....Swing low sweet chariot.......

(With apologies to Ponty Cyclops)

First game of the Six Nations tonight, Wales v England in Cardiff.

Victory for England, pretty easy really.

I played Rugby at school and the odd game at college. I was a decent, if unspectacular, No 8 until the day my left wrist got shattered and my PE teacher pulled the school shirt off me before I went to hospital. I'd also eaten at lunch time and it was a game against another school at 4.00 and the injury happened 15 minutes in...... so no general anaesthetic for me. It was slightly unnerving watching two large medics pulling my shoulder and hand in opposite directions to line up the broken bones. There's still a floating piece of bone in my left wrist as a permanent reminder. Never really got back into the game after that, always a slightly weak left wrist, so I limited my appearences to "friendly" games (if there's such a thing as a friendly game of rugby!).

Thinking about it I've had more than my fair share of injuries over the years,broken wrist, broken arms, broken collar bone, cracked ribs, dislocated thumb, broken foot, ruptured knee ligaments, broken nose, stitches in foerhead, stitches in back of head, black eyes and most painful of the lot, chipped knee cap. The first one, the broken nose, happened when I was 11 and the last one (touch wood) was two years ago in Siberia when I fell on the ice rink and needed 5 stitches in a head wound.

Anyway I think it's time to celebrate England's mighty win, so toodle pip for now, old beans!

Das vidanya.