Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

A good synopsis of the situation, MM. Yaha is a good, attacking winger. If I have a slight concern about him, it is to do with his positional sense when he is defending; included in that is his propensity to shoot out of the line and then be too late to close down the player he tackles. However, he is young, and can learn through improved mental discipline and on-field training.

Or you could see barnyia as a realist and, in this particular situation, historian, all based on first-hand experience! To be fair, YK, you probably are doing just that and have written with tongue in cheek!

I would imagine, Farmduck, that your bats are not themselves attracted by the lights but rather by the flying insects - lunch for the bats! - which have been drawn towards the lights. You are right to point out that bats have good eyesight; the same is true of British bats species. To be "blind as a bat" is an example of an old saying that is factual nonsense! I went on a Hampshire Wildlife Trust course about bats. When someone asked why bats needed that sonic system to help them navigate if they had eyesight as good as ours, it was pointed out that, if we flew about on the random, prey-hunting flight lines of bats, and at the speed they must travel to catch prey, then we would need something other than our eyesight to help us steer around in the pitch black of a moonless night! At my house, which is a converted, 19th century chapel, we have an interesting bat experience late each spring, round about the end of May, beginning of June. We come down one morning and there are bat droppings on the patio. So, next evening (with something pleasant to drink in hand!), we sit on the patio and at dusk, about a dozen or more bats emerge from our roof space. For the next few evenings, the number increases, up to a maximum nightly count of about three dozen. Then, in a couple of nights, it drops away to nothing. And that seems to be that, until next spring! I made contact with the Wiltshire Bat Group, who think my roof-space might be being used as a congregation or collection point for pregnant females, who have roosted in various locations over winter, but then move on from my house to set up their actual maternity roost elsewhere. Perhaps - I cannot think of a more logical explanation. They are all one species incidentally, namely serotine bats, one of the largest in Britain with a wingspan of up to a foot (which I realise is pretty small by Australian standards!). As they emerge and fly away, they look about starling size. It is quite a spectacle for the few nights it seems to last!

It seems to have grown incredibly quickly, and possibly still is. The current population estimate is about 456,000, up from 99,000 in 1950. it is said to be France's eighth largest city. Treizistes should note that Lyon is the third largest and Toulouse the fourth. The realist in me, Damien, says potentially great news. OK, the grumpy realist...

I like his Innocent's Song, about King Herod. Well, I say 'like', but in a way it is rather scary!

Interesting question, Ant. But, come to that, nowadays does any team make a single PTB on the correct mark? I used to think that moving forward off the mark was an offence. Seemingly, not any more! Look at an older YouTube game (eg the great Wigan -v- Hunslet final in the mid '60s) and tackled players stand up vertically, with the tackler not stepping back an inch. Nowadays, the tackled player steps forward (and sometimes sideways too) in a single free flowing movement as they play the ball. I think you are right to point out it is happening, but wrong to imply - as I think you are (but stand to be corrected!) - that it is a speciality of Les Dracs.

Male blackcap in the garden, at the sunflower hearts bird-feeder, earlier this afternoon. We do well for bullfinches and a male one was at the feeder at the same time. I have heard that blackcaps can be quite aggressive to other birds, but there seemed to be a willingness from the two birds to eat in peace concurrently.

Burton or Thomas is a close run thing, for sure! I love Richard Burton as the narrator in Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood. Was Betjeman near your top ten?

In these days of YouTube and the like, JohnM, it is worth remembering that you don't have to read poetry yourself; you can have it read to you. If the reader is the poet himself, than arguably so much the better. Dylan Thomas's Do not go gentle into that good night is a fine poem; read by Thomas himself it is stunning! I enjoyed some WB Yeats which I studied at school, including Easter, 1916. Incidentally, if, like me, you think that Brass was one of the funniest (and arguably most underrated) comedy series ever on British TV - with Timothy West as the unscrupulous, northern town, coal and textile baron - you will have enjoyed some of the subtle jokes in it (I, no doubt, missed more than I spotted) At one point, Hardaker, who has radical, money-making plans for his town, which is called Utterley, looks with satisfaction across its skyline and says, if I remember correctly, "all is changed, changed in utterly; a terrible beauty is born" and smirks crudely. This is a parody of lines in Easter, 1916. John Masefield has some wonderfully descriptive moments, as in Sea fever and Cargoes. In his long poem, The everlasting mercy, he evidently rather shocked early 20th century society, with his frank use of English as he heard it spoken in rural Herefordshire. The hero of the piece, in a rage about a farmer who, he feels, as acted badly towards him, says, "And one of these dark winter nights, he'll learn I mean to have my rights. I'll bl**dy him a-bl**dy-fix, I'll bl**dy burn his bl**by ricks." Contemporary society would have recognised rick-burning as a traditional form of revenge in rural disputes (along with cattle maiming), but would no doubt have been a bit shocked by the dialogue here about it! I studied some of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales at school. That is a very good example of poetry that is easier to understand if listened to, rather than read, I think. Hope that is of interest!

I believe so, CS. As I understand it, the eleven League 1 teams join the thirteen round 2 winners in round 3; then the twelve winners from that join the twelve competing Championship sides in round 4; after that, those twelve winners are in the draw with the 2018 SL qualifiers top four in round 5; that leaves eight sides to join last year's SL top eight in round 6. A 2018 top eight SL side has to be victorious in four games to win the cup.

I would endorse all the above. By all accounts Ray is also a very erudite and intelligent man. He taught (English and/or English Literature, I think) at what was then called Cowley School. I seem to recall once reading that the RFU stopped him coaching rugby union at the school, but I could be wrong on that; however, if I am right, then their loss was certainly our gain. I also saw him play a time or two, including in Wigan's memorable 2nd round cup victory, 7-2, at Central Park in February, 1965, when over 39,000 packed into the ground.

I think they played there until well through the 1960s, GR. They were active when I first got introduced to the game in the early '60s, and, on their day, were nobody's pushovers. For instance, in January, 1965, they only lost 5-8 at Central Park, in the process keeping the entire Wigan side (Boston and Ashton included) try-less.

Sorry, W6, but I agree with Tre Cool on this. I cannot see that Craven District Council would be interested in a community stadium, especially if its main purpose was to be home to a semi-pro RL team. Somewhere just north of Glusburn/Crosshills/Cowling you cross into predominantly RU territory. Skipton has a well established union club, with the higher profile Wharfedale just ten miles further up the road at Threshfield. The funding aspirations and abilities of Craven DC have always been modest. For at least two reasons, this is not altogether surprising: although the area covered by the council is bigger than that of the erstwhile metropolitan county of Merseyside, the population of the entire district is only around the 55,000 mark (of which I would think about 15,000 would be in Skipton); because the council is fairly conservative (with and without capital 'C's), the concept of public sector intervention tends to be looked on as a last resort, and, if needed, there would be higher priorities than a sports stadium. It's a long time since my 14 year stint working for them (which began on day 1, namely 1st April, 1974) but I still keep an eye on local current affairs, so I think my points are still valid. I agree with you, Tre Cool, that the large population of Asian origin in Keighley is an issue, but I would see it as a challenge to be tackled by a revitalised Cougars going forward. A structured approach to such integration of RL across all the community might even be the sort of thing that would attract grant aid; I don't know for sure, as it's not my specific area of grant aid expertise. We have had Asian players in the past in English RL, but not really built on that, as far as I can see. I would be delighted to have those observations refuted with reference to current activity, in either Keighley or elsewhere!

Running out to Tina Turner's Simply the best sounds like asking to be mocked if you then get turned over in the game. In their heyday, Durham Wasps ice hockey team played that at the end, if appropriate, as fans left the rink - happily, it usually was! I think the teams came out to The final countdown, but, due to forgetfulness caused by my age and limited knowledge of more recent rock music (ie post 1970!), I may have got that wrong. Decades ago, the Wembley Lions ice hockey team came out to Entrance of the gladiators, like some rugby teams mentioned in posts above.

Thanks, Dave T, that's helpful as far as it goes, but which is the North Stand and which the East Stand....