Wanted: a sport free telly.

This evening I am a refugee in my own kitchen. We have reached a stage in my house where the tv, in the lounge, is constantly occupied with sport. Now, you know that I am a sports fan... I really do enjoy watching and playing sport, but.... OMG... as they say on the social networks. I have had enough.

There are 3 boys in my house and I am outnumbered when it comes to the telly. Do they want to watch Downton Abbey? No. Do they want to watch America's Next Top Model? No. Would they even consider watching Dancing on Ice? Absolutely not.

And I am expected to sit through countless evenings of Arsenal trying desperately to win some silverware, with not a bat of an eyelid or a raising of an eyebrow.The tedium of night after night of football, golf, cricket... Its enough to drive a woman to drink. There would appear to be no room for compromise. I am the one who has to step aside. I am the one who is outnumbered.

And why am I accepting of this? Why don't I go in there and demand to watch what I want on the tv? Well, the answer is simply that I am choosing my battles. I am avoiding conflict. I just cannot be bothered with the fallout of men peeved, men denied their sporting fix.I know that there would be tears at bedtime and I just can't bear the thought of having to deal with that...

I now understand my mother's decision over 30 years ago to buy a 'sport free' tv. At the time both the tv salesman and we children thought she had lost her marbles. Now I can look back and see her genius, her far reaching wisdom. I am very close to getting a new tv myself. A nice small portable for the kitchen maybe... then the men in my house can gather round it and watch their sport in peace...

You didn't think that I wanted it did you? Not likely. They can have a portable in the kitchen and I'll settle down with a glass of Merlot and Colin Firth in the lounge.... hmmmmmmmmm

Does Sports Day have to be so... P.C?? Grrrrrrr........

There was great anticipation among the ranks of my girlfriends recently. We held our collective breaths as our children's school met to decide whether Sports Day should be revamped.In our minds we dreamt of a Sports Day where children actually played sports and were not restricted to politically correct bean bag throwing. Maybe they would be allowed to run and jump, compete in relay teams....

Were we fools to even consider a change? It would seem so... Back came the decision from school that the format would remain the same - a round robin of events including running ( not too quickly mind... ) to a hoop and throwing a ball up, then returning to wherever you started.

The concern was that children not gifted at sports would be 'humiliated'... Humiliated? I was rubbish at sports at school, but I loved sports day.Its how you do it surely that counts? How do they know so many children will be humiliated? You might not be great at sprinting, but you might be genius at javelin!! What is wrong with giving kids who are good at sport a chance to shine? Surely in life you have to learn how to be both a good winner and a good loser - to meet both defeat and victory head on? And children are not daft - they know who is good at maths and English just the same as they know who is good at football or running. Why not celebrate both ?

I don't know... We can't all be good at everything. I am not saying that you should take a couple of slow, overweight children and line them up against the school's Ussain Bolt in a 100 metre dash - but surely to goodness there are ways to instill competitiveness in a good way? Surely wanting to win is a good thing? Wanting to be successful is a good thing? Do we all have to sit back and cater for the lowest common denominator? Do we have to not try at anything because we might fail?

Drives... me.... nuts!!!

Bliss,baseball,bikerides and butterflies....

I have had such a busy and enjoyable weekend! I travelled down to West Sussex to my cousins wedding lunch on Saturday. He actually lives in Australia, but has come over to introduce his wife to all the relations. The wedding lunch was in a gorgeous pub on the South Downs and I saw aunts, uncles and cousins that I have not seen for years.


They are all such lovely people - very down to earth, genuine. They reminded me of my childhood and the lovely times we had together.



I also went over to watch my husband play baseball yesterday. It was a lovely hot summer's day ( one of about 3 we have had this year!) and although his team was beaten we had a good time watching.



And today we went out with our neighbours for a bike ride through the woods. It was such fun - we are so lucky to live where we do. So there, a brief catch up on my weekend - hopefully I can write in more detail about something soon!!


Oh, and one last thing - the garden is full of butterflies this year. I took this photo this morning as I was waiting to go on our ride...