Last night I was ‘forced’ (Mothership usage of term, meaning doing it quite voluntarily) to watch a Peter Green tribute show led by Mick Fleetwood.
There is a star-studded cast of musicians, mostly playing very well, but they insist on playing twelve-bar blues, which must be the most rigid and repetitive form of music in existence, except for the even more terrible ones.
It’s like watching endless pick-and-goes, only there might be a chance of something exciting and different happening as a result of those pick-and-goes. A try might be created, or a horrible mistake might occur that leads to an end-to-end score by the opposition.
No chance of anything like that with twelve-bar blues, even as played by expert musicians. It is going to have exactly the same key and rhythm, the same clichéd lyrical and musical tropes, everything completely predictable and boring. The musical ball gets recycled, stuffed up the jumper, and goes again. And again. And again.
It’s also like watching scrums being reset for what feels like hours, but is probably only about three or four minutes. And the same thing happens in every scrum, but the referee just calls for a reset again. And again. And again. A dystopian nightmare.
But rejoice! There is some rugby available to watch in the near future, and hopefully it will be much more exciting than that.
Onna telly in the next week or so
Showing matches that are televised in the UK and Ireland or on popular subscription services. Bold indicates that it’s on a free to view channel. Times are in the UK zone, so adjust as necessary.
Friday 6th September
| Tonga v Fiji | 04:00 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Japan v USA | 11:05 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Scotland v Wales (women) | 19:35 | iPlayer |
Saturday 7th September
| Bayonne v Perpignan | 13:30 | Premier Sports 1 |
| England v France (women) | 15:30 | BBC1 |
| South Africa v New Zealand | 16:00 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Argentina v Australia | 20:00 | Sky Sports + |
| Bordeaux v Stade Français | 20:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 8th September
| La Rochelle v Toulon | 16:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Vannes v Toulouse | 20:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
England-Kiwis a very good first half. New Zealand scored first, England replied with three tries and NZ got one back late in the half 17-12 to England with three to oranges. The England 15, Ellie Kildunne has scored a second (England’s 4th) and displayed some great skills keeping the ball in play earlier. 22-12 to England at HT, and I’m off to bed!
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That’s also ridiculous!
I had a colleague and friend who was from Cameroon (a ‘pied-noir’), and she had such enthusiasm for Cameroon that it was very infectious and I am fond of it having never set foot there.
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Cameroon represents the best and worst of Africa: it’s stunningly beautiful, with magical rainforests, beautiful beaches, majestic rivers, sublime food, and music and people to match. On the other hand, it retained the very worst of French bureaucracy, is practically owned by Paul Biya and his kleptocratic family and inner circle, and is corrupt to the core, if you’re doing business with the government.
It’s also insufferably hierarchical, which adds layers to the corruption and bureaucracy. I was doing work in the wine industry a few years back and wanted to take pictures of the various wines, their origin, prices etc in a supermarket. Not so easy, my driver explained to me (very cheerfully), thus: “That security guard you talked to – he is god; you can’t photograph anything without his permission. But his boss is actually the god because he has to give the guard permission to give you permission. He is the god, except for the store manager who is the god of the security boss, because he has to give permission to the security for you to take pictures. But the store manager – his god is the store owner who must approve all things that happen in the store, he is the real god.”
So, you can work your way up the chain of mythology, from demi-gods to minor deities, all the way to the seat of thunder, pomp and ceremony, with increasing exasperation, or just go to the top-god, get him (usually a him) to give you a business card with a scrawled ‘permission’ on it and head triumphantly back to the shop floor amidst scowls and outrage at not following the accepted path. But it works!
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One of the great African musicians of the 60-80s and beyond was Manu Dibango, who has been mentioned on these pages before. He was from Cameroon and after my first visit there I found a CD of his in a
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Bollocks! Lost my edit wizardry somewhere along the line. Anyway, as I was saying before so rudely interrupting myself,
a CD of his in a small music shop in Joburg. Still have it – it’s brilliant music and takes me straight back to the supper clubs of Douala and Yaoundé whenever I listen to it. Sadly, the gentleman who invited me up on that trip passed away a couple of years ago – he was the one who introduced me to Cameroonian music and food and I will remember Eric fondly forever for that!
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They beat Munster 42-33! Did not see that coming!
Hi all – gotten slightly out of the habit of looking in here…. apologies
Performance vs Zebre was just awful. 12pt lead at half time, and a BP in hand – just ‘cat’ in the 2nd half.
Last week vs Ospreys was pretty good – ‘nilling’ the opposition and playing quite smart rugby in the weather conditions
Big game this weekend – vs Leinster – looks like Croker will be sold out (82k) – albeit tickets are priced to sell.
EI tour Mk2 finished up yesterday
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Am over in the homeland and could have got (free!) tickets to Saturday’s match against Connacht, but the damn kick-off isn’t until 20:00, which means we wouldn’t be back at me mum’s until after midnight, and we have to get up at about 5:00 in order to get to the ferry home on time the next morning, so have decided to give it a miss.
Dammit!
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E for Effort. Or A for Ageing?
ducks behind the couch
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You should get those ducks out from behind the couch; they may shit.
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It’s one of those things where if we were to go to it, it would be boring AF and we’d regret it, and if we don’t, then it’ll turn out to be the Match of the Century.
Ah well, we’ll watch it on the telly.
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RIP Kris Kristofferson, one of the original hard men of country music
Apparently a decent rugby player in his time…
https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/articles/general/a-sports-star-was-bornhow-kris-kristofferson-first-found-national-exposure-as-a-rugby-player/
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Ooh, I’ve just been moved to the rehab unit. Got a room all to myself now
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How’s it going, Refit? When do you expect to escape?
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Gonna be a while yet Thaum, still can’t use either shoulder – although they are getting a little better each time I have physio.
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‘Mon The Mighty Weedge!
Although we’ve always found Zebre to be awkward buggers.
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Johnny Matthews gets his billionth try for Glasgow!
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Refit – eeeh! That sounds long and painful. I hope they are giving you good drugs.
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The mister’s watching the match over in the non-smoking room. I might pop in and look at the score some time soon. I’ve had a stressful day.
(Any day with my mother is a stressful day.)
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Refit – my mother wants to know if you were having energetic sex at the time you fell out of bed.
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(The mister walked back in the room for a fag at half-time, so I quizzed him on the score and gave him the Refit update, which then had to be explained….)
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Thaum – I was (perhaps unfortunately) stone cold sober and fast asleep when it happened.
Would you believe that I’m not actually in any pain? Asides from a LOT of morphine when I came out of surgery, I’ve barely had anything stronger than paracetamol and ibuprofen.
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Bloody hell! I’d demand morphine just for the kicks.
And yes, if you’re pissed up you usually fall better.
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It must be really bloody boring to be stuck in a hospital bed for so long.
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Thaum, when I came out of surgery, the cannula they put in my right foot, to administer the morphine, didn’t work. Apparently I was very, VERY vocal about that fact. They had to put one in my left foot instead and I went through a big tube of morphine very quickly.
I’m actually fully mobile, just with no use of my shoulders, so as soon as I can in the morning, I’m out of bed and into a chair.
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Out of a bed and into a chair doesn’t sound a whole lot more exciting. At least you’ve got t’internet!
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Apparently the rehab bit I’m in now has a social room and some other stuff (I haven’t explored yet).
I’m currently rereading The Expanse series and listening to a lot of podcasts 😁.
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You might like this. I found it as one of the ‘librarian-recommended’ books in the library. It was very entertaining, although the ending’s a bit weak imo. Still well worth the read.
https://goodreads.com/book/show/25938482-the-regional-office-is-under-attack
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As I was saying, Zebre awkward buggers….
Glasgow 33 Zebre 3
Good bonus point win, onwards and upwards.
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Cheers Thaum, I’ve bookmarked that.
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I’ve been otherwise engaged for sometime, mainly in moving back hame.
Refit – I’m sorry to read of your travails – get well soon
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Back to Dunbar Ticht?
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The very place, BB
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Ye’ve done it at last, Ticht!
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Not a headline I expected to see
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Ooh, Bristol only 3 points behind Exeter at half time
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I’ve found the patient’s common room and the WXV matches on the BBC red button ☺️
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Yay! Bristol beat Exeter by 5 points. 35-40 at the final whistle.
Aus v Scot in the WXV is a lot of fun. Australia leading 21-12 at half time.
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Cardiff have apparently contrived to lose despite a two-man advantage for ten minutes. There is a grumpy person about.
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Scotland undone by poor discipline, with a red and yellow card in the second half. Aus score right at the death to extend their lead and win the group 31-22.
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Had forgotten about Edinburgh…..
But they’ve thumped the Stormers! Will this be the start of their season?
And in other news, guess which international sporting team miss the chance to draw a difficult away game in the last seconds….
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Not quite Ulster’s first team (new lads at centre), but Connacht looking strong.
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The commentators said something very funny about the new Kiwi 10, but I can’t remember what it was now….
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Also third-choice hooker starting, but it’s all good as we’re 3-0 thanks to John Cooney defeating a swirling wind!
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Fuck’s sake! That was the conversion to a try I missed. :-)
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Hmmm. Ticht moves back to Scotland. Edinburgh win. Coincidence?
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Connacht also score, but miss the conversion. 7-5.
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Hendo off, looking wobbly. Had an earlier hit too, where they appeared to be counting his teeth.
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TRY Ulster … ?
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Yes! Postlethwaite, I think.
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It’s chucking it down in Belfast. It’s mostly been a lovely day here in Newcastle, except for the time we tried to walk the dog on the beach and got hit by a freak hailstorm.
Cooney missed the conversion, so it’s 12-5.
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