[written earlier this afternoon as I sat in the park]
Remarkable! I’m currently sitting in Priory Park, on the banks of the city’s defences in the shade of a beautiful holm oak so that I can see my laptop’s screen on such a bright day, and before me is a ladies cricket match in progress! Such advances in social standards in Chichester are hard to believe! A pity that they are not all wearing proper whites (I spy a couple of pairs of dark shorts, and at least three pairs of black trainers), and one of the umpires is barefoot (risking injury, I’d say – I wouldn’t fancy having a fast moving cricket ball clobbering me on the big toe!) but I guess we should just be grateful that such a match is taking place.
Chichester vs Eastleigh – looks like the teams are pretty well matched.
Still, it doesn’t seem to matter who is playing here – there’s always a bunch of prats who come onto the pitch and start larking about with a football, ignoring the requests of the umpire to get off the pitch and away from in front of the sight screens.
Surely this is what the English summer is all about – sitting on a park bench in the shade of a tree, watching a cricket match beneath a glorious blue sky, whilst in the distance the Cathedral bells ring across the city’s rooftops. Children are playing with a football away to my right, whilst to my left the grass is scattered with sunbathers, singly and in pairs or groups, enjoying the warmth of the June sun. On the other side of the cricket pitch, elderly folk are playing a gentle game of bowls and catching up on the week’s gossip.
The only downer is that I’m here with a laptop, pounding away at building the new website for PFE (I should be working on a licence agreement form, but left some paperwork I need in the office), instead of enjoying a good book and a pint.