Football And Footlights In Framlingham

I had a great day yesterday. We got up a bit later than usual and headed down to The Lemon Tree for an excellent full English. You'll find me doing the crossword in The Crown or The Dancing Goat over a cup of coffee and a slice of cake most weekdays but on a Saturday it's the Times Jumbo2 crossword and that calls for a more substantial meal. I'm happy to say that we managed to complete it this week which was a good start to the morning.

We then headed to the bookshop to thank Victoria for giving my novel a prominent position in the window in support of my ad in this week's AboutFram email. I'm not sure if anybody has bought a signed copy from the bookshop yet but the ad did bring a good response to the Kindle sales.

After the shopping it was time to head back home to watch Liverpool v Everton on TV. I won't dwell on that but as soon as it finished I walked up the road and settled down to watch table topping Framlingham Town against Ipswich Exiles in the Touchline Suffolk & Ipswich League.

The excellent young Framlingham side were already 2-0 up when I got to my seat and it wasn't long before the score increased to 3-0 sparking a mini riot in front of the home team dug out.

Fortunately Timothy West, taking a day off from his theatrical duties, had a good game and managed the situation well and no doubt with a "methinks he doth protest too much" sent off the Ipswich offender.

Tim In A More Familiar Role

With the opposition down to ten men, the second half became a rout and Danny Smith (at seventeen an outstanding goalscoring prospect- Brendan Rogers take note ) completed a hat trick and could have had more if he hadn't put this one over. Framingham ended 7-1 winners with some attractive attacking football. I was impressed by Bret Bellamy who took his penalty well and subs Issac Robinson and Nathan Vincent both scored within minutes of getting onto the pitch. Olly Goddard attacked well and if he had chosen to pass instead of going for goal on a number of occasions the score could have reached double figures.

After the match we headed up to the college for an hour of outstanding sketch comedy from the Cambridge Footlights (who left the stage before I had time to take a photo so you'll have to make do with these cardboard cut outs). We saw a similar show when we saw Sheeps at the Edinburgh Fringe two years ago but this was even funnier. I particularly enjoyed sketches involving a French conversation using Google translate "Sacred blue!" and "Burnt cream" , a sausage factory demonstration infiltrated by a dog and an introduction to a randy chameleon. It was a non-stop hour of excellent comedy and I am sure that we will be seeing a lot of the five (very) young men in the future. 

We were home in time to watch X Factor on Sky Plus so, all in all, a pretty perfect day.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Give Me Your Tomorrow

by John Brassey

Giveaway ends October 10, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Say It With Showers

I was going to walk down with Marion to The Dancing Goat this afternoon for a coffee and a cake. We've been there a lot lately as we find it very cosy and the coffee's very good too.But I'm afraid that, even the thought of The Dancing Goat's delicious home made cakes and their new wood burner couldn't get me out of the house this afternoon. I'm as upbeat and optimistic a person as you could ever meet and I know that most of the country is in the same boat (no pun intended) but even I am running out of positive spin to put on the situation other than "at least we're not flooded".  We've got dinner booked at The Crown for Valentine's night so we'll have to go out later but instead of a nice dress I think that Marion will be kitted out in wellies and a sou'wester. 

For a (rather unusual) Valentine's gift I bought Marion this lovely little driftwood art sculpture of the owl and the pussycat from Theatre antiques in Framlingham. It's a delightful little item and both owl and puss are beautifully painted and full of character. I've been trying to work out who the artist is but despite manipulating in photoshop (see below) I haven't been able to decipher it.

If you can read it please get in touch as I would love to see other work by the artist.

I also bought two tickets to see King Lear at The National Theatre as another Valentine gift. Now if you know how much I love King Lear you will appreciate what a selfless and loving gift this is.

Once the weekend is over it's going to be all systems go in preparation for seeing our Scottish granddaughters. This new buggy arrived from Amazon yesterday along with various other baby and toddler necessities. We're meeting Sarah in London on Thursday and staying with her to babysit while she completes her Baby And Toddler Yoga instructors' course  in Brixton. She's then going to join us and see Framlingham for the first time so we're looking forward to showing her around - Marion's on Amazon now looking for a canoe.

I had planned to go and watch the big match here in Framlingham tomorrow.It's the quarter final of the Bob Coleman Cup and the Castlemen are playing Ipswich Valley Rangers. I somehow doubt that the match will be on. My neighbour Bernard keeps the pitch in fantastic condition but I somehow doubt that even he could pull this one off.

The Big Match

Our local team Framlingham Town FC or The Castlemen was celebrating 125 years of existence yesterday and nearby Championship giants Ipswich Town kindly sent along a youth team for a presentation match sponsored by our friendly local The Crown Hotel.

It was a glorious evening and the carnival atmosphere was bolstered by the MC playing Bob Marley tracks over the PA. With Bob jamming and a sunset like this I felt that one of the killer bees from the beach bar in Nevis would have been more appropriate than my half time cup of tea. 

I didn't win the fantastic raffle prize of a wheelbarrow full of drinks and I had to smile when the PA announced that parked cars were blocking the road and a pea viner was unable to get past - this never happened at Anfield.

No I didn't know what a pea viner was either but I imagine that the cars backed up behind it had plenty of other names for it by the time it eventually got moving about half an hour later.

As for the match, the Castlemen put on a brave display but the very talented young Ipswich side didn't give them any time on the ball and camped out in our half for most of the game. This free kick was as near as we came. 

We did have a couple of corners but Ipswich rubbed it in with a final score of 7-0. Youngsters eh! Don't they realise that when you come to celebrate a team's 125th anniversary you aren't supposed to try and score 125 goals? And perhaps you might just let one slip in instead of making a respectable 0-5 score turn into 0-7 with two goals in injury time.

It was good to hear my neighbour Bernard being praised for his work on the pitch and I have to say the playing surface was as good as any that you're likely to see. Well done Bernard - ever thought of a robot mower?