Oh, to be in England Now that April’s there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England–now!! Robert Browning (1812-1889) . . . Tuesday 1st April 2014 […]
………and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. Revelations 14 : 10 . . . Tuesday 18th March 2014 Uhlsports Hellenic League k.o.:- 7.45pm Premier Division Brimscombe & Thrupp […]
From “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” I met a lady in the meads Full beautiful – a faery’s child, Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild She took me to her elfin grot, And there she wept and sighed full sore; And there I shut her wild, wild eyes […]
Pippa’s Song The year’s at the spring, And day’s at the morn, Morning’s at seven The hill-side’s dew pearl’d, The lark’s on the wing, The snail’s on the thorn, God’s in his heaven – All’s right with the world! Robert Browning (1812-1889) . . . Thursday 2nd January 2014 Baker-Joiner Midland Football Alliance k.o.:- 7.45pm […]
Thinking of Holland I see broad rivers slowly chuntering through endless lowlands, rows of implausibly airy poplars standing like tall plumes against the horizon; and sunk in the unbounded vastness of space homesteads and boweries dotted across the land, copses, villages, couchant towers, churches and elm-trees, bound in one great unity. There the sky hangs […]
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. (from ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost) Monday 7th January 2013 Baker Joiner Midland Alliance k.o.:- […]
Ode to Autumn by John Keats Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, […]
Ahhhh! Slowly, slowly, the drug begins to take effect! Meaningless little friendly matches at first, but very early on a new ground to add to the list speedily followed by four more. It is only the silly season really, still warm, sunny and light in the evenings. Wait till it’s Winter and the gales howl […]
After the Baris Northern Counties East(er) Groundhop, there was barely time to draw breath before it was Bank Holiday Easter Monday and the enticing prospect of three games in a day! Three games in a day used to be pretty easy as teams scattered kick off times like confetti at a white wedding, but of […]
After all the excitement of Spain and Wales and The Central Midlands League Bonanza, the last few days of March were a quiet period when dogs lie low and expectation rises in anticipation of the next big hop and before you know where you are……………..the cricket season! Already, I have got upwards of fifty cricket […]
