Dearee me!

Is it just me, or does Wales acting-Coach Nigel Davies look just like actor Alan Cumming.

I’m not sure which of the two has the better coaching credentials either.

Rugby Notes

OK, so I got Saturday horribly wrong. But then again I guess that most of the world outside of the most optimistic England and France fans got it wrong too. Australia’s pack let them down yet again in the big game; they need to find themselves a couple of big props if they’re going to win anything. As for New Zealand, a lack of mental preparation. An ad on New Zealand’s eBay is runs as follows:

“Used All Blacks: re-conditioned earlier this year, fully mobile and working, but with the choke stuck on full.”

Normal service was restored on Sunday, but not without a few worries for both South Africa and Argentina.

So this weekend, the line-up is:

Saturday 8pm – England v France
Sunday 8pm – South Africa v Argentina

I’m taking France and Argentina, but then what do I know?

Movie Notes

Went to see Michael Clayton on the weekend at the local googleplex at Nantgarw. Sitting in the dark for a couple of hours is about all I could manage (see Wisdom? post below).

The reviews were only average or just above, but I thought the boy Clooney was excellent as an NY law firm's fixer – there’s a good future in this acting game ahead of him. It’s a nice change to see a movie without gratuitous car chases and ludicrously high body counts (although there were a few). It was intelligent and well worth a few hours at the pictures.

Astronomy Notes

It’s back. Having been cancelled part-way through last year, the community outreach programme of the University of Glamorgan’s Centre for Astronomy and Science Education has started up again. The course is Alien Worlds and is being held at Garth Olwg’s lifelong learning centre.

As well as the course every Monday evening, there is an occasional series of public lectures at the University. The programme is here.

Baseball Notes

So after 162 games the MLB regular season is over and the post season starts tonight. The match-ups for the best-of-five divisional series which start tonight are:

Anaheim Angels v Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees v Cleveland Indians

Colorado Rockies v Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago Cubs v Arizona Diamondbacks

Colorado got in after a tiebreaker playoff against the San Diego Padres. Two terrible calls in the game – the home run that wasn’t given and the play ay home plate when the runner was clearly out yet called safe. They even out though.

All the games will be on NASN and occasionally on five, and there’s lots of preview stuff on MLB’s website.

My predictions? Almost inevitably, it will be the Sox against the Evil Empire on the AL, and I reckon it’ll be the Cubs and Phillies in the NL, unless the curse strikes again.

Rugby World Cup Notes

All of last weekend’s big pool games at the Rugby World Cup went as I expected. Tonga weren’t strong or disciplined enough to do for England, going down 36-20.

Local interest note – Tonga scrum half Sione Tu’ipulotu (pictured) turned out a couple of times at centre for Ebbw Vale a few seasons ago when he was on the books of the N**port Dragons.

Scotland just about clung on against Italy 18-16, who gave away enough penalties to lose the game.

Argentina looked like a force to reckon with in comprehensively beating Ireland 30-15. Their half backs (Pichot and Hernandez) looked as good as any in the RWC, and the pack (especially number 8 Longo) were awesome and will be a match for anyone.

And as for Wales, well Fiji deserved their 38-34 win in one of the best international rugby matches I have ever seen. Neither team seemed very interested in “keeping it in the pack” and as a result a see-saw game saw nine tries and thousands of Welsh broken hearts.

The Fijian centre pairing of Rabeni and Bai tore through Hook and Shanklin at will, and Wales were regularly turned over at ruck and maul. The Welsh back row were completely out-played – I’m not really surprised that Martin Williams has announced his retirement from international rugby. I expect a few others to follow suit in the next few weeks – Charvis? Alfie?

Gareth Jenkins got sacked the next day. The Western Mail clamoured for Jenkins when Ruddock was appointed as coach and then jumped for joy when he finally got his chance. But it didn’t take long for Jenkins’ true coaching colours to show through and the Western Mail must have pulled a muscle jumping off the bandwagon that it had ridden for several years.

So next weekend it’s the quarter-finals:

Saturday 2pm – Australia v England
Saturday 8pm – New Zealand v France
Sunday 2pm – South Africa v Fiji
Sunday 8pm – Argentina v Scotland

My picks (for what they’re worth): the four top seeds and an all-southern hemisphere last four – Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

Rugby Notes

Ebbw Vale, playing in their Monmouthshire-blue away kit, gained a fine win at Aberavon on the weekend, 22-17.

The pack went well without Nelly (suspended) and dominated throughout. The backs, however, looked somewhat disjointed and makeshift outside-half Aaron Bramwell failed to get the back line going consistently. Nevertheless, a good win which was wrapped up well before Aberavon had centre Darren Ryan sent off late on.

As always, the latest news is available on the Ebbw Vale RFC website. The Western Mail’s report is here, Graham photos of the game are here, and EyeJay has even posted some YouTube clips here.

Scorers: Tries for Alistair Lyon, Kristian Owen and Andrew Bevan, a conversion and a penalty by Bramwell, and one penalty by Andrew McLaughlan.

Highlight: Some fine rolling mauls, quality scrums and great defence against one of the biggest packs in the league.

Lowlight: Poor atmosphere. The ground would have been deserted without the usual horde of travelling Ebbw Vale fans. The ten minutes of stoppage time at the end was played in an emotional vacuum.

Man of the Match: The front row as a whole – Alistair Lyon, Richard Wilkes and Mark Jones, as well as subs Matthew Williams and Anthony Lott.

Wisdom?

The lull in activity here has been caused by me having been in hospital having my wisdom teeth removed. I clearly must have had all my wisdom removed as I went to Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil to have the operation.

Quite an experience that, going back to a post-war Soviet health service. Here's my story. You can decide whether this health service really should be the envy of the world:

1. I had to go to hospital at 2pm on Tuesday afternoon even though the operation was not scheduled until Wednesday. I was told that this was to “safeguard your bed” (real quote). I did suggest that we could have a bolster and some snoring sound effects in lieu of me actually being there (Ferris Bueller-style), but that just got a blank look from the nurse.

2. The operation was scheduled for the Wednesday morning list, so nil by mouth from 10pm on Tuesday evening. I finally get the call to go to the operating theatre at 4pm on Wednesday afternoon. That was a fun Wednesday that I won’t forget in a hurry. In all, I was waiting in the hospital and unnecessarily occupying a bed for 26 hours before the operation.

3. My ward, Ward 6, was a mixed ward. Yes, in this day and age, we still have mixed sex wards. Wow.

4. Sleep was impossible. Our bay of six beds had the good fortune to be adjacent to the nurses station. Which meant talk and ringing phones well into the early hours. This combined with some forthright snoring from the next bed meant no sleep. I asked the nurse if earplugs were available on the NHS, and again got a blank look. In the end I managed a couple of hours kip in a chair in the day room.

5. There were food leftovers abandoned on trays in the corridor and the day room overnight.

6. There was blood on the patients’ toilet seat. This was reported twice and yet still there the following morning.

7. Just before I was due to go down to the operating theatre some of the lifts broke down. More specifically, the only lifts large enough to fit beds into. Which meant that patients couldn’t get from the theatre to the ward. I volunteered to walk to the operating theatre but was given a wheelchair so that I could use the regular lift. Thankfully, by the time I came out of theatre at 6pm the lifts were back working (intermittently).

8. When I get back to the ward, the thought uppermost on my mind is that I don’t want to spend another night in the hospital. So Cath tactfully asks what hoops I need to jump through to be discharged that night. I’m told that I must eat, drink, wee and walk (in no particular order). Now, the tricky bit here is the eating bit. The nurses tell me that the evening meal has already been served and the catering staff have gone home. So it’s a bit of dry bread from Cath’s sandwich washed down with water. Perfect for dodgy gums.

9. The hospital pharmacy’s closed by this time too, but I have contacts (House-style) and so getting hold of painkillers isn’t an issue.

Anyway, I finally get home around 9pm, and sleep like a baby in my own bed.

I should say here that the treatment from the nurses was very good, and the senior house officers in particular had time to talk and explain the procedure. It’s just the system that is broken. I was packed off with a cheery “if you have any problems, go talk to your dentist”. Here’s a proper post-op set of instructions.

Six days on and most of the chipmunk-cheeked swelling and bruising has now disappeared. But I’m not exactly surprised to find out that I have developed an infection, and my GP has today put me on a course of antibiotics.

Here’s a fellow blogger's story (with photos) telling a better story.

The Veales at the Orchard

The Veales at the Orchard
Originally uploaded by Martin Veale

Here's a pic (sort of) of the Veale family taken during our recent stay with them in Shrewsbury, MA. It was taken at the Nashoba Valley vineyard and orchard.

Rugby Notes

I’m miles behind with the Rugby World Cup. I watched a few poor performances by the home nations over the past few days. Wales messed up a pile of chances before seeing off Japan on Thursday night. My mate Robbo was there and you can see his blog of the game here.

As for England, well they eventually saw off Samoa, but judging by Tonga’s performance against South Africa, the 2nd place decider is far from automatic. Scotland’s second team were dismal against the All Blacks (although the clash of kit made for awful TV – dark blue and grey vs. black and silver).

There are “winner goes through, loser goes home games” everywhere next weekend:

Friday, 8pm: England v Tonga
Saturday, 4pm: Wales v Fiji
Saturday, 8pm: Scotland v Italy
Sunday, 4pm: Ireland v Argentina

In between that lot there’s the small matter of Ebbw Vale’s next game at Aberavon, a 1.30 kick off next Saturday. News of Ebbw’s great win over Bridgend yesterday can be found of the always excellent Ebbw Vale RFC website.

Second Scan

A few words from a guest blogger - my baby to be.

I just wanted to say hello after being tucked away for all these weeks. As you can see, I asked the photographer to catch my best side and I think we all agree that she did.

In the top shot I am on my back. You can see my head and nose and tum and in the air (on the right) is my leg and foot. I’m waggling my toes.

In the middle shot I’m still on my back but this time my tum looks even fatter and you can see my arm with my hand touching my face. If you can see little white dots on my hand, those are my fingers!

In the bottom shot I am upside down. My back is facing upwards and you can just see my spine on the top of my tum. I’m facing you too but my face looks wonky because I must have been sneezing or something.

Right, I must go because I still have to pack for Boston. I gather that there are loads of lovely things to buy over there, and there are cousins to meet.

Home Opener

Buoyed by last season’s heroics, Ebbw Vale’s first game of the season saw the crowd in an expectant mood. The buzz was clear for all to feel, as Ebbw fielded a side with five new caps and started brightly enough.

Without really breaking Swansea’s defence, Ebbw had the upper hand and were good value for a 6-3 lead late in the first half when the match’s turning-point arrived. From quite a distance away on the bank, it looked as though Neil Edwards’ jump at the line out was interfered with, and the referee blew for a penalty form the ensuing maul/ruck/pile of players. He then red-carded Neil Edwards for what he indicated was a kick to a Swansea player on the floor. Swansea quickly capitalised and went in at half time leading 11-6.

In many seasons past (except when playing Newport!) being a man down would have sent the towel being thrown in. But the Ebbw Vale of the past couple of seasons are made of sterner stuff, and won the second half, but not quite the game, going down 25-26.

There’s a new bonus point system this season, the same as is used in the Tri-Nations and the Magners League, so Ebbw came away with a point for losing by less than 7 points.

As the Ebbw website says, Ebbw supporters were left to ruminate on what might have been achieved with 15 men on the park. There’s a match report in the Western Mail.

Scorers: Tries for Kristian Owen, new prop Anthony Lott and substitute back Ross Watts. Two penalties and two conversions for new outside-half Aaron Bramwell.

Highlights: A selection of massive hits by flanker Nio Aiono (pictured), deservedly voted man of the match. Thanks to Graham’s website for the picture.

Lowlight: Had to be the sending off, which effectively decided the game.

Crowd highlight: As is now traditional, the first penalty to Ebbw of the season is greeted with calls of “All the time, ref!” and “They’ve been going it all season!”

Sports Memorabilia Notes

So the ball that Barry Bonds broke the all-time Home Run record with is going to be put up for auction. If you have £250,000 or so to spare you can bid for the next couple of weeks on www.scpauctions.com

For my part I had the chance to roundly ‘boo’ Barry Bonds when Cath and I went to see the San Francisco Giants back in May.

My memorabilia collection used to consist of an enormous set of Ebbw Vale rugby programmes dating back to the 1970s. I got rid of them when I moved, but they went to a good home - Graham Davies who runs this site.

My collection nowadays consist of baseballs and ice hockey pucks collected on my travels in the USA and elsewhere in the past 10 years or so. Oh, and a Carl Crawford bobblehead doll from a giveaway at a Tampa Bay Devil Rays game and a Tom Brady bobblehead bought on ebay a couple of years ago.

Heritage Open Doors

Over the first three weekends in September, the Open Doors programme offers free access to buildings and sites of architectural and historical interest in Wales. The event is supported by Cadw, the Welsh Assembly Government’s historic environment division, and organised by the Civic Trust for Wales.

Almost 200 sites across Wales are opening their doors to the public as part of a Europe-wide celebration of the heritage. These sites – many of which usually charge for admission or are not generally open to the public – range from public buildings, houses, castles and churches to archaeological or industrial sites, museums and gardens. In some areas there are also town trails and guided walks, exhibitions and talks.

A detailed programme of the sites across Wales participating in this event is available from the Civic Trust for Wales.

Rugby Notes

Ebbw Vale lost in its pre-season friendly at Coventry on Saturday, 33-11. One serious injury occurred – Dai Langdon was stretchered off with a dislocated knee. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. There’s a report here and of course on the Ebbw Vale RFC website.

Another signing worthy of mention. Ebbw Vale have signed an Aussie. They have secured the services of ACT Academy utility back John Williams.

The clock is ticking towards the home opener this coming Saturday when Ebbw Vale entertain Swansea, 2:30 kick-off. See you there.