They Thought it was All Over ..... But Maybe It Isn't!

[cromwell]

What a helpful guard!
Is Yeovilton where those rescue helicopters are based?
I'm feeling a bit deprived here. The most exotic thing that ever gets asked round here is has anyone seen a lost parrot? Or can you recommend a good window cleaner?

[Workingman]

Nice place, RNAS Yeovilton.

We took some RAF Harriers and Puma helicopters down there to play war games on Salisbury plain. Unfortunately I was part of the crew setting up and operating the field dispersals, refuelling pillow tanks and radios / ATC in some scrub land on the plain, so spent three weeks under a tarp, camouflage netting and a bivi just up from Warminster. We only got a few days at the RNAS to set up and then pack away.

The matelots were quite friendly when we first got there, but they gave us a wide berth when we came down from the plain. I wonder why?

[Workingman]

Eat your heart out Ostrich, we have us an alpaca pitch invasion.

[TheOstrich]

Eat your heart out Ostrich, we have us an alpaca pitch invasion.

Oh that's brilliant. Mind you, I wouldn't want to get too close to it - they spit as well as bite. I certainly don't blame that player doing his best to dodge it .....

[cromwell]

The funniest pitch invasion I remember was by the Leeds police. I can't find a link to it but it was in East Leeds on a pitch near the Torre Road.
They stormed the pitch to arrest a man who had escaped from prison a couple of years earlier and was actually turning out for his local footie side!

History does not record if his team were allowed to sub him...

[TheOstrich]

Another hectic social whirl this week of shopping, baking, and visits from various tradesfolk – the local carpenter who has restored the woodwork on Mrs O’s heirloom child-sized chair, the window cleaner, and the guy who is going to replace our double glazing next January who returned to check some measurements. Add to that a walk up to the pharmacy for the monthly prescriptions and for Ossie, his late running annual diabetic retinopathy check at the local leisure centre. Never a dull moment! The latter was all very well organised, in and out in 20 minutes, proper social distancing and PPE as you’d expect with the NHS. Results through the post in two to three weeks, apparently.

As for today, Mrs O set off with a friend to a nearby garden centre in Wincanton for lunch and a chinwag – a bit of a “last hurrah” before the onset of winter – and Ossie set off with a list of 5 potential games in the Yeovil and District League, again with absolutely no confirmation that any of them were definitely “on” . With pretty much all the local clubs, Twitter is all very well if you want to know what’s going on three years ago , but informative, up-to-date tweets are about as rare as a salami sandwich in a sauna .

Now that the holiday season is over, and the A303 resembles a road rather than a car park, I decided to head west for Martock. It was slow going up and over Yeovilton Hill (as I call it ; the Ordnance Survey, Google Maps, and just about everyone else apart from the Ostrich call it Camel Hill, apparently ) but there again, with plenty of time, I was happy trundling along behind a huge Home Bargains truck.

Martock is a large village, almost a small town in fact, north of the A303 and serves as a bit of a commuter hub for Yeovil. It’s ancient – “Mertock” in the Domesday Book – and at one point in the Middle Ages was designated a market town; indeed, it still has an impressive market cross in front of the 18th century Market House which has been restored as a community centre. Most of the buildings are built in the local honey-coloured hamstone, including the National Trust-owned, Grade 1-listed Treasurer’s House which lies slap in the middle of the village opposite the parish church and which dates right back to the early 13th century.

With time to kill, I wandered into the village in order to explore. Today, it’s got a fair few amenities, ranging from a hotel, a chemist, an optician, a dentist, a small shopping mall with an artisan bakers (I would have bought something there, but there was a long queue outside! ), a number of cafes and pubs, and a sizeable business park. Quite thriving, in many ways, but just to show the other side of the coin, it does have its dark underbelly . In 2018, the local council controversially employed a security firm to patrol the streets after the police had failed to curb rising anti-social behaviour, something which certainly made news headlines:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-44818726
(The picture was taken in front of that artisan bakers)
As an aside, I did notice today at the game that there were a couple of small groups of yoofs happily swigging away at beer bottles; that isn’t generally the norm down here.

The Martock Recreation Ground is huge, at least two full size soccer pitches and (I’d forgotten this) it’s also the home of Martock Rugby Club so two rugby pitches as well. The main rugby pitch is fenced and floodlit but everything else is open. Two large modern buildings dominate one side of the campus, the Pavilion, which is a series of meeting rooms, and a changing room block. Other sports available on campus are tennis and hockey, and there’s also a skate park and childrens’ playground with a rather hairy-looking zip-wire. There was a grassy knoll, probably the product of ancient landscaping, next to the main soccer pitch behind one corner, and that proved an ideal vantage point to sit on so I availed myself of it in the first half - but it was flippin’ windy up there (Ossie's fevvers totally ruffled ) so I spent the second half at the other end of the ground where it was, at least, sunnier.

Both Martock United and Stoke sub Hamdon were bottom of the table with no points going into today’s game, and to give it a bit of extra spice, it was a local derby. The home side’s team talk seemed to consist of “… and I don’t want any more gobbin’ off to the ref today as it’s $%&£$& embarrassin’ ”. In the event, Martock didn’t have any time for contemplating expletives as Stoke took the game to them from the outset, and facing three direct-running attackers up front, the home defence had its work cut out. It wasn’t one-way traffic by any means, though, but Martock seemed to want to dribble the ball into the Stoke penalty area, and that tactic simply wasn't working. Both keepers had to make some smart saves, but it was Martock who cracked first; after 36m, the home keeper misjudged a direct free kick swung in from the left, everybody else left it, and the ball found the far corner of the net.

Into the second half, and you wouldn’t have been placing money on Martock finding an equaliser, although the Stoke defence was looking a shade nervy every time the ball came their way . Eventually Stoke sealed the points on 70m when a corner was swung in under the bar from the right, and one of three away players attacking it managed to bundle it home; I have no idea who as you aren’t allowed to celebrate goals under the Covid restrictions, so the actual scorer remains a mystery ! That goal released the tension, and as Martock subsided, Stoke had the chances to add another two or three in the last 20 minutes, but some brave goalkeeping kept them out. An absorbing game; Stoke played far better than their lowly position suggests, but Martock, I think, could be in for a torrid season.

26/09/20 – Yeovil & District League Premier Division (Step 11) – Martock United 0 Stoke sub Hamdon 2
Admission: free
Refreshments: A pack of 4 Devon Cakes’ Somerset Cider Slices. “Deliciously fruity cider apple and cinnamon slices” £2.99 from the Premier Stores in Martock. A bit tart but certainly cidery - Ossie is now snoring in the corner …
Covid Rating: 5/10. A notice on a large sandwich board pitchside contained a QR Code and a request to sign in for track and trace. I gave it a wide berth . Plenty of people looked at it, but I didn’t spot anyone actually using it - marks for trying, though.
Attendance: 46

And finally, some furrin’ news this week, which might otherwise have escaped your attention :

Man blows up part of house while chasing fly
A man has blown up part of his house in France while trying to swat a fly.
The man, who is in his 80s, was about to tuck into his dinner when he became irritated by a fly buzzing around him.
He picked up an electric racket designed to kill bugs and start swatting at it - but a gas canister was leaking in his Dordogne home.
A reaction between the racket and the gas caused an explosion, destroying the kitchen and partly damaging the roof of the home in Parcoul-Chenaud village.

No news on the health of the fly...

[Kaz]

I wonder if Camel Hill has any connection to the hamlet of Queen Camel, where my in-laws live Although what Camels have to do with Somerset, I have no idea!

Crikey, that Frenchman was lucky!

[Workingman]

That lad Hamdon looks a bit of a player coming on as sub and beating the other team 2 - 0 all on his own.

But..... those cake slices look a bit pricey. Well, they do to a Yorkie, so I found a recipe. The apple trees are looking quite full so I might get the demi johns out and give both the cider and the cake a go.

[TheOstrich]

Kaz, this Camel / Yeovilton Hill is about a mile from Queen Camel village. Wiki sayeth :

The name "Camel" derives not from the animal but from "cantmael", the name of the place in the 10th century. "Cantmael" possibly derives from the Celtic words canto "district" and mael "bare hill". The "Queen" in the village's name is probably Queen Eleanor, the wife of Henry III, who owned land in the area in the 13th century.

The small tributary river flowing through the village is the River Cam. It's a bit of a pain during monsoons, it can be prone to flooding round there, and SiL has nearly been cut off on the odd occasion.

I agree WM, they were a bit pricey, but as it was a Premier Stores, meaning 75% of the goods for sale consisted of Monster Munch and beer, it seemed the best alternative .....
There's a bit of a looming problem round here. It is reported there has been an excellent crop of cider apples, but thanks to Covid, the demand for cider has fallen through the floor.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... der-slumps
SiL has a couple of cider apple trees in her back garden and having been there delivering shopping a couple of weeks back, I can attest they're pretty heavily laden this year. She normally gives them to a local independent guy with a small press in return for a couple of bottles of the finished product, so I shall keep my ear to the ground and try to find out what's happening this year.

[Kaz]

Oh how disappointing, I imagined cider-fuelled camel races

Joking aside, that's very interesting, and explains the odd name xx