& the livelier moments (rugby)

It had been a great holiday. Old friends, good food, horses, pretty girls, great chat and I was even getting some writing done in quiet corners when no one was looking. Then we went to the rugby on Sunday and I got grumpy. I was not alone, there were many a grump in our group that day. I've tried to work out what it was and came up with one or two possibilities.

1. Bummed that I wasn't playing. This is very possible - the previous 2 years of Ma Bell's 7s were incredible. Not having a team there or any team mates even watching could have lowered my spirits somewhat.

2. The stars. Blame astrology, why not?

3. Other people's foul moods. Grumpiness can be contagious.

4. The vast majority of other spectators. Vacuous gucci-clad, fake-tanned (or worse, real-tanned), over-priveledged students aren't the sort of people to watch rugby with. This reason has a flip side though, explained in Number 5.

5. Grumpy old man theory. This could explain all previous reasons. Well, maybe not 2, but it makes sense otherwise. I was cranky because I didn't really belong anymore. It's not my town, they're not my age and they were probably having more fun than I was because of that. It's childish and puerile on my part. It's fun to hold it against them, but not entirely fair.

So that's why I wound up running away to Kingsbarns to write a bit and take some pics. When I got back we decided to shoot off and make pheasant stew, which was pretty tasty and even converted some people who, bewilderingly, didn't like stew.

Oh, by the way, Jo's written up this whole thing on her blog a great deal better than I have. She's used some of my photos too, but you can tell the ones that are hers - they're the good ones.

The assembled cast.

Rob C, in the bottom left corner, look of agony on his face. He only played 7 minutes and wound up with a bloody nose. Shame really.