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Skerryvore

October 27, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

It seems to be a fact of our autumnal (fall) lives that a general busy-ness and an excess of external stimuli cause us to have to scramble around to fit everything in. In my case this manifests itself in my falling behind in the updating of this virtual journal.

Sooooo…

Way back near the start of October we not only celebrated the Kickass Canada Girl’s birthday (for which I should have posted at the time what I believe is known as a ‘shout-out’) but we also scurried hot-foot to the McPherson theatre in Victoria to see Scottish Celtic rock band – Skerryvore.

As is the way nowadays we had seen this gig publicised way back at the start of the summer. Not having been previously aware of them we were immediately taken with the recordings that we located on the Interwebnet and rapidly purchased their most recent release. We were further intrigued by the fact that VIP tickets were also on sale for the concert in October, the which included a pre-concert whisky tasting hosted by members of the band, at which tales would be told and songs sung. Naturally we signed up forthwith.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

I am – these days – greatly enjoying re-discovering my Celtic roots and culture. It has always been an important part of my personal mythology but coming to Canada – where for understandable reasons such a heritage is brought into even sharper focus for the descendants of those who emigrated long ago – it seems particularly relevant and timely.

Needless to say we greatly enjoyed the tasting and the tales and the concert itself was great fun. Skerryvore – though new to us – have been plying their trade to considerable response for some fifteen years now and they know what they are doing. They have more than one excellent songwriter on the team and they know their pipes, fiddles and whistles as well as the usual gamut of electric instrumentation. They also know how to whip up a veritable storm of Celtic fervour and they had the audience clapping and dancing just as much as the jobsworths (booo!) employed by the McPherson would allow.

Do check the band out at their website – https://skerryvore.com/. I notice therefrom that having returned to the UK from their extensive Northern American tour they are spending much of November plying their trade around the UK before heading off to Europe. Should good Celtic rock be at all be your thing check them out, go to see them and – should you get a chance to chat (they are very friendly!) – tell them you were recommended by a couple of expats in Victoria BC!

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So it goes…

October 14, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Oh well!

With reference to my last post concerning the Rugby World Cup… the good news was that the Scotland/Japan pool match to decide the quarter finalists did indeed go ahead.

Any good news was, however, overwhelmed by the terrible news – the tragic loss of life suffered in Japan as a result of typhoon Hagibis. No amount of other news can in any way compensate for or help with that.

This perspective should not, however, take away anything from the fact that Japan out-played, out-ran and out-thought the Scots and rightly won the match, topped the group and thus won through to the country’s first ever quarter-final place in the world cup.

The tragic losses should also put into perspective the emotional impact on the Scots of being the first of the home nations (in regard to the UK of course) to be dumped out of this year’s cup. Four years ago Scotland were the last of them to be knocked out (controversially) in the quarters by the Australians, so this represents a significant step back.

It is not even that they played badly. They did not. But they were as unable to live with the Japanese as they had been the Irish just a few short weeks back. Given the talent now available to the team they really should be making more progress than they clearly are.

Time – once again – for some serious navel gazing.

PS – I have not yet made any reference to other nations competing in the tournament. There will be time for that as the knockout stages progress. I would like to put in a word for Canada though. In the first three rounds of their pool stages they predictably lost to Italy, to the All Blacks and to the South Africans (tough pool, that one!). They were hoping for some payback in their final pool game against fellow minnows – Namibia. Sadly that was one of the three games to be abandoned because of the typhoon.

Tant pis!

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No quarter (the re-match)

October 10, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

At this point in the Rugby World Cup four years ago (just before I posted this!) the competition had reached – as it has now – the last round of the pool stages and the quarter final line-ups were taking shaping.

The shock result of the pool stages in 2015 saw lowly Japan defeat the much fancied South Africans in Brighton. As a result the Japanese stood a good chance of making it to the quarter finals for the very first time and were they to do so it would have been at the expense of the Scots, who had – as so often – looked far from convincing.

As it turned out the Scots did just enough to squeak through, leaving Japan as the first side ever to have won three of their four pool matches and still not made it through to the quarters.

The shock result of the pool stages in 2019 saw a somewhat less lowly Japan defeat the much fancied Irish (at that point ranked number two in the world). As a result the Japanese stand a good chance of making it to the quarter finals for the very first time and if they do so it will again be at the expense of the Scots.

Deja vu – all over again!

There is one major difference this time. The Scotland/Japan pool encounter which will seal the progression is scheduled for this Sunday. The other event scheduled for this Sunday in Japan is the tail end of Typhoon ‘Hagibis’ – which has already led to the abandonment of Saturday’s pool fixtures between England and France and Italy and the All Blacks. Both England and France have already qualified and the match would simply have determined who got the top spot in the pool. Italy have some cause to feel aggrieved that their chance to qualify has been snatched from them, but in the real world the fact is that they have never beaten the All Blacks and the odds against them doing so on this occasion are as close to a sure thing as it is possible to be.

The Scots have more cause for concern. If their Sunday match is cancelled the Japanese go through and the Scots go home. If the game does  take place the Scots might still lose (or not win by a four point margin, which is the requirement) but after their shaky start to the tournament with a loss to Ireland they have looked increasingly competent, winning their other two pool games (against minor opposition, granted) at a canter.

The grumbling at the moment is over why the game can not be held over for 24 hours or moved to another location. The rules and regulations of the tournament may well – as is so often the case – prove to be less than fit for purpose in the light of events.

All anyone can do in the meantime is to wait patiently – which ain’t easy!

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Astonishing…!

March 19, 2019 in Life as we know it | Permalink

It seems odd to be able to argue that the European ‘Six Nations’ rugby tournament is one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

How can that possibly be true given that rugby is, in worldwide terms, still a minority sport – that its leading exponents (arguably) play in the southern hemisphere and thus do not compete in the competition – and that unlike many other sporting events the component parts of the UK play (passionately!) as separate teams.

Now – it is true that, according to EUFA figures published last year, the average match attendance table for world events was topped by the following:

Best-attended sports events
Event Average attendance per match
Six Nations 72,000
NFL (American football) 64,800
Fifa World Cup (football) 53,592
Rugby World Cup (rugby union) 51,621
Source: Uefa’s European Club Footballing Landscape report

 

…but bear in mind that some of the keenest (not to mention most keenly followed) and most intense fixtures take place between small Celtic nations on the fringe of the continent and that doubts must thus be sewn in any minds rash enough to try to argue the case.

But then – every once in a while a match takes place which leaves one in total awe that any such endeavours are possible on the sporting field – and all bets are off!

I refer, in this instance, to last Saturday’s Calcutta Cup fixture between the ‘auld enemies’ – England and Scotland.

Now – Scotland have had a dreadful run in this year’s championship (due in no small part to a debilitating injury list) and – though they enjoyed a mixed season – the English had looked unstoppable in parts. It was no surprise therefore that they ran in their first try within about a minute and showed no sign of stopping thereafter. Aided by some truly dreadful Scottish defence the English approached half time some 31 points to the good.

When the Scot’s hooker (and captain) Stuart McInally charged down an English kick ten metres inside the Scottish half and miraculously held off the attentions of England speedster Johnny May long enough to get over the line – it looked like a consolation try. England duly jogged out after half-time confidently expecting to complete the job and to rack up a ‘cricket score’ in the process.

What transpired was rather different…

The Scots – with nothing to lose – suddenly re-discovered their mojo. The English – on the other hand – fell apart. Scotland ran in four further unanswered tries and by the sixty minute mark the scores were level. Then – with about ten minutes to go – the mercurial Scottish fly half, Finn Russell (man of the match) released centre Sam Johnson with a sweet delayed pass a little beyond the halfway line. Johnson beat two defenders with one extraordinary step off his left foot and reached the line with two further Englishmen hanging off him. Nothing was going to stop him diving over to score what looked for all the world like the winning try.

This being Scotland, however, you will hardly need me to tell you that after an extended period of pressure and deep into added-time George Ford crossed the line for England to tie the game… 38 – 38. The scoring had been symmetrical: the first half went to the English 31 – 7… the second to the Scots by an identical total.

I have been following Scotland for a long time – as I have the Five/Six Nations – but I don’t think I have ever seen such an extraordinary turnaround, or a more bizarre – but fascinating – match…

…and since the Scots triumphed last year in Edinburgh they now get to hang on to the Calcutta Cup for another year.

Pure dead brilliant!!

PS – congratulations to the Welsh for their Grand Slam. Can’t argue with that!

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Rugby roundup

March 2, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Having threatened a few posts back to bore everyone rigid with rugby related updates the gentle reader will be no doubt wondering what could possibly have happened to that eagerly awaited content. (No – no, he or she is almost certainly wondering no such thing!).

Previous experience might suggest that should I not be forthcoming on such (important) topics it is most likely because the subject is just too painful to mention. Well – I don’t know about that, but it must be said that the fortunes of the sides that I follow have of late been rather – er – mixed!

The Scots have really not got going at all in this Six Nations. They warmed up against the Italians well enough but then let current champions, Ireland, get the better of them at home. The trip to Paris – even given the current woes of the French side – was never going to be easy. That the Scots were suffering from a surfeit of injuries didn’t help and the bravehearts are thus no further forward. They now face the cocky Welsh – who last week outsmarted an English side that had won its first two games convincingly. The final game is against the English themselves in their fortress at Twickenham. Hmmm!

Bath Rugby are busy doing that thing that all evidence suggests they are currently the kings of – namely all but winning games only to throw them away at the death. For the last two weeks now they have lost the match on the final play deep into overtime. Given that they have done this three times this season already it is no surprise that they are beginning to get themselves a reputation.

The Girl and I have ventured twice in as many weeks to Westhills to catch Canada playing their home fixtures in the Americas Championship. As I reported in the aforementioned post Canada started their championship run also by losing at the death to Uruguay and they repeated the feat the following week away to Brazil (of all people!). What is it with the teams I follow not being able to go the whole eighty minutes?!

Anyway – last week they entertained Chile at home on a night which was distinctly – er- chilly! It certainly was for the visitors who didn’t get a look-in, as Canada wreaked revenge (of a sort) by trampling them 56 – 0. This week they faced the Argentinians – albeit only the Pumas second string (the first team being far too busy losing to the All Blacks to worry about small fry like Canada!).

Even the Argentine second strand is a very dangerous prospect and the Canadians were expected to lose handsomely. It was, as it turned out, a most exciting game. Having given the Pumas a head-start by gifting them a charge-down try in the first minute the Canadians did well to stay in touch until near the interval. Unfortunately they then gave up a couple of soft-ish tries. Whatever was said during half time certainly had an effect because after the break the Canadians threw themselves at the Argentinians with a ferocity that I don’t recall seeing from them before. With fifteen minutes to go it was a two point game. Sadly the superior fitness of the Pumas – assisted by some dubious decisions by the officials (including a frankly ridiculous penalty try to wrap up proceedings) – told in the end and the Argentinians won the game 39 – 23 and the championship with a match to spare.

Oh well – there is still time for all concerned to furnish us with outrageous feats of derring-do – to win those David/Goliath battles against all odds and to bring unlooked for joy to us long-suffering supporters…

…and because we are optimists we believe that it will indeed be so!

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The ruffian’s game

February 3, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Field Grass Rugby Sport Water Ball“Rugby is great. The players don’t wear helmets or padding; they just beat the living daylights out of each other and then go for a beer. I love that.”

Joe Theismann

Long term followers of these scribblings (and I know for a fact that some such there be) will not be surprised should one or more of the postings that will appear over the next six weeks take as its subject the very ‘ruffian’s game’ of the post title. Indeed, a brief scroll through the archive of this blog will reveal this to be something of a theme at this time of the year.

Now, this is at least in part because it is February – in the Northern Hemisphere! Nothing much else really happens in February except that we all sit tight and wait for the winter storms to blow themselves out – or at least to get bored enough of the whole winter business that they decide to kick back and to give spring a go.

I say that nothing much happens. The exception is of course – rugby!

This very weekend in Europe the 2019 Six Nations Championship has kicked off. Here in North America the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship has done likewise – though since this latter tournament includes Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina (2nds) there are at least some matches played in other than arctic conditions.

As if that weren’t excitement enough this year is Rugby World Cup year and all of the matches take on extra significance as pointers to how our favoured squads might perform in Japan come September and October.

So – how did the first weekend go?

Well, Wales and France – in Paris on Friday evening – both seemed reluctant to take the honours in the first game up. Wales were terrible in the first period – trailing at half time by 16 – 0. In the second half the French decided to help the Welsh out and gifted them a brace of tries. Wales finally squeaked through and narrowly won the match.

Scotland hosted Italy at Murrayfield and for the first seventy minutes did what was expected and ran in five tries. Unfortunately they then decided to take their collective feet off the pedal and allowed Italy to help themselves to three late scores. Scotland still won comfortably enough but – given that they next face pre-tournament favourites, Ireland – there is clearly much room for improvement.

Speaking of Ireland – their status as bookies favourites was a result of their stellar year last year, during which they won the Grand Slam and beat the fearsome All Blacks at home for the first time to elevate themselves to the number two slot in the world rankings. This weekend they faced England in Dublin (never an easy place to win away) with the visitors themselves having endured a difficult year in 2018. To everyone’s surprise England proved to have recovered their mojo. They not only beat the Irish but they gave them a serious schooling. It looks as though the championship might be more open than previously expected.

Sadly, though leading Uruguay in Montevideo by 17 – 13 to well past the eighty minute mark Canada yielded to the hosts’ pressure under the posts at the death and lost the game 20 -17. Let us hope that the Canadians have pulled their socks up by the time we see them in Langford later in the championship.

 

 

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Whisky Galore

January 30, 2019 in Life in BC | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe Girl and I attended – jointly or severally – two whisky-based events of late that proved to be just the ticket for whiling away the long January nights as we wait for the first signs of spring to appear. And what an excellent way to pass the time!

The first of these was a whisky tasting – one of the events that comprise the Victoria Whisky Festival. I had acquired a wodge of tickets for this evening at an Intrepid Theatre charity event last November, as a result of trying to drive up the bidding (wearing my board of directors hat) and getting caught unexpected with the lot when the music stopped. Not that I was complaining…

As it happened I got caught out this way on several other items, but all of them have (or will) come in most useful. A gift voucher for Orr’s Family Butcher provided us with our Christmas prime rib and a similar token for Fig Deli furnished goodies for our holiday entertaining. I still have some vouchers for Flying Fish Winery (where we make our ‘own’ wine) and I need to head over soon to place an order so that our wine rack continues to overflow.

The whisky festival runs over four nights at the Hotel Grand Pacific by the Inner Harbour and this was the fourteenth incarnation thereof. The tasting that we attended was led by the knowledgeable Mike Brisebois of Distell Malts, which outfit owns the Bunnahabhain, Deanston and Tobermory Distilleries. Seven whiskies were tasted from the range offered by those three concerns – and very good they were too.

Deanston I did not know. It is a lowland distillery, not too far from Stirling. It was established in the mid-sixties in a disused old cotton mill on the banks of the river Teith, and has built a reputation since then. The Tobermory Distillery, the only such on the island of Mull, dates back much further – to 1798 – and is one of the oldest in Scotland. Bunnahabhain is a much loved distillery on Islay that – unlike most of the other distillers on the island – does not foreground the peaty tones for which Islay is known.

We were most impressed by the almost sweet tones of the Palo Cortado cask finished Special Edition, but pretty much everybody present agreed that the Bunnahabhain 18 Year was the whisky of the evening. Now – if only I could afford a bottle!

The second event of the month was the wild celebratory night that we spent this Saturday just passed at the Caledonian Distillery and Twa Dogs Brewery, where we enjoyed a fabulous five course Scottish menu (including, naturally, haggis, neaps and tatties) by Truffles Catering, who are locally based in Brentwood Bay. To accompany this feast we tasted a further five of the Caledonian’s whiskies, particularly enjoying their guest whisky – a blend of Blair Atholl and McDuff single malts. The evening was admirably hosted by the Caledonian’s resident hairy Scot and much reciting of the Great Man’s poetry and accompanying merriment were the order of the day (or night!).

Never let it be said that the Scots do not know how to celebrate!

 

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Go Canada!

November 26, 2018 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

I have written precious little of late about rugby!

In part this is because my team – Bath – are having one of those seasons in which they simply cannot get anything right. They are – miraculously – still mid-table in the Premiership, but looking at their losses to some of the perhaps less well equipped clubs in the league it is a considerable mystery that they are not doing even worse than they are.

Scotland are also keeping us all on tenterhooks. At a time when the Irish have finally beaten the All Blacks at home for the first time, when Wales have scraped wins over the Aussies and the Saffers and the English are finally starting to rediscover their swagger – Scotland remain worryingly tentative. Their game is certainly in a considerably better place than it was a few years back, but the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019 is rapidly bearing down on us and there is still a great deal to be done if the Scots are to be in a position to compete.

There is at last – however – good news in one quarter at least. Canada have themselves finally qualified for the 2019 World Cup (in which they now will compete for the ninth time in a row). Like the Scots the Canadians seemed determined to do everything the hard way. They eschewed both of the more conventional routes to qualification, ending up in the last chance saloon – a three week/four way repêchage competition in Marseilles facing Hong Kong, Germany(!) and Kenya – all of whom they had to beat to be sure of a place.

That Canada came through at the last gasp and finally booked their passage to Japan is indeed almost Scots-like in terms of gritty determination in the face of seemingly insuperable odds and they are to be hugely congratulated.

Well done! Go Canada!

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O Fortuna

May 6, 2018 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing,
ever waning,
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;”

O Fortuna
Carmina Burana
Various

 

Regular cohorts of this cornucopia of little consequence will know that I am a great fan of Rugby Union Football. The more ardent amongst you will also know that I am a long term follower and supporter of both the Scottish national side and – at club level – of Bath Rugby. Both of these venerable institutions are quite capable of producing delight and despair in equal measure.

For many years I suffered along with many other Scots the painful cycle of blind optimism dashed by crushing reality as I followed the fortunes of Scottish rugby. Then – all of a sudden – over the last couple of years we have been delighted to observe the most scintillating recovery of form to the extent that Scotland can now (with the occasional unfortunate aberration) almost always be relied upon to play an adventurous and exciting game – resulting in not infrequent and often famous victories.

Bath also play the adventurous game (for which we love them dearly) and back in the old amateur days of the game (which only turned fully professional in the mid 90s) they had a long and glorious record. Since then they have struggled a great deal more but they are still capable of considerable achievements. A mere three years back they made it to the Premiership final – sadly being overpowered on that occasion (as so often) by the merciless Saracens.

Since then they have found themselves in something of a unfortunate cycle. They start each season well, win some brilliantly exciting and dashing games against serious opposition and find themselves at the mid-point of the season hovering around the top four. Sadly they then go into a decline as the season takes its toll on bodies and spirits, ending up disappointingly lower in the table than once seemed likely.

This season followed this familiar pattern, with a number of brilliant wins followed by inexplicable and unnecessary losses. As the final weekend of the regular season approached (this one just passed) Bath were lying in eight position. Now – there are two initial targets for any Premiership side – to get into the top four (and thus into the playoffs) or – failing that – into the top six (and thus qualify for the European Cup competitions for the following year). On this occasion, for Bath to achieve a coveted and lucrative top six finish they would need to win their final game by such a margin that they would gain full points (including a winning bonus point) and the two clubs above then – Sale and West Country rivals Gloucester – would both need to lose, in the case of Gloucester without gaining even a losing bonus point.

On this occasion fortune smiled upon Bath. Their last fixture was a home game against the already relegated London Irish. Sale hosted heavyweights Leicester (smarting from being unable to finish the season higher than fifth – thus missing the playoffs for the first time in an age) and Gloucester went head to head with the ever-present current runner-ups, Saracens. The results were as follows:

Sale Sharks 13 : Leicester 35

Saracens 62 :  Gloucester 12

Bath 63 : London Irish 19

Europe here we come…

O fortuna indeed!

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Celtic cousins

March 18, 2018 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Image from PixabayBack in the icy UK the Six Nations championship achieved its annual climax on a thrilling final day of gripping rugby matches. As is the way with this epic challenge some of the participants had reason to be well content with the progress of their campaigns whilst others did not. This year some of those who ended up in the latter camp were not, however, the sides that had been predicted so to do at the outset of the tournament. Nor – clearly – did they themselves expect such an outcome.

For the first time in many a year the Celtic cousins – Ireland, Wales and Scotland – finished the tournament in first, second and third places (respectively). I say ‘many a year’ – I’m not actually sure if this has ever happened before. All power to them, say I!

Many congratulations to the splendid Irish, who not only won the championship on the penultimate weekend but went on to record what is only their third ever Grand Slam. The Welsh may have been slightly surprised to have lost two matches but still to have ended up second in the table (or – knowing them – maybe not!).

For the Scots – third place from three wins represents their best finish for some years. They will not be content with their away record nor with the lack of precision which resulted in a fair number of points being left out on the field. They have made great strides, however, and play an attacking brand of rugby which is admired by supporters of the game of all hues. The manner of their victory in the Calcutta Cup in particular was to be cherished.

As for the remainder of the sides – well, perhaps we will draw a discreet veil over them for now…

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