Footsteps

This week Teapot and I have been to two cricket matches.

On Thursday we went to Lords in London to watch the first day's play between England and West Indies. Earlier today we went to Edgbaston with Al who is a member there to see Warwickshire play Leicestershire and win.

The last time Teapot and I went to Lords together we went with FLN. Unlike this visit we stayed overnight before going to the game to avoid the early start from home. I remember it was a cold and windy day and Teapot sat there with her umbrella up as a kind of windbreak even though there was no rain.

I took FLN to Edgbaston to see his first Test Match: England v Australia but he had already caught the cricket bug. Still seeing Beefy Botham send the first ball he received into the pavillion for 6 made a lasting impresssion. We were there again with Teapot a few years ago to see England play West Indies. He later became a member. He was there on 10 September.

We hear his footsteps in all sorts of places. Sometimes they are woven subtly almost imperceptibly into the daily music of life. They are never overtaken by the noise of the stronger beat which demands our attention in the hustle and bustle of the day. Other times the sound is strident and may come upon us unawares.

We heard his footsteps at the cricket. They echoed and mixed with the memories. Although they may remind us he is no longer there to share it all with us it is important that we can hear them.

We will always want to be in places where we can hear his footsteps.

Cheese Grommit......

.......of course, but this could have been his last slice of Wensleydale for sometime.

Mrs FLN and the reindeers find it quite amusing when Timelord goes out to buy the weekly cheese ration when there are still supplies in the fridge......

.....but Grommit is glad about this foresight because last week there was a sertious fire at Hawes where the Wensleydale cheese is made.

So Grommit is searching the papers for the latest news of the price of a quarter pound of Wensleydale, and wondering if he may have to settle soon for a morsel of cheddar.

Toasted cheese sandwiches though are down in price: even perhaps at Essen?

Vote Treebeard!

Readers of these blogs will know of Birmingham City Council's concerted attack on the trees opposite the Tardis on 31 March to be followed by wholesale felling during the summer.
The Conservative led coalition is determined to press on inspite of misleading the public and even its own planning committee about the number of trees to go.

Yesterday was local election day and a day of revenge. Out of little acorns mighty oaks do grow and yesterday saw the birth of the "No to the Felling of Oaks at Coppice School Party"

Its distinguished candidate Treebeard received one vote, but with Treebeard and his friends, Gandalf and all, one is a majority!! And even more so when his name appeared only on one ballot paper in the election.

I call that a 100% turnout and victory! Unlike other enlightened democracies there is no means for a write in candidate to appear in our system. So here is how you do it.

1 take your ballot paper

2 erase the tree motif against the conservative party candidate's name

3 strike out the word conservative and replace by "orc"

4 delete all reference to the candidate and party name associated with the loathsome BNP

5 replace by Treebeard and the "No to the Felling of Oaks at Coppice School Party"

6 place X or tick accordingly

And here to prove it is one I did earlier!!