First Rugby Live

Yesterday we went to see our first Rugby match at Liberty Stadium in Swansea. The first thing Mr M booked when we moved here in January was the tickets to this Rugby Match where Ospreys were playing Munster. He was so chuffed when we got the tickets.

We weren’t expecting a huge crowd for this game as all the key players are playing at the 6 Nations now but we had a good 5432 in attendance (and no, I did not make that up. That was what was shown on the screen yesterday)

This is my first time in a Football/Rugby stadium and I was quite impressed by it. It was big yet still, we were close enough to see the happenings very clearly. It felt like an indoor stadium given the time of the day. Thanks to the wonderful weather it went very well. With respect to fans, there were only a handful of Munster supporters. We were located in an area which was full of Osprey fans and it was quite amusing to hear the frustrated shouts of Osprey fans. There were a few just behind us and they didn’t shy away from expressing their views on the referee.

When I watched a rugby match on TV, I thought it was bloody and painful. It must hurt the players so much, I thought. I still think that, but it didn’t feel that gory when I watched it live. Maybe because I got lost in the game that I didn’t think of such things at that time. It is quite a fast-paced game too. I didn’t realize that.

It was an evenly matched game, according to Mr M and the Osprey mascot was upset when people started leaving a couple of minutes short of the end. Mr M was very happy that Munster won the game given that it was his first Rugby match live. Here in Wales, we might have a chance of getting a ticket in future for more prolific matches.

Hopefully, we will be able to see more matches live in the future and I will able be use my camera next time.

Pitching Up – Interesting!

Pitching Up is an endearing portrait of the small town, focused on how introducing immigrants and first-generation Irish to traditional Gaelic sports has helped them integrate into the community, while at the same time preserving the region’s distinctive culture.  –  How Gaelic sports became a culturally binding force in Ireland’s most diverse town

WWC Finals

It has been a while since I watched a game of cricket in its entirety. But on Sunday, we managed to watch the Women’s World Cup Final which took place at Lords Cricket Ground (through TV of course). With India and England in the final, there was no way Mr M was gonna miss that, so I joined him. I was pleasantly surprised that this 50 over match did keep me engrossed and left me sad when India lost after getting that close to the target. They were doing pretty good with Raut doing her best, but we weren’t sure what happened to Mithali Raj during her run out and after that even though Kaur was doing her best to keep the momentum going, it was difficult for the batsman (or is there another term for women here???) because the batsman on the other end wasn’t keeping up. All in all, it was a good match and the better team won. I was also very happy to see a full stadium and popular Bollywood stars supporting the team. They also showed a piece about Rachael Heyhoe Flint who was a pioneer in the Women’s cricketing world. It was very interesting. I haven’t heard about her ever. Shows how little importance is given to women’s sports. Or may be I lost keeping track when I lost my interest in sports. Who knows! Thankfully, the weather also held up a bit. I was so worried because it had started to drizzle in our area and Lords wasn’t too far from our place. May be it was a sign of some bright moments in the future for women’s sports 😉

Raths and Rage

Yesterday we had been to the Rath Yatra organised by ISKCON in London. It started from Hyde Park and ended at Trafalgar Square. We were there until the raths crossed Picadilly. That itself took around 2 hours. It was my first time and the energy and the unity were astounding. I loved how everyone irrespective of caste, creed, nationality, colour, and race joined in what they believed and brought joy not only to themselves but also to the people who were watching them too.

At the same time, India-Pakistan match was going on. We heard a few of them talking about it on the way. By the time we were heading back home, we knew that it was a lost cause for India. We already have enough reasons to disrupt the peace and harmony of any place. We don’t need sports as a reason. The best team won. Sports is all about sportsmanship. No point showing your hurt by raging against the team who won. Whoever it might be. That’s so shameful. I was reminded of Hermione’s quotes when I read that news article.

“That’s the trouble with Quidditch,” said Hermione absentmindedly, once again bent over her Rune translation, “it creates all this bad feeling and tension between the Houses.”
She looked up to find her copy of Spellman’s Syllabary and caught Fred, George, and Harry looking at her with expressions of mingled disgust and incredulity on their faces.
“Well, it does!” she said impatiently. “It’s only a game isn’t it?”
“Hermione,” said Harry, shaking his head, “you’re good on feelings and stuff, but you just don’t understand about Quidditch.”
“Maybe not,” she said darkly, returning to her translation again, “but at least my happiness doesn’t depend on Ron’s goalkeeping ability.”

It is just a sport after all. 🙄

Life and other things…

I have started work in a private school and things are going great. Finally, I have become someone I have always wanted to be. A Teacher. And I am really enjoying it. I still have some work to do on the Primary side of teaching. Learning on the job has always been my way and I am glad to do that here too. I have loads of help from the other teachers and that is a great help.

That leaves me with less time to do something like blogging 🙂 I still manage my occasional photo posts. Once the term is over, you might see a barrage of posts from me 😉 During the weekend, we are going to the yoga class and I am glad of my progress there. I am now in a position where I can do a full plough pose without the fear of falling over or jerking back up. And that is a huge deal for me. When I started these courses in March, I wouldn’t do it at all. I was so scared….but I knew that if I took my time to progress slowly and steadily, I will get there….My next attempt is for crow pose and then I would move to head stand. I am not holding my breath on that though 😉 Head stand takes the last priority for me. Among all the yoga classes I have been to, I like the Sivananda’s Yoga much better. Their way of teaching is slow and relaxed and you feel much better after the classes. I am planning to keep up with my practice even if I do it only a few poses a day.

I wanted to write about how I feel leaving one industry for another, but that will have to wait until the term end.

Lot has happened worldwide in these couple of weeks. Terror attacks close to home…don’t know what to think of it. We were in Windsor and Eton that day when it happened. It was so sad and so despicable. Trump is getting more stupider by the day. Cauvery water bed is dry and the water problems in Karnataka and TamilNadu doesn’t seem to cease. Not to mention the elections and the way it backfired. We had mock elections in the school and it was fun to see the way the kids campaigned and the results of the elections were totally different from the real ones. On the brighter side, India is through to the next stage in Champions Trophy, even though I didn’t bother watching the match (Mr M did though 😉 ) We tried to get tickets for yesterday’s match, but it was way too costly and we weren’t sure of the weather. Next time sometime. My nieces and nephew have gone to the next grades…they are growing so fast.

I do have photographs of Windsor and Eton to post, but they are yet to be processed. Will do that shortly. We liked Eton more than Windsor. And nope, we didn’t go to the Castle. I am not a big fan of Castles or Palaces. Been to one too many in Spain.

I am slowly and steadily catching up on the posts. I might have missed a few during the last couple of weeks. Will try and get to them soon. Until next update, Happy Blogging and fingers crossed for better and good things in the world.