Back when I was not working... and roaming the coffee shops of Caversham (you may recall from earlier posts this was as much for escaping the cold of our initial flat as to explore the town), Anna and I met Joyti and her daughter Calis (who is about 6 weeks younger than Anna; her name is Welsh and I'm certainly spelling it wrong...). With work and travel, we hadn't been in touch in some time. On Wednesday, I was home by 4:30 with Anna when Joyti spotted me letting us into our house as she packed up from a visit to the Waitrose. She came over and we had a good, albeit brief chat. It was really nice to run into friends just being on your street. It was all very Sesame Street.
Not wanting to put off getting together, we decided to meet on Friday at the Griffon Pub. Taking 12-month-olds to the pub is less Sesame Street, but very Caversham. I think I have gone on about this pub before, so I won't bother with the whole schpiel. But, Ange, Anna and I arrived to meet Joyti, her husband Allain, her husband's son (from before) Michael and, of course, Calis. They had managed to get the large table in front of the wood-burning fire. The atmosphere was great. We had a really nice evening. Allain is from the Caversham area and knew of loads of great walks and historical 'oddities' and points of interest. Indeed, had we been more flexible, we would have gone out walking with them on Sunday too! In the end, it was a good pub dinner, a nice pint and good conversation about all sorts of things. Anna like Calis' books most. Second was either Calis herself or the mashed potatoes.
Satuday was hockey day for Ben. The team I coach put in a solid effort but they continue to make too many simple mistakes. Despite being deadlocked 2-2 at half time and well into the second half, a series of simple, simple errors led to three counter-attack goals and a 5-2 loss. The score-line was not reflective of the play, but we would have done well to get points against a top team in our league. I played half a game with the 3s afterwards. They let me flick on short-corners. I really need to practice. I managed a goal, but mainly I was hitting the runner out. I felt kind of badly for him. In addition to running out about 10 times, he got hit in the feet or shins about 7 times. The 1s rebounded on Sunday in a Cup game where the team played through some shocking umpiring (which hurt both teams at different times: i.e., it wasn't biased, just really poor) and displayed some lovely finish. The final was a convincing 4-2 win and we move onto the next (5th) round. It was fun to get into the game myself at our club's top level. The taste for playing at a good level gets in your mouth and you want to really get into it again... but it is simply too much time from Ange and Anna. Next year some tough decisions need to be made about hockey commitments.
Pete Charles Turner and his lovely girlfriend, Lottie, came to the game. It was good to have PCT watch as he is playing in the league above us and they're looking at promotion in the National League. His perspective was excellent. It was also just good to seem him and Lottie. They came back 'round ours and we had tea and ate a whole package of chocolate rich tea biscuits. Is there a better way to end a weekend than cleaning off 40 chocolate rich tea biscuits between 4 people?
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