Pictures from my visit to Uffizi Galleries on Fri. Well worth 08.15 booked 'first batch in' entry. Despite 02.00 bedtime after match. Who cares about sleep when the finest collection of Florentine / Renaissance art is there to be seen?
Crikey, those Medicis spent some money....
Winding back to last Thurs in Florence. Pre-match, a guided walking tour in the company of Mike and Becky covering sites of Medicis, Florence through plague & flood, the building of the Duomo, & the Renaissance, including Dante Alighieri. Great weather and company.
#florence
#firenze
#renaissance
I know many Surrey CCC members here have already voted, but a reminder for any who haven't that tomorrow is the deadline for voting for places on the General Committee.
I would love the opportunity to represent the members again. The future of county cricket needs defending.
This morning, the momentous day of my younger daughter Charlotte's wedding to Paolo, I accompanied Jen to Roma Pineto parkrun (sic). Not running myself, obvs - photographer & coffee / water carrier.
Lovely atmosphere, a trumpeter, & prosecco at the end.
#romapinetoparkrun
Palace in a European Semifinal. My little old Palace. Still pinching myself. Such times. I missed Norway, but have been to 6. So very many Palace fans I knew & loved (in some cases 'know & love') haven't been so fortunate. I'm lucky & I'm grateful.
"We're on our way" ❤️ 💙
"We're on our way, on our way....."
Bit nervous for a while after their 2nd goal but safely negotiated. Gambling on Poland flights and accommodation has paid off. "Again, we're going to Poland again".
Not arrested or stabbed 😀. Next stop, Rome for the wedding!
#cpfceuropeantour
First afternoon and evening in Florence. Last part of journey a walk of 20 minutes which became longer due to poor sat nav signal & road closures. But such a beautiful city.
Ciro & Sons for pizza etc, then to Lamb's Fountain, Fitzgerald's & made a new friend
#cpfceuropeantour
The final part of the busy day, a train to Bristol to see Frank Turner playing solo at Trinity Centre, with Dave Hause & Katacombs as support, on his Campfire Punkrock 20 tour. A new venue to me, very good. The gig was superb. And good to see Frank repping The Meffs.
Comeback CPFC 2-1 win vs Newcastle Utd. Selhurst Railway Club had many Barcodes in, all well behaved.
For the first hour, bar a couple of purple patches, we weren't great, but the triple subs changed it totally. J-P rehab with fans now well advanced. Boom!
Good to get over the 40 point line
Sad day for Chippenham Town FC, relegation to Southern League confirmed after a 9 year stay in the 6th tier.
Today: NLS; Hampton & R Boro 1 CTFC 1 (HT 0-1); att 933.
1st relegation for 50 years, 2nd in our entire existence. It hurts. But we will bounce back
#prideandpassion
#bluearmy
Oops! Don't know how that happened, @thegrumbler.bsky.social ! Sorry, Rumblerox!
A classic full house 'European night under the lights' (can't believe I'm saying that about my Palace) at Selhurst Park. Some excellent stuff from the lads.
Job not completely done, but a huge step.
"We're on our way" 😁❤️💙
More excellent rounding-up on the CC from @rumblerox.bsky.social inc mentions for County Cricket Day, county-specific sites such as The Rey, and the well-publicised push by @surreycricketfd.bsky.social for people to work using their laptops at the Oval!
Where does he find the time? Grateful he does
The Moonwalkers at Lightroom London. Audio visual show about the Apollo moon missions, largely inspired by the Artemis space programme now. Great narration by Tom Hanks, 2 years and a month older than me, and clearly as infatuated with astronaut exploits as was I as a young boy.
What a beautiful day to walk up through Crystal Palace Park past the 'under restoration' dinosaurs, to the Bookseller Crow on the Hill. There to pay a bookseller, rather than Jeff Bezos, money for a Rome guidebook, and have a chat about the late and much missed Jonathan Main.
NLS; Chippenham Town 2 AFC Totton 0 (HT 1-0); att 622. Not a great game but 3 points. An ill-fated one for Luke Hallett - an own goal (we thought two), & a red card. But Farnborough also won 2-0.
Still 6 points behind, only 3 games left - running out of road but we'll keep battling.
Yesterday at the Rec. European Rugby Champions' Cup Round of 16; Bath 31 Saracens 22 (HT 0-10). A full house on a windy day. A powerhouse performance by Bath in the second half after a misfiring first half and a welcome change of referee at HT.
On Friday the QF v Saints. Titanic!
NLS; Bath City 1 Chippenham Town 0; att 2040. That might be the Great Escape done for. All over them, overelaborated in the box at times, Bath GK played really well. Then caught by breakaway when throwing everything forward in the 94th min to chase the win. Microcosm of our season.
Happy County Championship Day to all those who partake of our 'summer sport'.
I usually aim to be wherever Surrey are playing for the first ball of the CC season, but today have to be at Twerton Park, Bath, for the Relegation Fight to the Death Derby match.
Enjoy, at Edgbaston and elsewhere.
Nothing like a full set of Grumbler links to open the new season. That and a warm waterproof coat.
As @georgedobell.bsky.social said today, enjoy the CC while you still can.
Very busy at the 'Turner and Constable - rivals and originals' exhibition at @Tate Britain but glad we went. Turner is one of my two favourite artists anyway, but it was interesting to follow their relative career paths. Surprised to realise that Turner was more the 'insider'.
White rabbits to you all, and don't let anyone fool you. By the end of April, we will, I hope, be in a European semifinal, particularly if Calendar Boy has another good month; my Charlotte will be married; and I hopefully wont have stitches in my arse.
Have a good one!
#cpfc
Despite my creakiness yesterday, still managed some decent steps with Neil. Victoria to Soho (The Devonshire, very Irish) to Charing Cross Road (The Montagu Pyke) to Victoria Embankment to the uninspiring new Bazalgette Embankment to Blackfriars (The Blsck Friar and The Cockpit
My hat's in the ring & voting has started. Enough of you were kind enough in 2020 to vote me on to Surrey CCC's General Committee. I worked hard to represent your views, particularly to protect the County Championship's future. Work still needs doing, please support me 🤎 msearlecricket@gmail.com
Indeed.
A lovely day now, and a great time being had with my 'girls'. WPotY at the very Easterly busy Natural History Museum, pizza at Franca Manca South Ken, and now I'm having coffee at the Courtauld while they view the 'Seurat and the Sea' exhibition.
NLS; Chippenham Town 0 Chelmsford City 1 (HT 0-0); att 742.
A game rendered very difficult by the wind, & the only goal was a direct product of that. A body blow, though thankfully Hornchurch equalised late at Farnborough to keep gap to 6 points. But only 5 to play, probably need 5 wins
Finally, from Larnaca Airport, some randoms.
John, owner of the The Meeting Pub was delighted that Chris presented him with a Palace shirt.
Great trip. Weather rubbish but we had some great fun, and we're still on the road to Leipzig. First, Firenze....
#cpfc
#cpfceuropeantour
Very good little museum visited yesterday. Artefacts from 7,500 BC to the Roman era. From sites like Kalavasos-Tenta (7500-5500 BC), Chorrokoitia-Vouni (7th-6th millennia BC) and others on this island with a rich history.
#larnaca
#cyprus
Came across this entirely unexpectedly while having a drive out east towards the Famagusta / Ayia Napa area. On the site of the first EOKA death. EOKA was a Greek Cypriot organisation active 1955 to 1959, fought to end British colonial rule in Cyprus & wanted enosis with Greece.