“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

What did I learn on the Long Road to, and from, Surfleet?

To:

• Huw finished the Cambridge Half marathon, his first, in a very credible 2.12.47
• Crowland (which is Lincolnshire for ‘Land of the Crows’) lies when it states that it is an ‘historic town’
• Vince used to play ice hockey
• Despite Charlie’s optimism, the traffic jam in Peterborough wasn’t caused by spectators heading towards our match
• Lego has outlets in London, New York, Paris and Spalding
• Had we had time to visit the Baytree Owl & Wildlife Centre (note for next season – perhaps meet a bit earlier), entrance fee is a very reasonable £7, including the Eagle and Vulture Experience
• Surfleet church has a wonky spire

The bit in between:

• Charlie’s decision to spin the Surfleet Summer Fete ‘Spin the Wheel’, which was conveniently located in the Away changing room, was a mistake. Despite odds on 16 to 1, the Pointer of Fate pointed to ‘No win’ – thus ensuring that, in addition to a strong Spalding side, we were also up against the Gods
• Stanley is a very good keeper
• Jimmy likes being passed to
• Your chances of being a very good captain are increased if your name is Matt
• That Jamie is a real Fox in the Box, scoring a great goal to cancel out the home side’s earlier goal
• That our chances of winning vital points isn’t helped by letting in two goals in the second half
• That we worked hard for each other and played some really good hockey, but not consistently long enough to get anything from the game

The journey back;

• Dolly Parton is headlining in Spalding in September
• Adam is very fond of beige food
• With a population of 150,000, Cambridge has one hockey pitch per 12,500 head of population, however Surfleet has one hockey pitch per 1,338 head of population – quite impressive
• The Spalding Bulb Museum shuts at 4pm
• If an opponent touches an icehockey goalkeeper, the opponent is pretty much guaranteed to get beaten up by the other team’s players – it’s really not the done thing. Similarly, anyone touching Stanley could be in serious trouble, unless it was Spalding’s right winger, who I think would be let off with a telling off
• That next week’s game against Bourne Deeping is a classic 6pointer