Me & Matthew

Next Wednesday Matt has to have an operation on his stomach which will keep him in hospital until Sunday. Next week is likely to be a stressful week for us all.

This song will be one of those that I will be listening to keep me strong.

I'll keep you posted on his progress. Please remember him in your thoughts and prayers.

(Remember the days of the) Old school yard

This afternoon, Will and I went to a summer fayre to celebrate his Infants school's centenary. (Matt went there too but he's doing his Duke of Edinburgh's bronze award expedition).

As my ex-wife Sarah also went there it's a big part of my extended family's history.

Chandlers Ford Infants school was opened in 1908, when CF had a population of about 1500 and looked like the photo above, which was taken that year.

Part of the original building remains although much rebuilding and extending has changed it completely. Indeed Will left nearly five years ago and it's changed quite a bit since then!

It was a very well attended fayre and a number of old teachers were there, including Mrs Emington, who taught Sarah & just happens to be the mother of my friend Claire. This also means that Mrs E has Claire's husband Dave (the great DA) as a son in law! Both Dave & Claire were there as well as a number of other friends whose children have passed through it's portals.

The town cryer was there (of which town I'm not sure?) and he was master of ceremonies for the afternoon. He preceded all announcements by ringing a large hand bell which just made me want to shout out "Bring out your dead" but apparently that's frowned upon at a school fayre!

The school had also put together a great exhibition and seeing pictures of both your ex- wife and sons as 5 year olds is a bit weird!

Finally there was a plaque unveiling marking the occasion and then the children sang two songs which we had the words to so we could join in. Hint think 60's Eurovision songs and you wouldn't be far off!

Dreamer

Just watched the complete antidote to the France/Romania dull dull dull 0-0 draw.

An awesome 3-0 victory by Holland over "world champions" Italy. The second goal was truly "total football".

Remember this is the style that we will be seeing at St Mary's this season! (Stop laughing at the back)

New Europeans

• Euro 2008 started last Saturday and my thoughts so far are :-

- Greece winning in 2004 has inspired the "lesser" teams (which is what Greece were in 2004) to copy the Greek style of play. That is defend with 2 rows of four and score the odd goal from a quick break. Well that's what Romania did tonight. This does not make for great spectacle!

- If you're English and your missing the "supporting England depression" watch France and try to will them to win (hard I know but Arsenal fans may find it easier). Based on their first game they had lots of the most talented players of their generation but not a clue on how to break down a well organised defence. Sound familiar? All they really lacked was a "wally with a brolly"

- Talking of which, BBC coverage allows you to watch the BBC pictures, but also listen to the Radio Five commentary. Which is great but every so often the analysis is by said Wally and he's better at team management than he is adding colour to the listening public's aural experience.

- When England failed to qualify, the organisers breathed a sigh of relief as that meant no England fans. Instead they got Croatia and their fans are.....worse than England, they picked a fight with the Austrians!

- Finally, much has been made in England as to who you are supporting as we didn't qualify. Not an easy decision and actually the best advice I've heard was the comedian Frank Skinner's. We all have teams we hate so go through the tournament supporting the teams they are playing and actually you can really get into the whole thing!

Close to the Edge

Those of you who when I blogged on the Yes tour said "oh God no" have had their wishes granted.

A couple of weeks ago lead singer Jon Anderson had a severe asthma attack and as a result has been told not to work for 6 months One cancelled tour later, personally I think the show could be over, at least for big coast to coast tours.

When the tour was announced Rick Wakeman, keyboard virtuoso and "grumpy old man" declined the offer to join the tour as he didn't want to risk the pressure he would put his body under. He also cited Jon's health issues on the last tour and suggested that he shouldn't be undertaking such a gruelling schedule. Looks like he was right. It's difficult to see how they could now commit to the length of tour they had planned and if they tried whether they would get insurance?

Meanwhile I wish Mr Anderson a speedy return to fitness and who knows maybe small tours with all of them on board might be the outcome of this set back.