Photograph Quiz:
Photo -1:- no photo again because you keep pestering me for a clue for the number quiz. No way matey boy. But to further foster good relations between us, I will give you another line. So … hows about
211213
And to reassure you, it is a sums quiz, a simple sums quiz, not one of your childish type like …
What is the next number in the sequence 6 6 7 9 8 …..????
=> … 6.
And the reason is:- the numbers indicate the number of letters of days of the week, i.e. Sunday is 6, Monday is 6, etc.. Stupid. I cannot stand the quizzie tv type dumb dumbs. Enough.
Well Blog,
Contrasting events ……
In the mist this morning I went for a mini trudge while watching both my daughters compete in the Sphinx 8 mile off road event at Coombe Abbey, near Coventry. As is usual for an athletic club promoted event, it was well organised, well marshalled, good field, free long sleeved T-shirt for every finisher, a generous free mug of soup for all, spot prizes for competitors, a good level and spread of prizes, even free bags of sweets given out to the kids who had been dragged along by parents, grandparents etc.. Basically, doing what clubs do best … giving a good value for money event whilst at the same time raising much needed funds to plough back into their athletic’s club to help promote the sport and bring on the next generation of athlets; all with the help of an army of unpaid volunteers.
First contrast:- not a thousand miles away, it is possible that a ‘fun run’ for charity was taking place, organised by one of the new breed of Grabbit Co. Ltd.. Or perhaps it is in a week or two?I might be wrong? At the charity event that did / might have taken place / will be taking place, ask yourself Blog, What did the runners get/will get for their fee?? How much did the charity get /will get? How do you find out?????? Who did/will do the first aid???????? Did they need / will they have a permit????????? What was/will be their insurance cover?????????? Interesting or what? To my mind one of the obligations of a governing body of a sport, any sport, is to protect their existing club members, to police the sport and when not in a position to exert any kind of control, to at least use some influence to publicise any worries to potential participants / entrants. But are the authorities bothered in athletics about any ‘rogue’ races?? A moot question.
Second contrast:- last year the race at Coombe Abbey was run in -7 degrees, yes minus 7, with snow on the ground. Would I lie to you Blog? Compare to 9 degrees this year. Now all my sums learning tell me that the difference is a lot. Last year the air was crystal clear because of the low temperature. This year visibility was severely curtailed because of the mist. About this time of year some fifty years ago, the annual inter universities’ race at Wollaton Park in Nottingham was held in fog. Thick fog. Very thick fog. One of the famed pea soupers of the time. All the runners set off but soon spread out, it being a student competition for half a dozen universities. I knew the park as well as anyone and I got lost! In those days we started and finished at the far gate by the Nottingham University Campus, not the familiar start line of recent Inter Counties competition. The course was marked in the usual lax university way .. none of this marshal rubbish, only an occasional flag. A recipe for disaster in the fog. At the finish, if it was found, runners emerged from the fog from all directions!! I kid you not. So having travelled a couple of hundred miles, the race was declared void. GREAT. At least this morning was only misty.
Third contrast:- A contrast of attitudes. How time and a few quids can alter perspective. On Saturday morning I did a trudge up the University of Warwick Playing fields. Not very far and very slow …. I fell a**e over tit on Thursday night and my poor collarbone thinks it is my shin or something. Pleasing really that no more damage was done …. And the added bonus was that a lady in a car pulled over to see if I was OK!! Now that’s a first. She kindly left me her card with me when I had reassured her that I was fine. She seems to work for an insurance company specialising in injury claims. Only joking Blog. About the insurance company that is, not about her stopping to see if I was OK. It might have been my fourth discussion at close quarters this year with Mother Gaia but it has been three months since I was last in contact. Being so sore, I did my trudge around the trim track.
Imagine
acres of manicured playing fields, hardly sullied by sports men and women of the student variety….. a near two mile jog trail, the envy of all other jog trails …. a pavilion with a bar and lounge built on as a second story, from the comfort of which you have a vantage point overlooking the entire sporting fields complex(1) … a ground staff who are both pleasant and helpful … an administrative staff who are both obliging and helpful. That dear Blog is what you get with the University of Warwick, which has its campus in the country side, three miles from the Coventry city centre, but a long way from the county town of Warwick.
But there is or was, a fly in the ointment in the shape of a single member of University Senate who managed to put his spoke into the activities of athletics / cross country about a decade ago with his blinkered views. On a Saturday in November, I had organised a schools inter county cross country race with teams from as far away as London in the south and Liverpool in the north. Unfortunately, the previous week was a re-enactment of the conditions Noah had encountered when he went sailing with his pets. And of course, all those little children’s feet tramping in the mud, made the university fields look rough. Very rough. But two weeks later they were fine again. BUT. The problem was that a member of University Senate took his doggie for a walk on the Sunday morning. [N.B. not allowed under university rules]. The said senate member carried a disproportionate amount of weight on the University governing body and at the next Senate meeting he was successful in banning all cross country on the university playing fields!!! The ground staff, the administrative staff and the club were equally appalled but the gentleman who carried a great deal of weight on Senate. So that was it. The damage was done. Thanks to the tolerance and understanding of the university staff, the edict was quietly forgotten over a suitable period of time. Nod, nod. Wink, wink. It seemed that most staff regarded him as a pain in the derrière but couldn’t say so because he carried a great deal of weight on Senate.
Now those very footpaths on the university perimeter which the gentleman on Senate and his doggie didn’t want cross country runners feet spoiling, have now been incorporated into the new University to Kenilworth cycle way, courtesy of Sustrans(2). So the Senate gentleman’s precious soil is being ripped up, his trees felled and a tarmac grit path laid. I do hope he still walks his dog along there and hope doggiekins doesn’t get too much grip in his poor paws. I bet those quids ameliorated his objections?
To be fair, I have to question why this new path is being laid at great expense when a perfectly suitable cycle path exists parallel and about 400 metres to the south of the new development. I kid you not, Blog. The existing path has been there for a decade and last year was updated, the signage repainted and new tarmac laid!!
Colin
Notes 1. The pavilion is so placed that VIPs could be accommodated in comfort whilst a cross country race took place outside, the whole of the proceedings viewed from the vantage point. The sports field has every type of surface required of a top class Cross Country race, and if it were televised, few cameras would be needed. What an opportunity for a sponsor. Any offers Blog??
Notes 2. Sustrans is sustainable transport
No comments:
Post a Comment