19-09-21 Saturday II - The Rugby World Cup Starts

Four matches down so far, and they’ve all been good. I managed to watch most of the Japan v Russia opener yesterday, as it was on during my lunch hour and I had logged onto ITV Hub. I also had a little wager that Russia wouldn’t lose by more than 39 points, and as the game ended 30-10 to Japan, I turned 50p into £1. Unfortunately, I got a bit carried away and also bet £1 that Russia would win, and I only managed to save 8p of that by cashing out before things got too bad.  

Then this morning I was kind of awake but heard one of the girls up and moving at about 6:15, so knew that she was planning to watch the first game today – Australia v Fiji. It sounded like quite a good game; we were listening (in bed) to Radio 5. TW got up and went downstairs to watch it, and I got up at half-time to join them. Fiji are brilliant in open play, but Australia were able to muscle them in the forwards. It was a close-run thing, but Australia got the upper hand in the later part of the second half, and the Fijians were getting frustrated. Australia won, and I also won my bet that Australia would win by more than 14 points, turning my 21p into 40.  

I didn’t watch the French play against Argentina, but I know that France came out of the blocks quickly. It seems they stalled pretty much immediately after that though, because while I was taking part in the Park Run, the game ended 23-21. My wager on this game was that France would win by more than two points, so I lost 40p on that game – since it was a draw when the handicap was applied.  

The last match of the day was a heavyweight bruiser of a match between New Zealand and South Africa, and this match-up could be reprised in the final. The Kiwis weren’t clinical to start with; in fact, they seemed quite disorganised, but they certainly made the most of their chances. South Africa were most effective when they kept the ball in the forward pack and tried to muscle their way forward, but they weren’t able to turn yards won into points. I had bet that New Zealand would win by more than five points, and as the result was 23-13, I managed to turn 50p into £1 again.  

I’m looking forward to more games tomorrow, especially England’s opening attempt, and may update further after that.  

TTFN 

19-09-21 Saturday I - Rob Delaney @ The Komedia, 17th September 2019

Tuesday Night it was time to go see Rob Delaney at the Komedia. I finished work as normal at 5pm and wandered in to town. There wasn’t much point in me heading back to Worthing, as everyone was heading the other way, so I went to Bill’s to get dinner and made sure I had something to eat for the evening. I had crispy calamari to start, which I love and would choose every time. No other starter gets a look-in, really. And then for my main I made a non-standard choice and went for a Buttermilk Chicken Burger. With extra bacon. It was nice enough, and the brioche bun it came in was delicious, but maybe I should have chosen something else? Chicken green curry, maybe? I guess it’s FOMO (fear of missing out) catching up with me.

I met the others (TW, M&D, J&J) in the Dorset Bar, which is about as close as you can get to the Komedia without actually *being inside* the Komedia. They were just finishing off their drinks, and then we headed over to the venue.

There were already a lot of people in the place, even at five past seven (doors opened at 7pm). I guess because it was unreserved seating, people wanted a good view. We managed to find a space for six fairly easily, and then started the interminable queue for drinks. I was pleased to see that they had bottles of Erdinger alkoholfrei, so I had one of those.

Back at the table in time for the warm-up, a very funny New Zealander called Alice Snedden. It wasn’t until partway through her routine that we realised we’d heard her just a couple of weeks ago on The Now Show on Radio 4. She was good though; confident, moving through her set at pace, leaving space for people to catch up from time to time. She did well, despite the fact that not many people knew who she was, and the crowd responded well.

Time for a short break and another round of beers, and then it was the main attraction.

We were all seated, and the lights went down, and then Rob D strolled onto stage. No announcement, no behind-the-curtains voiceover, he was just there. And he was straight into it. He is just naturally funny. Some comedians have an overarching theme, or a point they want to get across. I don’t think Rob did; he just wanted to come out and be funny. He told a number of unrelated stories, but as each story unfolded and he explored further, he just got funnier and funnier. Each story ended in a mini-climax of mirth, and then he would move onto the next story, starting from scratch again, and build that up until the crowd were in stitches.

Towards the end of his set, I needed to use the facilities, but I hung on and so was glad there was no encore! Rob was laugh out loud funny, and I had a brilliant evening. The tickets at £20 each were good value for money. And the good thing was that because I wasn’t drinking, I could drive home – result!

TTFN.

19-09-19 Thursday - Fleabag @ The Connaught, 12th September 2019

Last week we went to see Fleabag at the theatre. It wasn’t live, it was a recording from the West End, but it was broadcast live. We had seen the play before, at The Old Market in Brighton, but that production didn’t have Phoebe Waller-Bridge in it. Call me a philistine, but by then we had seen the TV version of the show and PWB was Fleabag, and Fleabag was PWB. The two were inextricably linked in my mind. The Brighton show was good, but it wasn’t properly Fleabag.

The show broadcast to the Connaught was recorded at the Soho Theatre, which looked to be quite small, but the angles were good and the show was really engaging. It was fantastic. There was a lot of laughter from the audience, but in my mind it wasn’t laugh out loud funny. There were funny bits, and I laughed, but mostly I read it as a touching portrayal of someone who was really on the edge. I loved it.

The show was put on by the National Theatre, and I think we’ll go to a few more of these productions. There is one coming up called Hansard, which I’m interested in, and TW wants to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. So we might be going out more often – such fun!

TTFN.

19-09-01 Sunday - A Bad Cup of Tea

I pride myself on making a good cup of tea. I like the cups of tea I make; they are normally strong, and milky. I personally have a couple of sweeteners but others don’t. And I know people have different preferences, but TW likes tea the way I make it, and the MiL often says that I make the best cup of tea she’s had. My own parents prefer a weaker cup of tea, but they are wrong. So, all in all, I’m pleased with my tea-making performance.

Unfortunately on Tuesday night - and it’s really only now that I can bring myself to talk about this - I made a bad cup of tea. It wasn’t just slightly off, it was exceptionally bad. In fact, I hope it might be the single exception that proves the rule (that I make a good cup of tea). To be fair, looking back on it now, there were a combination of circumstances that conspired together against me.

I had just come home from work, and TW was just heading out. We were like ships, passing in the night, and we exchanged very little information about anything in detail. I decided to make a cup of tea, and put the back of my hand to the kettle, to check if it had boiled recently. To me it seemed that the kettle was hot, and I thought I could make a cup of tea right away, which would have been brilliant.

I popped a teabag into the cup, and started pouring the water. I was looking at it, and I realised that actually the water might have been warm, but it wasn’t hot enough for a cup of tea. There were a couple of clues: the main ones were that the tea wasn’t seeping out of the bag and mixing with the water, and the water wasn’t steaming. “No problem”, I thought, “we can rescue this”. So I put the kettle down and boiled it again. My intention was to top the cup up with boiling water, that would be okay.

The kettle boiled in seconds, as expected; after all, it had boiled recently. Unfortunately, there was another reason why it boiled so quickly, and I found that out when I tried to top up my cup of tea. It was mostly empty.

So my cup had been a third filled with lukewarm or tepid water. Then I had managed to fill it two-thirds full with boiling water. If I had been thinking straight at that point, I would have probably abandoned the effort, and started from scratch, but I was tired, a bit frazzled from work, and just *really bloody eager* for a cup of tea. So I partially filled the kettle and set it to boil again.

Our kettle is pretty quick at boiling, and I didn’t fill it very much, so I was expecting not to have to wait for a long time. But while the kettle was boiling again, the teabag was starting to steep in a mix of partially tepid / partially boiling water. Then, once the kettle had boiled again, I topped the cup up with more freshly boiled water. By this stage, it had taken me three attempts to fill a cup with water hot enough to make a cup of tea.

I let the tea steep again, and then took out the bag, added the milk, and a couple of sweeteners as per tradition. And I drank it, once it had sufficiently cooled. But I wasn’t happy. The mix of three different batches of water - tepid water, reboiled water and freshly boiled water - did not make a happy blend.

Of course I drank it; after everything a cup of tea is a cup of tea. And sweeteners can cover a multitude of sins. But it was not an enjoyable cup of tea. And looking back on the experience, I now know that a cup of tea should not be rushed. And if I can’t make a cup in one go, then I should scrap that attempt and start again. You live and learn, I suppose.

TTFN.