Footballers' night out

An enjoyable night out during which the foundations of Werder Beermen success were forged with renewed determination. There is nothing like a pub quiz to give a team a lift but it was the closest we've come to winning for some time. We were not disgraced and even managed to guess the intro successfully including Parklife by Blur until it was realised it was just being played as background music.

2 lucky people left over £500 richer following the 'Play Your Cards Right' game and it could have been Dougie but the big fella at the back had the tough task of getting 9 in a row. I think the second winner got 7 cards right to win his money.

Cheers to Dom for organising the evening out and the food. Now to get in training for 10th Dec and the game against Carpet Barn.

Santa's reindeer?

More snow photos

Lovely weather for snowmen!!!

More snow!!!!

I have never seen so much snow! I got the dogs out before it started again at about 8 and by 9 it had started coming down gently. Right now though it's heavy snow coming down with at least 5 inches of snow on the ground. I'm sure there are people all over who would dismiss that as nothing but to us in the south, especially at this time of year, it is a massive amount.

The snowman in the photo has a huge snow covering to his cap now and the birds are desperately scrabbling for a turn on the bird feeders.

I am imagining our football in Wimborne must be off and it means Bridie is stuck at home for her birthday having had the day off from work already. Any plans to go shopping or out tonight look in jeopardy.

Snow pictures

One of the great fortunes of living where we do is the quick access empty spaces and as a result you can get out and enjoy the countryside with few interruptions. The dogs love chasing about in the snow and we went down the road to the exclusive golf club, where no one was to be seen, and I took some photos which capture some of the beauty of the scenes. The sun was out but it was very cold as the snow starts to harden and freeze ahead of the cold night with -5 C expected.

Feeding the birds in the snow

Got the wood burner going, the Christmas lights up in the conservatory, the place tidied up and sat watching the birds busy at the feeders. A 'chilled' way to start the holiday.

Snow again

We seldom have snow of any note and even more infrequently do we have any before the new year. It was lovely to wake up to another, for us, heavy fall this morning and another chance to walk the dogs in the untrodden snow of the woods.

We beat everyone else out this morning apart from one car, the tracks of a single car being visible on the road. That means a quiet day indoors as there isn't any urgent reason to go driving off anywhere. Time to light the wood burner and catch up with relaxation time.

A memorable defeat for Bremen

We had a close to full strength side on Monday but it wasn't enough to save us from snatching a brilliant defeat from what should have been simple victory. Thus our enviable record of having lost all our games so far this season continues and Craig has never played and won.

The evening was always going to be fun anyway with the return of spaceship, new Matt back after his European sojourn. It felt like even more fun as we went two goals up and played well throughout the first half.

Rich in goal
Dougie and Dom in defence
Matt C Dave C Spanish Dave and Craig in the middle
new Matt and Iain up front

We genuinely played well and it was a great second goal which capped the fine performance to that point. We'd taken the lead after a Matt C shot screwed wide and I hit goalward from a very tight angle only to see the ball hit the post. The defender finished it off though with a brilliant thump home into the top corner from a yard out.

Spanish turned very well on a difficult pitch to leave his marker behind and squared the ball to me as I heard Matt C call on the overlap. Unmarked his shot was made easier as the ball fell into his path to give him the chance to open his body up and hit to the far corner. Despite the fingertips of the keeper it was always going in and was a fair reward for a good game.

I am at a loss to explain what happened next. We conceded from a free kick we had which the keeper caught and threw down pitch. Their attacker somehow poked the ball home despite being an outsider in the race to the ball and incredibly, within a minute it was level. A long shot deflected in off Dom who could do nothing about it and that was that, 2 each at half time.

The second goal summed up our season to be honest. We've found some brilliant ways of conceding goals.

The third for them came from a good move which left Rich exposed in the cold but we were on terms again within seconds. This time new Matt finished following a cute through ball which gave him a chance to finish with the proverbial aplomb. A fine volleyed goal which gave us impetus but again we fell behind, this time there was no coming back.

The goal scorer ran the length of the pitch interspersed with a one two and was able to find time and space to slot home and seal the points.

The result is we clinch relegation for the second time in a row and fall to the lowest league having been cup finalists and premier division players just months ago. How the mighty are fallen. Has Dom become our Roy Hodgson? Are we just old and slow? Has it all been an effort by our collective sub-consciousnesses to find a level where we can enjoy winning without having to run around too much.

The spring will reveal all. In the meantime the snow is back but school has already broken up and we can't have a snow day. What has the world come to!

Nativity

I think this is the first nativity play I've ever seen by three year olds and you can imagine how cute they all were. It was lovely but showed how things have changed so much. There appeared to be too few seats to begin with but once the play started, and it was only a few minutes long, the rows of chairs emptied so the audience could get a better view for their videos. Sad to say I am one of them but it's almost as if no one experiences anything in the moment any longer. The photos and videos are required for future viewing and perhaps the viewer loses the ability to simply engage with something memorable in front of their very eyes? I wonder how many of the videos get watched again.

By the time Maria had finished and gone back to the pre-school, she was one of very few who had not cried; so many were over-whelmed with such a big audience!

Kingston Lacy

It was a beautiful afternoon with a low sun casting long shadows. We went over to Kingston Lacy and enjoyed listening to carols sung by a group dressed in Edwardian costume. It was very atmospheric and created a lovely Christmas feel with the hot roasted chestnuts and the green man which had been made a couple of weeks ago.

Saturday morning

Maria is an angel in the nursery nativity next week and I bought her some wings which she tried on in the morning. She looks quite ethereal with the light above her!

The others are from her dance group which she attends on Saturday mornings. We were able to go in and watch her and it was lovely to see the girls running around at such a young age with some idea of what they were doing but with plenty of scope for cute mistakes such as the one girl who refused to skip and held everyone else up as she walked at a funereal pace. Maria was so excited she just jumped and skipped around the whole time.

Working and frozen

Both Bridie and Glen were working today, Glen doing an 8 hour day for the first time ever in his new job washing up while Bridie cooks for the Christmas crowds. That meant we had a quiet house today until Joe gets here later this evening and I got on with messing about with some of the wood we have for the wood stove. The logs look great covered with snow spray and a festive robin sitting on there with candles either side and I used some of the apple tree cuttings which we use for kindling, to build a wooden log cabin. Bridie actually thought I'd bought it but I think she was humouring me!

Again the snow spray covers up a lot of inadequacies in the construction.

The roads are still treacherous in places and we had a landrover end up in the hedge over the road from us this morning. It had lost grip nearer the top of the hill and skidded down until it crashed through a ditch and into a tree in the hedge. It was well and truly stuck and the front was completely caved in but the two guys got out unscathed but hugely embarrassed.

Fortunately it went to the opposite side from us but it could easily have been different with them skidding into our garden or worse!

Snow day Friday

Once again we had an unexpected bonus with another snow day due to the freezing temperatures which had made the snow treacherous underfoot. To be honest I'd have been able to get to school but it's the state of the grounds and paths that would be the concern. Of course others will have had even more snow to contend with and therefore the most sensible thing to do was make the decision to close and wait for the weekend thaw.

It's rained today and overnight which has cleared most of it but we have had some lovely walks with the dogs and it's been a real treat being in the utility room with the wood stove. The cats and dogs love it too and curl up snug and warm despite the freezing temperatures outside. The smell of the wood burning coming from the chimney when you're outside is very evocative and makes it seem so homely and welcoming.

Sparkshop

Having the day off school gives me plenty of time to update the world on the travails of Werder Bremen (I ought to stop using Sparkshop) and our attempts to avoid a second consecutive relegation. Things weren't helped with Dom desperately seeking an additional player to give us our seven but Glen stepped in to at least make up the numbers. In the end, he did much more than that and could become a fixture in the team despite being able to run and chase.

Dave C in goal
Dom and Glen (then Matt C) defence
Spanish Dave, Craig, Matt C (then Glen) midfield
Iain forward

It was an inauspicious start and we were quickly 2 goals down with the side unusually exposed at the back. It was a pattern which was repeated throughout with alarming regularity. The second half was better in that we only conceded 1 goal but there had been 5 by then and we were well beaten

The highlights were few but I managed to head home from a corner and Spanish Dave scored from a cross when I returned the set up compliment.

The brightest spark came in the form of Glen who played well and held his own despite his tender years. I think we'd be happy to see him perform again.

Snow Day

Up at 5 to the sight of the snow falling heavily giving Dorset its heaviest fall for 17 years apparently. It is over 3 inches deep which is significant for us and of course, it makes for some wonderful photo opportunities.
With school closed by 7am it gave us a chance to go for a walk in the woods together and to be amused by the dogs and their reaction to the snowfall.