Charlie took me along to one of his rugby games yesterday afternoon. It was arranged quite late on Friday night. I got my camera and charged the batteries on Saturday morning. Charlie came to pick me up just after 1pm and we headed over to the rugby club in Marlow. I had only recently re-familiarised myself with the rules by watching a few matches of the World Cup in France. Never been a fan of the sport myself, I’ve always prefered football. However, I wanted to give the sport a chance, and I had already got a taste for how hard Charlie actually trains. The Wales versus Australia match was been shown on the big screen in the club house and I watched a few minutes before heading out to see the real deal.

I cannot help compare the game with football. In my opinion it is much more stop start, even if the actual nature of the game is more physical. I took over seventy photos in the sunshine, it was a glorious day. There were many things I noticed which came as a surprise. Firstly there is a great deal of respect between both teams and also the referee, who is always spoken to with the title, “Sir”. Something you would never get in football. There is also a comradery within the team, a close knit bond which although exists in football is not as strong. Reading won, but only by a few points. I have to admit I am still getting used to the scoring system. At the final whistle, the losing team, stand in a parade to contratulate past the winning team and referee. Great sportsman ship, don’t you think. This would normally be the point when I give you a link to a set over on FlickR but I sent the whole set of photos to Charlie and he has placed the best selection onto a FaceBook

I must be the only person in the world that goes to wash his car but it actually looks worse afterwards. I had bought a wash pad and some shampoo from Asda for the job on Saturday. When my Dad got back with the car around 1pm this afternoon I set to work. Rinse, foam, wash with two bucket techique then attempted to dry with a microfibre. Big mistake. I drove to my piano lesson over in Thame, ashamed at the state of my car. I was hoping it would rain later, so I could get away with the poor finish. The slight drizzle was not enough. Before I left for my lesson, I text Pav to let him know how useless I was. His reply was funny, “You should have taken notes from the last two times I washed your car!”. He was coming to the end of a M3 detail weekender, covering 18 hours of hardcore car cleaning.

My piano lesson went well, considering there has been almost a two month gap since my last one. I have to confess that the honeymoon period is well and truly over. It is getting really tough, the pieces I have to learn over the coming fortnight are intense. However, I am determined to keep it up, even though I know I should be practicing more regularly than I do. I want to get to a high standard, even if that means not having taken any formal examinations. We all know my feelings on examinations and if I can avoid them, I will.