Sitting in Eastbourne I decided to catch up on some of the latest happenings which is something I try to do when we are away, ready to write stories for the next Hethersett Herald.
The July edition is pretty much finished and once again runs to over 100 pages. I have had to put a notice in this one stating that it isn't up to our usual standard due to the file problems I have had with Publisher software.
As a result I have had to put a stop on this edition in order to get it published on time. So I have bucketloads of stuff held over for the next edition, which should be a bumper one providing I don't have any more software problems.
I feel I must mention Hethersett and Tas Valley cricket club. Up to three games ago they were rock bottom of the Norfolk Alliance Premier Division. Then two wins from the last three games has hoisted them out of the two relegation places.
All three of those games went to the last over. The latest win was an absolute triumph at the seaside - Cromer to be precise.
Cromer scored a massive 346 in their 50 overs at well over a run a ball. Hethersett stuck to their enormous task and reached the target with five balls and five wickets left.
It was a triumphant day for skipper Ben France who hit the winning boundary and finished unbeaten on 150 and Jonathan Cooper who was run out but not before scoring 103. Together they put on 232 runs - a new club and team record for the fifth wicket.
Yesterday we went to the tennis at Eastbourne - our first visit for a few years.
Devonshire Park is a lovely complex and I was envious of the players playing on grass. I started playing at around the age of seven and by the age of about 14 was in the Norfolk training squads. We played on grass and I was always a better player on grass than on hard courts. But it's years since I have had a game on grass as very few grass courts remain.
For me the thing about grass is the balls bounce much lower and it's more of a reaction game. Sometimes on hard courts you just have too much time to play shots. I often find myself changing my mind about where I'm going to hit the ball and that often leads to it going out of the court or into the net.
This year we saw some good and some not so good. I was looking forward to seeing an Argentinian by the name of Thomas Echeverry. He looked really good in getting to the quarter finals of the recent French Open. At Eastbourne he was very lack lustre and lost to an American by the name of J J Wolf. If I'm going to support him I need to perfect the Wolf howl.
One of the matches we saw was between a Ukrainian with an unpronounceable name and a Russian with an equally unpronounceable name. Actually the names were very similar despite the players being lightyears apart. The fact that one of them was Russian was never highlighted by the announcer who introduced the players. Every other player had their nationality by their name but Russians playing sport at the moment are pretty stateless.
The match was pretty one-sided but the most noticeable thing was the players made no eye contact at the coin toss. At the end of the game there was no handshake with the beaten Ukrainian shaking hands with the umpire and then walking off court. The crowd were pretty generous with their applause for the winner.
There were a couple of amusing things from the day. One player hit the ball into the stand in trying to do a lob. The ball was picked up by a woman and what did she do with it? No she didn't throw it back onto the court. She didn't even pop it into her bag. As a ball girl waited, she took a picture of it on her mobile. I bet it went family viral later that night as on "here I am with one of the match balls."
The other amusing incident came when the other threequarters went to the loo. Ok there's nothing very funny about that but she asked me to get her a cup of tea from the stall under the main stand.
So off I trotted. By the time I got to be served the other threequarters had rejoined me ( that's came back to stand with me and not join me together because I had fallen apart). Now remember this was the first day of six and only about two hours into that day.
"A cup of tea please," we said in unison.
"I'm afraid we only have Earl Grey," came the reply.
Tea bags, tea bags, our kingdom for a tea bag.
That's enough about sport. Watched some more of the highlights from Glastonbury and how good was Elton John who duetted with a series of guests? It was interesting that here was one of the most flamboyant of entertainers of all time but there was little posturing. He just let his music talk for itself.
It was pretty much the same with Cat Stevens who produced a set of understated classics including one of my all time favourites "Father and Son". For the most part it was pure nostalgia. My only complaint was he included too many "new songs" most of which were pretty poor.
He did say that all the world leaders should be given a new home - London Zoo. A bit extreme I thought as they would just be replaced by new leaders and the zoo would soon become full to overflowing.
Today we will be travelling back to Norfolk. I wonder whether I will overhear any interesting conversations on the train. If I do I will tell you about them tomorrow.