I must down to the seas again…

I have been a bit of a clot not to have made greater efforts to participate in all the Nelson celebrations. I certainly enjoyed myself on Tuesday evening reviewing three local pubs in the company of the cycling cousin and the older brother, but maybe I should have also taken the opportunity to review the Fleet in the company of a quarter of a million people at nearby Portsmouth.

All the noise about Trafalgar has had me searching around for my complete set of Patrick O’Brian Aubrey/Maturin novels. I’ve got the man Collingwood on the mind, you see. Not the cricketer, Paul Collingwood, who derives from Shotley Bridge, Durham, but Admiral Collingwood (Cuthbert to his friends) who derives from nearby Newcastle and who took over the effective running of the Royal Navy after the death of Nelson.

I know that I’ve come across him before under another name. He had a dog called “Bounce” and he died from overwork in 1812 while supervising the French blockade in the Mediterranean. But the O’Brian books are full of admirals and I cannot yet identify which one is based on the great man. And yet Collingwood’s entire life has remarkable parallels with the O’Brian books. He joined the Navy aged 11, commanded a frigate (The Badger), saw action against the Americans, in the West Indies, the Spanish Main, as well as Trafalgar and later the blockades of Brest and Toulon. Slightly out on the timing, but an awful lot of Jack Aubrey seems to be there.

Reverting to the other Collingwood, England expects…. tomorrow at Lords, and throughout the three further one day matches and the Test matches against Australia.

Tomorrow is also the second Lions Test against New Zealand. It’s going to be a bad day for the nerves, and for the liver. To London tonight in order to be up with the sparrow to get good seats at Lords and to find a TV screen on which to watch the rugby.

But wouldn't it be good if July could serve up some really pleasing sporting results, especially in cricket, rugby and golf?