GETTING ABOUT!

6.30am, alarm rings. By this point I've been up 2.5 hours, England have thrown away the advantage of winning the toss in Mohali and the dog is itching for a wee. I creep out to the hall, desperate not to wake the house, as always the quieter I try to be, the more clumsy I am. The effort to make tea without contact lenses ends in despair as a pan hits the deck and the final fail in the effort to leave quietly was confirmed as I haplessly walked into the closed shower door. Could the day get any worse, I would hope not. A little after my pathetic attempt to resemble a church mouse I jumped in the Up! to complete what would be the first 3 of my 180 odd miles for the day. We gathered in the carpark, bleary eyed students climbed aboard the school busses and, as pre organised, 34 year nines made their way to the sleepy Kent village of Cranbrook.

As always the stunning winter sun spilt over the rolling fields, glancing off the tips of the local Oust houses and, as the clouds of condensation billowed out of the players mouths the referee blew the whistle and we were underway.

24-10 up at half time, the day had improved since the incident with the shower door, my spirits had been lifted, but the clock was ticking to departure time. The excellently drilled Eltham U14a side ran riot in the second half racking up a further 25 points to finish worthy 49-10 winners and send the coach on his way with a smile on his face.

As the crow flies the route from Cranbrook to Ramsgate was a simple one, in reality, it was a maze of winding roads and villages, inter locked with marauding tractors and vegetable delivery vans, at one point a hay bailer took up the entire road, even the Up! Would not be passing by.

As I cantered towards the A2, we (the lady on the Sat Nav and I) ventured through the village of Faversham and, in that, the cricket club formally know as Macknade. At this point I sank
Into my chair and placed a cap on my head. My name is mud in these parts after a rather strange twist to the 2007 Kent Cricket league Division 4 relegation battle after a rather generous declaration from yours truly allowed Offam CC to chase and win, thus relegating Macknade and handing OECC the title. I just about got through despite the efforts of the locals to rattle me with a flying pitch fork and a motorised pile driver, we were out, old Siri and me, we were out and on the motor way. As the sun started to lower, the temperature was dropping, 11.34am and St Lawrence college was in sight.

As the A299 bends round to the left you can see the wind farms that depict the Whitstable horizon, 19 minutes to push back, I was going to make it, just, was there a delay? Am
I rushing for no reason? Have they started early and this is a gigantic waste of time? Amazing what goes through your head when left to entertain your own brain with just a computerised voice nagging you to go the right way. She is a pain Siri, but, most of the time right, there is nothing more annoying than being told to 'make a U turn' when there quite frankly isn't enough room to spin a drawing pin! Anyhow, we had bonded and ultimately she was getting to my destination of choice.

But the my heart sank, 3%, 13 miles to go, I was going to make it but Siri wasn't, this was galling, I panicked, I knew my way, she knew the way, but she had nothing left to give, my friend, she was dying. Suddenly the shower door was a long lost memory, I couldn't pick the phone up and turn it off, that's not worth 3 points, no, we had to try and hold on, HOLD ON SIRI, we will get there!

We sped through the remaining round a bouts as time and life ebbed away, 12.05, they must have started. Down college drive and onto Holly road and into the gate way, there it was, the team huddle, they hadn't started, I had missed nothing and Siri had lived! The day was getting better.

By the time I had sat down on the bench we had had 2 short corners and we were 2-0 down. Had I risked the wrath of the police and the life of Siri to get mauled on the south coast. Of course at this point we were closer to France than we were home and we had to wake up. We burst into life and, bang on que James Clarke rifles home a drag flick to give us hope.

2-1 down at half time and the 'debutant' Mike Lawrence offered some sound advice to pick up our game or risk wasting our day! Wasting our day? We had won rugby and Siri had survived, surely we could turn things round. Sure enough we equalised through the robust Marly Jones as he deflected a rocket pass from the skipper 2-2 and we started to dominate. But again, out of nowhere we found ourselves 3-2 down after an aerial bomb confused for the first time. No drama, another rocket pass from the skipper and this time Jake was at the far post, 3-3, an epic. The drive alone was worth this but I wanted 3 points to go with the rugby and the life saving.

Up went an aerial again and we didn't deal with it. It was as much the forwards fault for not closing down as it was the defence for not getting underneath, through they went and again found the goal, 4-3 down and now, for the second time today, the clock was ticking on my enjoyment. We need not have worried, Mike was on hand to slot away a short corner and at 4-4 it was out for the taking.

It just happened to be one of those games where we dominated but we were going to be punished for all our errors but not punish them for theirs. Mike waltzed through the Ville back line, 3 minutes left, this was it, the winner, past one, past two, past three, TING.......How? HOW? How has this happened, the ball rebounded off the post and was cleared to safety. Between then and the final whistle I took one on the knee, my foul of course, I'm fed up of being hit on the knee!

The whistle went, 4-4, we never led in the game and for our naivety up front and stupidity at the back we possibly only deserved a draw, however the game was there for the taking. Jame Clarke (MOTM) was fantastic as always, but as per the previous 2 weeks we had put in a decent performance, just been a bit loose at the back and not quite good enough up front. But this team were starting to gel and enjoy their hockey.

And so it was, back in the Up! but this time I had the skipper, Prem, for company, I had a pretty high expectation that his battery would not die before we were back in SE9, but it was pretty clear his groin wasnt going to hold out.

First stop was the racing greyhound for teas, an interesting establishment where 100's of hockey players interspersed with the locals 'enjoying' their lunch out. We were invited to join the que for under cooked sausages and woefully presented chips, still, we tucked in and risked the chance of a night on the can! The pub was large, only made to look small by the addition of hockey bags and hockey sticks, they did happen to have some of the cheapest Christmas decorations you could find this side of the Chanel tunnel and why oh why did they feel the need to have them up on the 26th of November, we didn't stay much longer. Ders and Quagmire hadn't arrived at all, instead they had not managed to find the pub by simply driving home, funny that.

Needless to say we popped into Ronald's 'dive in cafe' on the ride home and listened intently as Liverpool battered Sunderland to a 0-0 half time score line. The A2 and in particularly the A20 had become a second home as I enjoyed my 6th trip on them in 3 days. They don't get better and certainly don't help to ease the aggravation of a frustrating draw.

We got back to see more frustration as wave after wave of 1st XI attack was repelled and counter punched by Purley to slip to a 3-2 defeat. But as Divok Origi curled in the opener at Anfield I made my way home for an evening out with the in laws. As I pulled up James Milner made it 2-0 and as I successfully negotiated the shower door I wondered just how much point there had been to my day, 180 miles driven, best part of 540 in 3 days and just to draw 4-4, was it worth it?

.......for BOE it's always worth it......remember that.....and remember to say 'no' to a Sausage at the Racing Greyhound in Ramsgate.

That was Saturday.....Over and out.