Wednesday 27 April 2011
My Central Paper on Pilbrow & Lighting Design
The link to this paper can be found here. Sadly, the references and footnotes have been mangled in uploading, so do contact me if you want details of authors mentioned in the text.
Monday 25 April 2011
Sun, Sea, Sand and Stretford
Fighting through the pain, well you try being in Mark's car for an hour, your correspondent left the dark valleys of north Derbyshire to emerge into the sunlit plains of suburban Manchester. High noon with those willow-swingers of Stretford it sure was...
In an effort to offer entertainment to the crowd, Stretford batted first. Tideswell, after the usual pre-match ritual of introducing themselves to one another, opened the bowling with the pace duo of Cormack and Shirt. The pitch was hard, true and occupied by batsmen of real competence. Everyone took a wacking but kept going; Dan bowled a great ball to take the first wicket and Saville, having relaxed a bit, bowled a lovely outswinger. Spin came from Sammy the Stag and Bomber Waining; I have heard, on the grapevine, that the latter has been contacted by NASA with a view to resupplying the international space station. Sayers had a bowl and took a wicket, and there was the usual performance of "Seven Byes for Seven Brothers" behind the stumps. Stretford made 223 for five, pegged back by a very decent Tideswell fielding display.
The batting was dire. Paul Rushworth went to the second ball of the innings; no doubt he will take solace from holding a great catch and getting the fielding points.....no doubt..... Further gloom ensued when it became clear that Reeves was the only batsman that appeared to have any clue how to play the Stretford attack; there is no justice in this world. Tideswell subsided to 75-8 shortly after twenty overs. Coker and Taylor had an amusing stand, with the injured Sayers joining in the fun with a runner. Taylor was last out, bowled by the worst ball of the match while playing, almost certainly, the worst shot of the match - and there was some pretty serious competition for that title. It's not everyday that one sees a five in the scorebook, so:
In an effort to offer entertainment to the crowd, Stretford batted first. Tideswell, after the usual pre-match ritual of introducing themselves to one another, opened the bowling with the pace duo of Cormack and Shirt. The pitch was hard, true and occupied by batsmen of real competence. Everyone took a wacking but kept going; Dan bowled a great ball to take the first wicket and Saville, having relaxed a bit, bowled a lovely outswinger. Spin came from Sammy the Stag and Bomber Waining; I have heard, on the grapevine, that the latter has been contacted by NASA with a view to resupplying the international space station. Sayers had a bowl and took a wicket, and there was the usual performance of "Seven Byes for Seven Brothers" behind the stumps. Stretford made 223 for five, pegged back by a very decent Tideswell fielding display.
The batting was dire. Paul Rushworth went to the second ball of the innings; no doubt he will take solace from holding a great catch and getting the fielding points.....no doubt..... Further gloom ensued when it became clear that Reeves was the only batsman that appeared to have any clue how to play the Stretford attack; there is no justice in this world. Tideswell subsided to 75-8 shortly after twenty overs. Coker and Taylor had an amusing stand, with the injured Sayers joining in the fun with a runner. Taylor was last out, bowled by the worst ball of the match while playing, almost certainly, the worst shot of the match - and there was some pretty serious competition for that title. It's not everyday that one sees a five in the scorebook, so:
Monday 18 April 2011
Cricket Returns.
So a new season begins; hopes, fears, a sense of excitement and that feeling of wonder one gets thinking of how on earth one's box has managed to increase in size over the winter.
Youlgreave were the our hosts for the first game of the season. Most of the players in our side were called Sam, and a worrying proportion were under 30. Many of them seemed to be dentists - which should at least ensures a supply of painkillers for later in the season.
In the dressing room it was as if the winter had never happened; there was the usual discussions on who was cleverer, Jimmy Greaves or Dennis Wise; anarcho-syndicalism was given a once over, and Dave "The Cat" Frenkel gave us an update on his ongoing "What Bat to Buy?" project....after that, it was almost a pleasure to stand around in the sun for two and a half hours.
The cricket? We were spanked. Youlgreave got 238 off 40 with their charming opener retiring after a brisk century. He was then replaced by someone with a very annoying cap. We dropped at least six catches and, according to Cat Frenkel, I missed a stumping....as you may imagine, I welcomed the Cat's view; he may wish to re-consider his comments should he decide he has an interest in this year's fielding prize. Andy Stelling took three wickets despite bowling a last over of Wagnerian stature; it was long, tedious, lacking in drama and in German.
Tediousness was to reach a new nadir during our batting; after a promising start where we kept up with the run rate, Sheet-Anchor Sayers decided that this five an over lark was injecting too much levity into the serious game of cricket.(Actually, after a few hours of the Sheet, many of his team mates watching were injecting.)With the run rate going up and up, Tideswell eventually lost sight of the target and, indeed, the will to live. Note to Trigger: Jim, please stop appealing when the ball brushes Mike's pads. It looks bad coming from the square-leg umpire.
The bells of Youlgreave church were delightful for the first few hours and there was a nice pint in the pub; sadly,and not deliberately, we managed to go to a different pub to the home side - despite their pub's sponsorship being splashed all over their kit.
Still....Stretford next week...
Youlgreave were the our hosts for the first game of the season. Most of the players in our side were called Sam, and a worrying proportion were under 30. Many of them seemed to be dentists - which should at least ensures a supply of painkillers for later in the season.
In the dressing room it was as if the winter had never happened; there was the usual discussions on who was cleverer, Jimmy Greaves or Dennis Wise; anarcho-syndicalism was given a once over, and Dave "The Cat" Frenkel gave us an update on his ongoing "What Bat to Buy?" project....after that, it was almost a pleasure to stand around in the sun for two and a half hours.
The cricket? We were spanked. Youlgreave got 238 off 40 with their charming opener retiring after a brisk century. He was then replaced by someone with a very annoying cap. We dropped at least six catches and, according to Cat Frenkel, I missed a stumping....as you may imagine, I welcomed the Cat's view; he may wish to re-consider his comments should he decide he has an interest in this year's fielding prize. Andy Stelling took three wickets despite bowling a last over of Wagnerian stature; it was long, tedious, lacking in drama and in German.
Tediousness was to reach a new nadir during our batting; after a promising start where we kept up with the run rate, Sheet-Anchor Sayers decided that this five an over lark was injecting too much levity into the serious game of cricket.(Actually, after a few hours of the Sheet, many of his team mates watching were injecting.)With the run rate going up and up, Tideswell eventually lost sight of the target and, indeed, the will to live. Note to Trigger: Jim, please stop appealing when the ball brushes Mike's pads. It looks bad coming from the square-leg umpire.
The bells of Youlgreave church were delightful for the first few hours and there was a nice pint in the pub; sadly,and not deliberately, we managed to go to a different pub to the home side - despite their pub's sponsorship being splashed all over their kit.
Still....Stretford next week...
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