Music and Anchovies (lack of)

Well I never! A few weeks ago I expressed surprise that Sir Edward Elgar was a keen golfer, as well as a cyclist. Now The Daily Telegraph correspondence column informs me that he was also an avid follower of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club too, and, of course, he used his bike to make the 40-mile trip from Malvern for home matches.

One way or another I’ve taken in a bit too much sport in recent weeks. Spectating at the Open Golf plus playing a few holes myself, followed by a portion of the riveting First Test against the Australians at Lords, finds me almost overdosing on the stuff. I managed at least to pay no attention whatsoever to glorious Goodwood.

Indeed, when we woke last Sunday to torrential rain, the wife and I forsook the closing overs of the Test Match to join our old friend the Ayatollah celebrating his wife’s sixtieth birthday on Romney Marsh (where they live). Sadly we missed cousin Timothy’s egg and anchovy sandwiches at a rain-sodden Lords (a treat we’d usually travel miles for) but the Ayatollah and his wife have had a difficult year with hospital visits for both of them (including a “double” in Tenerife when they were simultaneously admitted to hospital for different emergency treatment halfway through their holiday). Their party was a grand occasion and the wife and I were able to catch up on the exploits of our respective godchildren as well as taking in copious quantities of food (and watching those few final overs of the England second innings on TV).

The week that followed has been just as exhausting. The son is moving house – in stages. This has entailed our giving him board and lodging temporarily while his wife and children are billeted on friends. Like a moth to light, this drew the daughter from Portsmouth and, after the other night, I’m surprised that the village is prepared to continue putting up with my family’s discordant, late night singing.

So it’s off to France later today for a few days “away from it all”. I reckon that I need it although it is well over a month since we last visited the French estate and I dare say that it will be overrun with weeds, rodents and exciting new forms of insect life!