Had an interesting week in Hampshire last week, beginning on the Sunday with a trip down to New Milton to lend some moral support to a friend who was running her first Marathon (the New Forest Marathon) and I’m pleased to say she got round okay, despite suffering from calf cramps from the half-way point, so well done Jenny :)…
I actually got to New Milton at elevenish, and with the Marathon runners not due to finish until early afternoon, I decided to wander down to nearby Barton on Sea to have a look around. There’s not an awful lot to do in such a sleepy seaside town, although there are a few good cliff-top/beach walks to be had…
Looking eastwards along the cliff-top towards the Beachcomber Cafe…
And here are a few random shots from the race itself…
About 200 yards from the finish line, in The Arnewood School…
Looks in pretty good nick considering he’s just run 26 miles… 😉
‘Come on Dad!’…some young kids have just spotted their dad (in the yellow top)…
And on the wander back to New Milton railway station, this cartoon caught my eye, in a Dentist’s in Osbourne Road…
Yes, quite…one for cat owners 😉
On Wednesday evening I made one of my occasional visits to the Ferneham Halls in Fareham, to see a gig by the Manfreds, who I’d also seen (with a slightly different line-up, that included Mike d’Abo) at the King’s Theatre in Albert Road in Southsea, during the Manfreds’ 50th Anniversary Tour in 2012. That was one of the best live gigs I’ve seen in recent years, so it didn’t take much self-persuasion for me to get a ticket for Wednesday’s event…
Paul Jones, lead singer and bluesy harmonica player…
Simon Pegg, on keyboards…
Tom McGuinesss, lead guitarist…
The final two songs the band played at this gig were ‘Pretty Flamingo’, and ‘Doo Wah Diddy Diddy’ (duly sung-along to) but I have a particular affection for the third last song that was played on Wednesday night. When the 1960s’ incarnation of Manfred Mann disbanded in 1969, Tom McGuiness went on to form McGuinness Flint, whose most successful song was ‘When I’m Dead and Gone’…
The gig ended at half-ten, after which I headed back home in light drizzle…
On my way back to Fareham railway station after the gig, a rainy West Street…
On the Saturday lunchtime before the New Forest Marathon, I’d watched, on BBC-1, England’s Women Football team World Cup qualifier against Belarus, which England won 6-0. And as soon as I discovered their next match would be at Fratton Park on Thursday evening I didn’t waste too much time in booking myself a ticket for the game (it cost a fiver on line, plus a one pound booking fee).
And thus it was, after work on Thursday evening, I made my way to Fratton Park, and joined some six thousand other spectactors at the game. Following are some photos taken at the match, but first are a few pictures of some of the rather artistic graffiti that surrounds Fratton Park. A couple of these feature stuff done by a chap who uses the tag Fark, who I chanced to meet walking his dog around the football ground one summer’s evening last year, so we had a ten minute chat about his work…
Artwork by Fark 1
Artwork by Fark 2
Abstract Pompey graffiti
England v Turkey
England pre-match bonding…
The number 4 here is Fara Williams, who has played over a hundred games for England, and scored three dozen goals. I mention her here because we are actually related to one another; her paternal grandpa was the brother of my maternal nan, so I guess that makes us second cousins or something…;)
Play underway…
England attacking in the second half…
A bit one-sided, but entertaining all the same 😉
The match programme…
Before ending this post I might add that this game was in fact the second women’s football international I’ve attended, the other being the London 2012 Olympics semi-final at Wembley, between France and Japan, which I was fortunate enough to get a ticket for last year…
A Weekend Diary 