1977

Today I went to the Office! 

What excitement! 

I was still alone, obviously, but not in the house. It was quiet in one sense, because the phone only rang once. This meant I caught up with a lot of things which had been waiting for a few days. 

Satisfying. 

Luckily no-one had left any chocolate biscuits lying around - my downfall if left alone there. The place has a sad, haunted feel about it, missing the buzz of the Team for all its ups and downs. 

By the time I left the Office it had started to rain, for the first time in at least a month. My evening has been spent at home and inside, apart from a brief trip to the greenhouse to water the strawberries.

YouTube threw up some interesting clips, the best being a 40 year reunion of four of the French rugby team which won the Grand Slam in 1977. One of them - Skréla - was a star at the “big” Toulouse team when I was playing in the city (Division 2). It was all quite nostalgic. These old guys are my age, for heaven’s sake. 

I’ll share the clip, although some of the accents will be impenetrable even for good French speakers. 

1977

Cholley - the well proportioned lad - jokes about how the coach insisted he “keep his hands in his pockets” and not get in trouble with referees for whacking opponents who had stepped out of line. He’s a kind of Obelix character. 

Of course a Scottish opponent got it wrong, Gérard forgot his instructions, and the Scot has never been the same since. That highlight is at 8 minutes 30 seconds if violence is all you are interested in. Subtlety was not in Cholley’s skill set. 

Those were the days… 

Sandi