Mad Birds and Cornishmen

[miasmum]

Poor Clyde ended up at the vets with an injury. I read about him on one of my Tortoise forums, yes such things really do exist

[TheOstrich]

An eventful week on the footie front, but first, a noticeable success for the Oldie Generation as Waitrose have now expanded their club card “choose 2 from 8” weekly benefits scheme to incorporate print-at-home vouchers rather than having to download a code on yer app and wave it at the checkout scanner . I imagine the average Waitrose Oldie would. like me, have baulked at the kerfaffle of doin’ all that, so maybe “grey power” has won the day!

Anyway, we had a go at it; first choice an Elnet Hair Spray voucher for Mrs O for £2.
“What shall we have for our second coupon, then?”
No idea,” says Mrs O, “you choose.”
“No, you choose.”
“No, I want you to choose!”
“OK, well I know you like Philadelphia spread, so shall we have that?”
“Yes, that’s very kind, good idea!”
“Now once I print the beggar out, you can’t change your mind, you know.”
<grunt>
Printer whirrs: “Right, there it is.”
<dead silence> Then, “I think I would have chosen the loo rolls ……”

I touched up-thread on Ossie’s ambition to achieve a milestone run of 100 games without seeing a goal-less draw. It’s taken since December 2018, probably aided by the pandemic causing me to concentrate on county league games rather than the bigger town clubs, and I started this season in the “nervous nineties”, picking my matches with great care! Well, the big day was last Tuesday ….

My second visit to Cockrams up at Shaftesbury this season, this time for the first team’s opening game in their Wessex League Premier campaign. The Ostrich arrived with a feeling of trepidation:
“Doomed, I tell ye; we’re doomed!”
“Oh do be quiet Ossie!”
but thankfully Alresford Town’s Yeomans relieved the tension on 19m with a spectacular 25 yard half-volley from a cleared corner.

This was actually a very entertaining match. Fast-paced, nip and tuck throughout the game with outstanding performances in particular from Alresford’s Sheppard on the wing and Smart in their goal. The Magpies, who were adept at getting bodies behind the ball, were a nut that Shaftesbury simply couldn’t crack - but boy did they try. Numerous chances at both ends; however, when the ball was played across the box for a tap in to make it 0-2 to Alresford on 67m, the game seemed effectively over.

But on 87m, Shaftesbury’s Lovell hammered home a rebound, and for the remainder of the game (time extended for numerous substitutions), the Rockies laid siege to Alresford’s goal – how they didn’t get the equaliser, goodness only knows. One of the home subs was duly sent off in the dying moments for bringing down an Alresford attacker to prevent a break-away third goal, but that was of little consequence, and the Magpies successfully weathered the storm to claim the win. That was their third successive win at Cockrams – they are certainly Shaftesbury’s bogey team!

There were no problems parking on-site tonight; they have now finished the resurfacing of the area behind the Sports Club building, which was cordoned off last time I visited. There are only 2 LED floodlights per pole around the ground (6 poles in total) and one of those 12 lights failed when they were switched on at half time, but that had little effect on overall visibility. And finally, a first sighting this season of our local father-and-son linesman team Mark and Spencer Chinnock!

02/08/22: Wessex Premier League
Shaftesbury 1 Alresford Town 2
Admission: £4 (concession)
Programme: £1.50. 36pp black-and-white edition, and well worth the price. Glorious home-produced affair, using every font type and size known to mankind , but no spell-checker. Tip: the answers to the quiz are on the back page. If anyone actually manages to locate the quiz, please let me know …...
Teams: Listed on a whiteboard on the wall by the changing rooms, something Wessex League clubs are very good at, especially as there’s no tannoy system ….
Refreshments: Saveloy & chips from the fish bar just down the road £4.50, crisps from the Sports Club bar £1. Hatch was open inside the ground with hot food on display.
Attendance: 92

And then to Saturday, and a quick revisit to Cockrams for an FA Cup tie against a team I’d not come across before: Camberley Town. Camberley are nicknamed “The Krooners”, which has nothing to do with Frank Sinatra or Dickie Valentine, but everything to do with a racehorse! Since 1923, the club have played at Krooner Park on Wilton Road, and the ground was apparently paid for with the winnings of a horse named Krooner who won two races at Haydock Park in 1920.

Well, you couldn’t make it up! The referee finally blew the final whistle on this one at 5:00 pm, with (unsurprisingly) absolutely no indication that the promised ambulance was ever going to turn up. The knee injury to Camberley’s Connor Channon after 55 minutes down by the corner flag was said to have involved the joint popping out and then back in again , and the physios were understandably loathe to move him from the pitch in case there was underlying ligament damage which could have been made a whole lot worse. He’d been clattered by a Shaftesbury defender, a bit unnecessarily in my book; poor lad was in quite a bit of pain. Thoughts for him, and best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. No idea when the ambulance might have got to him; last season at Sherborne Town when a Tytherington player broke his ankle, it took 4 hours ….

Both sides had had their opportunities, but the game had looked to be heading for a possible stalemate anyway. The Rockies had made (mostly positional) changes to the team that performed well against Alresford last Tuesday, but they never really got going against today’s Combined Counties League opponents. Camberley looked a useful side and had slightly the better of the play in the first half, but overall, goal-scoring chances were at a premium.

Despite being abandoned, under my “rules” this game counts in my records, so having completed that run of 100 games without a goalless draw last Tuesday, I’m now 100 and out!

06/08/22: FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Shaftesbury 0 Camberley Town 0 (abandoned after 55m)
Admission: £4 (concession), programme: £1.00 for this game.
Refreshments: Meat Pasty from the hatch £2, crisps from the Sports & Social Club £1. Shaftesbury won the Ossie Award for the Flakiest Sausage Roll two seasons in a row pre-Covid , but they have now expanded their hot food offerings - although this pie offering was again more flake than meat. Oh, and a (rather peppery) egg and cress sandwich from Tescos before the game (£1.40 – not too ruinous), and a consolation iced doughnut with sprinkles for 50p from the hatch whilst we were waiting for the game to be called off. Please don't tell Mrs O!
Attendance: 87

[cromwell]

I hope that the player isn't too badly hurt.
Mark and Spencer....

[TheOstrich]

No footie today for the Ostrich, way too hot. I had been contemplating Lavvy – Laverstock & Ford vs Moneyfields, a Portsmouth club, but a 50 mile round trip to Salisbury in this heat was another matter. More locally, I contemplated two Dorset Premier League games but though “Nah”. One finished 6-5, the other 0-9 !! Such is life.

Master O is down on his regular furlough. He said he tested negative for Covid before setting out.

Ossie: “Seeing as you went to the Brighton Gay Pride Festival the other week, did you test yourself for monkeypox?”
“No – but we had a suspected case in A&E yesterday …..”

An English woman who had just come back from a trip to Tanzania, apparently.

Anyway, back to the footie, and here’s one I did earlier – and yes, it’s déjà vu all over again :

After Saturday’s unfortunate injury to Camberley Town’s Connor Channon – the ambulance finally arrived around 6:00pm, an hour after the game had been abandoned - we had quite a decent rematch at Cockrams on Tuesday tonight. Camberley started the game by pressurising Shaftesbury, but it soon became apparent that the Rockies on the pitch this evening were going to be much more positive and incisive in their approach than the rather lacklustre team fielded on Saturday; the return of the bustling Asa Philips at centre-forward certainly rejuvenated the attack. He was instrumental in the first goal (10m), heading a Louis Moore corner back across goal for Gary Bowles to nod in at the post, and Shaftesbury made it 2-0 on 31m when Delaney slotted home after a flowing move picked apart Camberley’s defence.

The Krooners put up a game performance but it didn’t really seem likely they’d come back from that – until Shaftesbury grew over-complacent and their own defence rather lost the plot in the last quarter of a slightly scrappy second half, allowing Camberley goals on 77m and 82m to equalise. Can’t help feeling the Rockies threw this one away, and I can only guess what their Manager said in the changing rooms after the match .

So it’s all back to Krooner Park Tuesday next week …...

06/08/22 - FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round (2nd Attempt)
Shaftesbury 2 Camberley Town 2
Admission: £4 (concession)
Programme: £1, they did well to produce a 12pp effort in the time, although it has to be said the stapling is somewhat eccentric – I can’t open the back 4 pages!
50/50 draw: £1, guy comes round announcing the result at half-time. I don’t mind donating to the any club in this way as long as they play fair and announce the result. Not all clubs do .
Refreshments: Saveloy & chips £4.50 from that quite decent chippie nearby.
Attendance: 111

[Kaz]

Another good read Ossie I take it the diet has gone by the wayside……?

[TheOstrich]

Kaz, amazingly, I am at my lowest weight for many years. These visits to the chippie are very much the rarity, and possibly a necessity - if I tell you my recent basic diet has consisted of:

Breakfast: a small hot cross bun and a cuppa tea
Elevenses: A single mug of coffee
Lunch: a bowl of home-made pottage (carrot, celery, onion and lentils mainly), an apple and a slice of toast
Mid afternoon: cuppa tea and a Kitkat (104 calories)
Tea: as lunch but without the apple
Evening: a packet Cuppa Soup.

As you can see, that's well below the daily calorie allowance for a male. I've lost about 4 lbs on it inside a fortnight ......

Now if I lose much more, I shall begin to be within touching distance of the ridiculously low "target" figure that my diabetic specialist nurse set pre-Covid. I always said at the time that was at least a stone less than the weight I was comfortable with. As it is, I now find I'm getting prone to low BP and dizziness, exacerbated by the hot weather, so I ought to be looking to gain weight, not lose it .... but at least I have a "low" figure I can report on my on-line Medical Review.

[Kaz]

Wow, that's incredible!! Blooming well done, That Burd!!

[cromwell]

Well done Os!

[TheOstrich]

Thank you both!

But as I said, the downside is low BP and dizziness - and I had a "turn" tonight. Fortunately - or unfortunately depending on your point of view - Master O is here, took one look at the BP reading and said he ought to be calling an ambulance.

He was not overly amused when I called him "Nurse Ratched". In retaliation, he made me drink goodness knows how many beakers of water until I had it coming out of ears. Seemed to do the trick .... but it is something I need to watch.

Losing weight is all very well, but there can be drawbacks ....

[miasmum]

ossie take care Low blood pressure is so difficult to control