Sports( Games )

I’m no good at sports. In fact I’m amused by recalling Ralph Wightman on radio Any Questions in the fifties who always said these were games. To laughter he would always say sport is the pursue of a quarry for the enjoyment of the pursuer- huntin’, shootin’, fishiin’, and ….courtin’. So following Wightman I’m inclined to say I’m no good at games. Don’t forget we have the Olympic Games not the Olympic Sports.

At primary school teams were chosen by the teacher picking captains and then they in turn picked their team from the rest. I was always among the last; quite often the ignominy of “ you can have X and I’ll have Philip” said with resignation.

Although I recognised I wasn’t much good at ball games I rather fancied myself as an athlete particularly a runner. In the village Coronation Sports I was to be sadly disabused coming in the middle of the field.

I enjoyed cricket and thought I might progress from the informal games of younger days when I started at secondary school. Sadly the school playing field was taken up with building and I had just one summer with thereafter such as tennis, swimming, and athletics. The winter sport ( falling into the modern parlance ) was rugby football. I was convinced then and still am this was for snobbish reasons as the other boys secondary modern school played  soccer. I disliked rugby and made little attempt to learn.

I must also confess my natural laziness meant I treated cross country with disdain. I was regularly among the tail enders who walked a short cut. Swimming was rather pathetic as it meant only going as a group to the local swimming baths. As I recall there was little attempt at tuition.

This changed at university. Loughborough prided itself on sporting prowess. This mainly arose because the teacher training college was in the same student union and they taught physical education. On entering there was a some physical tests ( of the how far can you throw a  cricket ball type ) As part of this non swimmers were taken for intensive practice in the indoor pool. All manner of aids were used as there was an obvious determination that everyone should become a swimmer. I’ve never been a good swimmer but I certainly owe a debt for overcoming a deficit from school days. My very limited swimming skill has proved useful on holidays.

I had been interested in motor racing as a spectator. For a few years post graduation I was fairly keen. This waned after 1968 when my hero, Jim Clark, was killed testing in Germany. One of my favourite memories of that time was going to an RAC rally special stage to see Clark and another Formula One driver, Graham Hill, doing well and among the leaders having never driven a rally before. Watching Clark in a Lotus Cortina blasting down a forest track at high speed was memorable.

While living and working on Merseyside in the late sixties and seventies I found football is a near religion. Bill Shankly ( Liverpool manager ) famously said when asked if football was a matter of life or death replied it was more serious than that. Eventually my colleagues , fed up with my lack of interest  decided I should go to Anfield to watch Liverpool. This was a mid-week European Cup match playing Irish team Dundalk. Dundalk who I think are only semi pro were overwhelmed. The crowd were chanting “give us 10” and when Liverpool obliged rather sportingly started to cheer for Dundalk..

Just about my only interest in later life has been cycling particularly, indeed almost exclusively, the Tour de France. I’m rather surprised myself at my interest. I sit down every evening and watch the hour long showing of that days stage. I started almost by accident when I attended a company barbeque in the mid eighties. At a loose end waiting for the start time I watched a cycle stage on TV in our hotel. Over the years I have come to identify some of the riders and it must be said the stages in the Alps and Pyranees are quite spectacular.

It has helped that in recent years Britain has been doing very well producing the winner for the past half dozen events. The chagrin of the French adds to the enjoyment. However it is the exoticism of the event with its arcane French which adds to the appeal. A few years ago the tour started from York and we went with my son to watch the Grand Depart at York racecourse.

What is the definition of a gentleman?

-Someone who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn’t

Broken wrist

Broken wrist

Our weekend started well. We had Martin and the kids come to us In Whitby on Saturday after their music lessons, Lindsey being away. In the afternoon while Martin , Annette and Ellie went to see Lego Movie 2, Alex and I browsed Youtube. We  were looking at aviation related videos. This is now a major interest for Alex since he joined air cadets.

In the evening we had fish and chips before going with Alex to a music gala at the Pavilion leaving Martin and Ellen to relax in our flat. We have a convertible sofa so that Martin and family can stay overnight. Using this we can comfortably sleep 6. This is a facility we don’t advertise to holiday lessors.  At the Pavilion we found we had arrived half way through the first part as Alex was only called right at the end of the second. This participation took the form of paying in the Whitby big concert band. This was impressive as was the preceding jazz ensemble. The rest of the programme was solo acts, recitations, monologues and solo playing by young people who had been winners in earlier rounds.

On Sunday we went to Egton Bridge on the moors. This is a very old stone bridge over the Esk. It is only a few feet wide so would have only been suitable for small carts. It has long been superseded by a modern road bridge. I crossed and looked to take a photo of the others on the bridge. It was muddy between stones and wet. As I turned, I fell and instinctively put out my hand to break my fall.

Martin had to pull me up as I found the ground too slippery to rise myself. Although my wrist was painful and swelling we went on to Danby Moorlands Centre. Annette is entering work in a forthcoming exhibition and after checking in at the exhibition room we went to the café for lunch. We had been before and thought it excellent but the menu had changed, In line with the title of Woolly café many items are given a woolly name. Sheep are the livestock roaming the moors.

I went to Whitby hospital minor injuries on Monday morning to get the unwelcome news after X-ray that I had fractured the end of the lower arm bone. After explaining our situation as visitors I was given a temporary removable support and told to visit our local minor injuries. This I did and now have a plaster cast. This is my first time in plaster which is uncomfortable

I find it is surprisingly difficult to do things with one hand. The cast allows some finger movement so some things needing two hands I can manage. We are having to redesign my life. I find it infuriating difficult to do things like put on a jumper or cardigan. Annette has bought a jumper with a seamed sleeve which she has unpicked so it fits over the cast

Annette has fulfilled a long standing commitment to go on a demo in London with Alison and Frances. I was intending to go, just joining the “old crocks” part, but even that is impossible. This has forced me to do as much as possible with my good hand which fortunately is the uninjured right. She has left food convenient for one hand usage.

Although hideously inconvenient it could have been worse. My dread is another broken hip.  Poor balance is one of the residual effects of a stroke many years ago.  I find that nowadays, as I age, my balance is getting slightly worse. I try and take care; I am aware of difficult circumstances such as a sudden turn, but is all too easy to forget.

What’s the difference between a soprano and a terrorist?

You can negotiate with a terrorist

( bit hard in one type of singer, I would include the lot. )

Dolls House

When our girls were small Annette made them a dolls house. This was very simply made from a set of shelves with each shelf subdivided and with an embroidered curtain across the front. This curtain has a picture of the outside of the house with the shelving unit covered in “brick design” paper.

Although the shell was simple the contents were made with loving care. Windows were made with mirrors and covered with curtains on rails. A lot of the furniture was hand made with some scrounged. The rooms had carpets and rugs

At the time Annette made and sold some Sindy clothes with some made specially for Sindy  which graced the dolls house. The bottom level housed the stables for the Sindy horses. Although there was a nearly 4 year age gap Alison and Frances always got along very well together as indeed they did with their elder bother who after all was only just over a year older. This general harmony ( the occasional squabble aside ) made for a much easier life for their parents. I may say we were duly grateful.

The suitable age gap and our thriftiness meant that Frances inherited Alison’s hand-me-down clothes. Alison in turn inherited some from her cousins. We did of course still buy much. One particularly successful purchase was matching track suits. As well as being very practical they looked very charming in these. We were quite flattered when on one ferry crossing we were complimented by an Italian family who rather wistfully said they would like to take them home.

When we moved to Beechcroft the dolls house found a home eventually in our smallest bedroom which also housed the bunk beds. Originally the bunks were for our own children when small but were put together again for housing grandchildren. The girls Ellie, Alice and Ellen would disappear to play with the dolls house. We were amused that Ellen on her latest visit carefully organised everything with great precision. They have also had fun over the years playing with some of their parents toys. A giant box of Lego makes a regular appearance during visits.

Now the time has come where Annette is doing a “decluttering” and the dolls house is going to Alice. Ellie has outgrown it and Ellen rarely visits so Alice it is. It is a pang to see it go but to a good home for a while at least.

Alison was very helpful to her younger sister in their teenage and early twenties years. After I had a stroke and it was difficult for me to be in Oxford all the time while having treatment in our local area Alison had Frances to stay with her while she was at university there. Frances was at Cheney school and we wanted to interrupt this as little as possible. This was a strictly unofficial arrangement as Alison was in a hall of residence at the time.

Rather later while she was a research student Alison arranged a place for Frances at her departmental library. This gave Frances a years working experience before doing her MA in librarianship.

It is unfortunate that they are now so widely separated with Alison in Guildford, Frances in Birmingham and Martin in North Yorkshire. When they were closer they would arrange occasional get togethers. We try and arrange occasions to all meet up, last year at Crich tramway museum and then on to here.

We are booking a large house in Derbyshire to meet up later this year. This is rather special as we hope to include Debajit’s boys. for the first time for the wider family. I don’t suppose the elder boy who goes to university in the autumn will have so much opportunity in the future. It is sobering to think that Ellie and Alex are now well into secondary school years.

Alex joined Whitby air cadets last September and seems to have taken to it. It was something of a shock when he turned up in uniform the last time we were in Whitby. As he is now a skilled trumpeter he goes on training weekends with an air force marching band. He has developed a keen interest in aviation. We plan to visit the RAF museum at Cosford when he visits at Easter.

Have you heard about the new book ”Real Ales of the UK” It’s by Bart Enda

Australia

I have always had the warmest feelings for Australia. Reading about the country and its people since I was young had left a very good impression. For our Golden Wedding celebration we decided on a trip of a lifetime to visit the country. Even then I had limited stamina so we decided on a brief visit to join a cruise ship along west coast of New Zealand.

I had a very personal reason for my positive feelings for the Antipodes. Martin after prolonged treatment for cancer had returned to university after being forced to miss a year. He returned immediately after treatment and was a haunted young man. One particular reason was that his girlfriend, fulfilling a long standing pledge, had gone to Australia for a working year with another girl. Young people under an excellent reciprocal arrangement can work in Australia for a year. Martin missed her terribly and couldn’t settle on his return. To give him an incentive to finish his degree I undertook to pay his air fare after he left university.

His girlfriend arranged a job for him and then afterwards they travelled together including a fortnight in New Zealand. I have to say he returned a changed man. I met him at Heathrow and I hardly recognised the tanned smart returning traveller. His smart casual dress had paid off on his return journey when he was given an upgrade. I am delighted to say he married the girl who is now a much appreciated daughter- in- law and mother of our grandchildren.

We flew into Sydney for a couple of days stay. We were by the harbour in a busy tourist area. I was amazed at the number of Chinese and Indian looking people. Some were tourists but many were new Australians. Along the waterfront I was impressed by the amount of new high rise construction. The vast harbour is quite magnificent bordered in our area by restaurants with every type of cuisine. We were so tired after our journey that the harbour tour I wanted was impossible and we visited the maritime museum instead. We toured a part size replica of Endeavour, James Cook’s ship.

Our hotel was near a tourist area alongside the harbour which was busy and lively. People of all kinds from around the world strolling by an array of restaurants and clubs. The wide path passed various ornamental sculptures, fountains etc. Although there was an incredible array of gastronomy on offer we returned in the evening going to an unpretentious restaurant where we had a bar meal. We had fish and chips as a safe choice

We had a bus tour around central Sydney. The biggest disappointment in Sydney was Bondii beach. I expected an expanse of golden sand populated by bronzed young men and tanned beautiful women. Instead it is quite small and populated by a crowd which would be at home in Blackpool. We stopped at a lovely park just by the harbour bridge. I was struck by a group doing some sort of exercise in one area. Whatever it was it seemed very relaxed and slow rather as I had seen on TV in Japan.

Melbourne is a bit similar but a much less impressive harbour and an old fashioned tram following a circular route around the centre. Probably a bit closer to my expectation was Tasmania where we called en route to New Zealand. We travelled through farm country much like the Midlands it seemed to a forest inland. A tourist trail led over a precipitous decline onto a suspended walkway. All of a sudden you are in the treetops looking at massive trees. This continued in a semi circle for several hundred yards over a small river and back to the cliff edge.

Our cruise went on to New Zealand finishing in Wellington. From Wellington we flew back to Melbourne for the long flight back. The leg from Melbourne to Dubai was 14 hours and it seemed interminable. We were travelling in the Airbus A380 the largest passenger carrying airplane. I was disappointed that really all we saw of it was our cabin. We were travelling in business class as advised by our daughter. This had fully reclining seats but I couldn’t sleep although Annette slept for quite a while. The arrangement was roomy and I could walk around a little. Even fully reclined there was plenty of room before another seat row. I find it difficult to settle to enjoy the inflight entertainment. A film tends to be far too long and short programs are best in my experience. It is a pity Australia is so far away; I would love to return but I couldn’t face the journey.

Pina colada

I first became aware of the name through a cheesy early 80’s song by Rupert Holmes. Although formally entitled “escape” it has become known as the “pina colada” song. Telling a mini story a young man asks a girl “ do you like pina colada”. Essentially he doesn’t realise she does until a sudden circumstance makes him realise. At the time I had a vague idea that this was an exotic cocktail but that was about the extent of my knowledge.

In 1980 I had moved to work for Unichema at Bromborough only for them to close their development unit and for me to become redundant. I was very bitter about this as I thought I had been recruited under false pretences although looking back the recruitment took so long that it was more incompetence than malevolence.

In any event I was job hunting. Middle aged with a young family and in a poor jobs market I was fairly desperate. I answered an advertisement in a British newspaper for a job in Canada with a small company owned by a second generation British man. I had an interview with him in Leeds. He very sensibly said I had to visit Canada and the plant to be properly informed. He offered a deal by which if I went to Canada at my own expense he would then pay all my expenses once there.

We decided Annette should go also so leaving the children with Grandparents off we went. My prospective employer had planned things carefully and installed us in a Holiday Inn in the Montreal suburb of Longeuil. This was about 50 miles north of his plant at St Jean but just at the terminus of the underground railway into Montreal which made access to the city easy.

We very quickly realised that we were in Quebec province at the height of their nationalistic fervour which was translated into strong language nationalism. Quebec is largely French speaking; my qualifications would only be recognised if I passed an French exam and our children would have go to a French speaking school. As a result the company were having great difficulty recruiting. English speakers from elsewhere who were put off by the French language demands.

We were very well treated. The head of R&D made sure his wife facilitated Annette getting around so that she was either ferried or loaned a bicycle for independent travel. Although in a sense I was being interviewed by others at the company  it was more a case of introducing myself as they were obviously keen to recruit me.

I was concerned about housing but the owner offered a loan and said it would be easy to arrange mortgage finance as I would have a good job. I verified this was indeed the case although interest rates were high.

Although we had breakfast meetings in the North American way we also were entertained. I recall going to a football match ( American style of course ). I was most impressed by the seller of nuts who stayed in aisles but threw unerringly direct to his customers.

Our hotel had a rooftop bar. One evening during our visit I had a pina colada there. The bar was quite exotic in an American way with piano player and service by a waitress in a slit skirt. It’s a cocktail of rum, coconut milk and pineapple juice over ice with a wedge of pineapple. Refreshing but nothing to rave about. At least my curiosity was assuaged.

At the weekend during our stay I hired a car. One day we went north into the Lawrentian mountains. It is true that developed Canada is a fairly thin strip against the American border. Only about a 100 miles north of Montreal we were on dirt roads. In our research before going we were much impressed by a book which commented “ Canadians spend their lives preparing for winter, enduring winter and recovering from winter” We went in June when the weather was warm and humid but at every turn there was evidence of winter from the car heater posts to massive basements to houses and to golf courses becoming ski trails.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in Montreal city where whole malls are underground away from winter weather. It is possible to walk for many hundreds of yards by underground shops and cafes.

We were so welcomed it was hard to say no to the job. I rather chickened out and did it by phone when we had returned. I do sometimes think how very different our lives would have been. Looking back now as a grandparent myself I realise how devastating it would have been for my parents for their son and grandchildren to be an Atlantic away. On the whole I have no regrets but sometimes I can’t help but wonder….

Water

So commonplace and yet so important. It is thought by exobiologists that water is so essential that searches for extraterrestial life are focussing on finding water. There is great excitement as water is on Mars and not just at the poles as ice, but strongly salty solutions thought to be flowing in the Martian summer. While conventionally too briny for life it is remarkable that elementary life can exist under extreme conditions of temperature, pressure and saltiness. Whether there is elementary life on Mars now or in the past is one of the main drivers of Martian exploration.

Water is funny stuff. While its molecular nature is well known as H2O what is rather less known is that there is a slight electric dipole with oxygen slightly negatively charged and the hydrogen slightly positive. This means that water forms loose aggregates as the hydrogen is slightly attracted to adjacent oxygen. It is this weak bonding which ensures water is mostly a liquid on earth because without this attraction it would be a gas.

This property of water to form aggregates led scientists astray for a while in the late 80’s. It was thought that under special circumstances water could form massive long lasting aggregates. One of the proponents of this idea came to work at Unilever’s Research Lab. While I was there. There was some alarmist suggestions that this massive aggregate ( polywater ) could catalyse ordinary water to turn into a polymeric form thus rendering life impossible with the complete extinction of life. However it all turned into a gigantic false alarm. The polymeric water didn’t exist but was an artefact of dissolving the fine tubes in which it was examined.

The phase changes of water are of great importance for life on earth. Ice is immobile and cannot support life although the change to ice at zero degrees can be beaten to a limited extent by some organisms which can supercool themselves.

There is a lot of water on earth but the vast majority is in the sea and is too salty for life. The amount of freshwater is limited and it is apparent that inefficient usage is leading to problems. These difficulties are likely to be made much more severe by climate change. The UK should be alright provided we adjust to milder, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers. Water storage to allow for this needs to be expanded. Winter flooding must be expected and flood defences planned accordingly. However there are many parts of the world where severe problems can be expected.

Food is dependent on water supply. In fact agriculture takes up much of the world’s supply of freshwater. There are areas which are living in a “fools paradise” where agriculture is taking from groundwater which is just not being replenished. There are areas where water hungry crops are grown where they should not. Groundwater sources as they are depleted require ever deeper wells. At depth the water tends to be contaminated by heavy metals and this then poses a risk to health. Tragically in some places relying on deep groundwater children are growing up stunted and deformed from this type of contamination.

It sounds easy to say that desalination to turn seawater into freshwater is the panacea. This isn’t the case for two big reasons. Firstly a lot of arid areas are a long way from the sea. To transport seawater any distance would be hugely expensive. Rivers are, of course, no solution because they flow downhill ending in the sea. Secondly the energy involved in desalination is huge and expensive. The most efficient process is reverse osmosis and the best plants ( in Israel) produce water for about a half dollar per ton. These plants are  only found in rich areas such as the Middle East Gulf states.

While river flow is a major source of water it also is a big source of conflict. Big rivers tend to flow through several countries so upstream users are often in dispute with downstream ones.  For example Egypt, reliant on the Nile, is worried about Sudanese dams upriver.

As mentioned above climate change is a very big problem. It is reckoned that the UN agreed +1.5 degree rise will not have a big effect on river flow while a 2 degree rise would have a major effect. Also at this degree of change life may become impossible just because peak temperatures will be so high.

As far as can  be seen at present there is no early prospect of a global shortage of water. The issue is that water resources are unevenly distributed. There are plenty of places where every bit of water technology will be needed

London

It has been a few years since I visited London.  An occasion arose as Frances bought Annette tickets for the Burne-Jones exhibition at Tate Britain. I was rather apprehensive about visiting as my stamina for being on my feet is limited and I was worried about the amount of standing and walking which would be necessary.

I decided we would stay at one of the new Hub hotels. I have read a lot about this new concept in budget hotels with small rooms but lots of extras. As soon as we walked in the receptionist sized us up. She told us we needed a larger room and gave us a free upgrade. She said the standard room has a bed against a wall meant clambering over a partner. When we saw the “larger” room we immediately saw she was right as it was small and the large double bed left just a narrow aisle either side.

The room was very well appointed with large TV and stylish bathroom with a large shower. However one of the best features of the hotel was the large well appointed lounge with free tea or coffee on tap. Free fast WiFi was easily obtained with an automatic connection. We found the breakfast limited but cheap. By coincidence Alison was at a meeting nearby and joined us mid afternoon on the Friday we arrived. We arranged a rendezvous with Frances and family as well as Alison and family at midday on Saturday at the Tate Britain.

The hotel location was simply fantastic being about 150 yards from Westminster Abbey so could not have been more central. Parliament was about another hundred yards further on.

The exhibition was crowded and the kids were uninterested. I spent a lot of time sitting but unfortunately the crowd didn’t mean  much contemplation of the pictures. Edward Burne-Jones was a leading Pre Raphaelite painter in the latter part of the 1800’s. The Pre Raphaelites were returning to a more representational style of subjects often from classical times. I was familiar with many of the larger works both from  books and also visits  to such as the Lady Lever gallery at Port Sunlight.

Our hotel was just along from Westminster Abbey and we walked back from the Tate along the Embankment and past the Houses of Parliament. I was slightly disappointed that the demonstrators which I have seen so often on TV were not in evidence.

We were to be joined by Debajit to go on to Pizza Express. However we passed the time happily in the Hub lounge which also served as its bar. So with children we were a party of ten at Pizza Express. I’m not a great fan of pizza but it is relatively economical and caters for everyone. Only Ben had the child’s menu which he wasn’t happy about; not so much by the content but the indignity.

We arranged to meet Frances and family at the Museum of London the following day. We, particularly Annette, had just about worked out the buses with aid of Google maps and tuition by Frances. Our “old folks” bus passes worked fine. The museum was surprisingly interesting. The disappointment was than Ben, who is doing the Great Fire of London at school, just about managed to sit through a short audio visual on it and wasn’t interested in anything else. By an amazing co-incidence there was a lengthy TV programme on the fire on Saturday evening which we watched independently. Frances had her plan of visiting Pudding Lane and the Monument vetoed.

By the time Frances and co. left for Euston it was raining and we were glad to go back to the hotel and a quiet night in. We did have the frustration of seeing our bus pulling away  just as we arrived at the bus stop.

Our plan for the final morning of our stay was sabotaged by a long traffic jam. We went to the Wellcome exhibition rooms only to discover they close on a Monday. We went to the British Library but only had a very short time there – just time for a coffee, visit toilets and see they have interesting looking exhibitions. We viewed one briefly where I looked at some Beatles and P G Wodehouse originals.

Two new prisoners are led into their cell.” How long are you in for” asks one.” 18 years, how about you?” “25 years so you had better have the bed by the door”