The only flower

This is the only flower in quite a long Hawthorn hedge at my parents house.  It looks like it may be a sign of Spring just in time for Summer.

Watched the FA Cup 'Rewind' on BBC 2  early in the day it was 1973 Leeds 0 v Sunderland 1  It brought back some amazing memories of those days, not just final itself but of the day of the cup run itself and Dad returning home late from a business trip not knowing the result of the match ( I think it was the semi against Arsenal) and hoping to watch it on TV without knowing the score. Then a work colleague knocked at the door to return something and said "Isn't it great news about Sunderland!".   - Well at least it was good news :-)
A different world and a different game  - the foul tackles in the 1973 final would these days have left very few players on the pitch.

Today's FA Cup final was a disappointment as a match as Villa failed to play positively for some reason either nerves or too many tactics?

Arsenal's top players were just allowed the freedom to show off - so they did.

As other things had to be dealt with I saw little of the Test Match but am so pleased for Adam Lyth a Yorkshireman to score his first hundred for England on his home ground. 

I did manage to see Cook pass the England all time run scorer passing his mentor Graham Gooch - a great story for them both Cook as a young  boy would queue up for Gooch's autograph and then when selected for Essex juniors started a professional relationship as player and coach which has lasted ever since in a formal and informal way.

Watched the film Quartet again last night and for some reason it seemed so much more entertaining than the previous ( and only time I have seen it ).  Billy Connolly was great surounded by all these famous actors but Tom Courtenay gave an outstanding performance.