Deja Vu two

I think we escaped the worst of Storm Burt in the South East. Wherever you are in the UK I hope you are all OK.

Having said that it was a pretty poor day with rain and low cloud throughout the daylight hours and overnight. And what a rise in temperature too. It’s now over 13c and likely to be higher tomorrow. Such a change as we’re now under the influence of a southerly air mass rather than the polar air earlier in the week.

Not the day to return to Maidstone RFC for a nostalgic visit to the Club, the first for many years and providing my first rugby blip for 5 years, in fact since before the pandemic.

Very sad in so many ways. The club are a mere shadow of what they were when I played in the 70’s and 80’s. Then we used to run 7 sides, today lucky to get three sides. Today the club plays in the Kent League, then it was several leagues higher. Then we had famous victories, today they lost 0-48 at home.

The clubhouse had no atmosphere, only the essence of ghosts of former players, team mates, games and triumphs. No longer are the walls hung with dozens of photos of club teams: https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3636055

It was with some relief we travelled down to Cranbrook to see the Oysterband on their Long Farewell tour. We’ve not listened to their music very much and only seen them live once before. Tonight was a revelation. What a band and what a reception from the audience. Really lifted our mood.

Called the Oysterband because of their links with Whitstable, they were founded in Canterbury in the 1970s and still have several of their founder members playing. Quite a lot of people there we knew too!