It started off so well: they said we made a perfect blog meet location. Historic Heidelberg, an Irish pub, Super Saturday. Three nations with a chance of vying for the title. Then the nasty wee bugger cancelled some matches, participants dropped off like superannuated flies, and – with 24 hours to go – the one remaining scheduled match was nixed.
Some of us, made of stronger stuff, were undaunted by the prospect of a pandemic along the lines of Stephen King’s The Stand. We, the strong, the proud, the possibly foolish: Boanova, DropTheClaw, Meades, Xan, the mister and me, and of course our noble, gracious and hard-working hosts, Mister and Missus Iks.
We’d all arrived by Friday evening, so got down to business immediately at Vetter’s. Boa and Xan had arrived a couple of days before, and had some important information to impart.
Boa and Xan’s Top Tourist Tip for Heidelberg: What Not to Visit
As every fule kno, Gurgle is your go-to site for local attractions. Imagine our heroes’ excitement when they found something called the Königstuhl. The King’s Stool! It must be an ancient throne (or something): off we go!
The way was long and weary, 13 km straight up a mountain, but our intrepid adventurers persevered, battling off trolls, Nazgûl, plagues of locusts and football fans. At last, weary and wiping the sweat from their brows, they reached the summit, and found … a construction site.
And a bus stop.
The Plans
Given that there was no rugby on the morrow, a discussion ensued on what to do. The decision was taken to meet at the Irish pub as planned, so the poor buggers had some business, footfall in pubs and restaurants being noticeably down.
MissusIks also promised to find a rugby ball. Our bits perked up.
The Big Day
We all congregated at The Dubliner, only two hours late, and obviously much hilarity ensued. Which shall mostly be hush-hush. But I have previously reported that some of the lads disappeared down an alley-way with the rugby ball, which subsequently suffered the sad fate pictured above. But it remained unpunctured, as you will see.
The next port of call was the Bar Centrale, which was sadly neglected by other customers, but which did serve the greatest G&T ever experienced, and also had a square opposite that was perfect for ball-wanging. It was an unfortunate pass that hit me in the face, bloodied my nose, and sent my glasses clattering to the floor. Fortunately the glasses were uninjured except for the imprint of the ball’s pattern on the lens, discovered in the morning.
Such is the stuff from where dreams are woven.
Then off to dinner, with an enormous bottle of wine courtesy of MissusIks.
Vowing to the rugby gods to return in happier – or at least, less contagious – times, we said our goodbyes.
Ovally Balls 
Apologies, I missed a post from Expro, here.
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Words Thaum.
Am still bitter about not going. Would’ve been great to see everyone.
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Just catching up, in the ‘People Being Shits’ category, my hairdresser told me yesterday that he had a bottle of hand sanitiser for customers which was nicked (caught on security camera) by some arseholes the day before.
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Cracking comment from CMW at the end of the last blog there. I laughed out loud.
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On the Bowie stuff – I was a fan of him as much as I was ever a fan of music (not much, then).
Do feel his 2 best songs were ones he didnt write: “Wild is the Wind” and “My Death waits”
As I say, I am not much of a muso so probably wrong for all sorts of reasons
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heidelberg looks nice.
Sounds like a lovely time had by all. Well Jell.
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Oh, and I concur with Chimpie. Heidelberg looks awesome. Is one of the pics the “rufty tufty bar”? If so, which one?
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Guess E-minor and D-minor notes must match my personal resonant frequencies
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Chimpie – Shall we start planning the Scotland meet up for next year?
How many can sleep at your house?
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The economic disruption this pandemic is causing is massive, and probably unparalleled since WW2. Shirley Brexit can’t go ahead for a good long while? I mean, it’s not going to be just about extending the transition period by a few months, it would be madness to do it for quite a while to come.
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In a way, this virus has solved the player welfare problem for a bit. Assuming none get severe illnesses.
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I think the rufty-tufty bar is by the railway station, so no.
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I’ve just ordered 24 bottles of Guinness Foreign Export.
Now that’s stockpiling.
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Weird where the internet takes you. From “Wild is the Wind” by Bowie, originally (I think) Nina Simone, who did “Sinnerman” I learned that there was a remake of the Thomas Crown Affair that featured that song and starred Pierce Brosnan
Now, I’m a fan of Pierce Brosnan (my favorite Bond by far, not to mention him placing in Flash Gordon and the Long Good Friday), but he is no Steve McQueen. And Rene Russo cannot hold a candle to the immortal Faye Dunaway.
And Matt Munro – Windmills of your Mind and the related On Days Like These from the Italian Job were songs that I remember from my youth, promising glamour and adventure in then faraway lands.
And so I discovered they remade the Italian job with Dirk Diggler as Charlie Croker. No MIchael Caine, he. Have not managed to track down who played Prof Peach (“I like them big”) or Mr Bridger.
What a world we live in!
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@Dab
Raab.C.Brexit was saying just this week that brexit shouldn’t be delayed and would somehow be for the best
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Please don’t tell me that they have (tried) to remake Flash Gordon
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anyone who tries to remake that should be subjected to the bore worms.
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Nice to read ….
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Is Pierce Brosnan in Flash Gordon? I recall Tim Dalton is (another Bond …and occasionally seen – back in the day – in the Cross Keys in Hammersmith)
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Flesh Gordon……………
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Peter Duncan of Duncan Dares and Blue Peter fame had an impressive cameo in Flash Gordon
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When I was little I thought Blue Peter was called Blue Peter because Peter Duncan was in it.
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That post rather Petered out.
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When I was little I thought our priest was called Peter God because at the end of mass we’d say “thanks Peter God”
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None of the places in those photos look either rufty or tufty. Though I can well believe that in the absence of any rugby this sort of thing went on:
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“Dispatch war rocket Ajax to bring back his body!”
Has to be said in slightly Russian accent….
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Great stuff on the atl, Thaum
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Yes, nice stuff on the ATL. Heidelberg looks lovely – I’ll get there one day….
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Just been out to the shops.
I managed to score some loo roll and a dozen eggs
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@Ticht – one or the other would have done you greedy bastard.
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Bit baffled by this keyworker business. It seems that we could send the kids to school as Mrs CMW is a keyworker, but she’s not allowed to work.
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Or for that matter we could send them to school because I’m a keyworker and she is allowed to work but just isn’t allowed to get paid for doing so.
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Can’t wait for the recipe Ticht.
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Fabulous ATL Thaum! Would love to make a meet up one day. Scotland next year sounds enticing! Maybe one of the natives can convince me that haggis isn’t the work of the divil. Already know that whisky is far superior to whiskey.
***walks away whistling****
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Deebee – with that last comment, you are flirting with the banhammer.
Had a haggis breakfast sarnie last time I was in Embra, and – to my shock – it was absolutely delicious.
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@Deebee – it certainly sounds like an experiment that you’d want to have the Garfinkel handy for.
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I don’t know if this has been covered yet, but the Pro 14 had been suspended indefinitely and the final cancelled, if they do play a final for this year it will be between the two highest ranked teams with the hosts being the numero uno, so Leinster v Edinburgh
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@Ticht – Now’s hardly the time to be looking for poisoned chalices.
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You have to admire the Ospreys for realising this year’s Pro14 wasn’t worth bothering with so early in the piece.
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I may have misread the story, it looks like if there is a final it will be hosted by the top-ranked team at the time, ie Leinster,
this is down to the final in Cardiff being cancelled an all the logistics involved with rearranging, so there will only be a final if more fixtures can be played.
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Who would have thought there was a nice little space there you could fit into just below the Dragons and the Zebras. Took some finding, well done boys.
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Mrs CMW back from the shops.
Fishfingers in tinned tomatoes is off the menu.
We won’t wipe our bums.
Mrs CMW’s accent is in jeopardy due to a porridge drought.
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I thought she’d still have a slab of cold porridge in one of the drawers upstairs, but she says not.
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Our eggs get delivered by the milkman so we haven’t missed out because of Ticht.
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All bars, gyms, restos, theatres, etc. to close down immediately. Govt to pay 80% of workers’ wages up to 25K. Increase in UC and removal of floor for the self-employed.
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Scottish rugby showing some old games in full on their YouTube channel from 7pm tonight. First up is the game against Australia in 2017. So not that old, then….
https://www.youtube.com/scottishrugby
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We really did have a last hurrah weekend. I don’t have any symptoms, and hope no-one else does either.
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Run out of gin. Disaster.
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Presumably you can console yourself with half-cooked cheese on toast.
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thaum, good to read of your weekend in Heidelberg. Seems like a marvellous time for all. Like so many others have said, I hope to get to the next one, especially as there seems to be a groundswell of movement for it to be held in the land of the 2021 Grand Slam Champions: Scotland.
PS Who is Xan? Am racking my brains but was he a regular?
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