Ostrich on the Hoof

[Ally]

That reverse parking sounds a nightmare....

There is a OneStop shop at Jackie's local station (Marston Green) that I gleefully visit whenever I'm over. They always seem to have huge bags of my favourite crispy snacks (Monster Munches, Wotsits or Quavers) on special offer and I invariably buy them! Lots of.

Great read Ossie.

[cromwell]

Beaconsfield lies sort of between High Wycombe and Gerrards Cross, and given it’s only 24 miles from Central London, the Rugby Football Union have, with their usual brand of logic, allocated it to the South Western Pyramid, thus potentially saddling it with fixtures against the likes of Barnstaple and Launceston. And this when grassroots rugby is trying to raise concerns with the mandarins in Twickenham Towers about financing long journeys and their increasing difficulties in raising teams to fulfil such fixtures …...

This is absolutely crackers!
I hate winter driving with a wet road and a low sun too Ossie; it's absolutely dazzling and dangerous.
Poor Wimborne. Dour they may have been but two late tries sound a bit harsh.
£3 for a sandwich is supermarket territory!
Great read Os, I really enjoyed it.

[TheOstrich]

Dorset Premier League
Lg 21/12/2019 Bournemouth Sports (Parley) Dorchester Sports Postponed
Lg 21/12/2019 Gillingham Town Balti Sports Postponed
Lg 21/12/2019 Hamworthy Recreation Merley Cobham Sports Postponed
Lg 21/12/2019 Holt United Corfe Castle Postponed
Lg 21/12/2019 Portland United Reserves Swanage Town & Herston Postponed
Lg 21/12/2019 Sherborne Town Reserves Wareham Rangers Postponed
Lg 21/12/2019 Sturminster Newton United Westland Sports Postponed
Lg 21/12/2019 Bridport Reserves Blandford United Postponed

Tells you all you need to know!

That's it for the Footie Blog for 2019. Enjoy Christmas and see you again in the New Year.

PS: When it comes to Festive Birds, Ossie reminds you to stuff the turkey, not the Ostrich ….

[Ally]

No stuffing of birds over here Ossie. We're going to Nerja for Christmas and a table has been booked at our favourite Nepalese restaurant.

Thanks for the roving reports this year and I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas.

PS....Ostrich in Spanish is avestruz.

[Kaz]

Yes, thanks for the great reads, Ossie, and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours xxx

[miasmum]

You could have gone out and just found some refreshments, I love reading about the refreshments

Thanks Ossie love your blog.

Have a happy ostrich Christmas and I can assure you, we would not fit an ostrich in our oven, stuffed or unstuffed.

xxx

[cromwell]

Thanks for all the good reads Os.

[TheOstrich]

So, back in the saddle after a long Christmas break, occasioned by foul weather and a paucity of interesting fixtures . Recent days have seemed never-endingly dull and gloomy in Dorset, with very little sunshine, but at least the mild weather has brought forth both the snowdrop and garlic bulbs, and our bird feeders haven’t required much topping up, despite regular visitations from the local flock of jackdaws (who are far too bulky to cling onto the fat ball holder for more than five seconds and in a flurry of feathers keep falling off ).

What delights do we have to look forward to in the New Year? Well, more rail strikes for one, as the RMT are currently industriously balloting members to renew their mandate – they have to do this every six months by law. Assuming the ballot is affirmative (there’s no reason why it should be anything other, as far as I’m aware), then strikes will probably resume in February. Having just completed a month-long walkout, it is difficult to see how they could do anything less next time round, which is a worry ….

And talking of worry, the BBC have got hold of dash-cam footage from that train all but involved just before Christmas in a pile-up at a level crossing in Norfolk . This was a brand new train, and apparently it failed to interact properly with the level-crossing gates it was approaching. The gates got confused and having lowered, raised themselves again - and traffic started to cross before the train, travelling at 45 mph, had reached the crossing …..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-englan ... 25-seconds
Seriously scary. And in another incident which I think has had less publicity, a few days after that, one of these new trains crossed the Trowse Swing Bridge on the outskirts of Norwich - and totally disappeared off the local signal boxes’ electronic display. They were still trying to track down exactly what had happened to it and where it had gone when it turned up, thankfully safely, in Norwich Station …..

Ossie’s basic rule this season is only to attend matches where a new ground can be visited or a new club seen, and today the visitors at the local rugby club were Swindon RFC, the final team I needed to see to complete Southern Counties South, my local Level 7 league. North Dorset RFC are having yet another poor season – they are too lightweight a side for this league in my view – and after flirting with relegation for the last two years, they are currently bottom of the table. As three teams are relegated, they’re 11 points adrift of safety, and although we’re only half way through the season, I’d be very surprised if they manage to pull off Houdini style escape this time around. Swindon are currently fourth, 11 points behind the league leaders.

There’s been a couple of changes to North Dorset’s Slaughtergate campus since my last visit. Firstly they are in the process of erecting an agricultural-style barn to house the club tractor and various mowing implements, and the steel construction, which currently has a roof but no sides, is almost as big as the clubhouse and changing rooms themselves . Secondly, this being one of the clubs that actually charge spectators admission at this level, they’ve acquired a rather dinky dirty-white plastic programme kiosk, about the size of a portaloo, and positioned it next to the car park entrance gate so the poor beggars collecting the money have at least got some shelter from the elements . If you’re wondering where they sourced this magnificent edifice from, there may be a clue on the side of it. I see it’s signwritten “Blackpool FC”!

The first half was completely forgettable. North Dorset had all the play and got absolutely nowhere; the away side were happy to sit back and absorb the pressure. I’ve mentioned above North Dorset’s lightweight squad – Swindon’s front row player Reece Kinnet wore the number 22 on his shirt which was, I would say, a pretty accurate reflection of his weight in stones! Amazingly he played the whole match, although he didn’t exactly exert himself. Mind you, he didn’t really have any need to …..

The referee was a gentleman I recall seeing before, and he was one of those officials best described as a “frequent whistler”. Coupled with the fact we had more than a few injury stoppages, the whole affair was very pedestrian, and the 40 minute first half took 53 minutes to complete. It was very nearly pointless as well but just before the end, Swindon scored after a prolonged period of possession, and within a few minutes of the second half notched a second try to take what seemed an unassailable 0-14 advantage. And with the home side still playing ineffectually, and Swindon content with their lead, that’s how I thought it was going to stay.

But rugby can be a funny old game at times – 65 minutes of, frankly, dross was followed by a climactic last quarter of an hour. Firstly our gargantuan hero for Swindon took a lineout about 10 yards out from his try-line, lazily telegraphed a sloppy throw to the front of the line, and quick as a flash, North Dorset’s Jack Spencer intercepted the throw and was over the try line before anyone had time to react. Three minutes later, Jake Cannings galloped down the left and accelerated away under the posts for North Dorset’s second try and the scored were tied at 14-14 – the home side had completely unexpectedly come back from the dead! Sensing a famous victory, they threw caution to the winds, piled on the pressure and with the clock ticking down …. completely threw it away by conceding two breakaway tries in two minutes! But still the game wasn’t quite over, and with the last play of the match, North Dorset scored a third try and at least rescued a “losing bonus point” from the overall shambles!

04/01/20 –Wadworth 6X Southern Counties South (Level 7): North Dorset RFC 21 Swindon RFC 26
Admission: £3 including a programme – a generic 16pp glossy advertising shell with a 4pp match specific insert.
Refreshments: They usually do decent pasties here, including a bit of salad. Today’s disappointing offering was a hardened wholemeal pastry affair with no rabbit food (£2.50)
Attendance: 66

[cromwell]

Well done on staying awake for the first half Os! Bad luck on the food though.
You are right about the train stories, very little publicity at all - none, in fact.
Great read and I'm glad the match perked up for you at the end!

[Kaz]

Wow, that train stuff sounds scary!

Ossie, we watched the Gloucester v Bath game on the telly yesterday. A poor first half for Glos, but they pulled it back brilliantly in the second half xx