Carter's Column

So it's all over. My final Devon Premier Division league match at my home cricket ground was to be today against North Devon. They arrived without Glenn Querl (their overseas), without the Overton twins who are away with England U19s in Australia for the World Cup, and without a few others too so we could be forgiven for thinking we might have done the double over them for the first time in many years. Not to be. The rain came, when it let off we worked to get the field fit for play and as soon as we had, the rain came back. Game called off just before 2pm. As I walked off the field a Spitfire flew past, and that alone brought back so many memories. My Home Of Cricket I first joined Bovey Tracey Cricket Club in 1997 at the tender age of 11. I played a couple of games in the Under 15's and Under 13's, and the following season aged 12 I also played in the Under 17's and was asked for the first time to play for the full Men's team on a Sunday, which became a regul...

I write this at the end of what has not been a fantastic week. I had hoped that since our fantastic holiday in Ireland in my previous entry that we would have an enjoyable August but sadly not. Unfortunately the cricket  has not been going well and we have just lost 3 in a row to Sidmouth, Torquay and Exmouth. From being top of the table we are now 3rd and with just 2 games left the prospect of winning the Premier Division in my last season at Bovey Tracey Cricket Club is slipping from our grasp. BUT... it's not over yet and we still have the Devon Senior Cup Final to play in. Away from cricket I found myself being demoralised by several things. The thing is that when I feel down, I feel REALLY down. It's when you feel like that things just seem to pile up but when you look back things probably weren't as bad as you thought at the time. Stress is something I've had to deal with for years, even more so since the end of 2008 and start of 2009 and it is since then that w...

Last week, my fiancee Jess and I had a holiday in Ireland. What a gorgeous country. Economically it may be "on it's arse", as my Dad's brother put it (He has an aversion to the word "Uncle", hence the longer than necessary sentence), but the history of the land and the people is fascinating. I'm not really sure what I expected of Ireland but it exceeded my expectations. The flight from Exeter to Dublin was an unexpected pleasure. Flybe usually use a Dash 8 Q400 (a turbo-propeller aircraft for non-aviation people) on this route but our flight was an Embraer 195 (a jet) and therefore smoother, quieter and more comfortable. Ironically the "Q" in Q400 is supposed to stand for "Quiet" but the drone of the propellers has always been audibly apparent whenever I've used them before and the condition of Flybe's Q400 fleet in the cabin from a passenger perspective is less than impressive. Perhaps I'm being harsh as all I have ...

The first entry to this blog is in response to Dillon Mullins. I told him I'd do one right now. So here it is. I will shortly blog about my July. Cricket, Ireland, F1 and Ace Ventura. Aren't you excited? Me neither.