Investiture in Swindon

Quite a busy day at home today until about 3.45 p.m. when John H called for me to drive up to Swindon for the Wiltshire Masters' Lodge meeting. The weather was very pleasant today and the grass seed which I sowed last week is now showing signs of taking. Mary has a very heavy cold is feeling most wretched and Tom is not too happy today either because he doesn't really know what he wants to do. The long summer holiday will soon be over and both will be back to school. Tonight I was invested as Senior Deacon of the Wiltshire Masters' Lodge in a very nice ceremony in Swindon. This was followed by an interesting lecture on the topic of "What we do and why we do it" whose message was that the essence of the masonic message (brotherly love, charity and ethical behaviour) was far more important than getting ritual right. How similar that message is to us Christians who feel that the Christian message of God's love through Christ should be conveyed to as many people as possible in a way which is not bound up too tightly with ritual and tradition. The meeting was followed by an excellent dinner of smoked mackerel, cold meats and salad with hot new potatoes, cheesecake, cheese and biscuits and coffee and mints. It was good to be with old friends again from lodges from all over Wiltshire and beyond. The meeting ended just before 10 p.m. and we were back in Winterslow by 11 p.m. Ironically, whilst I had been in Swindon enjoying masonic hospitality, Southampton FC had been entertaining Swindon Town FC in the first round of the Johnson's Paint Trophy contest. The result, a thumping 0-3 defeat at the hands of the Wiltshire club. In a way I was quite pleased that the first game (fortunately not a league game) without Alan Pardew should result in such a bad defeat. Also whilst in Swindon, Sara attended a branch meeting in Ower of her Vie company but was back home before me.

Farewell Alan, and Thanks!

I woke up this morning to the shocking and quite unexpected news that Alan Pardew and his coaching team had been sacked by the management of Southampton Football Club. This, after a brilliant 4-0 win against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, makes no sense at all to the average fan. Clearly, there are issues behind the scene which we do not know about and which may, or may not, emerge in due course. I formed a group on Facebook asking people to sign up if they want to support a move to re-instate him. I read many of the posts on Facebook during the morning from different fans and friends all expressing the same shock and surprise as me. The speculation now starts as to whom the management team have in mind to replace Pardew. Alan has achieved much for the club in the last 13 months, not least the JP Trophy win at Wembley - the first silverware since the FA Cup win in 1976. This afternoon I took some of the hedge clippings and other rubbish down to the dump at Amesbury and afterwards played eighteen holes of golf at the miniature golf/pitch and putt course at Stonehenge Golf Centre in Larkhill. I was delighted with my first nine holes - achieving five par threes but the second nine was not so good. I was rushing a bit as I was needed at All Saints this evening to move some furniture. Tonight we ate roast pork and watched a programme on great white sharks. An early night beckoned.

A Quiet Sunday

Quite a relaxing Sunday for once. The family stayed at home this morning as I went to the Clarendon Team Service at Pitton Church. It was very crowded with members of the congregations from all the constituent parishes and I had to squeeze in the back alongside retired cleric, Canon Roger Sharpe. I was also given a service sheet for a baptism rather than a Team Eucharist! Never mind, I've been to enough Eucharists to be able to follow the service. I stayed for coffee afterwards and was able to chat with Debbie and others from the different parishes. It was good to see so many people from our surrounding villages attending church this morning. Not too many children though, alas. This afternoon I did a little gardening and reading, I also went into Salisbury to post some important legal papers and met up with my former work colleague, Anthony, for afternoon tea in Waitrose's cafe. We chatted about the old company and old colleagues as well as discussing current affairs. It was good to touch base as he spends most of his time in Surrey these days (and I hardly ever go up there at all now). This evening Sara, Mary and I watched "Bruce Almighty" an enjoyable American comedy with Morgan Freeman once more playing God. I cannot recall one film with Morgan Freeman in it which I have not enjoyed.

Goodnight Irene! You'll see Saints in your dreams!

I woke at 7 a.m. today and made tea for myself and Sara. I didn't need to get up quite so early as Tom and I were not leaving for Bristol until about 10.30 a.m. I went back to bed and after reading my devotionals snoozed for an hour. Finally getting up, I showered and Sara cooked bacon rolls for Tom and me. We left for Bristol at about 10.20 a.m. and drove over Salisbury Plain to Devizes, Chippenham and down the M4/M32 to the Memorial Ground in Horfield, Bristol - home of Bristol Rovers FC. After parking on MullerRoad, we found a chippie in Gloucester Road - Tom had sausage and chips and I had a grilled shish kebab and salad. We entered the ground about an hour before kick-off and sat and read the excellent matchday programme produced by BRFC. We found the stewards and staff most friendly and courteous. Saints fans took the whole of the away end (the marquee as I call it) as well as all the open terrace reserved for visting supporters. The ground was a capacity sell-out (8,226 attendance) of which nearly 2,000 must have been Saints fans. Saints were "on fire" from the start and by half time were 2-0 in the lead. Two more goals in the second half and a clean sheet from Kelvin Davis secured a well deserved and important 4-0 victory. Our goal difference changed in this one match from -1 to 3 and our position in the table from 20th to 14th. Another win like that and we should find ourselves in the play-off positions. Goals came from Fonte (10th minute); Lallana (34th minute); Lambert (penalty in the 59th minute) and a late goal in extra time from Barnard (90+1). No singing of "Good Night Irene" from the Gasheads. The singing was replaced by taunts of "Is there a fire drill?" from the Saints supporters as the Gasheads started streaming out of the ground early, knowing that their team had been thrashed by Southampton. We were fortunate to get away from Bristol within 45 minutes of the end of the game and drove home via Westbury where Tom and I had an excellent Chinese meal at my old friend "Champions" in Warminster Road. After this supper we arrived back in Winterslow at 9.00 p.m. A very happy day. The long drive over to Bristol was fully worth it for me to see Bristol Rovers lose for the first time (every match I have seen them play - against both Grimsby Town and Saints has resulted in a Rovers' victory; but not today. Irene has clearly not woken up today!

Another win for Mary!

Sara awoke early this morning with severe pains in her stomach - it seems a bad attack of IBS - which left her feeling quite wretched. She awoke early because she is due back to Brownie Pack Camp in Bursledon this morning for breakfast and to help dismantle the camp and bring back Mary and three other brownies to Winterslow. By the time she left she was feeling a little better but not on top of the world. We both wonder whether she suffers from wheat intolerance as this often seems to spark it off. I saw little of Tom this morning who spent the morning in the Family Room on his playstation. I spent the morning dealing with paperwork which seems to have accumulated. Sara returned just before 12 noon with a very tired Mary and her friend Sasha. This afternoon I cut all three lawns and washed the car. Tonight Sara had an unusual Vie party in the garrison town of Tidworth details of which I will not publish to protect the guilty. Suffice it to say, it seemed a lot of work for little reward. I took the children down to Poole greyhound racing to make up for our aborted venture when the car tyre was punctured. Neither Tom nor I had a sniff of a win but Mary, on the very last race managed to recoup nearly all our losses with a forecast win (4-2 Reverse) of £18.35! How does she do it! It seems she has a win 9 out of ten visits! Both Sara and I arrived back home within five minutes of each other. The children and I enjoyed listening to the Paul Miller Show on BBC Radio Solent on the way back.

A Sporting Day in Hampshire

The alarm woke me at 5 a.m. today and I remembered that Richard was to call for me at 6.15 a.m. to drive us to Paulton's Golf Course for our 7 a.m. round. The wind was hammering on the window and I assumed that it was lashing down with rain again like yesterday. However, when I went outside I found it dry and the wind surprisingly warm. The ground was still extremely wet from yesterday's torrents but it didn't seem we would get particularly wet. I had a mug of tea and a lightly toasted English muffin with marmalade. Richard arrived a little early and we were actually on the first tee at 6.45 a.m. I have to admit that neither of us played the best golf and I was a little disappointed after such a good round at Wilton last week. We had to suffer drizzle for the first three holes and played in our waterproof jackets. However as the round progressed the weather did improve - but not the golf! It is certainly true what they say - to improve your game you must play at least twice a week. We are still not playing sufficiently frequently enough to improve our game by any large measure. We had such good intentions of playing full round golf on a more regular basis but both of us seem to have so many other things to do - not least church work and trying to run a small business. We finished at 11 a.m. and had a coffee in the club house. The course was, by this time, full of lady golfers all dressed in pink for what we assumed was a breast cancer support event. We had an early lunch at The Vine of fish and chips before returning home. I felt quite stiff and tired and had a very short nap when I got back. Refreshed, I went into the study and dealt with some correspondence not least refiling the accounts for a client to incorporate the new companies legislation references for dormant companies. This evening Sara went to Potterne for one of her Vie parties and I took Tom to Sparsholt College near Winchester for a friendly football match against an Arsenal Select Eleven. I was not best pleased to find, after a sixteen mile journey, that he had forgotten his football boots! As I explained to him - his kit is his responsibility. It would just be like me driving over to Paulton's this morning without my clubs! Fortunately, they were playing two halves of 45 minutes and I was able to drive back home, pick up his boots and return before the second half began. Tom actually got on before the end of the first half and the game was abandoned 30 minutes after the start of the second half due to bad light and our old friend the rain. Tom's team did, however, beat Arsenal 2-1. Back home it was hot baths and showers and I then put my feet up and watched an interesting documentary about the destruction of the French Fleet by the British at Mers-el-Kebir in 1940, thought by many French as an act of unnecessary treachery by their British Allies. Sara, who arrived home from Potterne was very interested to learn of this amazing act.

Rain! Rain! Rain! - A British Summer's Day

Another very wet rainy day today. Sara returned from Brownie Camp this morning and finished off the Parish Magazine before she and Tom went into Southampton to spend the afternoon together watching Knights and Day at the cinema and going for a meal at Chiquita's afterwards. I drove into Andover to pay some bills and do some banking. I found a spot quite close to the town centre where I could park free for two hours. A useful find. This evening, with Tom and Sara out, Richard and I met in the Lion's Head for a couple of pints and to discuss arrangements for playing golf tomorrow. He has booked us a tee-off time at Paulton's of 7 a.m.! If the weather is as bad tomorrow as it is today, I cannot see much golf being played. Muddy water is streaming down past the pub onto the main road and straight into Mandie and Phil's front garden and garage. Work is currently being carried out near the village pond to install some kind of soakaway to prevent this in the future.

More Spring Cleaning

A day of cleaning and tidying. After breakfast Tom and I spent the rest of the morning cleaning and tidying the downstairs rooms (except the study which still needs attention). Before lunch I drove over to Porton Garden Centre to purchase lawn seed to fill the gaps left by the hedge. I have bought two large boxes which will probably be more than I need but I am conscious that the birds will remove some of the seed. After lunch (left-over Chinese for me, fish fingers for Tom) I set about sowing the lawn seed on the inner back lawn. I will do the bank tomorrow. I dealt with some Complex financial matters this afternoon before Tom and I drove to Southampton for the Carling Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers. We visited our chippie and sat in a somewhat empty Chapel Stand - very poor attendance for a game against a Premier League Club (10,251). Saints played fairly well throughout and at the end of the match only another silly conceded goal separated the teams as Bolton went through to the next round after a 1-0 win. We listened to the Portsmouth v Crystal Palace game which ended in an exciting penalty shoot-out after extra time. Portsmouth won 4.3 on penalties after each side took seven penalties each. We arrived home quite early for an evening match due to there being such a low attendance. We were home well before 11 p.m. Tom went almost immediately to bed whilst I stayed up and watch the two episodes of Battle of Britain I had recorded earlier in the month.

At home cleaning and tidying

A day at home today with very changeable weather. Sara and Mary spent the morning packing to go to Brownie Camp and they also made a "cactus cake" to take with them - a Madeira cake with green icing in the shape of a cactus. Vince arrived very early with his digger to lay paving stones at the entrance to the drive to stop the lip damaging the cars. I read the newspaper this morning and did some tidying up. This afternoon, I tackled the bank with the lawn mower but could only get so far round as Peter was finishing off the fence and his van was in the way. Mary was picked up this afternoon to go to Brownie Camp (Sara went on ahead) by her friend Sasha's father. Unfortunately, he drove into the drive dislodging Vince's work which he had to do again. Several paving stones were dislodged and some fresh mortar had to be set down. The entrance now has a rope across it and my car is parked in the lay-by. Tom and I had a Chinese takeaway for dinner and I watched the Manchester City v. Liverpool game on Sky. This resulted in a 3-0 defeat for a poor Liverpool. They ended the match one position above the relegation zone. They have had a very similar poor start to Southampton. I ended the day watching a documentary on Captain Cook.

Shabbat

I had difficulty sleeping in the night, again. It remains quite muggy. I woke up and watched a couple of programmes on TV before going back to bed at 4 a.m. where I slept until about 7 a.m. We all walked to St. John's Church this morning for the Praise Service conducted by Linda. Again, it was very uplifting and thought-provoking. Its theme was the Sabbath or Shabbat as it is known in Hebrew. It is very interesting to think of what we do and don't do on the seventh day. We stayed for coffee in the Team Office afterwards except for Tom who preferred to walk home. He doesn't enjoy the chit-chat after church. Mary and I went blackberry picking again this afternoon whilst Peter managed to complete all but about 20 feet of the fence. It looks really good although being lower than the hedge, my astronomical observations may be affected by the glare coming from some of the houses in Middleton Road which could not be seen before. Mary and I went to Five Rivers Leisure Centre for an hours swimming and we were both quite gripped by a radio dramatisation of Neville Shute's book No Highway. In fact we sat outside the leisure centre waiting for the episode to end. Returning from swimming, I mowed the back lawn before the promised deluge of rain arrived. This is the first time I have cut it for several weeks. It had been too dry to cut and latterly it has been strewn with debris from the erstwhile hedge. Sara roasted a gammon for dinner and then helped Mary pack for her Brownie Camp Week next week. The rain is pouring down outside as I write this at 10.30 p.m.

A thank you and goodbye to Marcus

No further progress, again, on the fence. Made tea for Sara and myself and cooked sausages for Tom and me for breakfast. Spent the morning dealing with emails and writing up yesterday's blog which hadn't been done because I went to bed early last night. Sara and Mary decided to come into Southampton with us today and we all set off, a little after 12 noon in Sara's car. We parked in our usual car park and all strolled across to West Quay where Tom bought some tee shirts and a strange hat in Republic. Tom seems to becoming fashion conscious although I am not sure I share his taste in clothes. We left Sara and Mary to spend the rest of the afternoon in West Quay and Ikea. Tom returned to St. Mary's where we had lunch at our normal chippie and arrived at the ground about half an hour before kick-off. There were many tributes to Marcus Liebherr, the 62-year old billionaire owner of Southampton FC, who died last week. The players wore black armbands and a tribute wreath was placed on the centre spot before the game commenced. A large banner emblazoned with "WIFM" (Win It For Marcus) was fixed up close to us in the Kingsland Stand. There is no doubt that we might not be sitting at St. Mary's watching the Saints at all (poor performance or good) if this genial Swiss billionaire hadn't decided to buy the club last year. Thank you Marcus for this. You will be remembered with great affection for so long as the club continues. The Saints started reasonably well and a free kick just outside Leyton Orient's penalty box was converted by Ricky Lambert through the wall (possibly a deflection from an Orient player). Unfortunately an easy goal at the other end (our end) resulted in an Orient equaliser very quickly after that. At half-time the score was 1-1 and so it remained throughout a poor and frustrating second half. So, three weeks into the new football season Saints are one place above the relegation zone with just one point on the board. We do, however, now have a game in hand as last week's away game against Milton Keynes Dons was postponed because of the sudden passing of Marcus. It was drizzling with rain again as we left the ground and we met up with Sara and Mary at the car park - they were laden with goodies from Ikea! We decided to eat out this evening and so we called in at our old friend, Puccini's, the Italian restaurant in Shirley where Mary gets a free meal. Tom ate a pizza and the rest of ushad pasta dishes. Back home, Sara, Tom and Mary watched the X-Factor (something I really cannot stand) which seems to be about people with no talent making fools of themselves in the hope of making some money. TV at its worst in my "grumpy old man" opinion. From what little I have seen it seems to comprise people singing who are tone deaf, dogs which cannot juggle, comedians who cannot tell jokes and prima donnas who are neither in their prime nor "donnas" (whatever they may be!). Apparently, I've just be told that I have the wrong show - apparently I am referring to "Britain's Not Got Talent" or some such equally awful talent show. If X-Factor is only about singing then you don't even have the amusement of the juggling canines!

A wet but good round of golf

Another miserable rainy day today. I was up early this morning and attended the Ambassadors' business breakfast club at the Grasmere House Hotel. We were treated to an entertaining talk on behalf of Martin & Co. letting agents. Following the meeting I picked up some Brownie trousers (for Mary not for me) from an address in Bemerton Heath and visited the Golf Company in Wilton for a new Bay Hill trolley bag - my present stand alone one doesn't fit too well on the trolley and I now need a bag with more pockets as I am playing in different weather conditions. Sara spent the morning child minding two of Mary's friends and did her stint at the Lord Nelson. I cooked lunch for Tom and me and this afternoon played 9 holes of golf at Wilton with Richard and Klynn. The weather decided to get worse as we drove to the course. However armed with my new bag and waterproof jacket we played the nine holes in about 2 hours. I had a very shaky start but after this I was hitting the green from the tee (or thereabouts) most times and managed to win the half round with a 38 (45 for Klynn and 48 for Richard). I was very pleased with the result and a good way to christian my new bag. I think that I play better golf when it is cooler and when there is no pressure from players behind. When it is drizzling rain like this afternoon both criteria are satisfied. We finished our session with another couple of rounds at the Lord Nelson. This evening I went to bed early and watched a video of Portsmouth trolleybuses with a nice glass of white wine and caught up on my devotional reading. Richard feels he needs some more golfing practice so we hope to get a full round in sometime next week.

Shopping in Andover

No long trips again today. The weather was quite dismal again - a typically English Summer's Day! The plan had been to go to Longleat and we awoke with that in mind. However, both children were not keen - especially Tom who complained of aching legs following his hard football training yesterday. The fence is coming on slowly and our neighbours next door have had the entrance to their drive paved to avoid a nasty lip which can ground the cars. We have arranged to have the same done in a couple of weeks. This morning I dealt with some Complex accounts. This afternoon I went into Andover to do some banking, visit the post office and do some shopping. A terrible "agricultural smell" pervaded the whole town making the experience less than pleasant. I do like shopping in Andover as you can park much more cheaply than Salisbury and everything is in easy distance. The town has the same, if not a better, choice of shops. I also found a small Christian bookstore which sells the BRF publications. This will be so useful if I ever need to get extra copies for people. I had hoped to play some golf this afternoon but the visit to Andover and the weather stopped that idea. Tonight Sara went to Lockerley for a meeting about the Brownie Pack Holiday next week and returned dressed as a cowgirl - the theme for the week will be The Wild West if you couldn't guess. I sent the evening writing up my two articles for the Parish Magazine and watched another episode of "On the Buses" before having an early night (i.e. before midnight!)

Fencing begins!

Hoorah, the fence posts have started to go up today and a boundary is starting to take shape along the bottom of our rear garden. The lawn needs cutting but there is little point in doing that at the moment with cement and planks of wood occupying a large amount of the lawn. Sara wasn't feeling too good this morning but went off to Morning Star, nevertheless, taking Mary with her. They were making chicken sandwiches today, apparently, for the banquet run. I delivered one bible reading book and up in Tytherley Road and tried to deliver one in Witt Road but could not find the address. I'll have another go tomorrow. Tom and I drove the Mercedes into Salisbury, very gingerly on the slave tyre, to Bathwick Tyres who were able to fit a brand new tyre, at half the cost of one for the previous car, within 15 minutes! We then went to Sports Direct and Waitrose to buy some trainer socks for Tom and a new golf glove for me and had coffee and danish pastries in Waitrose. This afternoon I went round to see Klynn to deliver a birthday card and a bottle of Irish whiskey, promising to call round and help him drink it soon! Sara made a lovely spicy pork and chorizo stew which we all enjoyed excpet Mary - she really does not like spicy food. Tom and I then drove into Salisbury giving Lucy a lift in to the city too. I dropped off Tom at Hudson's Field for football training and dropped Lucy off by the Waitrose railway bridge. After filling Sara's car with petrol, I drove to Five River's Leisure Centre and spent an hour in the swimming complex before going back to Hudson's Field to pick up Tom. He was exhausted - the training session lasting longer than two hours and he had got very wet out on the field. Back home, I dealt with some Complex accounts which I had hoped to do earlier today. Sara is ploughing through the ironing whilst watching an Alan Rickman film, as I write this blog.

Gone to the Dogs going to the Dogs

Spent today at home working in the study. No work on the fence today but it did give us an opportunity to survey the additional ground we have acquired through the removal of the hedge and I definitely want to plan and build a Chinese Garden down the bottom adjacent to our neighbour's fence. I would propose having gravel, pots, a water feature and Chinese objects e.g. a crane. I am sure that the various garden centres around will have some objects to inspire. Tonight we planned to go to Poole greyhound racing again but when we got to East Grimstead my offside front tyre was punctured by a sharp stone (probably flint) and I spent about half an hour amongst horse manure jacking up the car and replacing the tyre with the slave. We had to return home as the slave tyre is not designed for long distance travel. Instead of dog-racing we stayed in and watched the weird film Beetle Juice.

A Day at Thorpe Park

A very long day today as we spent it, as a family, at Thorpe Park in Surrey. We left home at around 9.30 a.m. but didn't get to the theme park until around 11.15 a.m. due to an accident on the M3/M25 slip road. The journey seemed quite long to me which was strange as I used to drive the 75 miles from Winterslow to Dorking on a regular basis and it used to seem much shorter. I guess this is an indication that I am no longer driving such long distances as before. The car park was already quite full when we arrived but there were still plenty of spaces. We exchanged our Tesco vouchers for tickets and walked across the bridge to the main park. Tom started off by going on Nemesis and Stealth and we then had a family KFC bucket for lunch. In the afternoon I went with Mary on the Tidal Wave (see picture) and Tom and Mary went on Colossus, Nemesis and Stealth again. We all went on the Rumba Rapids - a fairly benign ride in a large tyre through a fast flowing stream. At one stage Tom and Mary disappeared for about an hour - they were queuing for a ride but due to a lack of communication - the noisy music blaring out from the PA system made it heard to hear each other speak - and they eventually returned saying we knew where they were! I am afraid that Thorpe Park simply isn't my kind of thing anymore. I like to "people watch" and observe people getting wet by the "tidal wave" but I think my roller coaster days are now behind me. Much prefer a round of golf! We left when the Park closed at 8.00 p.m. and stopped off for some excellent fish and chips at Chobham - a little chippie I found once when returning home from a late night in the office in Dorking when the M3 motorway was blocked. What an exhausting day - so much walking in the sultry heat and so much noise. Feeling a bit like a pensioner today! Some Complex work tomorrow and a night at the greyhounds in the evening.

A Day at Home - Blackberrying

A quiet day at home today after two hectic days in Hants. and Dorset. I woke up early again and revised my Intercessions before walking down to St. John's Church where the 9.30 a.m. Parish Eucharist was taking place because All Saints is being sprayed for Death Watch Beetle. The rest of the family decided to stay in bed! I hadn't realised that it was a Baptism today and accordingly, my Intercessions were not required (a pity since I got up yesterday at 6 a.m. to write them!) The service was short and simple. Coffee was served in the Team Office (the Old School House) and I met a lovely couple from Gloucester who were on holiday caravanning at Robin Hill Farm. Later in the morning, Mary and I went up to Barry's Field blackberrying. We got a really good haul of the fruit which we took back. Mary washed the fruit and then, under Sara's supervision, made a lovely apple and blackberry crumble which was the desert course to our Sunday roast. I washed the car. This afternoon Tom had his friend Samuel round to kill zombies or Germans or whatever on his PlayStation 3! After washing up I treated myself to a nap! Lovely! This evening I have been drafting some documents for a client so that I will be able to go with the family to Thorpe Park tomorrow (I must say I am not much looking forward to it - how do you get pleasure from vomit-inducing rides!). Writing this and yesterday's blog now and then a few letters before bed.

A Day at the Rose Bowl - Well Done Hampshire

Up early again this morning as it was Finals Day in the Friends Provident t/20 cricket tournament at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. There were to be two semi-finals and then the final this evening. When I woke the weather was miserable, grey, overcast and drizzling - not good weather for playing first class cricket. Tom decided that he didn't want to join me as he felt 11 hours of cricket would be too much so decided to stay at home. Fortunately, his ticket had cost me nothing otherwise he would have come along. I set off at around 9.30 a.m. and got to the Park & Ride at about 10.45 a.m. The traffic around Burseldon was horrific - it seemed most of southern England were going to the Rose Bowl. I arrived at the Rose Bowl just in time to see the first ball of the day - Hampshire bowling to Essex. At the end of the first semi-final (which Hampshire won) the rain pelted down but cleared up quickly enough for the second semi-final to start (Nottinghamshire v. Somerset). Somerset batted first and got a huge 182 before the rain pelted down again. It was decided that Nottingham's batting innings should be restricted to 16 overs with a target of 153. Unfortunately the rain brought the game to a sudden end after about 12 overs and Somerset were deemed to have won the match by 3 runs under the dubious Duckworth-Lewis Rule. Not knowing whether the Final would actually be played and realising that we could be leaving the Rose Bowl very late indeed, and having to jostle through crowds to get out of the Stadium, jostle for a Park & Ride Bus and finally get out of a massive car park, which would have meant getting home at around 3 a.m. I decided to call it a day and get away quickly whilst I could and watch the final, if it did take place, on Sky from the comfort of my armchair. The Final did start and I listened to the first innings - Somerset batting, on the car radio. Arriving home at around 9 p.m. I was able to watch Hampshire's exciting innings which resulted in a tie (173 for 5 for Hampshire; 173 for 6 for Somerset). Accordingly, Hampshire won on the Fewer Wickets Rule). Well done Dominic Cork and his young team. Man of the Match Award went to Neil McKenzie for his composed 52 runs. It would have been nice to have been there at the Final but the after effects would not have delighted me. In fact, I think I had the best of both worlds - the excitement of being there for the semis and being able to watch the Final with a fine professional commentary on TV. Another wonderful day out today.

A Lovely Day in Dorset with Mary

Quite a lovely, albeit, tiring day in Dorset today. I had been looking forward to spending a whole day just with Mary as I seem to spend quite a number of complete days with Tom but not with my daughter. After a late breakfast, we drove down to Dorchester via Blandford. En route we were delayed by a jack-knifed lorry on the A354 but, nevertheless, arrived in Dorchester at noon. We parked the car easily by the military museum and walked along the High Street to the Tutankhamun Exhibition/Museum where we spent about an hour and a half looking at the exhibits and completing the children's quiz. We briefly visited the Dorset County Museum to get a couple of small booklets on the fossils of Dorset followed by a light lunch in a little cafe off the main street. We returned to the Tutankhamun museum to make a few little purchase sin the shop before going back to the car and driving the twenty miles or so to Charmouth to investigate the fossils there. Parking the car near to the beach, we walked along to Stonebarrow and there spent about two hours sifting through the scree of the Jurassic sedimentary rocks to find quite a number of small ammonites. We also bought a couple of well formed ammonites and a belemnite in the shop by the heritage centre. We set off for Poole at about 6 p.m. stopping at the excellent fish and chip shop I know in Dorchester where we shared a haddock and chips. Whilst eating them there was a torrential rainstorm with the rain pounding off the car as we munched on our fishy supper. We arrived at Poole Stadium at about 7.30 p.m. just in time for the second greyhound race of the evening. We spent about two hours at the greyhound track. I had a small win (£5.50) and Mary had a couple of near-misses. We left at 9.30 p.m. after the tenth race and arrived back home at 11 p.m. having had to make a diversion around Plaitford due to the closure of the A36 for what appeared to be line drawing works. A really great day out and quite packed with educational activities.

Passport applications sent off (at last!)

I awoke early again today and put out the rubbish bin. The workmen were already busy clearing away the remnants of the hedge and putting them in a large deep-sided trailer. We had quite a late breakfast, however, and Sara (with Mary) went to Susan's for a long Junior Church Planning meeting leaving me with Tom. I worked in the study this morning, clearing out a few old papers (some of which I bundled up to deliver to my old company in Salisbury) and found some books I had been looking for to take to Dorset tomorrow. Over lunch, Sara checked through all the passport application forms to spot any errors. This afternoon I drove into Salisbury to post off our passport application forms and to deliver the package to my old company. I also visited a couple of banks. On the way back home I dropped in on Mercedes to deal with a DVLC road fund licence problem with the old car (I am still trying to get a refund for the old road fund tax). Tonight I was due to go and see a prospective member for our lodge but was phoned up at 7 pm. to say the family were all ill and would I re-schedule it for next week. Later tonight I am hoping the sky will be clear for what promises to be a spectacular display of the Perseid Meteors.

Paperwork!

Up very early this morning. The workmen were up early too pulling up the old fence posts and clearing the hedge debris. The Port family came over at 9 a.m. for their 10 year old son, Joshua, to raise the Welsh flag. It is his birthday and he was born in Wales. Sara went off with Mary to Morning Star where they spent the morning washing and blanching beans for freezing - shades of my old job at Findus! I dealt with more mail and Complex matters including sending out some fee notes. I had two clients call early this afternoon for a consultation which took up an hour and a half. I also completed the passport application forms and took these round to Cynthia, our local priest, to have countersigned. I called in on Klynn on the way back and had a cup of tea and a long chat about Food for Thought and other church developments. Tonight Sara went to do the big weekly shop at Tesco's whilst I stayed in and attended to some more legal and financial matters.

First Win for Saints in the Carling Cup 2010

Another rainy day. Woke up and made tea and after reading my devotionals got up showered and joined the family for breakfast. Sara and I had smoked haddock kedgeree and the children bacon and hash browns. The children accompanied me into Salisbury this morning - first to PC World to check out Tom's laptop which seemed to be having problems staying connected to the Internet. It appears that the wireless switch might be sensitive and after looking at it for 15 minutes or so it seemed to be working - a hardware rather than a software problem it seems. WE went into the city proper and I parked my car in one of the side roads at the end of Endless Street where I can park free for two hours. I visited the HSBC bank, library, post office, market (where I bought some samphire for supper later in the week and some cherries) and we all had a light lunch at Reeves the Baker's sitting under a dripping parasol. Back home, I rang all the names on my list of subscribers to the Bible Reading Fellowship publications and dealt with some mail and emails. Tom and I went into Southampton this evening for the Carling Cup clash between Saints and the Cherries (Bournemouth). The traffic driving into Southampton was atrocious and it took half an hour from Romsey to the Redbridge Roundabout - presumably football traffic from Bournemouth contributing towards the log-jam. We arrived at my usual car park with half an hour to spare before kick-off. We walked to the ground over the Central Bridge (which is still closed to traffic for strengthening) and had a hot dog and burger in the ground (their choice of culinary "delights" has lessened). We took our seats with about 5 minutes to go to kick-off - John and his son were there. The first half was poor and at halftime, although the score was 0-0, I have to say that Bournemouth looked the better side. Saints improved in the second half and a cracking curving ball into the back of the net from Lallana on 63 minutes boosted morale (Saints had been booed off the pitch at the end of the first half) both for the players and supporters. A goalkeeping and defending error by Bournemouth secured a second goal for Saints by Alex Chamberlain. We went away feeling very happy although disappointed at Saints' first half performance and hoping something can be done in league games to prevent it happening again.

Mission Giving

Didn't move around much today. It seemed hard for anyone to get up but eventually I did and made tea for Sara and me. Dealt with some post and a client discussion on the telephone. Sara made us a brunch and the morning seemed to just dissolve away. With the kids off it seems like a holiday - especially the arguing between them. This afternoon I hosted and chaired a Mission Giving Group Meeting where we discussed and agreed the charities the church will give its money to during 2010. We have particularly marked aside some money for the Pakistan flooding. After the meeting I took Mary swimming - I don't spend enough time with her and she is such a delightful companion. I am conscious that Tom gets far more of my attention with our visits to sporting venues - the travel and meals before or after and Mary is of a hurried or shared time. Tomorrow I've promised to go blackberrying with her - the edible type not the wonder phone! This evening we watched the Stevenage v. Portsmouth Carling Cup game - pity Stevenage lost. Tomorrow Tom and I will be back at St. Mary's to watch Southampton v. Bournemouth in the same competition.

Winners!

I was up early this morning and attended the 8 a.m. Early Eucharist at St. John's taken by Elizabeth. I always enjoy her services and homilies (they are too short to be called sermons at St. John's). After re-submitting Tom's passport application (I had got Sara's surname and first name in the wrong boxes!) Tom and I set off for the Rose Bowl to watch an afternoon's cricket in the 40-Over League (Hampshire v. Durham). We parked in the second row of the field car park for an easy getaway later. It was incredibly hot - the "bowl" seeming to concentrate the heat quite fiercely. Hampshire won the toss and decided to field. Durham ended their innings on 205-8 and Hampshire cruised in their inning to 207-4, winning by six wickets. A great win. What a wonderful way to spend an English summer Sunday afternoon - eating and drinking and watching first class cricket! I am really looking forward to the Twenty/20 Finals Day at the Rose Bowl next Saturday. It will be a really great atmosphere with four counties playing. This afternoon, there were not that many there but it was a really nice genteel afternoon's sport and at a really reasonable price too - less than watching a Saints match and the cricket lasted five hours. We got away from the car park withing five minutes of getting back to the car and were back home by 7 p.m. Unfortunately, Mary and Tom started arguing the moment we got back and I took Tom off to the Lion's Head with me for the monthly Pub Quiz (we were one short as Klynn couldn't make it - don't see much of him these days). Needless to say, we won again (quite convincingly!) and so I returned home this evening with two bottles of wine as there were two Barratts in the team. Went to bed quite exhausted after a long hot day.

Saints Misery (Again!) - at the hands of the Green Army!

I spent most of today in Southampton as Saints' first league match of the new season, against recently relegated Plymouth Argyle, was to kick-off at the very early time of 12.15 p.m. Tom and I left for Southampton at 10 a.m. and managed to get parked a little before 11 a.m. in College Street car park. As we wanted to visit the shops after the match I put 5 hour's worth of money in the meter (£5.00) which, for a large city like Southampton, is quite reasonable. We walked to St. Mary's Street and had a cup of coffee and an eccles cake before going to the game. Andy, John and the kids spotted us outside the bakery as they were having an early fish lunch at the chippie next door. We all walked to the stadium together and John kindly bought my programme. Expectations were high as we arrived at our seats - expectation of a good match - but we were quite horrified to find that the seat were absolutely filthy with cobwebs and rubbish from the roof. It was clear that nobody had been anywhere near them to clean them during the break since May. John tried to register a complaint on Tony's mobile phone but couldn't get through. Both he and I will register a complaint via the Internet (email) if necessary. Saints played well in the first half but conceded a simple and easy goal on one of the very few attacks by Plymouth. Matters got no better in the second half and the lack of Rickie Lambert (groin strain) told. Lallana didn't come on until halfway through the second half (replacing Harding) and Saints' attitude to the game changed - but too late. The score remained at 0-1 and Plymouth fans went away singing "Top of the League". Saints being bottom! At the end of the day, Saint's position was 21st and Plymouth's 10th. I guess nothing to worry about at this early stage but disappointing. Tom and I bought fishcake/sausage and chips and walked into the city centre. We visited Sports Direct in the West Quay Centre buying some new trainers and some golf balls. We drove back via Tesco's to get some snacks for tomorrow's visit to the Rose Bowl and had an ice cream at Carlo's. Tonight we watched "Night at the Museum 2" together as a family. I hadn't seen No. 1 so had to be told much of what some of the significance of certain parts of the story. Quite funny and a good watch with the exception of that [word censored] Ricky Gervais whom the film could have managed well without. Fortunately his appearance were short (although annoying). I still can't decide whether he is acting or whether he is really a [word censored].

A Day of Sport Watching

A very early start this morning - Ed T called at 7 a.m. so I could give him a lift to the Ambassadors' business breakfast at the Grasmere Hotel. This was a combined meeting with another business breakfast group and there were well in excess of thirty people present. It was not easy to mover round and chat to different people but I met two new contacts - a photographer and and a print/mailer with whom I ate breakfast. No one minute spots today - just handing out business cards. I called in at Staples on the way home to buy new cartridges for the printer. Tom and I watched the Test Match from Edgbaston with Pakistan ending their first innings at 72-All Out - the lowest innings score in a Test Match against England ever! At close of play England were on 112 for 2. My tickets for Sunday's 40-Over Hants v. Durham game never arrived and so I arranged to pick up duplicates at the Rose Bowl on Sunday. Tom and I also watched a documentary on the building of the Forbidden City in Beijing - I actually fell asleep during it - obviously the lack of sleep at night is catching up. We all went swimming later this afternoon and finished the day watching the Norwich City v. Watford Championship game. Norwich, very surprisingly, lost 2-3. A very lazy day all round. The weather was not good - it raining on and off most of the day, and consequently, no further progress on the fence. We still have gaping holes which I do not like - so exposed.

Nice-Skating in Basingstoke

Woke up this morning to the voices of Alan and Pete in our garden discussing the hedge removal project. Pete left Alan in charge of removing more of the hedge in preparation for the erection of a fence. We seem to be getting more and more exposed and I shall be pleased when the fence starts to go up. Quite a bit still to do to remove all the roots. I worked in the study this morning with a new piece of work coming in today. After a snack lunch we all went to Basingstoke to ice skate (except Sara who came with us but remained in the cafe/changing area). Mary took a bit of a tumble on the ice and Sara bought her pads for her knees and elbows. I didn't feel as comfortable on the ice as in previous sessions largely because there were fewer people and the ice seemed very slippery and empty. I restricted myself to staying reasonably close to the edge and not skating too fast. A result in that I too had no tumbles myself yet still enjoyed the experience. We stopped off at Skoolkit to get a sweatshirt for Tom in Basingstoke town centre before returning home. Supper tonight was a grilled steak (the children had chicken goujons) before I was picked up by Richard and James to do some more removal work at All Saints. We ended the evening in the Lion's Head discussing the future of Food for Thought and lay worship in general. Sara and the children played pontoon this evening whilst I was out and Tom tells me out of about 28 hands he had over twenty "21s". Not that it would happen in a casino!

A Day in the Village

Again I could not sleep very well last night and so I came downstairs and watched a documentary on the tombs of ancient China and another episode of "On the Buses" - The Football Match. Consequently I didn't feel much like getting up this morning although I was up before Sara and made us both tea. Sara went off to Morning Star to do some gardening following an early morning phone call from Shazz (Sharon) that Sara wouldn't be needed to help prepare the Banquet Run but there was plenty of gardening to do. I went to feed Sarah and Molly's cats and was on my way across to the village hall when I heard the distressed cries of an elderly woman and found one of our neighbours, Connie, in Weaver's Close, lying outside her house on the ground with blood gushing from her arm and leg. I helped her into her house and raced over to the doctors' surgery to get help. They promised to see her straight away if I could bring her over. I drove her over to the surgery and they managed to patch her up. Whilst waiting for her, the heavens opened and we got our first decent soaking of rain for several weeks. This put paid to Sara's plans for gardening at Morning Star. I saw Connie home and she told me that her niece would be calling in soon. This afternoon Tom and I helped Richard, Mike, Linda and Janet move lots of items from All Saints Church into the Junior Church Mobile in preparation for the Death Watch Beetle spraying next week. Tom, Mary and Sara then went off swimming. This afternoon, Alan has chopped down more of the hedge and we can now see right up Middleton Road. We seem really exposed now and the garden has grown quite significantly - more lawn for me to mow on both sides of what was a six foot hedge. The flag pole is no longer next to the hedge but seemingly in the middle of the garden now. We will be able to have proper hoisting ceremonies! I successfully did the online preparation work for new passports today and successfully got ticket for Tom and me to go to the Twenty/20 Finals Day at the Rose Bowl as well as tickets for Sunday's 40-Over game between Hampshire and Durham.

"Hedge Funds"

I am not entirely sure why but I simply couldn't get to sleep last night and at 3 a.m. I found myself going downstairs, getting a drink of cold iced tea and watching an episode of "On the Buses" in which our intrepid heroes, Butler and Harper, hope to win £5 by playing for the depot football team. I wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep as Mary was wide awake as well. I gave her some lavender spray which, normally, works quite well. She was using her DSi in bed when I saw her. I did eventually get off although slept quite fitfully. Not sure why as I don't have any particular worries and I had played eighteen holes of golf last night. The weather is probably largely to blame as it remains warm and humid. Today I spent the morning in the study dealing with paperwork and finances and steadily working through a list of tasks. Work-wise, things are quiet at present as many of my clients are on holiday or waiting on their employers for further paperwork to show me. Late this afternoon Alan the "hedgeman" came round and started to cut down the hedge around the rear of the house finding dozens of missing footballs and tennis balls in the process! - not to mention empty drinks cans which have been pushed into the hedge by passing kids. Quite a fund of balls - a hedge fund. This evening, Tom and I played cricket on the Wii which produced two very exciting limited-over (6) games - England v. Pakistan (Pakistan won by one run) and Australia v. New Zealand (NZ winning by one run with one over to spare). Sara remains bewildered by it all!

Financial Advice

My alarm clock went off very early this morning and I had a very pleasant dozing period before getting up and hoisting the Yorkshire flag in celebration of my nephew James's, 10th Birthday. This morning we were visited by our Financial Adviser from the bank to discuss investments etc. A most interesting and enlightening session. After a lunch of mixed grill, I drove into Salisbury to get my passport photo taken and to do some banking. The weather continues to be very hot and heavy - especially in the city centre. This evening Richard, Tom and I went to Stonehenge Golf Centre and played 18 holes on the little Par-3 course. A tricky little course as any errors are easily magnified on such narrow fairways. Richard has a habit of continually slicing the ball and I have a tendency to under hit on these types of course. We finished up having a cider in the Lord Nelson. Sara cooked us a chicken curry with the leftovers from yesterday's roast. Tonight sees the last episode of "Rev." which I will watch just as soon as I have finished writing this. Tomorrow I will attack the study again!

Barns

I was the only one of the family to attend church this morning - everybody else opting to have a lie-in. I made myself some breakfast and decided to walk the mile to the church where Elizabeth was presiding over the All Age Eucharist service. It was, as usual, of a very high standard with readings from Ecclesiastes and Luke emphasising the need to share and not to be greedy and horde ("all is meaningless" and what good does it do a man to build bigger barns to horde his grain rather than share his good fortune). Elizabeth used candles and a jam jar to illustrate that if you try and put a lid on your light, it will get snuffed out whereas sharing your light increases its intensity and good fortune shines on many more. She used a picture of an empty barn with an open door (see picture). No doubt if Sara had attended she would have put these lessons to good use with a reference to my study and the horde of books it contains. I walked back home with Klynn who stopped for a coffee. I then mowed the lawns today although there has been little growth (other than the weeds) in the last few weeks. We had an early lunch of roast chicken and I later met Richard down at the Lion's Head this evening for a pint or two (of cider). The weather remains very hot and humid (heavy) and makes one very tired. I am really longing for some cooler fresher weather with some rain.