Expedition Canada

Marlborough Wed Nov 29th Two of the family of otters on the shoreline On my morning ambles with Jack I've got chatting to a fellow dog walker who has a bouncy Irish Terrier, eight months old and paws the size of snowshoes.  Well I never...she is from the UK and lived near Bristol.  Her husband comes from Marlborough and he and his three brothers, all went to the same school as Nick and Ros. One brother in the same year and friends group as Ros.   I suspect one of the masters from the school and occasional reader of this blog, might might know the four Loosemore lads.  It's Tom who is out here and living a few hundred yards away, as the Bald Eagle flies.   This is the second person from Marlborough (Pop. 9129) we know living on the Coast (100km long and Pop. 32,000), though the first one moved from Marlborough when the population was probably half what it is now!  I am going to have to start reading up on 'probability' though I suspect the rugby coincidence of 50 years i

Apparently Nov 13th 2023 I have never been a football fan.  It might be something to do with being taken to see Brentford play Southend or Southport or something South when I was a nipper.  The sleet flew horizontally across the ground, it was freezing cold, I was too young to swill beer, I could not see properly and Brentford lost 0-2 in that Boxing Day game.  It was a defining moment.  At school I used to ‘support’ Arsenal (or was it Chelsea) because everybody supported one team or another, but I never went to or watched a match and couldn’t name a player.  I only ever checked the scores so that it appeared I knew what I was talking about.  Others in my family supported West Ham or Brentford.  I tended to support the opposition but remained ignorant and indifferent of anything to do with the Beautiful Game even when England had a key World Cup match, which let’s face it, they usually lost! Move on a few years and I am now glued to the screen watching football.  Well actually there is