A MISSED CONVERSION...

I suppose it simply reflects on the times in which we live, but even by today`s standards the fuss going on in Devon about the Exeter Chiefs really does take some beating.   The Chiefs are a hugely successful rugby union club, having been formed over 100 years ago, being known as the Chiefs for all that time and achieving great success. 

But recently, in keeping with the diktats of the Woke movement, a fans organisation known as Exeter Chiefs for Change demanded an end to the club`s use of "harmful imagery and branding" which included a Native American headdress, saying there was no place for it in a predominantly British environment - or words to that effect.

Another supporters group launched a counter petition saying that the use by the club of a Native North American in its logo was actually a mark of respect and honour.   Given the conflicting points of view about the club`s branding, the management board voted against the removal of its traditional branding but agreed to `retire` the club`s mascot, Big Chief.  An old fashioned compromise that may not suit anyone and so we have probably not heard the end if it just yet.

Now perhaps unsurprisingly I am with those who suggest that a logo depicting an indigenous Native American by a rugby club 4,000 miles away from Omaha, Nebraska was in no way intended to be `harmful,` but is instead an innocent, respectful representation of the figurehead to which the club looks up with pride and admiration.

Seems to me that these days there are people who are looking at everywhere and everything which might be construed as offensive and this episode might be a good example.   If it was - like so many  others - a veiled attempt to convert me to the ways of wokedom, then it has not succeeded.   Nice try, but a missed conversion.  And why are the group who are so opposed to the club`s traditional logo still  calling themselves Exeter Chiefs for Change?

Sometimes pictures really do paint a thousand words...

Back in November 2018 I posted this - https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=34732787#editor/target=post;postID=5290201926455187137;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=161;src=postname   (Please click on this link to see what it was all about.)

We now know that Peter Green passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday and this really tragic news has been greeted with an outpouring of sadness at the passing of one of the great guitarists, songwriters and singers.   A man of the world indeed - someone who gave much and suffered so much too but one who will always be remembered by those like me who love and appreciate music at its finest.  I`m tempted to go on a bit, but perhaps it`s enough just to say - in all sincerity - `Oh well.`  He will be missed and remembered in this parish.

Tomorrow is a pivotal day for clubs in the looking glass war of Premier League survival.  It comes down to whether Bournemouth, Aston Villa or Watford manage the great escape.   The top end of the League is pretty much decided and for me the Saints finishing either 11th or 12th represents a comfortable end to what has been a topsy turvy season.   

But what is unusual for me is to reach the last game of the season without the worry whether Southampton will survive or not because many, many times over the years nerve ends have been stretched, finger nails nibbled and palpitations just about controlled as the final games of the season have unfolded.   There have been so many great escapes - going to Sellhurst Park as the Saints fans turned it into Dellhurst Park to overcome Crystal Palace;  being there as a last ditch home win over Wimbledon secured another top flight season thanks to two special goals from Marian Pahars, aka the Latvian Michael Owen;  and countless times when the genius that is Matthew Le Tissier almost single- handedly saved us for another day.   

But also there have been times when the miracle of survival eluded us - losing at home to Manchester United ten or more years ago which sparked the decline through the Championship, down to League One and with a ten point deduction following administration.  So I know all about that sinking feeling, which will be apparent tomorrow as Bournemouth must win away at Everton and hope that both Aston Villa and Watford lose their matches away at West Ham and Arsenal respectively.

In one sense I shouldn`t mind what the outcome will be but I have sympathy for the supporters of each of those teams, for I`ve been there and know what it`s like.   But I think, on balance, it would be fitting, if not a little piquant, for Watford to fall through the trapdoor.   A week or so ago they sacked manager Nigel Pearson for having guided them out of the relegation zone and given them a good chance of staying there, only for Nige to be sacked with just two games to go.   We liked Nige when he managed Southampton out of trouble but any club which treats people the way they treated him simply deserves to be relegated.   Sadly, however, with football being what it is I fear the odds are stacked too far against Bournemouth -  I hope not, but there aren`t many fairy tales in the game these days.

A BIG TURN OFF...

I`ve got a kind of love/hate relationship with Sky TV.   Actually with television in general and not because next month I will be obliged to fork out £157 or something for a TV licence thanks to the BBC and HM Gov. stitching up the over 75s who have had the benefit of free licences until now.  (My solution to simply extend that benefit to the over 80s didn`t go down too well.)   Shame really as I would have qualified for that.

Anyway, back to Sky.   Now I enjoy watching a good deal of sport on Sky, especially cricket and football but I find I have mixed emotions when it comes to watching football.  If Southampton are being televised I either find something else to do, take the dog for a walk, anything really than go through the mental anguish of having to sit there and watch it. 

I never had that problem when I used to go and watch the Saints at St. Mary`s because I was part of the occasion, part of the action almost, possibly able to play a small part in how the proceedings unfolded - a good example was years ago when there was a groundswell of discontent with the stewardship of the club by one Rupert Lowe and I joined in with the crowd imploring us to `Stand up if you want Lowe out.`  Eventually he obliged.

In the days since the Premier League has renewed hostilities, both Manchester United and Liverpool have featured regularly which in terms of audience recruitment makes a good deal of sense with Liverpool winning everything in sight and Manchester United thinking they should.  The Sky coverage shows camera work at its best along with football`s most accomplished commentator in Martin Tyler - a dedicated Woking fan with a pleasant easy-on-the-ear delivery and the experience to know when something needs to be said and when it doesn`t.

Trouble is he is invariably accompanied by one or other of the most annoying `summarisers` and it seems that when Manchester United are playing we have to put up with the biased whining platitudes of Gary Neville and whenever Liverpool are playing we have to put up with the biased whining platitudes of Jamie Carragher for whom I think subtitles should be mandatory.   

They`re a big turn off.  Which is enough to be going on with before I launch into Sky`s Political Editor Beth Rigby with her anti-Government slogans and her inability to pronounce any word ending in `ing.`   At least I haven`t mentioned Naga ("Look at me") Munchetty today, but give it time........

A good day yesterday in more ways than one.   But first, a big thank you to all those friends and family who were kind enough to send me good wishes on my birthday - very much appreciated.   

The day went well, as they say.  A couple of hours dog walking once more into the breach of the Pilgrims Way and the North Downs, which we managed just before the rain came.  Family visits in the afternoon - always a real treat - during which I managed to keep my eye on events at Bournemouth`s Vitality Stadium, where the Saints were playing and looking to avenge the defeat suffered early in the season at St. Mary`s by a Cherries side who were playing rather well back then whilst the Saints were languishing in the bottom three of the Premier League at the time.

How things have changed.  Now the Saints are in the higher reaches of mid table, whereas Bournemouth are perilously close to relegation.  They have just one game left - away at Everton next weekend (always a difficult place to go to) - where they must win and hope other results go their way.  It may not be fashionable for Southampton fans to hope they survive but they`re a good club with a good manager and they`re only 20 miles across the New Forest, so it constitutes a bit of a local derby.   But the Saints won 2-0 yesterday so I can have no complaints.

The day got better when Manchester United lost 3-1 to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final, thanks to two glaring errors by their goalkeeper, one David de Gea or something - but then what can you expect for £365,000 a week on a four year contract?   I imagine United will add a few goalkeepers to the burgeoning list of players with whom they are `linked` and which now stands at an impressive 367.  

                                          --------------------------------------

Turning to other things - this should really come under the heading of Snopper`s Nature Notes - but I noticed both some good(ish) and bad news in the natural world over the weekend.   The good(ish) news is that apparently red kites are back in business.  Until fairly recently they were a scarce commodity in ornithological circles but thanks to a concerted conservation programme there are now some 1800 nesting pairs in the UK somewhere.   Good(ish) because they can be a bit of a danger to others of our feathered friends, as we are reminded by the Padstow May Song - "Up flies the kite, down falls the lark...."

The really bad news is that a 10-year old boy was bitten by an adder and suffered a serious reaction which saw him ending up in hospital.   I hope he recovers fully, of course, but I`m still astonished that these potentially lethal snakes are still a `protected species,`   which is just nonsense when you see the threat they pose to anyone who might get bitten by them.

And I`ve just seen that polar bears are likely to be no more before too long, thanks to Greta`s climate change.  Sounds a good idea;  well, they`re not very cuddly and would have you for lunch given half a chance.

Anyway, thought I would mention a couple of things from the natural world to maintain my environmental credentials.  Chris Packham and Greta will be impressed I`m sure.  They don`t have to bother to thank me.

NOT TODAY, THANK YOU..

I`m told that today is the day when most schools have broken up for the Summer holidays and so families are off on holiday themselves, heading - despite the vagaries of Covid 19 - for various destinations here in the UK and abroad.  Many years ago we used to head off too when our sons were at school - in the time when motorways were scarce commodities, when A roads got a bit busy, when cars were a lot more unreliable.

But we used to join the exodus and almost automatically head south west to Devon or Cornwall.  We used to leave very early in the morning to avoid the worst of the traffic and our aim was always to reach  Mere in Somerset for breakfast at 7.00am and on one memorable occasion we left home in the evening en route to Newquay and spending the night in the car on Exmouth seafront. 

Although those journeys were sometimes difficult, they seem to pale in comparison with what goes on on the major routes these days.  I see that this morning there have been traffic reports of serious hold ups at places like the M25 in Surrey, the inevitable A303 at Stonehenge, the A38 at Saltash, the A30 at various locations such as Boxheater Junction, Carminnow Cross and Stowford. All a bit of a scramble, a nightmare journey.

And when you arrive at somewhere like Padstow, what do you find?  Well, here`s a snap from the webcam outside the Whistlefish Art Gallery by Padstow harbour which I captured late this morning.......

A bit busy is an understatement - people crowding round the harbour, round the narrow streets, car parks full - I`m not sure I see the fun in that any more and I`m pretty sure it may not be worth the hassle of the nightmare journey to get there.   So, for me, not today thank you.  Now I love Padstow, but I`ll leave it until a quieter time of the year, despite my hankering to be there on May Day.

Perhaps our morning was better spent, as it was today, walking the woods, the downland, the quiet beauty of the Kent Downs and the Pilgrims Way.  Here`s what that was like...

Maybe I`m getting older, maybe I prefer peace, quiet and a little solitude away from the madness of the world.  Well, I`ll be 81 tomorrow, so why not?   Have a nice day.

PART TWO...

Yesterday I posted about something that was worth waiting for and today I have another one.  After four months I finally managed to get my hair cut yesterday.  I`ve lost count of the number of years that my stylist, Chris of Larkfield, has been attending to my fading hair but after some lengthy negotiations I was booked in for an hour`s appointment yesterday afternoon.   I`ve never had a whole hour`s appointment before and I wondered what on earth might happen to me for that length of time.

I needn`t have worried. Chris`s magic fingers worked their way through as I laid back while she washed it (you`ll get my drift) and then proceeded to style my hair to an agreed specification.  It took a while with each hair being carefully coiffured into place until the final styling which set it all off as a shining example of the crimper`s art.

Only downside was how tricky it was to have our usual banter - she covered by a face screen thingy and me with my Jack Sparrow mask on.  So although we managed some muffled banter (she`s an Arsenal fan) it was all a bit indistinct and open to interpretation.   

But it was all worth the wait and it all ended happily ever after and I`m already booked in for another go in a month`s time.   That`s if I`ve fully recovered from the effects of the local anaesthetic.  (I have a couple of very good friends - they know who they are - who due to shortcomings in the follicle department have no need for a hairdresser.  They really don`t know what they`re missing.)

WORTH WAITING FOR...

It`s been a long time since I felt the need to post anything about `Sir` Alex Ferguson but the events at Old Trafford last evening rekindled memories of my disenchantment with everything to do with Manchester United and their former manager.  I won`t repeat my rants of times gone by but perhaps sufficient to say that since his merciful `retirement` we have been spared his law-unto-himself arrogance.

Now fortunately his current successor, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, seems a more acceptable incarnation - he has done well especially of late by rescuing Manchester United from their early season torpor and bringing them to the brink of Champions League qualification.  Almost but not quite yet.   For last night they were held to a 2-2 draw against Southampton in what was a proper football match played between two highly competitive teams, thus leaving United in 5th place in the Premier League - one place short of where they would like to be.   

Michael Obefemi`s 96th minute equaliser was just reward for yet another committed performance from the reborn Saints and was engagingly pertinent given the number of times over the Fergie years when Fergie time and compliant officials allowed United to win games.  Now I`m pretty sure that if Saints` equaliser had happened in the time of Ferguson`s `management` he would have blamed anyone and everyone, especially the match officials, for denying his team all three points.  So it was encouraging to hear Solskjaer`s post match comments which were sanguine, measured and appreciative of the way Southampton had played, resulting in a fair result, leaving the Saints in a dizzying 12th place.  

So times may have changed a little, although I detect still a feeling of entitlement about United, still that whiff of arrogance not helped by the Sky commentary team including the biased whiny ramblings of one Gary Neville. 

The picture above shows Ferguson suitably gagged as he watched the end of the game in the quiet of Old Trafford last night.  It`s been a long time since I have seen him looking so glum faced....but well worth waiting for. 

LOSE ANOTHER DAY ?

Reference my recent post about the planning application to build 250 houses on some farmland hereabouts, last night saw the application debated at length by the local area Planning Committee of elected councillors.  There had been hundreds of objections to the scheme from local residents, myself included, and to be fair to our elected representatives the majority of them spoke against the application and at the end of a lengthy debate the application was turned down by fourteen votes to four.

Sounds good?  Well, the Council`s Planning Officer advised the Committee that in fact the application must now stand deferred for the Council to consider the cost implications of fighting any appeal which the developers will doubtless pursue;  so effectively we don`t have a definitive decision as such, rather we have yet another delay before the matter is finally resolved.  The Planning Officer was pretty clear in defending his recommendation that the application should be approved, albeit with loads of conditions attached, and he confirmed that in his opinion the reasons put forward by the Committee to refuse the application were not likely to be upheld at an appeal. 

I can see this saga going on for a while - but what irks me is the notion that, despite the wishes of the majority of local residents, despite the recommendation of the Planning Officer to grant conditional approval being overturned; and despite the considered democratic `decision` of the Planning Committee last night, we might after all have a pyrrhic victory on our hands.  But rather than worry about cost implications perhaps the Planning people should be asked to go away and use the deferment to come up with reasons to refuse the application which could be sustained at an appeal.

Any appeal will of course be held by a Planning Inspector appointed by HM Gov. for the purpose, so the outcome will probably be determined well away from the local anxiety the application is causing and, given the preponderance of the gobbledegook that seems to inhabit the mystical world of planning, the chances are that the planners will have their way in the end.

So, we might have won the battle last evening only to lose another day.....and here`s me thinking that you can`t put a price on considered, thought through, local democratic `decisions.`  At my age, I should know better.

Just a quick update on yesterday`s `Perfect Day` post.  It seems that Saints` closest rivals in terms of Hampshire football - the blue few of Portsmouth FC - have failed once again to extricate themselves from the quagmire that is League One (aka Division 3 of English football.) 

For the second year running they were beaten in the semi-final of the League One play-off, this time on penalties by Oxford United, thus missing out on a trip to Wembley for Monday`s final and missing the opportunity to compete in the Championship.  Seems that my perfect day yesterday had an extra element of piquancy as Portsmouth`s fate was not confirmed until late in the evening, providing the comforting fact that neither they nor Southampton will be playing in the Championship next season.   A question of maintaining social distancing between the two rival clubs to two quite separate divisions in the football family.

No wonder Portsmouth uber fan, John Portsmouth Football Club Westwood - to give him his full name - is looking so glum but at least he can look forward to resuming his place at Fratton Park (kraP nottarF) as a haven of refuge from the hurly-burly stressful world of his Petersfield bookshop.   I feel his pain for it was not too many years ago that the Saints were themselves marooned in League One - I remember Mr. Westwood and his chums being over the moon at that but at least we Saints fans managed to retain our sartorial elegance.

They don`t come around too often but when they do they`re worth celebrating.  Yesterday started off with a two hour dog walk around the North Downs, the Pilgrims Way and the glories of summer in the Kent countryside.  Followed by a whizzo Sunday lunch which would put Rick Stein to shame (if you`ve ever had an M & S lemon cheesecake you`ll know what I mean.)

And then in the evening the unbelievable happened when Southampton pulled off an astonishing victory against Manchester City with a brave, resilient, almost heroic performance, winning 1-0 before a world wide terrestrial TV audience.   The goal came from Che Adams, bought at great expense from Birmingham City  last January with a reputation as a free scoring striker;  but who had so far failed to find the back of the net in his 30 appearances for the Saints.

His 45 yard strike yesterday was not only worthy of Goal of the Millennium but also a cause for wild celebrations from his team mates who seemed genuinely delighted for him - surely the first of many more to come.  The win leaves Saints a vertigo-inducing 13th in the Premier League table with 43 points and still five games to go before this weird season finally ends - eclipsing the league and points position for the past two seasons.

So, dancing in the streets of Southampton last night (or was it reckless social distance defying  euphoria?) - the fans didn`t see that coming - over the moon - desperately running out of cliches - but the day ended as I gazed deep into the night transfixed by the Premier League table on permanent  teletext view as mathematically it will now be impossible for the Saints to be relegated.  Perfect.

 A TOUCH OF HYPOCRISY ?

I shouldn`t be telling you this but in a long and varied career I have been involved in all manner of things.   One of the most bizarre was when, having completed my National Service back in 1962 and looking for a job, I spent a couple of years working in what was then the Office of the County Clerk of Kent County Council.  I was drafted into the section that involved attending Planning Committee meetings across the county and issuing decisions on planning applications. 

Often those decision notices were accompanied by covering letters which I would dictate to a comely typist, whereupon the copy underneath the one to be sent would be initialled by at least two more senior administrators before the rubber stamp of the county clerk, (one GT Heckels) would be firmly placed before dispatch to the recipient.

A bit of a change from two years in the army being fine tuned and honed into a lethal killing machine ready to defend western democracy from the communist hordes, so unsurprising that, after a while I left the hallowed corridors of Kent`s County Hall `to pursue other opportunities.`

But at least that time spent at the sharp end of local government bureaucracy gave me an insight into the mystical world of town and country planning.  I picked up some useful words and phrases which were much used in the planning world in those days, especially those concerned with reasons to refuse a planning application.  "Undesirable ribbon development."  "Over intensive use of the site."  "Insufficient planting for decorative or screening purposes."  "The fenestration is considered too pedestrian."  And so on.  Which reminds me of the probably unfair assertion that "When the time taken to conceive, plan,  get approval for and construct a new building exceeds the useful life of the building in question, then at that point people emigrate."

So, why am I telling you all this?   Well, I face a bit of a dilemma.  There is a planning application on a chunk of farmland adjacent to our peaceful Kentish village to build 250 new houses, along with the ancillary `services` and this has given rise to a good deal of anguish for local villagers who see the farmland disappearing under a sea of concrete, denying them the bit of countryside which they value along with the public footpaths that cross it and provide extensive views to the North Downs.

My dilemma has been whether to join them in their disapproval of this `urbanisation` on their doorstep.   We have lived where we are for over 40 years now on a `development` that was previously farmland and I`m sure that all those years ago the locals at the time were not too chuffed about building the houses we now live in.   So I suspect it might be a touch hypocritical of me to complain about this current application to build houses on that farmland, especially as there is a shortage of housing in the area anyway - despite the rumour that the housing shortage is put about by people with nowhere to live.

On the other hand, I`m not too chuffed about it, so I have put my name to a petition to try and stop the `development` going ahead, mainly because it will be an over intensive use of the site, provide insufficient planting for decorative or screening purposes; and anyway I think the fenestration is far too pedestrian.  Watch this space.......

.....and a good example has emerged from our old friends the House of Lords who, in the depths of the ongoing pandemic, have mysteriously seen an upsurge in the number of peers voting.  Now this is surely coincidental but this increased enthusiasm for voting in the Lords seems to have arisen since the introduction of a £162 daily allowance for taking part in virtual divisions during the pandemic.

Since the payment was introduced last month, on average 497 peers have voted on each of the bills before the house.   This is 137 higher than the average over the past five years - an increase of nearly 40%.  Last week, for example, 561 out of the approximately 800 peers voted on an amendment to the Fisheries Bill which is the biggest `turnout` in more than two years.   That vote alone cost the taxpayer £90,000 !

Before the lockdown, peers would receive a daily allowance of £323 if they arrived to take part in the proceedings at the Lords.   Then the payment of about half that sum - £162 a day - was brought in for peers who took part virtually in debates or committee hearings.  Then the payment was changed so that any peer who simply voted became entitled to the payment.  If all of the 800 or so peers voted, the cost to the taxpayer would be £129,600 a day.

One peer, wishing to remain anonymous, said that the huge rise in the number of peers voting "looks dreadful."   He wasn`t wrong, but of course there is the old saying that it is indeed an ill wind that blows no good - especially if you`re a peer of the realm.