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Published: April 13th 2008
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Well if February was the month of birthdays, with 1-3 birthday parties each weekend, then March was the month of missing touch. What do I mean? Well, let me explain. Anyone who knows us over here knows that the most important event in our weekly calendar occurs from 11am-1pm every Saturday. It’s the touch rugby tournament in Tooting Common. We leave home at 10.30 and cycle, walk or jog to the Common in time to hand over a pound and select our team from the 40-75 people who turn up. Generally the better players tend to arrive a bit earlier, so it pays to be on time if you want to be in a decent team. We then play four 30 minute games with no subs and no half time. Two hours of running around in the mud, rain or sunshine with a whole bunch of happy, healthy and generally really nice people. Not only is it a great way to start your weekend and a bunch of fun, it’s also a very social event and we have met some great friends there. However as we don’t make it home until 1.30 or 2pm, and when we do are tired, dirty
and hungry, it does tend to eat into our weekends a bit.
So, Brendon and I decided to skip touch for March and focus on other extra curricular activities instead.
On Saturday the 1st March we took Colin and Paloma for a day trip (in Johnnie’s car) to explore Canterbury. It was a lot of fun exploring the ancient cathedral and the gorgeous town surrounding it.
On Saturday the 8th March we ‘went bush’ UK style and we’re kindly guided on a country walk in Chipstead, by our neighbour Barbara. At dinner at Barbara’s one night we had discovered that we were all fans of the English country side and as she was a regular walker with twice weekly rambles out of London she took us along on one of the routes. The walk was followed by lunch in a very nice pub called the Rambler’s Return - which was in an old farm house built during William Shakespeare’s time.
15th March was of course my birthday and the night after my ‘Second Thirtieth’ party in Soho. Nevertheless adrenaline kept me going until it was dark at 7pm, by which time Brendon and I with the
A touch of Spring in the air
Canterbury Cathedral grounds help and guidance of Chris and Ali had transformed our garden (and were ready for a nice dinner). For my birthday present I had asked Chris and Ali to spend the day with us in our garden teaching us how to do everything we need to know to make it ship-shape. We trimmed the ivy, pruned the roses, weeded and edged the garden, dug a vegetable patch, set up an area for compost and filled the whole compost bin - which they had given me as part of my birthday present - with cuttings.. While I had wanted to actually plant a whole lot of plants too, they instead bought me a seed germinator so that I could plant inside and let the seedlings grow strong before we risked putting them in the ground. A wise move it turned out …..
On the 22nd March Brendon and I were sunning ourselves in the South Coast of Spain (photos will be in another blog), but our friends who stayed home for Easter were shivering in the first snows of winter - well, actually spring. That’s right, it had been a mild, snow-free winter, but as soon as spring arrived the
Who
A fox on the roof of our neighbour's shed - that's the top of our apple tree you can see in the foreground. UK froze.
29th March. Well we didn’t quite make it a whole months of Saturday’s without touch (oh and yes, Brendon was playing in the Winter League in Clapham on Sundays - so he was still getting his weekly dose). Brendon spent this final Saturday in March travelling to Oxford with about 30 members of our touch team, for a day of friendly competition - which, of course they won. He then went to dinner in one of the oldest colleges in Oxford, Merton, as our friend Kenny, another touch fan, was friends with a couple who were finishing their PhD’s there. What a special treat. I played touch in the mud (it had been very wet) with some others who had chosen not to go to Oxford. The highlight of my day was when a boy’s shorts, so sodden with mud they became heavy, fell down when he was running and tripped him over. Very entertaining. As were the skids and slides the boys were performing in the mud. Quite embarrassing having to turn up to the library in head to toe mud - as I didn’t have time to shower or even clean the caked mud off
Got to love that juxtaposition..
The ancient tudor Christ Church gate, entrance to Canterbury Cathedral bang smack up against a Starbucks. my hands if I was to make it to the library before it shut.
Last weekend, it was April and time for more touch rugby. We were both due to play in the ‘Grand Final’ of the Clapham Winter League in Clapham Common on the Sunday afternoon. Last year we had also made it to the final and celebrated afterwards outside in the sun at the local trendy bar Gigalum (yes Brendon and I were great customers on our usual tap waters). On the Saturday night we had been to a BBQ at Bryn’s place to celebrate spring. A big mistake. While we left quite early, the stalwarts were still dancing outside when it started snowing. That’s right, their eager celebrations had displeased someone and brought winter back. Brendon and I woke to a white and beautiful world. Lovely to watch, but not nice to think we had to go out in it. After some frantic phoning in the hope that the game might be cancelled we found it wasn’t - and so headed down in the snow to the field. Luckily, there had been two games by the final so the worst of the snow was gone (for
some pictures go to http://www.in2touch.com/uk/gallery.php?folder=13&id=36 and scroll to the bottom of the page. 10 points if you find the photo with us in it), leaving just mud and bitterly cold weather. The other team defaulted - as they didn’t turn up - but since we had all made the effort to get down there we scraped together an opposing team and proceeded to run around with numb hands. Oh well, it was an experience.
So here are some shots of our March (and April) weekends, plus a couple of photos from recent birthday parties - include Jen’s Roller Disco - a club where roller-skates and costumes were mandatory.
Enjoy.
XXX Claire
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