Sunday, February 09, 2014

What to say? It's all there in Knitlass' comment yesterday. Scotland were dreadful, and deservedly beaten, 20-0. Alexander and Mark (his old friend, my date for the day) agreed afterwards that England weren't as good as they should have been, given Scotland's awfulness. They felt the score would have been 40-0 if England had been up to scratch.

And the famous Murrayfield pitch was appalling. We had been hearing that they are afflicted with nematodes eating the roots of the grass. There are million-pound plans afoot to replace it with plastic. Meanwhile you might as well imagine the Calcutta Cup being contested in your own back yard. And this was the first international match of the season.

I suffered, too, from the noise (grumble, grumble). We were on the lower level, under the overhang from the upper tier. That may have made it worse. Mark thought we were near a loudspeaker. The hour of pre-match entertainment, and the quarter-hour at half time, were hideous with the magnified shouting of some sort of master-of-ceremonies chappie somewhere. Conversation – even elementary exchanges – totally impossible. I didn't quite like to chat to Mark during the actual action – he knows the game well and was observing it acutely and also enjoying England's victory.

On the bright side: I didn't really want to take time off the Unst shawl to knit a Calcutta Cup '14 sweater, and now I don't have to.

We stayed for the presentation. (Alas, Princess Anne is in Sochi.) But it was way over on the other side – a rugby pitch is much wider than you might think on television – and I didn't actually see the cup, only its image on the big television screen.

We had a nice evening subsequently with our niece. Cook (see yesterday) provided a thoroughly satisfactory supper. She expresses herself willing to come to Strathardle with us in the Easter break, early April. That's something to look forward to. Apart from worrying about my husband's frailty, I am currently too weak to take it on alone.

No knitting yesterday, as feared. And I won't be here tomorrow, because of my early dr's appt.


What a thoroughly disspirited post! Now, if we'd only sung Scots Wha Hae..

3 comments:

  1. I thought of you yesterday, to the extent of watching a little of the match. My goodness that pitch was muddy! I kept seeing a fine knitted hat on the front row in some shots, but knew that could not be you.
    I do hope the appointment tomorrow reassures.

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  2. I think that sporting events have become louder and louder, and it isn't just that I am getting older and older. I brought earplugs to the last hockey game I attended and heard everything just fine with the plugs in. I do hope you get reassuring news tomorrow.

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  3. I'm sorry the rugby match was such a disappointment. It's nice there was that bright spot of being able to keep a Calcutta sweater project off this year's knitting "to do" list.

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