Why didn't Jim spot this?

Was this the village Jim was in and was he secretly out boozing every night?
This was in the daily Mirror today and lit up the blogosphere:
Officials in Pecica, a Romanian village, have ordered ten new road signs to be erected on approaches to the small village of 13,000. They depict a drunk on his hands and knees reaching for a glass. What does it say? Well, it doesn't say "Pecica - twinned with Pristina" or "Welcome to our picturesque village" but "Attention - Drunks!". Enough said.

Oh yes, apparently it's Romania, not Roumania, nowadays!
Comments
No comment! All love Mum
Posted by: Mum | March 11, 2010 at 11:46 AM

Blast, the secret's out! LoL Jim
PS I think you can probably spell Romania any of three ways - Ru, Ro and Rou ...
Posted by: Jim | March 11, 2010 at 09:36 AM

The next Sir John Keeling?

I was flying back to Blighty last Thursday and I picked up a Guardian newspaper and read an article about SeeSaw who are about to deliver lots of TV over the internet. In the article the name John Keeling popped up. That's almost certainly my cousin John1. He is platform controller there. (Is that like somebody who works at a railway station?) Then I searched on the Guardian website and it found 57 results, mostly mentioning him. If you get important enough in the meejia they sometimes make you a knight....

A bit further on in the paper I came across this photo. To begin with I couldn't work out what it was.

Dolphins in pods of up to 400 have been spotted by Greg Huglin surfing 25ft (8m) waves and leaping high into the air on the South African coast.

You can buy photos off Mr Huglin  at http://www.greghuglin.com for $100 or more.

And let's not forget Granny's birthday on Wednesday!

Note 1) For those of you who aren't sure, John is the one who lived at Hurst for a few years. He's about the same age as Paul and has three sons, similar ages to Paul and Van's.
Comment
Cool stuff by John. Reference the dolphins, years ago I was on holiday in South Africa, surfing with Hector Christie. There was one day when we were joined in the surf by dolphins who rode the waves into the beach with us, which was pretty magical. Annoyingly the dolphins could turn round and swim back to catch another wave so easily, again and again. While I could only struggle out through the incoming waves getting more knackered!
Posted by: Tom | February 28, 2010 at 12:58 PM

Fishy German gossip

Its not only the British that talk about the weather, the Germans do it relentlessly too, and why not it has been -16°C here (and the day after it was +1°C).

During my lunch hour I went walking on a lake and underneath the bridge I found this fish.

To fill you in on a few facts:
*The water was shallow here and the ice was frozen completley clear to the bottom
*Apparently underneath the bridge is the last place where the ice forms
*The ice in the rest of the lake is white because of the bubble of gas escaping from it when it is frozen
*There were quite a few fish frozen like this but not an obscene amount, there must, I think, be fish elsewhere in the lake where it is deeper that did not share this sorry fate.

I have a few ideas about how the fish died but I welcome any other theories, perhaps we could test them at Jacobs, in the pool, with the freezers from the back rooms.

Trevor (the colder)
Dead fishy
Comment
We are fascinated with the frozen fish. Do they live again when the thaw comes? How hardy can you be, first to stop and notice the frozen fish and then produce a seemingly unfrozen camera.Try out anything you like at Jacobs. But thank goodness it is now warmer. All love Granny and Grandpa

Posted by: Mum | February 07, 2010 at 12:50 PM

ROUMANIAN ORPHANAGE

Saint Jim dragged his family to an orphanage in Roumania for Christmas. Here's the story:
The arranging of the whole trip, as you already know, was remarkable, with not a word exchanged, except via email, between us and the team that runs the orphanage: no phone calls, no letters and our only attempt at taking up a reference was an outright failure with the "referee" recommending that our proposed adventure was pretty risky. But I was reminded of the story of the bank teller who can tell good money from bad, not because they have seen a lot of bad money but because they spend so much time handling the good. The first and only email we got from the American who started and remains overall responsible for the orphanage just felt good – and I'm glad to say, with hindsight, that was proved right....

Eton reunion

Last Friday I went up to Eton for a 1979 leavers party. I was a little surprised to find myself doing this as I have been far from good at keeping in touch with my contemporaries from school since I left and with one exception had never attended a similar event. Maybe because I hadn't been invited to many of them....

The evening was helped by meeting Anthony deNormann en route and another pal joining us who conveniently drove us from Ant's house to Eton and back!

Everyone suffered slightly from needing to peer through the mists of time at faces that had changed in many respects, although there were a couple of 'Dorian Grays' who appeared exactly like they did thirty years ago. That was a bit spooky compared to others who looked like their dads, which seemed more natural. All the 'boys' were in great heart and the school looked after everyone very well and gave a delicious dinner in College Hall which was pure Hogworts as far as I was concerned.

Mainly for Dad:-Beforehand I had mentioned to Dad that I was going and he had told me that he had nearly but not quite attended an older version of this event. I did let this slip to the Provost who said that there are some reunions for older OEs and their wives at lunchtime nowadays.

The purpose of this post is general info, as usual. But also to say that the evening was very enjoyable with a lot of people who seemed mellowed with the years and happy to have a laugh with each other and at themselves. The rich and well-known were there as well as a self-employed carpenter who had got married for the first time this year. So quite a variety. I know of one or two who had needed a bit of persuading to turn up and even they had smiles on their faces at the end of the evening.

I've nothing to sell but I would recommend it to all of you if the chance arose.

Tom

STUFF TO GIVE AWAY

I've nearly sold my flat in London and should complete in early December. On the proceeds I'm going to buy property in Berlin and become an evil landlord. There's some stuff that I have in London, that I will either give to the new owners free of charge or throw away: Double bed with mattress, futon bed with mattress,  iron and ironing board, a very dodgy little cupboard, a very heavy wardrobe, chest of drawers, retro television, fridge freezer, five standing lamps, 4 speakers, two bedside tables, two person sofa, old fashioned stereo, huge telly and a partridge in a pear tree. Or not. There are also curtains. If you want any of these, get in touch with George! You must pick up yourself
Comments
Now purchaser only wants:
- The wardrobe and matching bedside table in the small bedroom immediately to the right as you enter the flat.
- The standing lamp in the bedroom between the wardrobe and the master.
- The rug in the reception room.
Posted by: george | November 23, 2009 at 04:09 PM

And for my own info, the purchasers said they wanted
Kitchen: Fridge, Dishwasher
Small room: Chest of drawers, Wardrobe - possibly
Sitting room: Mirror over fireplace possibly, Rug
Bathroom: Wash machine and drier
Trev's room: Bed
All standard lamps.
Friends take priority!
Gavin wanted some of the standard lamps too
Posted by: George | October 27, 2009 at 12:50 PM

Dad! You've solved ALL of your daughter's furnitue/white good problems in one fell swoop!
Can i have:
The double bed and mattress (not the futon)
The dodgy cupboard
The fridge freezer
The white lamp
The steel lamp
The sofa
The wardrobe
The spare room chest of drawers
And if no one wants the small speakers, I will also have those.
Thanks xxxxxxxxx
Posted by: Ruth Keeling | October 17, 2009 at 12:49 PM

Hey George, has anyone claimed the stereo? Are you really giving it away? If you are I would most definitely like it and a pair of the speakers and maybe the telly. Is that too much? I can come and get them any time....
xxxx Poppy
Posted by: Poppy | October 17, 2009 at 11:56 AM

Your simple mother thought that there was a modern cooker up for grabs and then found it was some sort of record player!

Posted by: Mum | October 17, 2009 at 10:30 AM

Van's new show at the 606 club in London

On 15th October at the 606 Club, Lots Road, Chelsea: Nephews & Nieces get bargain tickets for £20 (inc supper), it'll be great and even better to see some of you there! Give Van a call on 077400 49014 to get the special price.

George has noticed that there is a small but crucial omission in the information above: The 606 is at 90 Lots road and the bar opens at 7.00 with the show at 8.15, but of course you would have been told this at the 'point of sale' I'm sure.

Sorry Trev - might be a bit of a stretch from Berlin, even at £20!
Comments
I'm in Dad. It'll be nice to see you xx
Posted by: Ruth | October 02, 2009 at 03:12 PM


I'll come if any other brothers or nephs/nieces do. This may be a stupd question, but is it at 606 lots road? And when does it start?

TREV'S MOVED TO BERLIN

Trevor (the younger, taller and better looking) moved to Berlin at the beginning of September. He has been staying with me this month and moved into a flat of his own yesterday. He has had an internal transfer in his building firm. The plan is to stay here for six to twelve months. Hmm, that was my plan too. He seems to be getting on pretty well.

Best wishes, George
Comment

Ich bin ein Berliner

Posted by: Paul | October 01, 2009 at 09:22 AM

Kepler

Hey all,

There is so much interesting stuff happening here, but one in particular happening in the building next to mine is very, very interesting.

The headquarters of Kepler is here at Ames. Now Kepler is a NASA planet hunter telescope and you can imagine it being like a next gen Hubble telescope. It's in space, huge, but a lot more advanced.

Unlike the Hubble, which rarely looks at an object for more than a week, Kepler’s field of view of millions of stars never changes.
From what is known of the formation of solar systems it thought that there should (no-one knows yet) be planets around nearly every star. And not just one or two,  but a whole multitude like in our system. Roughly 300 hundred planets have been found around other stars in other experiments (the Hubble even managed to take a photo of another planet), and the largest number of planets found around 1 star is 5. Of course no one yet knows if these are huge exceptions to the rule, or not.

Stars come in a variety of sizes and the bigger they are the faster and hotter they burn. The biggest stars only last for a few millions of years, and as it took a couple of billions of years for the Earth to form there’s no point looking at the biggest stars. The Sun though is about half way through its 10 Billion year life and due to the fact we’re here and even able to look suggests stars of a similar size are a pretty good place to start looking.
Therefore Kepler is looking at 200,000 stars simultaneously that are roughly the same size as ours.

There is a partular zone around a star called the 'goldilocks' zone. It sounds ridiculous but if a planet is orbiting in this zone it shouldn't be too hot or too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface. Why this is important is that wherever you find liquid water on Earth you find a perlephera of life. Earth you'll be unsurprised to find is slap bang in the middle of this zone.
Kepler then is hoping to see an Earth sized planet orbiting a Sun sized star in this zone.
What Kepler is looking for is a slight dimming of these stars due to a planet crossing in front of it. This dimming is in the order of 20 parts per million. It’s like trying to see a glow fly in front of a car's full beam headlights from 10 miles.
But this telescope can do it. Not only that but before they launched NASA weren't sure exactly how good precise it would be but they've found that it is able to see 5 parts per million. This is easily low enough to see an 'Earth' size planet.
It's only been working for two month and they've already seen hundreds of planets, and even one only twice the size of the Earth that orbited in the Goldilocks zone.  Why they only 'think' they've seen this is that a planet like the Earth orbiting at roughly the same distance as us from its star will have an orbit of about a year as well. This means that it will be another year before they can confirm it.  They even think they've also seen a planet smaller than the Earth so hopefully seeing a new Earth will be possible.
And it really is as simple as that. Once a month they get a download from the telescope and each time they do there is a higher chance of seeing a new Earth. Everyone is very excited about it .
What Kepler should also be able to do is detect reflected light off any atmosphere the planets might have.  What this might mean is that the people here might be able to see what elements the atmosphere is made up off i.e. look for methane, co2, or carbon hydrogen chains, all pretty good clues for life!
Kepler has also discovered a planet orbiting a binary star system. 45% of systems are binary (two stars orbiting very closely to each other) and a scientific paper ten years ago 'proved' that planets wouldn't be able to form
 around them. The fact they can further increases the chance of finding these new Earths. I asked the guy runnig the show (he came to our house for a barbecue) how many Earths he thought they'd find. If they were very pessimistic with their models they predicted they see about 50, but from what they'd seen so far he thought maybe more like 500. Some computer models gave a figure of 2000! And don't forget that Kepler is only looking at 200,000 stars and the galaxy is made up 100 billion stars (100,000,000,000). There might be quite a few earths out there.
Well I really must go as my boss just came in and saw that I was obviously not working.
All the best,
Harry
P.s. Sorry for the essay!

Comments
Fascinating stuff. Don't apologise for the essay Harry, write a book, or be a teacher. You've got a good touch. Tom
Posted by: Tom | September 14, 2009 at 01:04 PM

Fascinating I must say. Don't apologise for the essay Harry, write a book, or be a teacher. You've got a good touch. Tom
Posted by: Tom | September 14, 2009 at 12:59 PM

cool! perhaps we can find another one to muck up! xxxxxxx
Posted by: camilla | September 12, 2009 at 01:40 PM

Harry - Fantastic updates from tomorrows world(s) keep 'em coming
Posted by: Paul | September 12, 2009 at 12:34 PM

Edward triathlon

Yesterday Edward took part in a triathlon at his school and won. The race involved a continuous 276 m of swimming, 3700m of bicycling then 2000m of running. The last leg was uphill to the finishing line and Edward completed the race at a sprint, well ahead of the pack. Marvellous!
Comments
2012 here we go!
Posted by: Paul | September 12, 2009 at 12:34 PM

Hooray for Edward love from Grany
Posted by: Jenifer | September 11, 2009 at 11:46 AM

Well done Edward!
Posted by: Carrie | September 11, 2009 at 11:18 AM

Good work Edward!

Posted by: Harry | September 11, 2009 at 04:29 AM

Moving home

As some of you may know, Siobhan and I had been planning to try to get planning permission to convert our barns at The Old Rectory into a couple of houses. Then we would have sold the barns with the benefit of their planning consent. Frustratingly this plan has been thwarted by the existence of a right of way that was reserved by the Crown when they sold the barns to one of our predecessors about twenty years ago. We had hoped to get round this somehow but it was not to be. Since the object of the plan was to raise some money, we needed to scratch our heads a bit to work out a Plan B.

This materialised as selling the entire property and moving somewhere smaller and locally. Therefore we have pursued this over the last month and now we are ready for our house to go on the market at the beginning of September. As you might expect we did have our reservations at first, but the more we thought about it the more it all seemed to be a sensible idea. One thing that features high on the list of considerations was the garden and the amount of time that this takes to keep it in good shape. While this used to be fun (sort of) it really has become a burden and not fun. Indeed the idea of having somewhere simpler to live and look after has become very attractive to us.

When we told the children they were all very supportive and understanding which was very helpful.

So, big changes ahead, but we feel happy that it will be for the long term good of us and all and that Siobhan and I will have more time to spend with the children rather than worrying about the pesky garden.

Now we hope that a buyer falls in love with our home nice and quickly and that we can find somewhere else to buy without a protracted delay.

Tom

FIRST KEELING IN SPACE?

Harry is off to California soon, working for NASA again. He was there last year too. If he plays his cards right he could be the first Keeling in space. Granny told me about this and I asked Harry for the story. It follows. Sadly he hasn't sent me real pictures yet, so I invented one, it's a bit further down.

Granny told me that John Ryan has died aged nearly 90. He created the fabulous Captain Pugwash cartoons (also pictured).  I knew his daughter Isabel very well and him slightly. There was an obituary in the Times.

And apparently David has got the dreaded swine flu. Oink oink, recover quickly. They say it's quite mild if it doesn't kill you.

Here's what Harry said:
As to what I'll be getting up to this year, i'm not sure but i imagine it'll be similar to what I got up to last year.

Last year I was working in the Small Satellite Research and Development Unit...which is a bit of a mouthful. If you imagine every satellite engineering project has 5 stages, 1) design concepts, 2) design in better detail, 3) manufacture, 4) launch, and then 5) post launch, we working on the design pre concept. so pre stage 1). it was very preliminary stuff. We'd draw up a load of powerpoints which we would then present to some senior boffs and if they said yes another team would then start stage 1.

Last year when i arrived the team were already looking at a project to send a satellite to an asteroid called Apothis which has a chance, albeit tiny, of hitting Earth in 2036. The satellite would have headed out to the asteroid and then measured its trajectory exactly so we could either go phew, or go bugger and start to do something about it.

Another project we had a look at was a lunar lander and I've got some pretty cool videos of them experimenting with the thrusters in this giant cage.

I think the last project we had a look at was for a satellite to measure co2 levels in the atmosphere. Unsurprisingly all the money is now in doing research into global warming.

there were some amazing things on the base though. there was the fastest super computer and largest wind tunnel in the world. the wind tunnel was so large you could park a 737 inside it.

it was quite weird working there as I was foreign national. this meant i was one rung up the ladder from being a spy, and was treated accordingly. one of the departments i worked in had white tape around my desk, and if wanted to leave it, to say go to the loo, i had to raise a hand and be escorted. Alan who's dad's friend and a bigwig there took me over to the lockheed martin part of the base which shares the runway and it was ridiculous. apparently they make spy satellites there so not only did an armoured humvve drive along behind us to run us over if we made a run for it, there were signs every saying you will not be warned before being shot! pretty hairy stuff.

I did 6 and a half weeks last year, and I'm doing ten this year. It's an amazing place about 40mins south of San Francisco.
sorry if this is boring but i could literally drone on about it for hours.
is there anything else you want to know, or have i completely turned you off the idea! i think i've got a few pictures i could send to you if you wanted them.
anyway hope everything is good with you and hopefully hear from you soon.
Comments
Great combination Harry and Ggeorge, We'll wait for the secnd instalment. Drone on Harry! Mum/Granny
Posted by: Jenifer | July 27, 2009 at 10:32 AM

Churchill

It's now about a year ago that I finished reading the six volumes of Churchill's Second World War. I found it riveting and it was always a delight to return to. Not only is the history fascinating but the language is magnificent. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. I recommend it. Granny and Grandpa may let you borrow one volume at a time from their library. (TV room, near top right)

Here are some sound bites:

Vol IV p 494 All this shows how much luck there is in human affairs, and how little we should worry about anything except doing our best.

Vol IV p 556 Captain Mercier [a Frenchman] longed for the allied victory, but he died on his bridge in the execution of his orders [to fight Americans landing in Casablanca]. We may all be thankful if our lives have not been rent by such dire problems and conflicting loyalties.

Vol V p 30-31 The islands of Lamdedusa and Linosa also capitulated, the former to the pilot of an aircraft who had been compelled to land by lack of fuel. No enemy outpost now remained south of Sicily.

Vol V p 558 - on the eve of D-Day. Here then we might pause in thankfulness and take hope, not only for victory on all fronts and in all three elements, but also for a safe and happy future for tormented mankind.

Vol V Appendix C p 618 PM to Home Secretary 3/4/1944. Let me have a report on why the Witchcraft Act 1735 was used in a modern court of justice.

Vol VI p 553 At any rate, there was never a moments discussion as to whether the atomic bomb should be used or not. To avert a vast, indefinite butchery, to bring the war to an end, to give peace to the world, to lay healing hands on its tortured peoples by a manifestation of overwhelming power at the cost of a few explosions, seemed, after all our toils and perils, a miracle of deliverance.
Comments
Nothing gives greater pleasure than knowing something that we have appreciated and kept for nearly 60 years is now being enjoyed by you. Mum.
Posted by: Jenifer | July 03, 2009 at 11:00 PM

George,
I think I was inspired by you to start reading Churchill's great opus. I am now close to the end of Volume 2 and enjoying the account enormously. As you say, both the factual account and his command of the language are gripping. Many fascinating insights to humanity. Tom
ps I recall there were two copies of Vol 2 on the shelf when I borrowed the one I am reading.
Posted by: Tom | July 03, 2009 at 06:10 PM

Rule Britannia

Over the weekend just gone England's Open team scored an important victory in Toulouse over both France and Wales to win the Tri-nations Touch Rugby Trophy. Ted managed one try and played a good game including at one time keeping the French off our try line 3  times in quick succession. In fact the only fly in the ointment was on the final celebration having one too many beers which of course delighted the other players (who were all at least 5 years older than him)!

For any who are interested to find out more about your international superstar relative visit..

 www.englandtouch.org.uk

and follow  >  England Squad   >   High Performance Portal (Mens Open)  >  Players Profiles   -   Ted is near the bottom of the list!

Go Ted, Go Keeling, Go Britannia...........
Comment
Well done Ted! We look forward to news from your next encounter. Love Granny.

Posted by: Jenifer | July 03, 2009 at 11:03 PM

HAPPINESS IN HEAVEN

Granny received such a lovely thank you note from John that she asked me to put it here.

Comment
Thank you George love Mum

Posted by: Jenifer | May 31, 2009 at 11:53 AM

Keelings 121, Sedlescombe 173 :-(

 The Keelings vs Sedlescombe annual cricket match took place yesterday, Sunday 24th May, in beautiful sunny weather. Games started rather strangely before lunch in Grannny and Grandpa's garden with Seen followed by BUMS. BUMS is a strange game mainly played by boys. It ends with one of them looking as if he is praying to mecca with his head in a bush. All the other players take it in turns to kick a football from close range at the bum in the air.

The real game started at about 2.30pm. The Keeling team was skippered by Paul. It was the first time in history that only Keelings were playing on the Keeling team. They were, in genealogical order, Trevor the lame, Ted, Simon, Tom (substituted by Arthur), Paul (skip), Fred, Jasper, Zak, John, Felix and Luke. The Keelings fielded first, the tension was palpable.

 After a back flip or two Fred opened the bowling. It was fast and wild. Ted, who was wearing his all England touch rugby team top, was fielder of the day and caught out three of the rather good Sedlescombe batsmen. They eventually declared at tea time with 173 for 6. After tea the Keeling team batted. Paul opened with Jasper. The first over was somewhat marred by an unseemly dispute between John, umpiring, and Grandpa, scoring. Grandpa thought there had been seven balls, but John had signalled a wide, the signal was missed by Grandpa's dim eyes. Paul looked good and got a few runs, but was soon out. Wickets fell rapidly. A sense of gloom pervaded the team, until Simon came in, batted steadily and scored a magnificent 6 which landed right amongst the supporters and sent them running for cover. Felix had a long innings. He and Ted made a good contribution the Keeling total. But the best was to come from the tail end charlies, Zak nr 10 and Arthur nr 11. Tom had suffered a back injury in practice and young Arthur bravely substituted for him. He was top scorer with 25, including one lost ball, and Zak was very close behind him with about 24. Between them they brought the Keeling score to a respectable, but inadequate, 121.

After suitable clapping etc, supporters and team retired to the village pub.

Terminology:
Catch out – catch a ball hit by a batsman before it hits the ground. Batsman is out.
Cow swipe – sort of over the shoulder and back shot to the left.
LBW – Leg Before Wicket. Batsman gets out by this. Thanks Poppy!
Batsman – somebody who is having balls hurled at him.
Fielding – standing around on a field trying not to look bored.
Run – if a batsman hits a ball far enough, he can 'run' to the other end of the pitch. Runs are added up to make the total score.
Over – There are six balls in an over. After each over everybody shuffles around a bit.
Out – a batsman is out by being bowled, caught, LBW or run out.
Over and out – this is not a cricketing term. It is used when talking on a 2 way radio.
Click Read more for more photos and comments

support a young designer

As everyone knows times are tough and even tougher for newly graduated Graphic Designers like me.  For the past few months I have been looking for work and doing internships with various design companies, unfortunately because of the shear amount of budding young designers it is completely acceptable to not pay us a salary.  Once again I have found myself in this situation and as of next week will be working 3 days a week at a very exciting company call Young Creative Network (YCN www.ycnoline.com) and then the Design Museum in July.  As of a salary it’s a really just enough to pay for a travel card.  However this gives me the rest of the week to work for hard cash, and as I am a jack of almost all trades I am offering my services to anyone who may need it, here’s what I can do:

• Take some beautiful photographs for special occasions
• General Office/ reception work
• Graphic Design work
• Baby sit children
• Bar work, waitress
• Cook
• Clean
• And any other help needed.

I am free Monday, Tuesdays, evenings and weekends, my number is 07961 44 55 20.
Comments
I know what its like to work on commision and be contracted out... Gets your heart rate up doesn't it sometimes. Hang in there and good luck!!!
Posted by: Auto glass chandler az | April 11, 2009 at 04:52 AM

I eat humble pie for correcting spelling. Yuk yuk, Granny
Posted by: Jenifer | April 10, 2009 at 10:44 AM

shear as in shearing sheep
sheer as in very steep.

But i can't take photographs,reception,bar work,waitress. All love you know who.
Posted by: Jenifer | April 09, 2009 at 04:23 PM

Lizzie, good luck. Internship is ****. xx David

Posted by: david | April 09, 2009 at 11:00 AM

Sunday 24th May '09 Keelings V's Sedlescombe (Away)

I have now heard from all but Howard (Sir ParagonicLeap), who has now been pronounced missing in action, presumably lost in the harsh winter campaign  of 08/09.  If anyone hears from him it would be lovely to get some news.

You will no doubt be relieved to hear that the call to arms has not gone unheeded.  Your champions have picked up the proffered gauntlet and stand proud in the defence of fine family traditions (not quite sure what they are??!). We have squad of 15 and the selectors (me) have cogitated, ruminated and deliberated.  The main team (11 men good and true) is chosen and there will be 3 ‘12th’ men to act as rolling substitutes for the bent and withered old crones amongst our number.

The team is as follows:

Dr Trev
Simon
Tom the elder
John
Bill
Paul
Archie
Felix
Fred
Ted
Jasper

The 12th men are:

Luke
Arthur
Zak
Yours, Skip.

24th May 2009 - Call to Arms (ii)

Well that was good!  The only rapid responses I got were from Mum, Camilla & George – and none of those were regarding playing or not!

Anyway I do now have a few responses and a squad is beginning to form.  I am looking to get a squad of 14/16 players.  If I can get theses from family then great, but if I have to look for ringers then I will.  We need a large squad as there a number of people who have said that they will play, but would like to stand down if possible.  I am looking primarily for family members, then registered bowlers, preferably over the age of 14, but will bend this last one if required.  So far, the team is shaping as follows:

Fully operational battle stations

Simon
Paul
Fred
Jasper
Felix
Bill
John
Tom (the elder)
Arthur
Luke

Definitely out of service

Jack
Jim
Joshua

No confirmed sightings (possibly extinct?)

Ted
Harry
Archie
Howard
Dr Trevor

Perhaps I have omitted someone who has not so far put themselves forward? This is open to all, so don’t be shy

Get back to me and let me know – I need input!

The Skip.

A Call to Arms - 24th May 2009

We go to liberate a lost trophy not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in the village. We are entering Sedlescombe to free our family from the shame of last year’s loss and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them. There are some who are alive at this moment who will not last long at the crease. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Go after them aggressively if that is what you choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.

Sedlescombe is steeped in history. It is the site of the Queen’s Head, of the Brickwall Hotel and the birthplace of Brabazon. Tread lightly there. You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the villagers. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they may have lost. Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own village. Their children will be shocked at our victory, but in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

If there are casualties of the game then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to get out that way. Allow them dignity in the fall of their wicket. Clap them properly to the pavilion and mark their scores in a fair and honest fashion.

It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out to a victorious post match celebration, but there may be people among us who will not be able to stay and see the end of this match. We will put them in their cars and send them back. There will be no time for a beer.

The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. Show them no pity.

It is a big step to take another’s wicket. It is not to be done lightly. I know of men who have given their wickets away needlessly in other matches, I can assure you they live with the Mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders their wicket to you then remember they have that right under international cricket law and ensure that they return to the pavilion unharmed.

The ones who wish to play, well, we aim to please.

If you harm the family or its history by over-enthusiasm in taking wickets or in laziness in the field, know it is your family who will suffer. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our team, nor our family.

As for ourselves, let's bring the trophy home and leave Sedlescombe a better place for us having been there.

Our business now is just to the south of the village green.

Your Captain and Keeper of the Fixtures & Fittings
Comment
Wow. I am definitely coming. That is a real call to arms

Posted by: Ruth | March 12, 2009 at 03:38 PM