled eggs in the microwave. In fact, they exploded as she took them out - with bits of yolk and white flying everywhere and she burned her hand. I am feeling really tired as I write this at 10.40 p.m. Tomorrow I shall attend the 8 a.m. Early Morning Eucharist at East Grimstead as I cannot attended church at any other time because of Tom's football commitments. This will mean getting up at 6.20 a.m. Time for bed I think.

Cycling to East Grimstead

I spent most of the day pottering about in Winterslow. Sara went to do her waitressing at Lord Nelson at lunchtime and I decided to get some exercise by cycling over to East Grimstead - about four miles there and 4 miles back. It was a relatively easy ride there as it is mainly downhill and the wind was behind me. I parked my bike up by the church porch and then went for a walk along the old Southampton - Salisbury Canal taking pictures of the bridge and the canal itself - it's empty now by the way. I also wandered up the track to the railway bridge - it reminded me very much of my bike rides in Grimsby as a lad when I would cycle up Peaks Lane to watch the Cleethorpes-Kings Cross trains from the top of "Peaks Tunnel" - a bridge really. As I went back to Holy Trinity Church, East Grimstead, to get my bike it started to rain heavily and the ride back to Winterslow was miserable with cold rain blowing in my face (I now had a head wind) and struggling up the hills - I must confess to getting off and walking from time to time. However I got back to Winterslow in about half an hour and stopped off at the village shop to get Sara a card for the children to give her on Mothering Sunday - this Sunday. This evening, I took Tom to his football practice at Bemerton and bought an Indian curry readimeal for us to have from Waitrose. We finally booked the hotel in Dublin and I came up with the idea of hiring a car for the four days to provide maximum convenience and flexibility. I will also put together an itinerary as I feel that will make life easier for us all.

Fire! Fire!

Another one of those days where it is difficult to understand where it went. Sara hoisted the Dutch flag today as we had promised to fly it for Tom who had brought it back from his trip to Holland. Molly and Mary took themselves off to school this morning and Sara set off shortly afterwards to help prepare the coffee and cake/bring and buy morning at Jan's in Yarmley Lane. They were putting this on to raise money for Oasis House, one of the Alabare Christian Care Centres for the Homeless in Romsey. The churches in Winterslow are helping to raise sufficient money to furnish the house to a very reasonable standard for five homeless people. We have made it our Lenten Appeal. I went over at around 10.30 a.m. and Richard came over a little later. It was well attended and raised £322 - about half of the target total in one event. Well done Sara and Jan! This afternoon Jan and Richard came round and we chatted in the kitchen for some time. I went upstairs and had a lovely bath and read the material for our House Group meeting. Feeling quite relaxed, and the weather continuing to be icy cold with a bitter wind from the north-east, I decided it would be lovely to have a wood fire in the lounge for our visitors. I used dry logs which we had stored in the lounge and the small bits of wood which had been stored in the wheelbarrow and got a nice roaring fire going very easily. I decided to give Mum a call on the phone to let her know my proposed arrangements and timing for my trip to Grimsby next week. Whilst on the phone Sara came into the study to say the fire was making a funny noise. I abandoned my call to Mum when I immediately diagnosed a chimney fire. Going outside, sparks were flying out of the top of the stack - a clear indication of a conflagration going on inside the flue. I dialled 999 and called the fire brigade. They arrived in about 15 minutes from Salisbury by which time the fire had gone out. They took charge of the situation drawing the fire and putting a brush and water up inside the chimney. They put tarpaulin in the lounge and along the hall so as not to spoil our floors and also inspected the loft to ensure that there had been no fire leaking out into the roof. Within half and hour they had cleaned out the chimney and left the lounge immaculate. They were excellent acting very professionally and seemed very happy to make the trip out. Whilst they were in the middle of dealing with this crisis, members of the House Group started to arrive - bewildered by the fact they couldn't park their cars easily because of the presence of a fire engine. Even more shocked when they discovered that the fire brigade were attending us! Despite this "excitement" the House Group started in the lounge only ten minutes later than scheduled and we finished on time. Richard stayed behind for a drink and a natter. We have agreed to start our golfing off again next week.

Change and Challenge

A relatively quiet day at home today after all the travelling up to Liverpool and Brighton. I walked with Mary and Molly to school and bought a newspaper and some stamps from the shop. Back home I read the paper and discussed with Sara the possibilities for flights to the Carolinas and also our forthcoming trip to Dublin with the Russells in May/June. After some considerable debate and discussions with Sian we have booked return flights to Dublin from Bristol which very nearly coincide with the timings of their flights to and from London Gatwick. The Ryanair website is very challenging especially in circumnavigating its crafty ways of trying to extract extra money from the unsuspecting passenger. We still have to sort out the accommodation as whilst it suits us to stay at Castleknock it is going to be expensive for them because Simon wants his own room. I will try and discuss options with my friend Dave who is a travel agent in Dublin. This afternoon I dealt with some financial matters and mail and this evening attended the Parochial Church Council meeting which was discussing the budget and the use of screens in church as major topics. I found myself in a minority of one over certain issues and Sara and I are seriously concerned about the way the church is going and using its money. If we want to maintain a vibrant church we need to be a bit more forward-looking. We seem to be locked into "old ways" rather too much and whilst I do like traditonal services and history we still need to make some changes to the way we do God's work.

Breakfast at Wheelies

Woke at half-past six in Peter's small room at the front (the nursery). Although I heard people moving about I stayed in bed and read a little of my Titanic book. At around 8 a.m. I got up, showered and went downstairs for some tea. Peter was only just up himself and he busied himself on a number of projects whilst I went online and wrote up yesterday's blog. We walked to Wheelies for breakfast and spent some time talking about our proposed extension work which I noted down on my iPod. We also looked at some Mercedes cars on the forecourt of the Brighton Mercedes garage. I really do like the look of the A-Class. I took a leisurely drive back to Wiltshire along the Sussex coast road - a bit of a mistake as I got stopped at about six different sets of temporary traffic signals for roadworks. I eventually got back to Winterlsow at around 2.30 p.m. Sara showed me the smashed camera which still worked. Sara had found the pieces that had broken off and a bit of glue should be able to put them together again. The actual electronics is still working and it is still taking pictures. We'll just need to secure the broken pieces back onto the main body of the camera. Tom was quite contrite when he got home and we had a "study talk". There was no need for me to get angry and have another go at him as Sara had already read the riot act yesterday. I simply told him that he was unlikely to be able to use any of my other cameras in the foreseeable future until he showed a bit more maturity and needed to abate his temper. I was reminded of the quote from the Book of James: "Everyone should be...slow to become angry, for a man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires". Showing anger to him will not set a good example. Tom then gave me his present from Holland - the national flag of the Netherlands which is the correct size for our pole. It was a very thoughtful gesture and I know he really does want to make amends for his stupidity in losing his temper in the way he did. Following our chat we all talked to Sara's Dad on the phone in North Carolina - it being his birthday today. He and Andrea are thrilled that we are going to Myrtle Beach this year instead of Nassau. Myrtle Beach is only about three hours drive from them and they have suggested that we spend the first night with them when we fly in and they can lend us a sat. nav. and cell phone for when we drive down to Myrtle Beach the following day. We need, therefore, to book a return flight from London (probably Gatwick) to Raleigh-Durham. Sara and I also discussed the proposed trip to Dublin in May with the Russells. We shall probably fly with Ryanair from Bournemouth. Although I don't like Ryanair they are cheaper than Flybe from Southampton. We'll need to book it soon, as well as a suitable hotel in Dublin. I am still waiting to hear from Lanzarote about our proposed summer holiday. I'll ring them again tomorrow.

Snapped!

Spent the morning going through my post which had accumulated over the last three days and wrote letters. The cheque for my retirement present had not arrived from my old company so I made a few phone calls to chase it up. In the meantime I will need to pay the bill. Sara went into Salisbury with a friend from the village (who is a seamstress) to choose material for a new blind for the refurbished cloakroom. On her return we spoke to her brother, Adam, on the phone in Thailand. It is his 46th birthday today and we had flown the Union flag for him. I set off for Brighton at around 1.30 p.m. arriving at Peter's at around 3.15 p.m. After a quick wash and a change and a cup of very welcomed tea we set off for the Brighton Masonic Centre to attend Civic Lodge's meeting and white table (a dinner afterwards where the ladies, widows and non-masons are invited). The ceremony went off well although I did introduce some "Wiltshire Working" and gave the wrong sign in the second degree (as did others - whether of their own volition or following me I don't know!) We returned at around 10.30 p.m. and I felt really tired. I drank tea and had a chat with Peter until about 11.30 a.m. I rang Sara just before midnight to hear that Tom had returned safely from Holland but that he had damaged my Olympus digital camera in a fit of anger whilst over there. I was livid! My parting word to him were to come back safely and bring my camera (which Sara had persuaded me to lend him against my better judgement) back in one piece. Clearly my judgement was correct and he has no hope of ever borrowing my new Canons as I know he wanted to. In fact he had, at first, asked to borrow my brand new Canon and I was adament he couldn't as I was going to take pictures in Liverpool with it. The Olympus is a really good camera with a quick download and a good back up. I will have to temper my anger before I see him tomorrow because, at the moment, I'm still on the ceiling! Need to read a few bible verses about "anger" I think!

Ferreting around in Liverpool

A nice relaxing day again in Liverpool. Woke at around 8.30 a.m. and Malcolm cooked kippers washed down with a mug of tea. The sun was shining brightly, although it was still chilly, and we walked up Lark Lane and Linnet Lane to Christ Church at Toxteth Park. There were about 25 attending the service which was conducted by the vicar, Rev. David Parry. It was a nice informal All Age Service with an illustrated sermon from David which had a very amusing incident. He had brought a rucksack of props for the service - a calculator, bottle of cooking oil, a towel all to illustrate the story of Jacob's Dream. He ask one of the women in the congregation to put her hand in the rucksack and pull out an item - his exact words were "put your hand in there and have a ferret" (meaning a rummage around). She let out an enormous scream thinking he had said "put your hand in there I have a ferret!" It created quite a lot of mirth. I stopped for coffee with Malcolm and had a pleasant chat to David, Chris (the lay reader and another solicitor) and to one or two others I know - and some I didn't. Malcolm and I went for a walk in Sefton and Prince's Park it being such a lovely sunny day and I took quite a lot of photographs of the park and its monuments including the "crystal palace" in the centre of Sefton Park. We had lunch at the Chinese restaurant in Lark Lane where they put on an "all you can eat buffet" for £8 per head. I left Liverpool at just before 4 p.m. and was back in Winterslow for 8.30 p.m. - the traffic having been fine apart from around Walsall again. I had a lovely bath and we went to bed early tonight. Another busy day beckons tomorrow.

Liverpool - Old Places; Old Faces

A very relaxing morning in Liverpool. I was woken up by hearing Malcolm's son Sam come into the flat. He was playing football this morning and Malcolm took him to his match somewhere close by. After breakfast of coffee, fruit and toast I wrote up yesterday's blog and then went for a walk around the Dingle taking my camera with me. I walked along Aigburth Road to the Dingle and to the site of the old Overhead Railway Station which is now a grass site adjacent to some modern houses on Park Road. The old Toxteth Chapel is still there opposite and I so took a couple of photos of that. When one looks at the photos you could be convinced that the chapel is isolated in the countryside not on the corner of one of the busiest junctions in the city of Liverpool. I walked down to the old (and now derelict) site of the Merseyside Garden Festival and along the promenade road back to St. Michael's Hamlet, stopping at the Merseyrail station and the old church - unique for the extensive use of cast iron in its construction. Back at Malcolm's we went out quickly to Allerton Road to get some pasties and cakes for lunch and then I drove through the centre of Liverpool and the Birkenhead Tunnel to Prenton Park, home of Tranmere Rovers Football Club for their game against the Saints. There was a good crowd up from Southampton - nearly half the total number of supporters - and we had a great view behind the goal. Rovers scored very quickly from a dodgy free kick decision and Saints equalised about six minutes later. The game, as I have often seen with Tranmere, was not pretty football and although Saints were by far the better footballing side, Tranmere simply didn't allow them to play it - their philosophy was clearly hoof it and run. Saints came out a better disciplined side in the second half but another dodgy decision by the referee resulted in a penalty being awarded to Tranmere which they easily converted. The final result - Tranmere 2, Southampton 1 or was it The Referee 2, Saints 1. Having crossed over to the Wirral, we went for a drive around Birkenhead and Wallasey looking at some of my old haunts (and me taking more photos) before returning to Liverpool via the Wallasey Tunnel. This evening we met up with our good friends Geoff and Alma at the Gulshan Indian Restaurant on Aigburth Road. We had an absolutely lovely evening - good good and company. Alma was looking really great. She has successfully lost quite a bit of weight which she is proud of after being diagnosed with diabetes. Geoff has been unwell with pneumonia but is well on the mends and looking forward to a holiday in Cobh, Ireland. They are also awaiting the birth of another granddaughter in a couple of weeks. We took them home driving through parts of Childwall I didn't know. Despite the Saints' defeat it has been a lovely day.

Travel

Was woken up this morning at the ridiculous hour of 4 a.m.! Sara's alarm went off to remind us that Tom was going off on his geography field trip to Holland and was being picked up, along with another couple of lads, by one of the fathers at 5.45 a.m.! Sara kindly made tea and busied about finalising packing for Tom which he had confidently stated, last night, was finalised! Amongst things he didn't have were gloves (it was freezing cold this morning), a camera and his phone hadn't been topped up. Sara drove to the top of the hill where we can get a signal to top it up to find that as it is a touch phone she couldn't find a keypad to key in the code to top it up with. Hence he has gone without his phone. He has borrowed my Olympus digital camera and I told him in no uncertain terms that if he doesn't bring it back in one piece he needn't bother bringing himself back. I hope that the message has got through! I went back to bed for a short time then needed to finalise my own packing for my trip to Liverpool today. I attended the Ambassadors breakfast at the Grasmere Hotel this morning and found that Complex's details had already been posted on to their website. I sat with Clive B's friend Jackie who suggested that I would be an ideal candidate to serve on their Committee. I said I would think it over. I then drove up to Liverpool via Devizes (where I stopped off to do some banking at the the local HSBC branch), Chippenham, and Bristol and up the M5/M6/M62. It was a fairly uneventful journey with only a short delay with heavy traffic at Walsall. I arrived at Malcolm's in Sefton Park at around 2.45 p.m. I spoke to Sara on the phone who was thrilled to tell me that she had managed to swap our Bahamas' time-share week for a week at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I am delighted as this means that we can now get return direct flights to the Carolinas and need only drive from South Carolina to North Carolina to spend the second week with Sara's father. I was really concerned about the complicated travel arrangements if Nassau was added to the equation. We'll book a week in the Bahamas for 2011 at the earliest opportunity (October 2010) to avoid any disappointment next year as the kids will definitely want to return to Atlantis. I think that travelling out to the Bahamas every other year is a good idea as it will make us choose other locations in the intervening years. I quite like driving in the States so will look forward to the journey between Myrtle Beach, SC and Youngsville, NC. I've driven up from North Carolina to New Jersey before now. Tonight Malcolm and I walked along Sefton Park to the "chippie" where I ordered my usual Singapore-style king prawn chow mein and ate them with the chopsticks I'd left in Liverpool on my last trip. Malcolm and I talked about our respective job nightmares and how we were adjusting to retirement - although in Malcolm's case he hasn't actually retired but is "resting". We managed to polish off a bottle of Italian red wine. However, I was dead tired by 9.30 p.m. and went to bed at 10.30 p.m. after watching a little TV (Al Murray at the Apollo which I'd seen before). Off to see Saints v. Tranmere Rovers tomorrow.

An A-Class day

I dropped my car off this morning at the Mercedes garage on Southampton Road for a service and was given a brand new A-Class as a loan car. The car was registered HJ10JUH and was only three days old with 34 miles on the clock. I took it over to Warminster where I visited the regalia shop to have my Principal's Royal Arch jewel adjusted to a Provincial Officer's jewel in readiness for my elevation on Monday week. The job (swapping one coloured ribbon with another) took about 45 minutes and I went off to the Gorge Cafe for a coffee and a read of the daily newspaper. On my return to Winterslow I popped into the doctor's surgery to find out the results of a test which proved "normal". I heard back from Starwood this afternoon and discovered that I was one month late in getting our reservation in for the Bahamas. My fault entirely and this will be disappointing news for the children. We will now definitely have to hope to get in at Cancun or Myrtle Beach. I was impressed by my loan car and, on my return to Mercedes to pick up my car, expressed my interest in trading the C-Class in for an A-Class. The latter is smaller but still spacious and would be ideal for golf. It has the advantage of similar controls and features to the C-Class and seems equally roomy inside. They will give me a figure for the C-Class after the weekend and I will have to see how that leaves the balance for either a new A-Class or, more probably, an ex-loan car (which would be no more than 3 months old). Mary returned from Oxenwood very happy but she is suffering from pains in her chest as a result of a fall from a climbing frame a few days ago. She will need to see the doctor tomorrow but she has a fear of doctors' surgeries and thinks that is where you go to die. She needs convincing that our doctor is not called Shipman. Tom has been packing tonight for his trip to Holland. We must all be up at 4 a.m. tomorrow. I still need to finish off my packing for my trip to Liverpool tomorrow too. I will be going up there straight after my Ambassadors' breakfast meeting. We had a successful house group this evening with nine participants. It was good to see the room so full.

Magic!

Today Mary was off with her classmates to Oxenwood - an outdoor centre/former school near Hungerford. She will stay overnight for one night and has an exciting programme ahead of her including a late night walk in the woods along "Spooky Alley". This is a supervised school trip and I know she'll have a great and adventurous time. Together with quite a few other Mums and Dads, Sara and I shivered in the freezing cold waiting for an overdue bus to come and pick her up at the school. Eventually, nearly half an hour late, they set off - most too busy chatting to each other to give a wave to the waiting parents. I think waiting to see them off is more for the parents than the children! Can't wait to find out how Mary found it all. After leaving the school I attended the mid-week Lent Eucharist at St. John's. There were about a dozen of us with four clergy also attending. Cynthia led a very short but contemplative service which I enjoyed. On returning home, Susan called in for coffee with her father from Belfast and Billy and I chatted about my times over in the Province and found we had quite a few Pele and location in common. Rosemary called in at the same time with a telescope she had picked up for her grandson in a jumble sale. Looking at it, it has limited use for any real study of the night sky but should give impressive images of the Moon to a seven-year old. This evening Sara and I attended a masonic white table dinner at Freemason's Hall, Salisbury. It was, unfortunately, quite poorly attended but we did have a really good evening. The meal was pate, chicken chasseur, ice-cream and cheese and biscuits and we had a magician called Timmy who gave us some entertaining David Blaine-style illusions and memory tricks. He was entertaining not only because of his tricks but also his humour - and not a white rabbit in site! Unfortunately, what was otherwise a very enjoyable day was marred at the end by discovering that we cannot get the week we want in the Bahamas this year - largely due to my fault in not securing our week earlier (as we did last time). We now need to consider another destination across the Atlantic to combine with our proposed trip to see Sara's Dad in North Carolina - possibly Mexico or South Carolina! I am really angry with myself especially as Sara is being so irritatingly reasonable!

Another crushing victory at St. Mary's

A very filled day today. I got up at 7.30 a.m. and breakfasted on oat cluster cereal and fruit juice. I walked up to the school with Mary and Molly - a brisk walk on a very frosty morning. After leaving them at the school I went to the post office to pay a telephone bill and post a couple of letters. I also bought a morning paper. Back home I read the paper over coffee and Sara went off to her "Ladies who Latte" meeting at Milford Hall Hotel in Salisbury. I spent the morning paying bills, reconciling balances and sending emails including one to book our week in the Bahamas. I also hoped to make a start on booking flights but will need to get confirmation on the dates before doing so. Nothing has so far appeared in my email inboxes. After a lunch of fish fingers and mushy peas, I drove into Salisbury, first of all to buy some new shoes and do some banking and afterwards to meet with Helen of Penna who has been appointed as my coach to help me find new directions in my life. We spent a couple of hours in the convivial surroundings of the White Hart exploring a number of things and looking at how I am re-adjusting to my new life and helping me to decide what I want to do in the future. I came away with a sheaf of paperwork to read and an exercise for me to complete - what are my strengths and how will I hone my skills. The meeting lasted a little longer than anticipated and I rushed back to pick up Tom to go to the Saints v. Huddersfield Town match at St. Mary's. Richard had phoned me earlier in the day to say he was free this evening and would like to come along. He had managed to get a seat close to ours and so we picked him up on the way. We were expecting a very close match as Huddersfield are in the last play-off spot and are pushing for promotion. It turned out to be a rout with Saints punishing Huddersfield with a 5-0 victory with the goals being scored by 5 different players - Lambert, Barnard, Puncheon, Hammond and Papa Weigo. A fantastic evening. I gave one of Tom's old SFC fleeces to Andy for Sam which he was delighted with. It was a cold night but the result warmed our hearts. That's 10 goals we've scored in two matches. We now have a positive goal difference of 26, the third highest in the division. We still, however, need the points. We now lie 10th but there is a big gap (14 points) between us and the final play-off spot. It looks hopeful for a really good game at Tranmere on Saturday. So pleased that I have tickets for that game.

Househusband for the day

I didn't leave home at all today but stayed in the house and garden throughout. The weather was quite springlike and Sara and I set to in tidying up the hall, stairs and landing - removing decorating materials from the cloakroom, replacing tools and materials in the garage and shed, and generally trying to make the house look cleaner and tidier. This extended to sorting out washing and ironing and general housework duties. Tonight I dealt with some financial matters and wrote this blog. Now we have made a start on getting the house in order I hope we can continue to work at it and I can remove a lot of clutter from the study. Not a terribly exciting day really.