10 September 2011

A truly sporting weekend. At least the for armchair type such as me. We had the excitement of the Walker Cup – which for the uninitiated is a golf match between two teams , Great Britain and Ireland against America. We need 13 ½. points to win the cup, against the Americans 13 points to retain it. Our youngsters doing extremely well and finished the day 7/5 up in other words two points ahead. It will be decided tomorrow

We saw the beginning of the Rugby World Cup being played in New Zealand. – I think it goes on for two or three weeks .Our boys managed to scrape home against Argentina but we have to play a lot better if they are to progress through this competition.

For those so inclined there were the qualifying rounds for the Grand Prix which personally I find pretty boring with cars just going round and round the same circuit. I do however like to watch the start with the cars jockeying for position at the first two or three bends.

The highlight of my day however was the Final Night of the Proms. Again, for the uninitiated this is the finale of eight weeks of wonderful classical music put on at the Albert Hall (built-in memory of Prince Albert Queen Victoria’s husband) it is a very special night with the promenaders all dressed up, many of them in black tie with festive touches like balloons and so on and the evening ends with the whole audience singing patriotic songs such as Jerusalem and Rule Britannia .. All very jingoistic but great fun. ‘My lovely’ entered into the spirit of the occasion and sang along with me the audiences on the television. I said the Albert Hall but there were several more concerts going on simultaneously, throughout the country, including one at Hyde Park, which I believe is free, and to which tens of thousand attend.

Most of these other venues had their own programme until the second half finale when all concerts were synchronised, so there were probably millions of people throughout the world joining in. A grand way to finish the day. As we have tuned in most evenings, over the past eight weeks we shall miss the uplifting music