Miscellaneous Meanderings

The blog’s being done early this week because Thursday was due to be a busy day:  dental hygienist at 0900 (who on earth thought that was a good idea); osteopath at 1130 (essential routine maintenance); then trip to Spurs by train via Euston and Cheshunt) for kick-off at 2000, a Europa League gig against Qarabag.

This football really is a bit of an education.  I confess I had no idea who Qarabag were or where they were from, so at least I’m a bit better informed now.  They operate out of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where the F1 grand prix circus pitched up a couple of weeks ago.  Spurs won’t have to go there because UEFA, in their wisdom, have dispensed with the old two-legged home and away system.

Now, let me get this right, more or less.  There are nine teams in a group and they play eight matches, against eight different teams, four home and four away.  We play Qarabag, AZ Alkmaar, Roma and Elfsborg at home and Rangers, Ferencvaros, Galatasaray and Hoffenehim away.  As far as I can tell, our opponents in this group don’t play each other, so comparisons will be tricky.

I haven’t a clue why they changed the format (apart from money of course) and it’ll be fascinating, even for perennially confused non-geeks like me, to see how it all pans out.  In the meantime, here’s to much checking of websites and poring over the atlas with a glass of red in hand as my geography improves match by match – and, possibly, my pronunciation if not my use of accents (as in the proper spelling of a lot of the names).   Enough already, let’s move swiftly on.

As some of you already know, my routes to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, tucked away in N17, have been many and varied and this week I’m trying something new:  a stay at Lee Valley youth hostel, special offer, just two minutes’ walk from Cheshunt station they assure me.  Train straight from Cheshunt to White Hart Lane station, just two minutes’ walk from the ground.  Et voila.  And plenty of trains back after the game, fingers crossed.

A Welsh reader who comes from Llandudno wondered how come their home town has given its name to the Llandudno International Trophy, awarded to the winners of the PGA Cup, the now biennial match between the club professionals of the United States and Great Britain and Ireland.  I turned first to Wikipedia, then to the PGA (Professional Golfers’ Association), to confirm the details.

The members of Maesdu GC had the idea of a match between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, to bring publicity to the area and in 1939, England won the first – and only – Home Tournament Series and the rather handsome trophy.  World War II put paid to any more matches and Percy Alliss, father of Peter and captain of the England team, kept the trophy until he and Peter donated it to the PGA in 1972.  It made its second competitive appearance the following year, at the inaugural PGA Cup match at Pinehurst No 2.  A lovely footnote to the Alliss connection is that Gary, Peter’s son, was the GB and I captain in 2007 and 2009.

Maureen and most of my friends are horrified that I regard a total of 191 unread emails as normal and more or less manageable.  They’re inclined to freak out if their tally reaches double figures and I accept that perhaps I should do away with a goodly number of the newsletters that sit there for days waiting for me to read them.  Trouble is, you just never know when some gem will pop up and provide all the inspiration a desperate, head-scratching blogger needs.

However, I would be reluctant to unsubscribe from SportPursuit, Houzz Magazine, National Club Golfer, GolfPass and the daily video tips that I always mean to study but rarely do, Saga Magazine, Golf Features, Documentally (which is usually way above my head, Irish Golf Desk (thank you Brian K for keeping me up to date), Confused.com and Which and on and on.  Perhaps a serious de-clutter is indeed in order.

But it won’t include Wordsmith.org and its A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg, which I highly recommend.  And I loved one of this week’s (A) Thought For Today, quoting the American novelist William Faulkner:  “A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others.”

That’s so encouraging for an unimaginative bod like me who needs all the inspiration and encouragement she can get.  I’ll never be a novelist or a poet like some of my talented friends, one of whom was runner-up in the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing 2024 – so I gleaned from Facebook.  Many congrats Sharon.

And congrats also to Rosie J, who has another book of poetry coming out early next year.

I’m in awe.

 

Finally, the March of the Elephants auction at Lichfield Cathedral, which was on Tuesday evening (not Sunday, as I rather foolishly thought – other services have priority then), raised £125,000 for St Giles Hospice.  As reported on the Lichfield Live website, Elinor Eustace, the interim CEO of St Giles, said, “It was a fantastic night and thank you to the whole community for their support, it really does make a difference.

“With hospices across the UK facing a £77 million funding deficit and St Giles grappling with a £1.5 million annual shortfall, events like the auction are more than just fundraisers – they’re lifelines.”