The pass

I started getting a sore throat yesterday so the thought of standing in the cold watching rugby was not that appealing - but on the other hand I do so enjoy watching my boys play sport. Thomas was playing away at Harrow today, and the school is not situated in a very salubrious part of London - in fact the journey there is a nightmare, the traffic is awful and there is one long road in to Harrow-on-the-hill which is a stop-start journey due to buses and pedestrian crossings all along it.

Despite the cold I enjoyed the match, especially as Thomas' team rather thrashed the opposition by winning 40-12. It is a very controversial issue in senior boys schools where they have 'imports' in the 6th form - by this I mean generous sports scholarships are offered to boys in the 6th form who then replace boys who have been working their way up in the teams for the past 5 or 7 years since they got to senior school. Harrow are rumoured to do this, especially as they have strong ties with Saracens  Rugby Club - I am not saying this is true, but these fixture results do tell a tale ; Our 1st team lost 21-33, our 2nd team won 36-5, our 3rd team won 62-0, our 4th team won 72-0....no depth and all the imports in the 1st team?

While I was freezing at the sidelines, I did spare an (ungenerous) thought for Gavin who after working in Brisbane on Friday went to see his cousin in Cairns and then today they went snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef in temperatures of 27C. He said it was amazing, despite having to wear those silly suits to avoid being stung by jellyfish.

Another quiet night beckons, with Murdoch at my feet trying to ignore the fireworks going on around us.

I have added an extra of my little man pushing in the ruck, and a view of the beautiful school - it is like an oasis in the middle of a very ugly part of London