Maria on the slide in Guernsey

She loved the park but the slide was best. It was still cold despite the blue sky.

Orang Utan and Gibbon

Monkey World

We had a day out at Bere Regis near Wareham yesterday where we visited the rescue centre for the monkeys which has regularly featured on TV. We took all the family bar Joe and met up with Sand. Glen's girlfriend came along too.

Maria has enjoyed going on slides recently and you can see how much she loved it at Monkey World. She and Bridie look great together as well. The other photos are of the orang utan, gibbon and chimp. The place is well set out and gives great views of the animals as well as serving a great cause with so many rescued apes and monkeys there.

Work in progress

It's been lovely having the new TV in the utility room as it has been connected to the aerial and gives us digital and hence an alternative to watching in the front room. The dogs are settled in there now and it makes the rest of the home a good deal less stressful without them jumping up looking for attention and so on.

The garden is looking good too with a fence having been put up yesterday to keep the dogs off the grass and allow Maria to play safely whilst keeping her away from the pond. It's just a couple of willow hurdles and posts with a gate knocked up in a few minutes with wood from an old bed. It does look ok though and adds to the cottage look of the garden which has plenty of plants coming into flower now.

Building work is almost there

Nearly all the work on the house is complete at last having started six months or so ago and been promised it done by February! The front room has a new suite with reclining sofa which the kids love and a new coffee table with several drawers which Maria enjoys putting things into and then spreading them over the floor.

The kitchen was decorated by the world's most careful decorator who took 3 days to paint it very, very slowly. The fact is he took an hour each day to pack his things away with folding his sheets the work of a master. However, the results are terrific although in moving the fridge back into place, he and the builder in charge tore a hole in the flooring which will have to be replaced.

The computer room, study sounds too pretentious, is re-carpeted and clear of all the old shed tools etc. Maria loves the treadmill and walks on it at .5mph and still outpaces me. I have been doing 3 miles a day which is taking a shade under half an hour.

The utility room is lovely with the dogs out there rather than trailing mud and grime throughout the house, the noise of the washing machine and tumble dryer confined to that space and just a room to hide the clutter.

We've got work to do on it still with cupboards to go up as well as the wood burning stove we want. It will be quite an inviting place to sit round a fire and watch the new TV.

Lulworth Cove

Calshot

I took a party of 17 Year 11 students to Calshot Activities Centre the weekend before last and we had a great time. I was able to participate in the activities apart from the high ropes which was more of a team building exercise but was glad to sit it out as they had to work so hard to make it to the ceiling using just 4 poles strung across wires and they were spaced so far apart they had to work together to find a way of helping each other climb upwards. Several of the girls were in tears half way up and terrified but they kept going and made it all the way.

I enjoyed the climb but it was beginners stuff of course. Nevertheless I got some idea of just how hard you have to work to move forward. Some of the climbs were ridiculous with over-hanging sections where the only holds were finger holds. I was amazed how they could cling on to such precarious holds.

The archery was good and I was able to do that pretty well, winning the competition although I wasn't counted as far as the kids were concerned. I managed maximums virtually every time but as good as I was at that, skiing was another matter.

The pictures don't suggest it but I was horizontal most of the time and can testify it doesn't hurt when you fall as I had lots of practice. I was hopeless and then you see these little kids effortlessly gliding down looking so cool. Face first doesn't look cool. Again I was amazed at what hard work it was with simply walking up the slope being a real effort with the boots and skis on.

I'd love to do it again though.

I'll be doing this trip again without question. It was a great place with lots to do and nothing for miles around which meant the students stayed put and behaved well throughout.

Bogey team strike again

We were up against U Drive last night, the team that played one short last time out and 'borrowed' the ref before claiming the points which was a bizarre way of concocting a result, and that gave an extra edge to the game. The rain had arrived after weeks of dry weather which meant a greasy top to the surface and a skiddy ball but we had more than enough players for a change including a sub and with 3 wins out of 3, it looked promising.

The first half was very good with a tight game seeing few chances created but those that were, fell to us. Matt was close on several occasions whilst Richard was having a quiet time in goal. Dougie was dominating the back in the air and there looked to be only one winner. As is so often the case though things changed in the second half and we became less fluent. It wasn't that we were being overwhelmed or anything but we weren't playing as well with more runners being lost and less possession. Despite that we created two good chances, one from a crossfield ball headed goalward by Matt and a second from a lovely through ball from Pete which was well controlled by Matt but was turned aside by the keeper rushing out at speed.

The goal finally arrived but it was a sickener for us with a long throw palmed away by Richard who had a good game in dealing with a greasy ball. The resultant corner was met by their best player who placed a powerful header into the far corner well beyond the reach of keeper or defender. There was too little time to retrieve the situation and we slumped to our first defeat of the season rather tamely despite having played pretty well.

Sparkshop winners!

Incredibly the cup run has sparked a run of form putting the team near the top of the league after 2 recent victories despite initial setbacks.

We started with just 4 players and awaited the arrival of Pete, new Matt and Mike in the first game and it wasn't long before we were 2 down and staring defeat in the face.

However, the guys eventually parked and sauntered along in relaxed fashion only to see us pull a goal back with a shot from long range. Their keeper misplaced a kick out and was stranded to one side of the goal. I managed to get a shot away from our own half and was fortunate to see it land in the goal meaning we were back in it as we gained full strength. Character was shown in pulling level after a flowing move which left me free on one side of the area with new Matt square. The lay off left him the task of smashing the ball in which he did with aplomb.

I scored a second for myself and the goal which pulled us ahead when new Matt flicked a headed ball through and I hit home into the top corner. There was more to come with new Matt scoring again with a carbon copy goal to his first as we went 4 - 2 up and into the comfort zone.


This week the problems were to do with personnel again as Matt was absent in Leicester(?), Dougie unavailable and me stuck at school. I understood the game would be forfeited but Kev pulled a team out of the bag and they ran out 1 - 0 winners with 3 pint Pete scoring the only goal of the game.

A big result that means we're rocketing up the table.