Waiting for Godot

The three of us went to London by train on Wednesday to visit the Haymarket Theatre and watch 'Waiting for Godot' described as the most important play in the English language of the 20th Century. We walked from Waterloo across the Thames, past Downing Street and into Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column. Glen was suitably unimpressed but that was nothing compared to his visit to the national Gallery where I wanted to have a look at the impressionist paintings. It was quite a long hour for him so we cheered him up in TGI Fridays where he had a steak and worried about watching some incomprehensible play!

The cast was suitably starry though with Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen, both stars of the XMen films, and notable as Gandalf and Captain Jean Luc Picard. I'm sure they would much rather be famed for their theatre work of course. Alongside them were Ronald Pickup and Simon Callow, both famous in their own rights with Callow having died in Four Weddings and A Funeral whilst dressed in a kilt.

It was very entertaining and quite humorous considering the play deals with the question of human existence and the futility of it all as we search in vain for meaning to our lives.

We were amazed at how taken with it Glen was and he questioned us all the way home about what we thought it all meant having initially been angered by the fact there was no answer or satisfactory conclusion as far as plot was concerned. He even looked it up on Wikipedia later and was chatting about existentialism whatever that actually is!

More pictures of our trip to Fordingbridge and of Maria

New Forest - Godshill and Fordingbridge Park

We had a lovely visit from Chrissie, Jamie, Rochelle, Charlie, Emily, Grace and Lily over the weekend including an evening in the garden by the chimnea. Godshill was warm and perfect for a walk with the dogs including Alfie for the first time. They had a great time and got on well.

The game of rounders was played in good spirits as the local cricket team made their preparations for a game this afternoon.

We stopped at the park in Fordingbridge and the smaller ones paddled in the pool near the river.

Not Southampton, more Birmingham

The theme for this report reflects the contrasting fortunes of 2 favoured sides within Sparkshop's ranks with new Matt seeing the glory of the Midlands in stark relief to the grim spectacle of the Saints supported by Dom and Kev. Sparkshop are on the verge of a Birmingham like promotion after two consecutive wins put us in second place with just one game to go.



The first win came courtesy of a one nil win in hard fought game against the top side in the division but the goal that sealed victory was one that was worthy of winning any number of games as it flew from Phil's boot over a stranded keeper from at least half way. It was a stunning way to open his Sparkshop account by any measure and we expect the same every week now!

This week we played a team that found itself struggling but they failed to even show as they struggled with numbers leaving a second team to play us. Knowing we had the points didn't make any immediate difference as the game was quite cagey to start but after a couple of chances we opened the scoring with a Matt C throughball to me leaving us in a two on one with new Matt pulling off the last defender. He coolly slotted home into the far corner with a tidy finish leaving us one up at half time.

The second half was pure Hollywood football as new Matt and I raced for a loose ball but I managed to toe it in to give us a comfort zone that saw us play really well with lots of passing and moving for a change. The third goal was a stunner with Kev flicking the ball up perfectly for new Matt to crash his shot home on the volley.

We conceded a goal with men pushed up the pitch but from the kick off I played Kev in for tidy finish low into the corner. There was almost immediately a penalty given away when three pint Pete took one of them out after he'd ridden several challenges.

There was still time for a fifth as Kev played a lovely ball across the area for me to slot home.

One more win and we're in a new division, maybe even as winners!

Happy birthday to Phil and, given how late this report is, commiserations to the big fella at the back who saw his striped heroes bow out the Premiership rather limply this afternoon. Matt and I have another club to check on in the Championship now.

Another 1 - 0 defeat

Sadly Sparkshop lost a tight game on Monday last week by a single goal after dominating the first half. There wasn't a whole lot to say about the game which never saw us at our fluent best. The main outcomes where introductions to 'Zeus' or whatever Kev's dog ends up being called.