iplow blog

cricket begins again

2009-04-26T11:18:00.001+01:00

the new season for elmswell cricket club starts today with a game against stowmarket. really looking forward to it and will post on here later with the result etc. in the mean time check our our new club website at www.elmswellcricketclub.co.uk.

bill frindall 1939-2009

2009-01-30T18:35:00.003Z

bill frindell mbe, the much loved voice of statistics on bbc radio 4's test match special has sadly died to the age of 69.

tms will never quite be the same without you 'bearders'.

progress

2009-01-20T21:30:00.001Z

bike lane that travels with you

2009-01-16T16:17:00.002Z

i like it

"i am me" - team gb on the bbc

2008-12-16T18:15:00.001Z

watching sunday nights spoty (that the bbc sports personality of the year) i thought the whole thing was excellent but i especially enjoyed the video featuring some of team gb's paralympic medalists.

to watch click here and skip to 37:24 on the video (or watch the whole programme!).

it reminded me of the brilliant advert for the gb paralympic team that came out just before the games back in the summer.

winters day over river orwell

2008-12-02T20:06:00.003Z

poke the penguin

2008-11-18T20:00:00.002Z

this is an awareness test

2008-11-17T21:34:00.001Z

wisdom by andrew zuckerman

2008-11-05T20:25:00.000Z

visit wisdombook.org for more about the film and accompanying book.
visit andrewzuckerman.com for more about the creator.

november 4th 2008

2008-11-05T20:20:00.001Z

more at patrickmoberg.com.

governing people by patrick moberg

2008-11-03T21:30:00.005Z

thought this animation was very apt with whats currently happening in the united states.

crowe lee deehan delap sodje (by keane)

2008-11-03T20:54:00.005Z

this is possibly one of the funniest things i've ever heard in my life.

it featured on the 606 football phone in with danny baker on bbc radio 5live a few weeks back. basically a guy called "teletext alex" has replaced all the words to "bohemian rhapsody" by queen with the names of footballers. the song is therefore now called "crowe lee deehan delap sodje" by keane.

i will say no more, just watch and listen.

to follow teletext alex's new lyrics click here.

cricket season over for another year

2008-09-21T11:55:00.005+01:00

it's over! the cricket season is completed (stop cheering mrs p!).

the final game last sunday against cavendish wanderers ended in defeat but was notable for two things. firstly i scored a personal best of 34 batting at number three. the other thing being one of our players managed to hit a towering six straight through a team mate's car window!

all in all a pretty good season for elmswell c.c. as we finished fifth out of nine teams. i think next season with a bit more luck and some better weather we could push for another promotion.

for a full run down of the league table click here.

for the record, this season i played 11 matches, batted in 10 innings, with 1 not out, scoring a total of 127 runs at an average of 14.11 with a top score of 34.

tony blair on the daily show

2008-09-20T19:56:00.002+01:00

tony blair recently made a very interesting appearance on the daily show with jon stewart.

this show is more often than not the best place to get a realistic view of american (and often world) politics.

mr blair doesn't offer too many nuggets of wisdom (when did he ever?) as it seems more of an advert on his part to publicise his new course in faith and globalisation at yale university (weird hey?).

in my opinion the best point made during the interview was from jon stewart himself when he talked about the fact that in the end 19 people actually carried out the attacks on 11th september 2001. he asked is it possible to go to war enough, to make the world safe enough, that 19 people wouldn't want to attack "us" again.
(see 7min 50secs in on video part 2)

elmswell c.c. update

2008-09-07T11:45:00.004+01:00

when i last updated you elmswell c.c. were on a 3 match unbeaten run in the league. unfortunately that came to an end in a fairly close game against earl stonham which we lost by 26 runs. we got back to winning ways the following week with a 5 wicket defeat of nowton.

in august the weather took its toll and we were unable to play any league games, losing 3 chances to gain more valuable points.

our first game after the rainy season that is the english summer came last sunday against tendring park. we had lost to them earlier in the season in a fairly close game that we really should have won. however this match turned out to be even closer.

we won the toss and decided to bat first. it all looked pretty bad when we collapsed to 72 for 7 after only 29 overs. but a stand of 57 for the 8th wicket brought us home with a very respectable 129 for 7 from our 40 overs.

tendring park started well but lost wickets at fairly regular intervals throughout their innings. they steadied the ship and with 12 balls left they were 127 for 8 - 3 runs for victory!

the penultimate over went for just a single - 2 runs to win! the final over started badly with a no-ball. this tied the scores, but if scores were level we would win as we had lost fewer wickets. no runs were added as we came to the last two delivers of the game. dan, our young bowler, then pulled it out of the bag. two wickets, both clean bowled, with the last two balls of the game! what a finish, and at 8pm (it was dark!).

we are now safely in mid-table of division 3 with only one game to go next week against cavendish wanderers. then the bat and gloves get a well earned rest until next season.

on the road again

2008-09-07T11:44:00.001+01:00

yes it's official, i've started running again - and i have a new toy. it's called the nike+ and it turns my ipod nano into a kind of fancy pedometer that can measure my speed, distance, pace and calories burned as i run. i used it for the first time today and it worked really well.

also, you might have notice the little widget on the side of my blog page. this will keep you all updated on how well my runs are going and if i'm getting any quicker. if i start to flag or get lazy you have permission to get onto me.!

waterlog by roger deakin

2008-09-03T21:29:00.005+01:00

i have just finished reading the excellent "waterlog- a swimmer's journey through britain" by roger deakin. it's an excellent travel book with a twist in that the author writes about his journey as he swims through britain.

his love of the natural world and his passion for it's conservation comes through strongly and if you are an east anglian (a person from east anglia) like me then you will be familiar with many of the places he visits in our region.

i'd highly recommend this excellent book as a great read that leaves you feeling that you've swum every stroke with the author and enjoyed all the sights, sounds and smells that he did.

elmswell c.c. make it 3 wins in a row

2008-07-12T16:29:00.005+01:00

with two wins added to our record since i last updated things on the cricket front, we've now made it three wins in a row in the league.

a good performance with the bat (including a 24 from me!) saw us beat second place
cavendish wanderers by 3 wickets a fortnight ago.

then last week we were fortunate to accept a win on a very wet weekend as horringer had to concede the match due to them being unable to get a team together(not really a win i know but they all count).

tomorrow we play earl stonham in what could be a very close game in the battle for the second promotion place in division 3.

well done mrs p

2008-07-12T16:23:00.005+01:00

well done mrs p for completing this years race for life in ipswich.
it was more of a swim for life with the heavy rain that fell pretty much all the time but that didn't seem to slow anyone down.
congratulations to mrs p, colleen (see pre-race picture above), and all those who took part in ipswich and across the country.

mrs p's race for life sponsorship page

2008-06-29T22:44:00.002+01:00

mrs p is going to be running the race for life this year and it would be great if you could sponsor her and help raise lots of money for cancer research uk.

please click here to go straight to her sponsorship page and donate securely online.

its for a great cause so please give as much as you can.

thank you

new iplayer beta

2008-06-26T21:47:00.006+01:00

the beeb have launched the latest version of their iplayer in beta format. it comes with a much better menu and radio and other cool stuff. give it a look, its the bee's knees!

who is going to win euro 2008?

2008-06-26T20:47:00.007+01:00

so who is going to win euro 2008?

its been one of the best football tournaments for a long time (perhaps because england weren't there!?) and the final takes place this sunday in vienna's ernst-happel stadion between germany and spain - but who is going to take home the trophy? (the one pictured above is the subbuteo version but i thought it looked cool)

to help you decide have a go on the "i vote" at the top of the page.

elmswell c.c. update

2008-06-23T15:15:00.004+01:00

hello all,

i feel i have been neglecting my blog a bit so thought an update on the cricket situation was needed - so here goes.

on sunday 11th may we played edwardstone away and lost by the rather large margin of 6 wickets. we batted first but only managed to score 99 runs (i contributed with a second ball duck!). needless to say they didn't take long to knock those runs off (21.5 overs actually).

the following week (18/05/08) we were at home to bury st edmunds academy team and guess what? we lost again, this time by 31 runs.

now on 25th may we managed to avoid defeat against top of the table hadleigh. this was due to a great performance from the weather which meant the game was cancelled!

our next game was on 15th june at home against tendring park. they batted first and posted a good total of 193 for 3. we gave chase and game up 15 runs short. it was a real good effort considering we had a very depleted side.

now this week we got ourselves back to winning ways with a great performance against horringer. we won the toss and batted first. both opening batsmen scored over 50 and we finished on 168 for 5.

our bowlers then set about demolishing their innings and they finished 76 all out.

we're now in 6th place in the league with 9 games to go.

our next game is this sunday at home against 2nd place cavendish wanderers.

no news? if only

2008-06-12T15:34:00.003+01:00

elmswell c.c. back to winning ways

2008-05-05T17:55:00.005+01:00

elmswell cricket club got back to winning ways last sunday as we beat nowton cricket club. nowton batted first and we demolished them, all out for 74. we then made short work of our target and i didn't even get a chance to bat.

we're now sitting pretty in mid-table of division 3 after two games. next up its our first away game at edwardstone and the weather forecast looks like sunshine all they way!

off to a losing start

2008-05-03T20:33:00.003+01:00

better late than never but i thought i'd post our result from last weeks cricket match.

earl stonham batted first and posted a score of 189 for 4 from their 40 overs. we bowled well and with a bit more luck we'd have had a few more wickets. i played pretty well behind the stumps and took two catches.

our innings was a tale of two halves. we raced to 100 runs off the first 20 overs and then had a bit of a collapse in the second 20 overs. after 40 overs we had reached 186 for 8, just short of the target. i hit a pretty good 13 runs in the rain.

overall not a bad result for our first game of the season and even thought we lost we picked up a few bonus points which always come in handy at the end of the season. we currently sit 5th out of 9 in division 3.

next game is against nowton at home. hopefully we can do a bit better this week and get a win this time. i'll let you know how we get on.

Humphrey Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008)

2008-04-26T17:03:00.004+01:00

Humphrey Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008)

the world became a slightly less funny place today.

we'll miss you humph, "until next time!"

it's almost time

2008-04-25T19:12:00.005+01:00

the new cricket season is almost here! ( i can just hear mrs p groaning in the background)

at 1:30pm on sunday we (that's elmswell cricket club) will begin our season with a home match against a team from earl stonham.

i'm really looking forward to it but at the moment i'm not getting too excited as the weather forecast is not too good. hopefully, all being well i will be able to put an update on hear with how we got on asap after the game.

also, i've put a little poll on this blog to find out how people think we're going to get on so feel free to cast your vote.

"well done"

2008-04-15T16:44:00.003+01:00

well done to over 34,000 people who completed the london marathon on sunday.
it never fails to amaze and move me watching the masses of people complete the 26.2 mile course.

congratulations and remember, only 376 training days until the 2009 london marathon.

happy april fools day

2008-04-01T21:24:00.001+01:00

the sound of leather on willow

2008-03-22T22:23:00.006Z

its getting closer, i can almost hear it, the sound of the new cricket season for elmswell cc looming on the horizon (can a sound loom on the horizon? well you know what i mean!).

our first match is a friendly against lavenham towards the end of april and i'm really looking forward to it. not sure if mrs p is but i think she secretly likes the lazy sunday afternoons watching us play.

this season we're in division 3 so things are going to be a bit tougher i think, and we've also decided to enter this seasons cup competition too just to spice things up a bit.

anyway, i'll be keeping a record of our games on here so be sure to come back every sunday night (or bit later in the week if i'm too tired to blog) to find out how we're doing.

did you know...(no.8)

2008-03-21T18:00:00.004Z

... tonight is the lenten moon? well you do now!

i actually got this fact from a really cool allotment blog called bean sprouts.

basically this is the reason why easter is so early. easter sunday must fall on the first sunday after the first full moon after the equinox. as the equinox was yesterday and the full moon is tonight then this sunday is easter sunday! easy hey?

also (bonus 'did you know' coming up!) this easter is only one day short of the earliest that is possible (22nd march). however, this won't happen until the year 2285 and it won't be on 23rd march again until 2160.

east fife fizz goes flat

2008-03-19T19:14:00.005Z

poor old east fife football club have been banned from celebrating their championship success with the traditional shower of bubbly.

it appears that the problem was nothing to do with the contents of the bottles but the bottles themselves. according to officers from central scotland police the law states that glass containers are not permitted inside sporting grounds.

i can just see it now, lewis hamilton wins the british grand prix and is handed a plastic bottle of bubbly, with the plastic cap removed for his own safety!

cool video

2008-03-19T18:25:00.002Z

i now know what i want for christmas

2008-02-19T20:15:00.007Z

me and mrs plowy have recently been stocking up on equipment to start going camping when the weather warms up. on my travels through various camping and outdoor equipment websites i came across "the largest swiss army knife in the world", namely the wenger giant knife for sale at wiggle.co.uk for the bargain price of £445.50. just imagine the fun you could have one one of those!

chicken out!

2008-01-10T19:53:00.001Z

i've been watching the chicken out campaign on channel 4 and it has really opened my eyes to the way chicken is farmed. the programme was fronted by hugh fearnley-whittingstall of river cottage fame and showed the differences between free range and intensively farmed chickens. it made some good points about how buying free range chicken need not be greatly more expensive than the bog standard variety.

he also tried to get interviews with the major supermarkets in the uk but they were unsurprisingly reluctant.

give the campaign website a look and and show your support by signing up!

2008 - the year of the allotment

2008-01-09T19:46:00.001Z

as we don't have any major events planned for this year, mrs p and i are hoping to make 2008 the year of the allotment. we popped down to our plot last weekend and had a good sort out. it wasn't looking too bad (pictured) so we gave it a good weed and cleared a few brambles etc. we've got some good winter/spring vegetable seeds, things like beans, radish etc so they'll be going in soon along with the much needed pigeon protect, which might include a homemade scarecrow.

watch this space to watch things grow (fingers crossed)!

cool picture

2007-11-01T22:23:00.002Z

took this photo while on a break with mrs p in norfolk last month. no real reason to post it other than i thought it looked cool. enjoy!

did you know...(#7)

2007-11-01T21:42:00.001Z

... shift happens!

this is a really cool video about how things are shifting rather fast!

you say tomato, i say tomato

2007-09-29T18:34:00.003+01:00

some tomatoes from our allotment.
juicy!!

wicket keeper with 10 broken fingers

2007-09-20T20:05:00.002+01:00

in 45 years time i hope my hands don't end up looking like this guy's!

david morrison has kept wicket for his local village team, barton cc in north yorkshire, for almost half a century and has managed to break all his fingers and both thumbs.

in his younger days (when he wore only thin chamois gloves for protection) he was reluctant to seek medical attention for fear of losing his place so it was on with the frozen peas for a few minutes then back out on the field.

now, at the age of 62, he's still in the wars. last weekend he picked up both a darlington and district league championship medal and a black eye when a 16-year old leg spinner caught him unawares.

they certainly don't make'm like that anymore!

the good...the bad...and the ugly!

2007-09-19T20:54:00.003+01:00

the good.......................the bad.........................and the ugly!

yes, you've guessed it. we've neglected our allotment a bit lately. it's been a bit of a busy summer and unfortunately the allotment has not been top of our list. but now its time for "operation trowel"!

this saturday we plan to give the plot a real good going over to get it fully cleared again and ready for next year. we'll be digging over the natural fertiliser that has been growing on the left side of the plot (they aren't weeds, honest) and finishing digging the final bed at the back of the plot.

we're also going to trim the paths and lay some old bricks around the beds that don't already have edging, just to tidy things up really.

so hopefully by the end of the weekend i'll have some better pictures to show you.

did you know... (#6)

2007-09-16T19:46:00.001+01:00

...due to high metal prices in 2006, 2p coins minted before 1992 were actually worth 3p each!

whatever happened to 'olympic spirit?

2007-09-13T19:20:00.001+01:00

this story from bbc news made me laugh but also a bit angry.

i totally understand the need to protect the 2012 brand so it isn't used for major counterfeiting or the like - but banning sausages? come on!

elmswell cricket club on the up (again!)

2007-09-13T18:33:00.001+01:00

summer is coming to an end (if it ever started!) and with it the cricket season.
my team, elmswell cc, have managed to get promoted for the second season in a row. we finished second in the suffolk cricket league div 4, behind the very impressive team from hadleigh (although we did beat them at their place).

all being well, next season i should be playing from the start of the season so, weather permitting, i should get a few more games than this year. its going to be tough in division 3 as the standard will be a lot higher but i think we can rise to the challenge.

i've got a new toy!

2007-08-31T21:17:00.001+01:00

its a mandolin!

its on loan from mrs plowy's family and my task is to have a tune playable by christmas.

so far i've given it a good polish and re-strung it. its been a challenge to keep in tune but once it settles down i hope to get a least a few notes out of it.

i'll keep you updated on how it all goes.

remembering rhys

2007-08-31T20:57:00.001+01:00

one of the most moving things i've seen in a very long time is the sight of the family of the late rhys jones standing on the hallowed turf of anfield, wearing the blue of everton as the theme from z-cars, the song everton run out to every week, was played for all to hear.

i was not ashamed to say it made me weep with sadness but also with a sense of pride. pride in the fact that football can still be something that brings people together and gives them a way to pay tribute to someone like rhys.

today my brother told me that rhys's father stephen had written a poem about his son and his untimely death and having read it i felt i had to post it here for others to read;

A poem written by Rhys’s father, Stephen

Now God wanted a football match
And to play it up in heaven
But first he needed players
And select his first eleven

Georgie Best, big Brian Labone
The legend Dixie Dean
Alan Ball and Bobby Moore
All made it in the team

He needed one more player
Someone who would be quick
From up above he looked down
And saw Rhys there in his kit

So Rhys was taken up above
God took him by the hand
To play the game he loved so much
Where sponsorship is banned

There is no cheating either as
God is the referee
There are no mega wages
And the transfers they are free

The games are live on telly
You don't have to subscribe
The players all stay on their feet
Cos no one takes a dive

So Rhys plays now so happily
To the angels in the crowd
And every time he hits the net
They roar his name so loud

Have fun my little blue boy
You’re safe and in God’s care
‘Till it’s time for me to get my boots
And join with you up there

may rhys rest in peace, may his family and friends remember him with love and may the person who brought this tragedy upon them meet with swift justice.

did you know...(#5)

2007-08-18T22:06:00.001+01:00

...the fear of long words is called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.

when does a courgette become a marrow?

2007-08-18T21:46:00.002+01:00

just before we got hitched and went away on honeymoon, i popped down to our slightly neglected allotment to check it over before abandoning it for a few weeks. imagine my surprise when i clapped eyes on one of our courgette plants.

now i'm not up to date on the current EU directive on courgette size and when it should be termed a marrow, but this has to be the biggest one i've ever seen (approx 12cm end to end).

unfortunately we were unable to sample it as we hadn't time, so our neighbour was the grateful recipient of it along with a couple of lettuces.

hopefully we'll have something to tuck into soon!

we've only gone and done it!!!

2007-08-18T21:32:00.001+01:00

as you can see we are now officailly mr & mrs plowy. we had a wonderful day, the sun shone and the new mrs plowy looked stunning.

i'd just like to thank everyone who helped make our day so happy and a day both of us will never forget.

cour(gette) blimy!

2007-07-15T22:56:00.001+01:00

as we don't have photographic evidence you're going to have to take our word for this, but we ate our first courgette from the allotment today.

we covered them in egg and flour and fried them quickly in oil, and even if i do say so myself they were delicious.

we promise to take a picture of the next one as proof.

yum yum!!

well done boss!!

2007-07-14T10:20:00.001+01:00

well done boss!

my clever little bro has only gone and got a degree! he's now got a ba(hons) in interactive media! sounds posh don't it?

well done mate - now the real work starts - figuring out what you wanna do with your life!

brilliant prank, with a very clever message

2007-07-06T17:36:00.001+01:00

this stunt was reported by reuters and published in the 7th july 2007 issue of new scientist.
It was pulled by a group of political activists called the yes men who describe their work as "exposing, perhaps deviously, the nastiness of powerful evildoers" by taking part in "identity correction".

basically, two guys from the yes men posed as representatives from ExxonMobil and the U.S. National Petroleum Council, at the Gas and Oil Exposition – aka GO-EXPO 2007 – in Calgary.

they had a keynote speech on the programme and promptly proceeded to reveal a new fuel called "vivoleum" which was "to be used in the event of a global climate calamity and made by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.”

sounds a little sick i know but it could be a valuable option in the event of a nuclear holocaust or similar catastrophe - well here comes the clever bit of their prank.

one of the the yes men, “Shepard Wolff” (aka Andy Bichlbaum) began to explain the process of turning living beings into fuel using 3-d animations and powerpoint slides. he stated “we need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant.”

now here's the very clever bit:

“vivoleum works in perfect synergy with the continued expansion of fossil fuel production,” noted the supposed Exxon rep “Florian Osenberg” (aka Mike Bonanno, another member of the yes men). “with more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for vivoleum. fuel will continue to flow for those of us left.”

i just love the smell of irony in the morning, smells like victory!

ps. read about the rest of the prank at reuters, including how they gave delegates at the conference a candle made from the "by-products" of the production of vivoleum.

2nd out of 1!

2007-07-05T17:27:00.001+01:00

this story made us chuckle...

Woman runner-up in one-horse race

A grandmother won second prize in a cake-baking contest at a fete, only to discover she was the only entrant.

Jenny Brown, 62, entered her Victoria Sponge into the competition and was initially pleased to have come second.

But she was left shocked when a friend revealed to her that she was the only person to take part.

Ms Brown said: "My friend came over to me at the fete and said I had come second.

"I asked her how many more entries there had been, but she just started laughing and said I was the only one.

"I definitely wasn't annoyed about it."

Although the cake was not deemed fit to win the competition, Ms Brown said it was soon polished off with no complaints.

Julie Dent, from the Wimblington Sports Committee, said: "The judges had an expectation and I suppose they didn't feel as though it qualified for first place.

"This was the first year but the cake competition will become an annual event."

She said her own baking was subject to another strange decision.

"About 11 years ago I entered a show with some fruit scones. I was the only entrant but I came third."

better luck next year Jenny!

did you know...(#4)

2007-07-03T19:47:00.001+01:00

seb coe is partialy colour blind?

might have something to do with the 2012 logo then!

darks skys ahead

2007-07-01T20:27:00.001+01:00

what with all things about weather and precipitation being in the news at the moment, i thought i post this dramatic picture of the sky over central suffolk this week.

camper!

2007-06-30T16:24:00.001+01:00

me and mrs plowy (soon to be) have decided to start planning what will be the trip of a lifetime.

we both really fancied going to new zealand but didn't really see the point in going for just a couple of weeks as there's just too much to take in.

so, after seeing them telly, we've decided to hire a really cool campervan and drive from one end of the country to the other. now when i say "campervan" i don't mean any old thing i mean one of these babies!

each van is individually painted with a different design and there are loads to choose from. they are fairly roomy (for a van!) and have a surprising range of facilities.

Its hopefully gonna be the trip of a lifetime, with the freedom to go almost anywhere we want and the pace we want.

It want happen for a couple of years as we'll have to save quite a bit but its something to aim for. watch this space!

ps. the title of this post is an in joke for anyone who has played a childs boardgame called 'jump the queue'. you know who you are! (camper, limpo, scooooooooter!)

money+football=ripped off supporters

2007-06-30T14:07:00.001+01:00

so not only do we have to pay £30+ a time to watch 22 rich men play in a sponsored stadium, wearing sponsored shirts, whilst 'enjoying' over-priced sponsored food & drink, reading the 'advert' that passes for a match day programme, we now have to pay for the privilege of knowing who our team is playing.

the information below was taken from freethefixtures.com and it makes very interesting reading.

"On Thursday 14th June the fixtures for the 2007/08 football season were published. However most fan run websites will not be displaying them....

Football DataCo Ltd is a British company that grants licenses to third parties allowing them to reproduce certain intellectual property such as fixture lists and statistics.

Football DataCo is wholly owned by FA Premier League and The Football League. Fans have 3 options.....

1) Become the clubs nominated fanzine and get a licence for the fixtures for £1+VAT and a delivery charge to your site £104+ VAT, delivery via email! A total of £123

2) Get authorisation from the club to use their fixtures in isolation. This would be £266+VAT plus delivery charge A total of £435

3) Without authorisation from the club you must buy fixtures for all clubs - this is £4244+VAT for the licence and £5200+VAT for delivery A total of nearly £12,000.

The fees are charged to all 3rd parties including independently owned football fan sites and fanzines. Numerous fan sites have been closed as a result of legal action initiated by Football DataCo Ltd.

We the fans should be free to publish our teams fixtures on our sites.

Please sign the petition and we will present it to the people that are responsible for charging the fans to publish THEIR fixtures!"

i think you'll agree that this is getting silly and needs to be stopped before the soul is totally taken out of the dying body that is football.

sign the petition!

stop it now!

did you know...? (#3)

2007-06-30T13:55:00.001+01:00

...that ipswich used to have an underground railway network?

i know its hard to believe (and i'm not sure i do yet) but apparently its true.

there's even a website about it. have a look and decide for yourself.

---UPDATE--- its an april fool from earlier in the year! i'll admit it had me going for a minute but the stuff about Stalinist sympathisers started some alarm bells ringing.

another little visitor

2007-06-30T13:51:00.001+01:00

we've had another little visitor to our patch recently, but this time i was more than happy to welcome him (or her) onto our allotment. hopefully from the picture you'll be able to see that we've had a little mouse come and say "hello". i'm pretty sure that they haven't been the ones eating all our crops (bloody pigeons!) so i'll be more than happy to see it again.

it grows on you

2007-06-11T17:15:00.002+01:00

after all the fuss about the new logo for the london 2012 games (now i'm gonna say the next bit quietly) it's actually beginning to grow on me a little bit.

what about the price? £400k? yes it is a lot of money, but compared to the rest of the 2012 budget, and compared to the huge amounts of money spent by private companies (and other public sector organisations) it is actually not that much.

you can't fault the boldness of seb and his team on choosing a very striking and provocative design, and it has certainly gained a reaction. but what would you prefer? a logo that no one can remember and disappears even before the games have begun (there's still 5 years to go don't forget), or something the gets a reaction and will last in people's memories for a long time to come (good or bad). i know which i'd choose.

ps. i think it looks better against a dark background like at the end of the launch video (don't worry, its safe now!).

we're spitting feathers now

2007-05-30T21:22:00.001+01:00

just a quick update on the allotment invaders. well it turns out that the rabbits weren't to blame for our damaged cabbages. it was a squadron of fighter pigeons with a taste for half grown veggies. needless to say we have taken evasive and hopefully they will not be tucking into our produce again.

watch this space to see what happens!

rabbit pie anyone?

2007-05-24T22:37:00.002+01:00

we've had a little visit from some of our neighbours, and they didn't come round asking for a bowl of sugar! we've been invaded by rabbits, and by the look of what they left, i think they'll be pretty fat by now. the top picture shows what remains of one of our cabbage plants, which should have nice large, green, lush leaves by now.

so we've decided to sure up our defences to try and prevent another attack (and if that fails i'm gonna get me some of those wmd's!). the bottom picture shows our new perimeter fence along our northern border. we are also planning to construct a second line of defence around each of the individual beds. we will never surrender!

i don't like cricket...

2007-05-24T22:07:00.001+01:00

...i love it! (or so goes that old song).

well last sunday was my first game for elmswell and i did pretty well. we lost the toss and were put into bat first. i was a bit shocked to be asked by the captain to bat at number 3 but i didn't really mind. i managed to score a fairly solid 15 runs which i was quite pleased with that. we got a grand total of 121 for 9 off 40 overs which we thought might not be quite enough, even though the pitch was playing very slowly after all the rain we'd had.

as the opposition were preparing to come out to bat we had a bit of a warm up and a couple of the guys were hurling balls at me to catch (i'm a wicket keeper by the way, that's not some kind of sick initiation thing they do to new players!) which was quite helpful really as it was a while since i'd kept wicket.

i made some pretty good stops and only let a few stray ones past me so i was very happy. we manged to bowl them out for 70 so it was a fairly convincing win in the end and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

adding that to previous results now means that we're top of the league and have an unbeaten run stretching back to the start of last season. no pressure then!

this weekend we've got two games (friendly on saturday and league game on sunday) so i'll post some results here afterwards.

did you know... (#2)

2007-05-14T18:12:00.001+01:00

...in chinese, the words for crisis and opportunity are the same?

get well soon sir bobby

2007-05-13T15:50:00.001+01:00

ipswich town fc fanzine those were the days is running a page to send your best wishes to former ipswich & england manager sir bobby robson who has recently been diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time.

give it a look and leave your own message for one of the greatest figures in sport this country has ever produced!

get well soon sir bobby!

the fruits (& vegetables) of our labours

2007-05-13T15:40:00.001+01:00

we went a bit mad today and got another bed dug and two beds planted out with mainly cabbage and broccoli.

things are looking good and hopefully very soon we're gonna have something to taste for our efforts.

we're now planning our next expansion, with a couple more beds to dig beyond the two we've done today. they'll probably be planted with some green fertiliser and then used next year (or later this year).

beyond that we plan to have a long thin strip of land for some climbing plants like runner beans or similar (we're open to suggestions).

did you know...?

2007-05-12T10:38:00.001+01:00

at least once a day (usually much more) i will start a sentence with the words "did you know...?" this is then followed by the people present rolling their eyes in preparation of another one of my gems of wisdom.
well now i'm going to extend this onto the iplow blog, so beware!

so here i go. the first of many is;

did you know...that squirrels can peel bananas?

and there's plenty more where that came from!

dig for victory

2007-05-11T16:36:00.001+01:00

well we've only gone and done it! me and sue have gone and got ourselves an allotment! here's a little 'before & after' shot of our little plot.

we're trying to be as organic as possible so we're fully prepared for some very funny shaped carrots (i'll be sure to get photographic evidence and post it here).

hopefully i can use this little blog to keep a record of how we get on and any successes and problems we have along the way.

those of you interested in allotments and growing your own veg should check out the organic catalogue (link in the "i like" section to the right). Its got loads of things to buy and its nearly all organic and very cheap.

post 1 of ???

2007-05-09T20:31:00.001+01:00

welcome to the iplow blog and thanks for having a look at my page.

I'm shiny and new to this blogging lark so its probably gonna change a lot over the next few days and weeks but hopefully i'll settle on a style and focus all of my own.

keep checking back here regularly to find out what i'm up to.

cheers