2020 was a fabulous year. If you’re a highly contagious virus. For the rest of us, it meant lockdowns, Brexit, and – most importantly – severe disruption to the rugby schedule.
The Six Nations finished on Hallowe’en, and we had an odd Autumn Nations Cup, in which one nation never played. Leagues were all over the place. Mostly, fans are still not allowed to attend matches, even when those matches have not been cancelled.
On the up side, the Saracens got relegated.
And there is the sheer beauty of this to end the year (thank you, Beeb):
Meanwhile, the OvallyBalls mascot is on the scent of newsworthy items.
She has been paying attention to recent news items, including this article, which contains the following snippet:
This requires not only forwards tracing (identifying who you might have given the infection to) but also backwards tracing (where you got it from).
Obviously, tracing both backwards and forwards is her forté, but it has caused her to wonder if, in rugby, we should refer to the forwards and the backwardses. Or be like the French, and call them the in-fronts and the behinds. She likes behinds.
But enough of that shite….
A new year has just emerged, squalling and puking in the manner of these things, and we have been finally shat completely out of the EU, but we do have the hope of vaccines (along with the knowledge that the Tories will inevitably fuck up the distribution).
And now Chimpie has a fully erect Melbury (no, me neither) that he is preserving and oiling. So that’s good news for him, even if the rest of us may wonder what the purpose of this ‘Melbury’ is.
I raise a glass to all the contributors and lurkers of OvallyBalls, with best wishes for 2021 for yourselves and those you care about*.
Happy new year!
*Except where that involves teams playing Ulster or Ireland.
Onna telly this week
Friday 1st January
| Bristol v Newcastle | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Scarlets v Dragons | 17:15 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Cardiff v Ospreys | 19:35 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
Saturday 2nd January
| Pumas v Lions | 12:00 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Treviso v Zebre | 13:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Wasps v Exeter | 14:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Sharks v Griquas | 14:30 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Edinburgh v Glasgow | 15:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Gloucester v Sale | 16:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Cheetahs v Western Province | 17:00 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Ulster v Munster | 17:15 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Leinster v Connacht | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 3rd January
| Leicester v Bath | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Fully erect craigs. Got to do some fitting out (insulation & boarding) for Monday when the electrician comes back & I get power & interwebs.
Also got to get a gutter in & some paint on the outside if it warms up enough, concerned about too much moisture, seepage & ending up mouldy / warped.
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Just how posh is D4?
– It’s home to the Republic of Ireland’s premier dog track.
Christ, that’s posh.
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Get yerself a Leinster top & you’ll fit right in tomp.
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Chimpie
“only me………”
If you are painting outside, and I know it’s not very green,but thin of using spirit-based rather than water-based products – much more penetrative in wood and very water resistant.
Multiple thin coats are best.
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D4’s posher than Ballymun i know that much.
Got driven around Ballymun by a Denizen of D4 (work related), she was pointing out all the local dodgy locations, hotels full of junkies etc. and was in a right sweat till we got to a better postcode.
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Cheers slade. Got oil based stuff which needs an undercoat & 2 top coats. But will apparently withstand a nuclear explosion or ice age (it better do for that price). This is after applying 2 coats of preservative. This process has been an education in the care of wood and weatherproofing.
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Is D4 like a shamrock Richmond-upon-Thames? Got a kind of varsity boat race vibe?
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A fully erect Melbury which may be or may be sfw
https://www.buyshedsdirect.co.uk/forest-melbury-4mx3m-log-cabin-34mm-singleglazed
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Chimpie – I’m getting the sparkie to give me interwebs inna garage. Hopefully he can put a cable in the pipe with the electricity in there already. Are you doing that?
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*not
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OT – it’s probably more like Barnes.
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@Craigs – I’m not getting a sparky to give me interwebs in the garage either.
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I’m glad we’ve finally established that you could go to Dubai for less than the price of Chimpie’s erection.
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CMW – I think the in flight meal is better too.
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Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, OT. It’s more who you played for in Senior Cup – Belvo or Rock or Mary’s or the Nure?
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jeez, didn’t pay that much. And mine’s double glazed & 44mm walls.
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greyhound track – Shelbourne Park I presume…. Harold’s Cross is D6 (IIRC)
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Interesting to note that renowned Brum born and Dublin bred and raised, immortal Irish Bard Phil Lynott lived in Richmond on Thames. I think that must tell us something.
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Could get to Dubai for less than my erection, probably wouldn’t be able to afford to do anything there. Can do all sorts of things in my melbury though.
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Harold’s Cross is D6, trisk. We looked around there but the greyhound track’s closed so no go.
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I didn’t say which I thought would be better, was just using an established measure. The not-in-Dubai-ness of the Melbury is a pretty big selling point in the first place.
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Mrs chimpie gave me a Look when I suggested installing a kegerator.
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Trying to think of an equivalent….. Edgbaston in Brum comes to mind – expensive and well-to-do but doesn’t have the ‘riverside’ cachĂ© of Richmond (or Barnes) – though Sandymount isn’t that far off. In London, I’d be thinking more like Kensington – expensive etc but you can’t stroll down to the sea/river. (Monkstown or Blackrock are more Richmond-like as they’re on the coast)
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Not sure Chimpie’s kegeree would be such a good selling point.
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@craigs. Running a dedicated cat 5 cable out there.
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Hoping 1872 cup part 2 tonight isn’t quite as much of a dirge as part 1.
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Hoping Dragons-Ospreys tomorrow is…. I just don’t know what to say.
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Chimpie – does Mrs Chimpie need to know about the kegerator until she wants a beer in or just outside of the Melbury?
Presumably you have already staked out your territory within the Melbury.
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BTW – I will be doing my kegerator in the next few months so I will keep you posted. In these troubled times a replacement pub is all that is keeping me going.
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They knocked down all the tower blocks in Ballymun and replaced them with smaller, and more individual blocks. Been 13+ years since I left Dublin*, so I don’t know what effect that had on the social problems…probably just shifted them elsewhere – still the effort had to be made.
* sounds like first line of a song….
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I for one would be very interested in the progress of the kegerator.
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‘Hoping Dragons-Ospreys tomorrow is…. I just don’t know what to say.’
Slightly better than hope slowly dying on the arid furnace of harsh reality?
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CMW. both have better records than the two Scottish sides so my fear is they’ll cancel each other out.
In the Scottish game I think Glasgow dragged Edinburgh down to their level.
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Beadles Team to play Newcastle
Gloucester Rugby
15. Kyle Moyle
14. Louis Rees-Zammit *
13. Chris Harris
12. Mark Atkinson
11. Jonny May *
10. Lloyd Evans *
9. Joe Simpson
1. Val Rapava-Ruskin
2. James Hanson
3. Fraser Balmain
4. Matt Garvey
5. Matias Alemanno
6. Alex Craig *
7. Lewis Ludlow (c) *
8. Ruan Ackermann
16. Henry Walker *
17. Alex Seville *
18. Jamal Ford-Robinson
19. Jamie Gibson
20. Seb Nagle-Taylor
21. Charlie Chapman *
22. Billy Twelvetrees
23. Santiago Carreras
*Denotes Academy player or graduate from the Gloucester Rugby Academy
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See Harris has recovered from his assault by the/a/one of many Sale South African (who rightly got a 3 match ban).
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Think I can safely say that tonight’s 1872 game will be……
…. a game of rugby.
Of sorts.
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First they came for our snowballs…..
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New post shortly.
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