Halfway through the Cricket Season

 July is coming to an end andit's a chance to review the cricket I've seen so far this season. It's been a mixed bag. Early season we almost succumbed to frost bite at the Oval. Determined to be there for the first day of the season, we spent more time buying tea from the new tea bar in the pavilion than watching Surrey's new captain imported from South Africa, Graeme Smith.

Smith in fairness didn't last long at the crease and in fact his stay in the country was soon cut short by an ankle injury. The county championship soon gave way to YB40 games,a new year, a new sponsor.  In recent seasons Surrey have had success in this form of the game, culminating in victory in the Lords final in 2011. Eighteen months on, finals seemed a long way away. That side has been dismantled for the number of reasons, the seasoned journeymen who have been introduced are struggling to find consistency.

The two individual highlights for the Rey have been a rare appearance by Kevin Pietersen, returning from injury, who plundered the Yorkshire attack at Headingley before returning to England duty, and finally a remarkable innings from Ricky Ponting, preventing defeat and ensuring that the former Australian skipper scored 179 not out in his final first class innings.

June saw us visit Lords for the Saturday of the test match v New Zealand and gave us an opportunity to see a fine knock from emerging star Joe Root and another impressive bowling spell from Jimmy Anderson. It's been a good two months for winning prizes and competitions. We won two tickets to Northants v Warwickshire at the County Ground,Northampton. Having been there a couple of times now I must say how enjoyable cricket is there. It is such a friendly club, very welcoming, and of course watching there allows the chance to keep up with the career of Matt Spriegel , former Surrey player who sadly felt he needed to move to get the chance to play county cricket at the end of the 2012 season.

We won two tickets to a YB40 game at Chelmsford and my son and I naturally chose the game v Surrey.Schoolboy error. I'm beginning to despair at Surrey's performance at Chelmsford, but hopefully we can salvage something in the T20 competition at the end of this month.

The first half of the season finally saw Surrey dismiss Chris Adams as coach; like many I felt Adams should have resigned at the end of last season for all too obvious reasons. Alec Stewart is now overseeing cricket at the Oval, and all fans know that Alec is Surrey through and through. No player needs to doubt his knowledge or commitment.

The T20 games have been a mixed bag , without doubt the highlight has been completing the double in El Clasico against Middlesex. At the Oval the game couldn't have been more even with Surrey winning on the final ball of the game.
We bought tickets at Lords and had no idea that the Rey would produce perhaps either finest display of the first half of the season in front of 28,000 spectators, the largest crowd ever to watch a T20 game in London. Surrey defeated the old foe by 92 runs, and in doing so all but guaranteeing progression into the quarter finals.

Finally we went to Wormsley in Buckinghamshire to see Old England v Old Australia in a game funded by Wolf Blass. A wonderful, a warm day and good cricket to entertain the 2000 guests.

At the time of writing England are 2-0 up in the Ashes tests, gates for the T20 tournament are at an all time high, with many games selling out. It's amazing what a successful team and good weather will do.

Green Essex 2013

In the county council elections held in early May, the Green Party captured its first seats on Essex County Council. There was no great secret as to why James Abbott and Michael Hoy were successful in taking seats in Witham and Rochford, the answer was consistent hard graft over a number of years.

The final make-up of Essex County Council is as follows:Conservative 42 seats

• Liberal Democrat 9 seats
• Labour 9 seats
• UKIP 9 seats
• Green Party 2 seats
• Tendring First 1 seat
• Independent 1 seat
• Independent Loughton Residents Association 1 seat
• Canvey Independent Party 1 seat.

The "targetting to win" strategy worked in that the party now has representatives in County Hall.  The advantage of county council elections is that there is no deposit to find, unlike in general elections, and this enable the party to field candidates in the vast majority of districts in Essex.

In Brentwood we had to field candidates who had little contact with the borough, and finance and targetting meant that no leafletting or canvassing was possible. Across the whole of the borough the party collected 500 votes (the overall turnout , 27.6%,was disappointing across the county). The 500 were fairly evenly spread across the four districts :

Brentwood Hutton 152
Brentwood North 116
Brentwood Rural 126
Brentwood South 106

It leaves us to decide what areas to focus on in preparation for the Euro-Elections and Borough elections scheduled for May 2014

In the darkness on the edge of town

Bruce Springsteen at Wembley

Bruce had played Wembley before, most notably during the Born in the USa tour of 1985, however this was his first gig since the stadium was rebuilt some years ago. It says much of his enduring popularity that after 80,000 plus here tonight ( Saturday 15th June), he's returning to play in the Olympic Park in just a fortnight.

After a few memorable tracks, I remember Radio Nowhere most vividly, Bruce played Badlands and then told the audience that he could continue to take requests, or alternatively the band could play the entire Darkness on the Edge of Town album. The reaction of the crowd ensured that we'd get the chance to hear the whole of the album released back in 1978.

In many ways looking back on Bruce's career, "Darkness" seems a seminal album, where he matured significantly, the optimism that is exhibited in Born to Run seems to have been replaced by the reality of a working life in "Darkness"
Where the author can no longer permanently run, instead he needs to take his chance for temporary escape as shown in Racing in the Street. The reality of life ahead is shown in "Factory" and although he still believes in the "Promised Land", there is a feeling that hope is tempered with what he sees all around him.

The whole evening was wonderful. I realise that every time I see Bruce I leave thinking that it was possibly the best concert I've ever seen him perform, however Wembley 2013 was special, yes it was part of the Wrecking Ball tour that seems to have yoyoed across the world for over the past year, but it was the chance to hear such an important album performed live by an artist who never disappoints.

 

The day after the concert this review appear in the UK press and it seemed to sum up the concert so well I've decided to use the link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/bruce-springsteen/10123300/Bruce-Springsteen-Wembley-Stadium-review.html

Somewhere between anguish and acceptance

" So much has happened to me that I don't understand"

(Bruce Springsteen - Walk like a man)

The last three months have been been dominated by the personal, matters that I rarely write about. Having reached sixty earlier this year , perhaps you begin to appreciate that you are in all probability at least three quarters through life. You want to look forward but somehow you keep glancing back. As someone who rarely experiences ill health having a burst abdominal cyst knocked me sideways and left me feeling drained for more than six weeks. Some ten years ago following a shoulder injury a surgeon told me that I was trying to get a 50 year old body to perform like a 30 year old model, well for the first time I struggled to recover quickly and the infection dragged on.

This coincided with a sharp and quite sudden deterioration in my mother's health.
I always felt that I had sympathy and empathy with people experiencing mental health problems. However I felt and still feel ill prepared to cope with my mother's dementia, witnessing a close relation changing on a weekly basis, become less and less rational and more and more distant.

At the same time my grandson had his first birthday; in recent months I've experienced his progress up to the point a couple of weeks back when he walked unaided across our garden. Here I saw one family member learning new skills,developing visibly week by week, whilst at the same time I 've witnessed another member losing the ability to do what my grandson has just achieved.

In June my son got married, a wonderful day, I couldn't be happier for him, now both my children have moved onto the next phase of life, perhaps that also made me more aware that life is moving fast, and that now wasn't the time to pass up opportunities.

It reminds me of a song on the latest Patterson Hood album  where he talks of changing the old guard to the new, with the parting line of somewhere between anguish and acceptance. Those words anguish and acceptance sum up my mood, and prompted me to return to the blog, the next few posts will allow me to focus on other areas of life.

We will survive

It's just before 5pm on Saturday 27th April and Gloria Gaynor is blasting out over the PA system at Kingsmeadow the home of AFC Wimbledon. In front of me hundreds of Dons fans are celebrating on the pitch. Players are mobbed and photographed. Jack Midson is chaired across the pitch. Such relief,such jubilation. The Dons are staying up !

I never want to experience another season like this, I never want to go through this last day drama. It might be great for TV neutrals but for devoted fans of a football club its hell. For the past weeks my mind has often flashed back to Southampton 2000 when Wimbledon FC were relegated from the Premiership which in many ways was when the walls of our former existance started to cave in.

Relegation to the Conference would have stalled our dream; yes we would have still have owned our Club but in spite of the Conference being a de facto 5th Division there remains amongst football fans a large gulf between League2 (as it is now known) and the non league world.

The game itself saw the Dons attack from the off nothing but a win would do. However posts, saves and goal line clearances prevented us from taking the lead. Then in happened, a freekick a Gary Alexander header and we were in the lead, joy was shortlived within minutes Fleetwood equalised. The football gods had twisted the knife cruelly and we stared once again at relegation.

Cometh the hour,cometh the unlikely hero. Curtis Oseno, right back, by no means an outstanding success during his first season at the club, finds himself in the penalty area. Time froze as a Fleetwood defender stuck out a leg and in the process tripping Oseno. The referee didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot, and Jack Midson did the rest.

There was still 25 minutes, 25 of the most torturous minutes I have sopent. The 4th official said 5 additional minutes. How did they arrive at that figure ? The ball was constantly repelled from the Dons area only for it to be launched forward yet again as Fleetwood tried to fashion an equaliser. Finally the Dons regained possession and took the ball into the corner of the pitch. The referee blew the whistle and salvation had been achieved.

Neal Ardley, walked round the ground daughter in one arm, beer bottle in the other to receive the applause of Dons supporters. He had taken over back in October when the writing was very much on the wall. That he fashioned a team capable of digging their way out of the bottom two , even if it was on the last day, will undoubtedly have taught him lessons to carry forward into his management career.

Now we can look forward to the fixtures coming out in June and the new season starting in August.

Counting Crows

I can still remember walking into what was Menzies in Brentwood during a lunch break in the early 1990s and hearing the first three tracks on Counting Crows debut album " August and Everything After" . By track three - Mr Jones, I was at the counter buying a copy.

In the twenty years since, this has been one of my most frequently played albums. During that time I have seen them play at a variety of London venues. So when news came of them playing two London concerts a ticket was booked and I made my way to Hammersmith.

Counting Crows have only released one album of new material in the last decade. In a sense they have bought time by releasing live albums and a cover albums ( not of great interest to me). As a result the audience tend to be fans who go back some time. Not surprisingly the songs that are best received come from the early albums.

Round Here, Anna Begins and Rain King all from the debut album feature prominently in the set. After two hours the encore is rounded off with "Holiday in Spain".  A thoroughly enjoyable evening, singing along to a band that I've grown with over the last two decades.

April 2013

In truth this is a month that I would not choose to revisit. Feeling unwell, just before you go on holiday is never great. Having to visit a doctor to whom English is a second language is an additional issue. As the month comes to an end the infection and inflamation I have experienced has necessitated three courses of anti-biotics, several visits to a nurse and the wound being cauterised by a doctor.

So what else has happened ... we visited Madeira. Here was somewhere that my wife had wanted to visit. Totally understandable it's climate makes it a place of interest for gardeners and botanists. Indeed the botanical gardens are of a high standard .

Madeira is a piece of rock, that statement tells you much. In a week I saw fewer than 5 bicycles. No one ever says "let's go for a gentle cycle ride". Yes it's hilly which normally wouldn't be an issue but I was in no fit state for uphill climbs.

We went on two coach outings which allowed us to see both sides of the island. The north coast was to me the most interesting and Porto Moniz was certainly worth visiting.

I learned about the decline of the banana industry, the result of the EU regulating the length and shape of bananas. I witnessed hill farming, and terraced being cut to produce surfaces for the growing of crops. Strangely the island has little in the way of indigenous wildlife.

A million tourists come on holiday to the island with a further half million arriving aboard ocean going cruise ships. It seems many people return are repeat holidays. The people were hospitable and friendly but a week was enough for me. On the plus side I read a couple of books,rested and saw more sunshine than I'd have experienced at home.