The Sun Walk - Newcastle - 19th July 2009

There were several reasons to travel up to Newcastle
-to see Lesley, Tony and Matt
-to jive at the local venues (so nice to be recognised when my previous trip was months ago!)
-to do some sight seeing (notably Durham)
-to do the Sun walk postponed from September when floods struck the North East.

We had a day of torrential rain and we feared that another postponement might happen! On the Saturday we visited Durham, dodging the heavy showers. The cathedral is just magnificent and is quite awe inspiring - shame that destruction was part on the Reformation. There was serious flooding in the city and those fashionable shops and bars along the river were under 3 feet of water.
However for the half marathon charity walk we had a lovely day. warm sunshine, a few clouds and an occasional cooling breeze. Wearing a bra was compulsory, man or woman! Many thousands taking part and the start was slow as it was not possible to overtake. Lesley and I settled into a good steady pace, until I saw something to photograph. Then it was stopping and hurrying to catch up. I really enjoyed the route through the City centre.
At one point, I had my bra strap pinged by an unknown woman walking behind me. It had never happened before, which was not too surprising as I have never worn a bra before. An excellent way to open a conversation but I doubt that I will try it.
An excellent walk, 3 1/4 hours and a medal to show. Many photos taken - I have never posed for strangers to take my photo before (what a sheltered life!). Several hundred pounds were raised by Lesley, Cheryl (who raised the most but could not make the re-walk) and myself for Breast Cancer Research.

Tango Hereford - 11 july 2009

The Tango scene is very active in Hereford and by chance on one of my visits to Ian and Cheryl there was a workshop and Milonga. I, and other visitors, were made very welcome and the workshop was led by Gisella who runs Tangonetta in Barcelona. I met frienda from other workshops and as well as learning a lot, had a great time socially

England v Australia – 1st test – Cardiff – day 2

It was a thrill to get tickets for the test match – courtesy of Ian keeping a watchful eye on the sales on the Internet. Cheryl and I boarded the train at Hereford with our pre-booked seats. We were in a minority of people who were seated – just the usual 2 carriage train was provided which no doubt was adequate for the commuters but hadn’t the message got around that Cardiff was an important destination.
It was exciting to arrive in Cardiff, to walk past the Millennium Stadium to the Swalec Stadium in Sofia gardens. Lots of Stewards and the best was made of the facilities available, but it is simply not a major ground.
Our seats were good, high and at square leg with a splendid view. We saw the best day with England’s tail wagging. Swann and Anderson were entertaining. After Lunch Freddie Flintoff bowled magnificently and deserved more than one wicket. The rest of the day belonged to Australia and we were privileged to see Ponting, surely the best in the World, and Kadich get centuries. If we had seen England centuries we would have been over the moon!
Cardiff looks a great City and I would like to explore it but Swalec is not a Trent Bridge!
For the record the match was a draw with Anderson and Panesar surviving for over 11 overs in an exciting finish.