A day at Arundel
Yesterday I attended a “friendly” cricket match at Arundel’s Castle Ground between Sir Tim Rice’s Invincibles XI and the Weekenders.
I have put “friendly” in inverted commas as the Weekenders were taking the match seriously and competitively. I say this as I was in the CEO’s office when the captain of the Weekenders presented himself and made the case that, to make a proper match of it, there should be a declaration format rather than limited overs.
The CEO said that Sir Tim Rice simply booked the venue (Arundel is a venue, not a cricket club) and the decision was therefore up to the two captains. It turned out to be a one-sided match as Weekenders – batting first – amassed a total over 250 which the Invincibles were never going to match.
Still, Arundel is a wonderful setting and my friend, a disc jockey in his 80s still broadcasting, and I sat together on a bench and caught up with each other’s news.
I travelled there by train. Opposite me was a young lad called Rufus, who clearly fancied himself as a story teller, and on and on throughout the journey went his stories, to which his sister Nina (across the gangway) contributed. As ever, his mother thought her son most entertaining – not appreciating that I would have preferred to read the paper or be alone in my thoughts.
It reminded me of Michael Frayn’s superb comic novel about Fleet Street – Towards the End of the Morning.
In it there is this reference:-
“Dyson’s son was a very imaginative child but what he imagined was incredibly boring’.
He invented a character called Jack, whose whole life experiences he regaled, which made the family wince whenever another Jack story is to be recounted.
Having drunk most of the rosé at lunch – and being heavily laden with food shopping – I could not face another rail journey so I ordered a taxi to take me back to Brighton.
The road and route were bedevilled by roadworks and the tedium of the journey was increased both by the driver feeling obliged to give his comment on every piece of news on the radio and also my stretched bladder.
It sounds like it was a bad day but it was not as Arundel is such a lovely ground and the good news for us Sussex members is that the county have every intention of restoring Arundel Week and playing some games there.
