(no subject)
Jan. 20th, 2008 09:43 pmDown to Bournemouth for Hawks Ladies' Hampshire Cup quarter-final. Got the shuttle bus from the town centre to the airport for 12.15, so getting a taxi the rest of the way should have been a doddle - right? No. Today there were no flights arriving until 3 pm, so there were no taxis in the airport. The guy in the taxi office phoned for one for me, and said it would arrive "in 5 to 10 minutes".
It turned up at 12.54.
I was now convinced I was going to miss the kick-off, thinking it was a 1 pm start. The taxi driver asked me where I'd flown in from. I explained I hadn't flown from anywhere, I'd come to Bournemouth by train and got a bus out to the airport to save some of the taxi fare. The cabbie advised me that getting a cab straight to Bournemouth Sports Club from the train station wouldn't work out any more expensive than my bus-plus-taxi plan did. After the 40 minutes I'd spent kicking my heels in an airport car park today, I will certainly remember that if the girls ever have another game at Bournemouth!
The taxi dropped me outside the clubhouse on the stroke of 1. Luckily, in the distance I saw the girls still warming up. I went over to the pitch where they were, had a quick chat with Claire and with Michelle, just back from 8 months at sea, and learned the game started at 1.30. Time to pop to the clubhouse and order sossies and chips.
Although the opposition were 2 divisions higher I hoped we might get something out of this tie, as last year we held them 0-0 at the same stage before losing on pennos. Alas, it wasn't to be; although the Hawk girls took the lead twice Bournemouth equalised both times, then we conceded 2 soft goals in the last 15 mins and Bournemouth made sure with a 5th during time added on.
In the clubhouse after, all the girls and the coaches sat around the table where I was drinking a beer, and agreed they'd all have a talk at training tomorrow night to examine where they went wrong and thrash out the best way forward. Then conversation turned to the men's match at Liverpool; although Kelly and Amy are the only actual Hawks supporters in the squad, all the girls are coming to Anfield. I showed everyone my copy of Non-League Today, with Hawks all over the front page; a couple of the girls wound Trevor up over his being quoted in the side column, while everyone liked the lead story which showed the BBC and Sky being slammed from all quarters for snubbing our games with Swansea and Liverpool.
From there I was picked up by my mother, Gran and Aunt Marian to go on to my cousin Lil's 21st birthday celebration at her house in nearby Verwood. Lil laid on a good buffet including Twiglets and cheese twirls; alas, soft drinks were the order of the day, although I've heard she had a bottle of champers which she opened for the late-stayers.
By then I was home watching Ski Sunday. While I miss the traditional Ski Sunday, the new format - Top Gear on the piste - looks interesting enough to check out again next week. Best bit for me was Ed Leigh's train ride from Moscow through Siberia.
It turned up at 12.54.
I was now convinced I was going to miss the kick-off, thinking it was a 1 pm start. The taxi driver asked me where I'd flown in from. I explained I hadn't flown from anywhere, I'd come to Bournemouth by train and got a bus out to the airport to save some of the taxi fare. The cabbie advised me that getting a cab straight to Bournemouth Sports Club from the train station wouldn't work out any more expensive than my bus-plus-taxi plan did. After the 40 minutes I'd spent kicking my heels in an airport car park today, I will certainly remember that if the girls ever have another game at Bournemouth!
The taxi dropped me outside the clubhouse on the stroke of 1. Luckily, in the distance I saw the girls still warming up. I went over to the pitch where they were, had a quick chat with Claire and with Michelle, just back from 8 months at sea, and learned the game started at 1.30. Time to pop to the clubhouse and order sossies and chips.
Although the opposition were 2 divisions higher I hoped we might get something out of this tie, as last year we held them 0-0 at the same stage before losing on pennos. Alas, it wasn't to be; although the Hawk girls took the lead twice Bournemouth equalised both times, then we conceded 2 soft goals in the last 15 mins and Bournemouth made sure with a 5th during time added on.
In the clubhouse after, all the girls and the coaches sat around the table where I was drinking a beer, and agreed they'd all have a talk at training tomorrow night to examine where they went wrong and thrash out the best way forward. Then conversation turned to the men's match at Liverpool; although Kelly and Amy are the only actual Hawks supporters in the squad, all the girls are coming to Anfield. I showed everyone my copy of Non-League Today, with Hawks all over the front page; a couple of the girls wound Trevor up over his being quoted in the side column, while everyone liked the lead story which showed the BBC and Sky being slammed from all quarters for snubbing our games with Swansea and Liverpool.
From there I was picked up by my mother, Gran and Aunt Marian to go on to my cousin Lil's 21st birthday celebration at her house in nearby Verwood. Lil laid on a good buffet including Twiglets and cheese twirls; alas, soft drinks were the order of the day, although I've heard she had a bottle of champers which she opened for the late-stayers.
By then I was home watching Ski Sunday. While I miss the traditional Ski Sunday, the new format - Top Gear on the piste - looks interesting enough to check out again next week. Best bit for me was Ed Leigh's train ride from Moscow through Siberia.