Travels with my Ostrich ....

[Ally]

Oh bu**er.

[Suff]

You'd have done better to come to my place and I'd have given you a lift there - about a 12 minute drive ....

If you need to take the bike back, be reasonably quick. HS2 is due to completely obliterate that area (once they start building it)!

Should have thought to ask shouldn't I I'm so used to coping on my own over long distances I never even thought to ask.

So far the bike is extremely good value especially when I saw that they had forgotten to close the ebay auction and it went to £2,500 which is higher than I would have gone and a saving of £500 for me.

Initial maintenance done and it's a lot better than it was. The oil looks like tar (next on the agenda) and the clutch needs some attention. The clutch did give me pause for thought until I saw a Youtube video of how to change it. It's the easiest I've ever seen, right on the front of the bottom of the engine and dry, no oil to drain... Just the £100 for parts

All things in their time. I'll leave you to your travels..

[TheOstrich]

Saturday 23/04/16 – Evo-stik Southern League Division 1 South & West (Step 4) @ 15:00
Bishops Cleeve 0 Slimbridge AFC 1
Admission: £5, programme: £1.50, raffle £1
Refreshments: £1.70 for a coffee and Galaxy bar, £1.50 chips and curry sauce, the latter being authentic, with raisins , rather than the usual yellow gloop which gets dispensed virtually everywhere else …..
Attendance: 75

So, to our Ossie’s penultimate blog, and a return visit to one of his favourite grounds, Kayte Lane in Bishops Cleeve, a large village just to the north-east of Cheltenham lying in the shadow of Cleeve Hill, which at 1,083 feet is the highest point of the Cotswolds. The ground is on the south side of the village and has stunning views of the steep sides and limestone crags on top of the hill. It’s an easy place to drive down to, via Studley and Evesham, the same route I took to Hartpury College two weeks ago, and again in fact last Monday, when a day sightseeing excursion with Mrs O took us down to Evesham to visit the Valley Garden Centre and Retail Outlet, with a return trip through the Lenches to see the early blossom and then Inkberrow, the spiritual home of “The Archers” and the Old Bull pub …. a hostelry we’ve previously visited and which has more than a few mementos of the famous radio soap on display.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/423093 ... he-Archers

I call in at the Valley again today, as last Monday we purchased some Weightwatchers bikkits from Milletts, the farm shop there, and Mrs O wants some more. And the Ostrich declared it wouldn’t be averse to another (couple) of their chicken and ‘am pies, as well! It’s a popular destination with FatFace and Cotton Traders outlets to name but two, a large restaurant, gardens and a miniature railway for the kids.
http://thevalleyshopping.co.uk/#next

On arrival at Bishops Cleeve, I’ve got time to scout out the new Persimmon Homes housing development just off the village bypass and get some brochures and price lists. Not that we might be necessarily relocating to Bishops Cleeve (don’t get worried, Kaz ) but it’s all part of our great debate about selling up in Birmingham and relocating, something given greater urgency by the Government’s decision this last week to allow the release of sufficient green belt lying within ½ mile of our home for a new 6,000 home estate. We can see that this is potentially going to affect existing house prices in the locality for many years to come, so we may be wise to move out sooner rather than later …..
http://www.suttoncoldfieldobserver.co.u ... story.html

At the ground, I enter the snack bar. Two old boys are sitting at the table by the door, and eye me up.
“Ey up, Slimbridge supporter ….”
“No, sorry”
“Cleeve, then?”
“Nope”
“So who DO you support?”
“No-one, I’m a hopper …”
“What?”
“A GROUND-hopper. I visit different grounds."
“Bloody ‘ell!”
The Ostrich obviously has a certain notoriety ….

As I’ve said, Kayte Lane is one of my favourite grounds, but I do wish they’d do something with the car park, which gives all the indications of being a prehistoric mining site. There are no obvious changes inside the ground since my last visit back in 2013, but at least they’ve removed the plentiful cobwebs which were then adorning the bucket seats in the main stand , and they’ve fitted 70 solar panels to the clubhouse roof!

I note a set of floodlights off in the middle distance which I’m pretty sure weren’t there the last time I came, and am advised it's the Cheltenham Tigers RUFC Newlands Park complex – not to be confused with Cheltenham North RUFC who play just off the Bishop’s Cleeve bypass. Both may be earmarked for a future visit. My informant also points out the main stand for Cheltenham Racecourse, which you can also see off to the south – I hadn’t realised we were so close to it.

Bishops Cleeve have had an good season compared with recent years, and are comfortably mid-table, while Slimbridge, promoted at the end of last season, have made a reasonably decent start to life in the division, well clear of the relegation zone, so there was nothing actually riding on today’s game. They looked two fairly well-matched teams, plenty of hoofball on a bumpy pitch, plenty of running, and initially chances at both ends. But on 24m, Drake’s headed goal for Bishops Cleeve was ruled offside, and 6 minutes later, Slimbridge took the lead, Mace netting after the defence failed to clear the ball.

Bishop’s Cleeve rather seemed to lose heart after that; Slimbridge were generally more dominant and looked more likely to score a second than the home team equalise. No further goals, but Bishops Cleeve’s frustrations grew, especially with the referee, and culminated with the dismissal of Layton on 88m for a lunging tackle that drew a second yellow card, followed by a red. All in all, not the most memorable match of my season, but satisfaction in that Slimbridge were the last of the 24 teams which I set out to see at the start of the season - task finally accomplished!

That leaves just one Saturday trip before I close this blog, and having handed Ossie his travel instructions for next weekend, our dim-witted bird is already fretting about whether he will be able to discover the mysterious “Car Park Number 9” – that’s as in “you will be directed by security on the front desk to park in car-park 9.” Gulp!

[Ally]

First of all I had a laugh at 'Evo-stick' league.

Then I giggled at 75 turning up.

Then it all went horribly wrong when I saw 'raisins' and 'curry' in the same sentence.

Then I enjoyed the rest of your report.

Can't say I'm looking forward to this coming to an end Ossie...this is a Sunday morning ritual for me.

[TheOstrich]

On reflection, they might have been sultanas ........

[Ally]

On reflection, they might have been sultanas ........

It's all wrong.

[Kaz]

Glad you have had such nice sorties into my adopted county Ossie - rather beautiful, isn't it?

Like Ally I've enjoyed these reports

[TheOstrich]

Saturday 30/04/16 – National League 1 (Level 3) @ 15:00
Loughborough Students RFC 57 Fylde RFC 17
Admission: £6, programme: £2
Refreshments: 50p pint of milk from the Students Union shop, while in the ground £3.50 for an excellent meaty burger, £1 coffee - and £1 for a Snickers bar which was pretty outrageous!
Attendance: around 300

Today, an easy Bank Holiday Saturday drive up the M42 to Ashby de la Zouch (once I’d cleared a two-mile tail-back on the A5 at Tamworth approaching the motorway roundabout) and then across country to Loughborough. Entering the main university complex from Epinal Way, you are stopped at the security barrier in order to declare your intentions and to receive a Visitors Pass. As I mentioned last week, I was supposed to be directed to Car Park 9, but the instructions given were less than succinct and accompanied by a lot of hand-waving in various directions, (but in fairness to the officer concerned, he was trying to dissuade an early-season bee from gaining access to the security hut via his hatch at the time ). Nevertheless, I followed his instructions to the letter and not surprisingly finished up in entirely the wrong place, so retraced my steps and dug out the map I’d printed off the club website which allowed me to navigate my way to the right parking area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughboro ... norama.jpg

The College was founded in 1909, acquired University status in 1966, and it’s a fair size, the grounds covering 438 acres. Notable alumni include athlete Seb Coe, test cricketer Monty Panesar, England rugby’s Fran Cotton, and Paula Radcliffe. I had time to have a look round the pretty modernistic campus. It’s primarily, but not completely, a Sports University (it also has a major Engineering Department); there’s a lot of grey-walled slab-like concrete buildings (which could, I guess, be illicitly used for rock climbing practice ), and plenty of No Smoking signs. Pavement lamp-posts are lined with banners bearing quotes from students (such as Anand Ondhia – BSc Chemistry and Rachael Bennett – BSc Psychology with Ergonomics) extolling university life. I turned a corner around the side of the School of Sport Exercise and Health Sciences and stumbled into a huge open space, called the Shirley Pearce Square (named after a former Vice Chancellor) that looked big enough to hold a North Korean Military Parade, and was populated by earnest young students propelling bicycles or dressed in regulation jogging gear and trainers. On the other side of this expanse, and across the main road, is the Technology Centre, which at least provides smoking shelters for the less purist. Strange sculptures abound, like the UK Swatch Olympic Art Clock – make of it what you will ….
http://empedia.info/resource/161?set=maps%2F7

Returning to the rugby pitch, I see there are two pop-up “Event Pay Stations” at either end of it, but to be honest, you could access the ground from the car-park and completely avoid them if you wanted to. In fact, I walk round one of these tents unchallenged and head for the refreshment area, where I acquire a burger and enquire if there's a shopping mall on the campus. I had a letter this morning from an old school pal who announced that he and his long-term partner had quietly eloped to Gretna Green last week and got married ( ), so I need a Congratulations card. I’m pointed in the direction of the Student Union building, but that means passing a Pay Station to get out of the ground and I haven’t so far paid to get in! Thankfully, the Ostrich was able to display his considerable charisma and charm the ladies in the tent, who let the bird through with a minimum of raised eyebrows.

The outside doors to the supermarket appear to be locked, so Ossie accosted a passing student and blagged his way into the Students Union building proper, accessing the shop from the inside. You’d have thought, at a University, they’d have had plenty of Congratulations cards on display, but rather worryingly, most of them seem to be “With Deepest Sympathy”! As I am not sure if my friends sense of humour extends that far , I opt for an Art Deco style of love hearts, before finding my way outside again and past the “Fusions” night-club, which seems to be doing a roaring and raucous daytime trade. Back at the pay-station, Ossie proffers his money and flutters his eyelashes, but that doesn’t stop the ladies insisting on applying an inky pad to the back of one of his claws, a “pass-out” stamp, which considering how porous the ground is, does seem a trifle superfluous .....

So, time to take stock, and it’s a 3G artificial surface – this is the first rugby game I’ve seen on a synthetic pitch – and it certainly lent itself to fast, running rugby, with the ball bouncing “true” more times than not. There’s no spectator shelter (thankfully the circling rainstorms held off for the duration of the game), but the pitch has wooden railings, and these are slightly elevated on a bank on the cricket pitch side, so Ossie can perch and get quite a decent view of proceedings. All in all, it’s a pleasant venue - given reasonable weather.

There was nothing riding on this final match of the season, with Fylde mid-table and Loughborough Students having just avoided relegation, so both sides embarked on an open game with a final tally of 12 tries scored and no penalty attempts. The Students were quickly out of the block and 12-0 up after 4 minutes, a Fylde defender unfortunately being seriously hurt in the build up to the second try and stretchered off. Fylde rarely got out of their half and Loughborough put 45 points past them before they finally scored on 41m – 45-5 at the interval. The pick of the home players was 19 year-old winger Rotimi Segun who displayed electric pace and an unnerving knack of barrelling through any opposition on his way to a hat-trick of tries.

Loughborough eased up after the break and basically traded tries with Fylde in a lower-tempo second half, the away team having much more territorial possession. It was an enjoyable game today, with the accent firmly on entertainment.

And so ends the Ostrich’s blog; it’s time to say goodbye to our feathered fiend who will be relaxing during the summer months, watching the hapless Coventry Bears rugby league side getting thrashed at regular intervals, and poring over next season’s fixture lists when they eventually get published in July.
I hope you’ve found Ossie’s journals interesting - and hopefully perhaps even a little bit entertaining!

[Ally]

Ossie - I have absolutely loved this thread!!!

Good fun, informative and the food input has been nothing short of hilarious!

Please do another one next season.

Long live the Ostrich!

PS..congrats to your friends.