Dom Pannell's Blog

Tongan for a day

So Simon rang me up and asked "do you want to go and see one of the Rugby World Cup matches?"

Well, yes I did, actually. So did Richard (who I've mentioned before). Thus was the process that culminated in last week's rugby-centric shenanigans begun.

Simon promptly bought three tickets for Tonga versus South Africa.

I organised travel from London and accommodation in Lille. Richard sorted out his own travel arrangements from San Sebastian. Simon organised the rugby shirts. And what fine rugby shirts they are, too.

We were two and a half Tongans for one day on 22nd September. Three red shirts surrounded by a sea of green South Africans. I lost count of the number of Saffers who came up to us and told us we were definitely NOT Tongan and the number of French locals who refused to believe that we weren't.

I think you'll agree that the resemblance is remarkable:

As it was a rugby weekend away, there was a fair amount of booze consumed and I'm afraid that only very little of it was fine French wine (we did manage a couple of bottles). We drank far too much of 'the blue drink' that they sell in vast quantities in Cafe Oz in Lille.

Unfortunately, we succumbed to the blue drink and suffered two nights of debauchery. First Simon turned into an Australian:

Later, Richard and I turned into Aussies, too.

(bit hard to see that one)

I should explain that probably because we were doing our best to prevent Cafe Oz from going bust any time soon by giving them our hard earned cash in return for horrid Aussie beer and horrider blue drink, the landlord presented us with t-shirts.

Here's yours truly looking happy with a pint of stout:

and Simon looking even happier a few hours and several blue drinks later:

Actually, Simon was a bit confusing on the nationality front as he decided to support France against Ireland, so had his face painted in the tri-couleur:

Anyway, the day of the big match came and we made our way down to Lens to watch our mighty Tongan brothers take on the Springboks.

They made a bloody good show of it - the sea of green shirts was decidedly unhappy at several points during the game, not least the final minutes when the Sea Eagles were chasing hard.

The Springboks managed to cling on, however, but it was telling that the Tongans were given a standing ovation as they ran a lap of honour round the pitch.

Sea of green shirts, you say? Well, yes, there were thousands of South African supporters at the match. As a sporting gesture, I'll finish with a photo of one who proved to be friendly - this is Richard who was at the match with his buddy Iain.

Sadly, Iain and Richard also succumbed to the blue drink. RIP.

I've been a wanderin'

first to Broadstairs, then to crazhy Amshterdam (although I only really got to see Schiphol Airport and the inside of several meeting rooms) and finally to Lille and Lens in France to watch a rugby match.

This is the first weekend I've been in London for some time. I'm planning to transfer my photos from my phone to the computer and update the blog with my comings and goings.

Rugby Union: Argentina upsets France, 17-12, in opener

The perfect start to the Rugby World Cup.

Well done the Pumas.

My Twitter Experience 2.0

I've been on Twitter since May this year and I've enjoyed learning what a select group of people are doing/musing at random moments in the day. Mostly, it's been a bit of fun - quite silly.

You can see what I mean here.

Now, however, Graham has made me aware of From the Frontline and I signed up to follow Vaughan Smith who's reporting back from Helmand Province in Southern Afghanistan.

I have a feeling that my Twitter experience is about to take a turn for the more serious.

eBay addiction

I can see how people get hooked on eBay.

I'm really looking forward to my forthcoming trip to Lille/Lens to watch South Africa vs Tonga and it occured to me that in addition to the Tongan shirt that Simon has ordered, I could do well to grab some other suitable attire. So I logged into eBay and had a look around. Several hours later and I'm bidding on several other rugby shirts (I'm also watching a couple of shirts that have been autographed by some of rugby's greatest players, although I'm not planning to shell out several hundred quid for one of them).

If my bids win, I'd better not put on any weight over the next few years, or it'll all be wasted.

Talking of waists - I appear to have lost a whole centimetre around mine, based on the ease with which I can put on trousers... all the squash* I'm playing seems, then to be having an effect.

This morning I finished pumping up my new Swiss Ball, which will hopefully encourage me to exercise in the mornings before work and strengthen my back and abs while giving me better core stability.

*We'll see if it works out, but I'm due to play Ken tomorrow at 7am... this is getting serious!

Try of the 20th century

Looking around for a decent rugby pub in Lille (from what I can gather, Tír na nÓg looks like the best bet) I stumbled across this video footage of Gareth Edwards's 'try of the century' playing for the Barbarians against the All Blacks. "This is Gareth Edwards... a dramatic start... what a score!" - brings tears to my eyes every time I hear the commentary.

Mind you, the 'try from the end of the world' by Jean-Luc Sadourny in 1994 was a darned good effort by the French XV at the top of their game.

Personally, though, my favourite try has to be...

... France's remarkable effort, finished off by Serge Blanco, to win their semi-final match against Australia in the Rugby World Cup in 1987.

It turned out that the Australia match was effectively France's final in that they peaked and New Zealand cruised to victory in the final.

Just because they've scored a couple of brilliant tries doesn't mean that I'll ever support France in a rugby match, though.

Wondermark

John recently drew my attention to the Wondermark blog and its comic strip RSS feed has been livening up my days ever since.

The latest one is particularly apt:

David Malki, creator of the strips takes on Comic-Con here. I found the video oddly amusing.