The End of the Road

As I write this I still feel chilled from being outside for most of the day. My fingers are tingling as they recover from being numbed when I got back home. I don't think I can remember an August day that has felt as cold as this. Each year Ben Rhydding Cricket Club hold what is called the Fool's Fest, a 15 overs a side competition with the three teams formed from all the players in the club. The captains have a pool of virtual money each and an auction is held to select the teams. My lads have been looking forward to this all summer. It's a great excuse to have a really good time, and they sure know how to enjoy themselves. The winning team was basically the one which managed to exert the most control over their alcohol intake. I'm trying not to worry that neither of my lads was in that winning team!

I went down in the morning to watch the first of the round-robin games and was soon on the field myself as a substitute for one of the captains who got hit in the face by a beamer and was taken to hospital with a suspected broken nose. I soon discovered that I'm not as nimble at chasing balls down as I used to be! But I didn't embarrass myself too much, and at least made one half decent diving stop. There was more excitement when another batsmen got hit by a fiercely hit return ball and had to be helped off the field with a suspected broken jaw. Well ... it was supposed to be a bit of fun. I'm happy to report that both injured players were fine after a bit of TLC!

I had planned to get a good bike ride in today, but that got slightly scuppered by the cricket involvement, but mostly by the cold wind. In the end I just cycled up through Denton in order to be able to swap my cycling shoes for the running shoes and so enjoy a wander around the wild expanse of Denton Moor. That was the only time I felt warm all day, and the run was timed with the appearance of some beautifully structured clouds. They seem to be performing on demand for me at the moment!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on yesterday's Sunshine and Showers. It really was quite spectacular and I felt that I did a pretty good job of capturing the scene as vividly as I remember it. Your feedback has really touched me.