Not a Blockbuster Party.

Scrumpy Town Clink

This is Scrumpy United prison. Many of Scrumpy Towns criminals and some mentally ill reside here. It is also the home alley of The Blockbusters, a team we have had some success over in recent outings. In the longer past we have not been so successful, with the said Blocks putting us out of cup semi finals.

Tonight was also to be Mrs G's birthday, she say's it's her 25th, hmm. All ways round I was expecting a good night, with cake and and some Blockbuster defeat icing on top.

We opened with Merlin and The Weld, and despite both starting with 3's, they both managed to hit a spare a piece, finishing with 39 and 38. We only drop 2 pins, not bad.

Next up was Mrs G and Airbus. We could only hope that Mrs G would hit close to her actual age, however she was a long way off with a middling 35. Airbus failed to get off the runway with 34. The pair drop another 8 pins, and we are 10 down.

Enter Guinevere and Nelson, an interesting pairing, with good form. Guin gets a reasonable 38, and had she not started with a 4, a certain 40 was on the cards. Nelson, in true battling form hits 42, finishing on a 4. Sadly their opposition hit 13 pins more and we are down 23. Lets hope "It is a game of two halves Saint".

2nd half and we open with Lancelot and Toyah, and with big expectations. Lance charges on with a good 42, and Toyah, always good for a spare, hits an excellent 49, pulling back 8 pins, we are 15 down, and 6-2 points down.

I play now with the normally reliable model Y. In a game more akin to 10 pin bowling, I get 54. The model Y seems to have lost its reliability on this alley, hitting a poor 34, and has immediately been replaced with the model 8, originally issued as a 7y. However we have pulled another 6 pins , leaving the anchor set the task of pulling 11 pins. Task too big you may think, but The Blockbusters do not have their normal anchors of Mr Humphries and Captain Peacock.

Mr Humphries,( I know used this one before, but I like it)

Mr Humphries had to wash his hair tonight, and was unable to make the game. Leaving Captain Peacock to partner a new unused player. There's hope then.

Chippy, as ever, was up for this, and with 4x8's and 13 spare, hit a blistering 52. The Wizard swished away, but his wand seemed to have lost some potion, and had to settle for 37. They pulled 6 pins, and another 2 points, but the game went to The Blockbuster by 5 pins.

We lose 16-6. Could have been worse.

On a good note the cake, available from Tescos at £3.99- Party Cake, by Park Cakes, was surpisingly nice.

After the match I had some trouble with Mrs G, explaining she wasn't 25, and people did not want to see her do a birthday pole dance. Despite her protestations, I had to point out there wasn't a pole in sight, he was in fact from Romania.

Crab Stuffing

Stuffed Crab- yum yum.

Crab Stuffing

Ingredients-

A dozen confident crabs

A change of skittle alley

1st match of season

The Beernec's with something to prove

An onion for the crab tears

A lemon for the crabs to suck on after bitter defeat.

Ok it doesn't come much better than this. The Beernecessities have moved venue to the triangle club, our first match is against The Crabs- a nice bunch, not too fishy.

You always wonder how things will go at the start of a new season- few new faces, new alley, how well we'll cope.

This particular night had the added distraction of the summer skittles presentation being held upstairs in the same venue, with some of our players collecting sucess would mean players coming in and out of the alley.

Nelson was due to be upstairs so he decided to play first with Guinevere. This was to set the tone for the match, you could even say decide the match.

Guin hit an excellant 48, and Nelson a cracking 53.

We went 15 pins in front, and from then on never looked in trouble.

The Weld then went on with The Whistler scoring 42 and 41, matching the opposition.

Next up was Merlin, son of Guinevere, and The Terminator. Merlin hitting 38, Terminator 45, pulling another 19 pins to take us 35 in front at the half way point.

"This will be a game of two halves, what they've done in the first, we will do in the second !" Was one of the comments from the crabs. Hmm.

The second half started with myself and Airbus, scoring 41 and 44, and in so pulling another 2 pins.

Our penultimate set of Model Y and Toyah was to be our only loss. Y hit a good 41, however Toyah hit a dismal 28- "its a mystery". We lost 1 pin.

Oh Toyah!

Chippy Minton and The Wizard played the last set, full of money from there summer skittling success, they were quite unstoppable. Chippy starting with a spare, The Wiz with 2 spares, albeit one was a 9. Both players finished with 54, pulling a further 28 pins.

The Crabs crept tearfully, and in a sideways fashion towards the exit, not just beaten, but completely crushed, STUFFED.

Later that night as the summer skittle celebrations continued, a tipsy Chippy Minton was to take to the stage with an enthusiastic, if not particulary tuneful, rendition of Neil Diamonds "Song song blue".

I don't mind him singing, as long as its not the blues for the Beers'.Chippy live on stage at triangle club-song song blue Chippy.

Back By Public Demand

Ok the public were only Katy's wife, Gnasher and Guinevere, but I'm not greedy, bout time I finished off the winter.

Darts- the last two matches were against The Motto and the Blagdon. I've managed to almost forget the night at the Blagdon as it was probably my worst darts ever, well until a couple of weeks ago. The only highlight I remember was Gnasher's good lady-Vlad the Impailer- who had a collection of ton plus's, almost beating one of the Blagdon's best players, if not for a couple of missed doubles. Clearly player of the night.
The Motto.I had a dream that one day all pubs will be like this.
If you live in Scrumpyshire, or Bristol, you should know this pub. If you don't you must go directly there on reading this, as it is without doubt one of Scrumpyshire's treasured beauty spots. Well the bar is anyway.You Beauty.
I have heard comment about prices of Guiness and maybe lager, but you should not be drinking them here, for this is home to one of the finest collections of Ales and ciders. Tonights choice of indulgence is Weston's scrumpy-aah!
There is however a missing ale, and this was the high topic of the locals- "where's the Bass gone".
Apparently the Bass had been removed for whatever reason, much to the consternation of said locals. I don't have a problem with this, as once after a rather heavy night of bass, I spent most of the next day in the inconvenience, and not of particulary solid one. I shall never drink the backstabbing bilge again, although it was very nice.
Onto the darts. Sadly I can't remember much of this night, other than Katy and Gnasher played well, winning both there singles and as a pair, speaking of which Vlad impailed with equal gusto, narrowly missing a win. I lost a doubles with M3, but won my singles, and I think the match drifted off to defeat in a haze of cider fumes.Quality
Although the match was gone, the scrumpy fueled repartee continued,-a cracking night.
Sometime Friday, several hours after body awake my small brain returned to point out I was missing my darts. I had recently changed darts- much to team annoyance, but thats another story too long for now- and must have left the new darts at the Motto. A quick phone call to confirm they're safety and another visit to Motto was in order.
Seeing an opportunity to kill two birds with one, I took Mrs Gecko out for a spot of lunch. The Motto is in Barrow Gurney, some miles from Scrumpy Town, so a drive is required. Thinking Mrs G would drive home I was looking forward to trying some of those fine ales I had ignored for the cider. But alas I had forgotten Mrs G's liking for real ale, and she was in the pub before I had locked the car, and by the time I had gained entry she was already discussing the virtues of real ale with the landlord, and had already started on his recommendation. A dry lunch for me.
Turns out the landlord had been playing with my darts(this is not a euphemism Gnasher), and likes them. I point out they are 26g Bristow copies and the web site I bought them off. "Web what?", was the retort from the landlord.
We leave pub with £22 from landlord and a request to get him a set of Bristow's. Clearly we are going to be returning with darts and I can feel some free beers coming my way.
A week passed, darts arrived and Mrs G and I are in the car for another lunch time attack of the Motto.
The manner in which young Gecko 2 never ties the laces of his trainers has always been a bit of an irritant, but had I adopted his mode of wearing footwear, I wouldn't have stopped outside the pub to tie my laces. In the brief time it took to do this Mrs G had two free pints and a "half for the driver" lined up in the bar.
The Motto has some great ales, some tastey scrumpy, but I'm not a fan of the lemonade!
Next- The darts team return to the Drum, new winter season, maybe some new faces, but no Idris or Tattoo. 1st match Sept 3rd
Skittles- The Beernecessities move venues for first time in over 15 years. 1st match Sept 11th at home.

The Beers Bury The Blockbusters

Blockbusters should stick to Quiz's
We meet The Blockbuster in the cup again. This year we have got the better of them in the league, but in the past we have always failed against them in cup matches. This has to stop.
Tricky night for me as The Sexy Bristols also have a darts match at the other end of the Earth.
As a result Mrs G has agreed to drive us over to darts later, (thank-you).
Mrs G and The Model Y open our attack with a solid 84. Mrs G with 38, and Y with an excellent 46. We lead by 5 pins. The 1933 Model Y, think we might be making these again soon.
Points are irrelevant in cup games so will be no mention. I played now with M3/452, but was poor hitting the 3rd worst score of our team with 31. M3 held us up with a fine 39, deserved more, but we still pulled out another 5 pins. We now leave venue to battle for the Sexy Bristols.
Unfortunately we have temporarily robbed the team of captain Mrs G, and rudderless we flounder a bit. Guinevere without a quiver hits 27, The Weld misses the spot with a 26. The team drop 10 pins, and its all level.
Next on we have The Prof and The Whistler. With a slide-rule and a little tune they notch up a 37 and a 40, and we pull out another 5 pins.
Our penultimate pairing of Lancelot and Toyah score a very reasonable 40 and 38, another 2 pins profit. We are now 7 pins up going in to the last pair.
We play our usual anchor pair of Chippy Minton and The Wizard, but they will be up against Captain Peacock and his preferred partner Mr Humphries. These 2 (much as I dislike them) have won the Scrumpy Town pairs competition before, and as such need to be treated with some skittling respect.
Chippy on the other hand chose to show no respect and took the pick axe straight out the bag with a stonking 46. Backed up with solid 34 from The Wiz. Mr Humphries failed with a dismal 31, while Captain Peacock crashed and burned with a 26. Chippy and Wiz pulled 23, match won by 30. Two 46's kitty rollover.
"Are you free Mr Humphries?". Well he will be free on semi-final night when we play The Newcomers.On Your Knees Blockbusters.

Darts, Monday Drum v's Waggon, bad day for Bluto.

Stikingly good likeness
Cup semi final for the Drum Monday night team against The Waggon and Horses. A strange cup this one. The first player competes over 5 legs 501, all legs count, then we play a doubles match over 5 legs, followed by a triples over 5 legs. 15 legs available, first to 8 is going to win.
We open with Bubbles as our singles player, he will be playing The Thief, who is also captain. Bubbles puts up a good fight losing 3-2, but the last leg could have gone either way. In the doubles I am playing with Elvis, and this match would turn out to be the turning point. We are playing The Bream (freshwater fish), and Popeye Natch. The Bream is a reliable but rarely exciting player, Popeye the opposite. Unlike the cartoon Popeye, whose source of strength comes from spinach, this Popeye relies on Natch. This is not scrumpy, and you might lose your friends.
Natch is not Scrumpy, but is a fairly strong bottled or canned fizzy fighting cider. With the right quantity Popeye is a very good darts player, but he can go too far. If he's tripping over the oche, not sure where he is, he's dangerous. Tonight he has brought his own supply, coat pockets brimming with litre bottles of Natch.
Luckily for Elvis and myself he has gone too far, not even too sure where the board is. We win first 2 legs comfortably.No help for Popeye
Bluto, Popeye's sometime friend, sometime nemesis, is at this time struggling to control his temper. Bluto is a big man who likes to mix his drinks, but whose temperment has often come into question. As Elvis and I take the next leg, Bluto cannot help himself and is now shouting and threatening Popeye, and will soon be joined by the Thief. The Bream, now shedding scales, manages to take the 4th leg, but with no Olive to turn to, and his team mates turning on him Popeye's pipe goes out and we take the last leg.
Our triples are The Wanderer, Trigger and Bonnie Tyler. They face Bluto and two other pirates. We lose the first leg and now lead 6-5. In the next leg the Wanderer is struggling, but Triggs and Bonnie are playing well, and despite Bluto's side getting to their double first, but missing, Wanderer changes the game. With 28 left he manages to throw one dart in the tyre, one dart in the wall, and with the last hits double 14. This hurts Bluto big time. Drum lead 7-5. The next leg goes much the same as the last, yet again Wanderer struggling, but Bonnie leaves him 60. As before TheWanderer hits the tyre with first dart, then hits 20 followed in lightning by double 20. The Drum win 8-5, we explode with cheering, Bluto explodes out the exit, Hoorah. Waggon refuse to play last 2 legs.
For the Waggon, quote Bonnie Tyler- "Its a Heartache".Hmm, still good.

3 in 1, Oil not Scrumpy, Don't Drink

Been a bit lazy and now have missed 5 skittles results, so will do 3 in 1.

The Beers home to the The Cavaliers. I couldn't make this match but looking at results it doesn't seem that eventfull. We lost 8-14 at home to a team below us in the league, and almost everyone in the team had a bad or average score except Wiz on 39, and a tie for the kitty between Guinevere and Toyah on 40.
Who's best, Toyah- with her punk/futuristic look, or Guin- with her beguiling medieval maid, but stab you in the back and leave you for your mate look.Giunevere,watch your back
I don't know I like them both. There's only one way to sort this out-FIGHT.
Or instead we just have a rollover and the kitty doubles up for next weeks lucky winner.
In a bizarre twist as I'm writing this, Toyah is on Television battling Kikki Dee on bargain hunt.
Beers away to Gems. We are back at Scrumpy Town football club, one of our better scoring venues. The Gems are below us in the league and fighting to avoid relegation. True to The Beers manner we flirt with defeat to a lower team, but manage a win in the end 16-6. Highlights are The Whistlers 42 and Toyahs 43, which should have taken the rollover had I not had a couple of lucky spares and a 53. It was another night on the Guiness and the next morning there was no sign of my winnings, but Mrs G's purse, (a black hole) is clearly bulging.Mrs G's purse seen through telescope- the closest I get to it.
Beers home to The Saltys. Missed this match again. The Saltys are also fighting relegation, and yet again we gave them a chance, although we did have some good scores. Mrs G with 38, The Prof with 39, Model Y with 41, Lance with 42. But the team was saved by an outstanding score for the Wag alley of 49 by Chippy Minton.

Chippy takes the Kitty.
Just missed the end of bargain hunt, don't know who is best, Kikki Dee or Toyah-FIGHT.

Darts-Congs league singles @ Warrens.

Inside Warrens Holiday Village- game on!

The Sexy Bristols are back at Warrens Holiday Village for the Congresbury darts league singles competition. Sadly not all the team can make this night. On duty we have M3/452, Model A-who has evolved into the Model Y, a much cheaper cider drinker, Gnasher, Idris,Katy and myself. Failures to turn up, Mickey Murphy- some baking to be done, and Tattoo-missing in action.

Katy, Model Y and myself have decided tonights darts aperitif will be Thatchers Gold- according to Thatchers" a crisp refreshing cider with a smooth "appely" taste and a bright sparkle", and at 4.8% vol it certainly was. Now that is sexy
Our darts however were a long way short of sexy. M3/452 , Model Y, Gnasher, Idris and myself all failing in the first round, only Katy surviving, and in so doing beating the legendary Slow Hand. Slow Hand is one of the hardest players in the league to beat, and has won the competiton in the past. He is so named as each throw can take a life time. I am certain that at the begining of each throw he stops time. By the second dart tumble weeds pass by the oche, and should you make it to the third dart, you generally have to sit down as your bones start to crumble into dust. Still, lucky for Katy, slow hand's counting got the better of him and he went for the wrong double, Katy through to next round.

Katy's next opponent put a shadow over us, and I do mean a shadow. For upstepped Tiny, who is about the same size as the side of a house. With each step a small tsunami was sent down the Bristol Channel. Katy did take one leg, but then with a huff and a puff Tiny blew our house down, and went on to the board final.

Tiny succeded on the night beating other opponents to make it through to finals night. One of the players he beat appeared to be Pete Waterman. He of great music hits such as Kylie's " I Should be so Lucky". ( I was going to use this opportunity to put in a photo of Kylie, but Mrs G's frown has said enough).

It wasn't in fact Pete Waterman, but the father of Bristol TV darts player The Flash.
Some will say that the city of Bristol got its name from the old english word "Brycgstow" meaning place by the river. However when looking at Bristol from Scrumpy town the source is clear to see. It is in fact the city that nestles between the Bristols.

How Bristol got its name Idris and Tattoo share a moment.

Blockbusters Need a P Bob.

The Blockbusters might have more luck with this anchorman.
Skittles this week was a rematch with The Blockbusters. Unfortunately I couldn't make this game, but I wish I had. There are one or two players in this team that think they're Fido's nuts, and were sure to be out for revenge after our winning draw(13-9), against them earlier in the season.
We opened up with Guinevere and The Weld. Guin hit an ok 32, The Weld suffering with some aches and pains managed 27, and we are down some pins and 2 points.
Mrs G now puts herself on with newly evolved Model-A, he should be better than the T, although there are fears he could be too expensive to run(Magners cider).
G gets 37 and A- 38. We are now in front and 2 sets all.
Its time for The Whistler and Airbus. Whistlers in tune tonight and gets 36. Airbus's insistence on fly-by-wire skittles has come undone. You wouldn't see the Wright brothers scoring 21, maybe Orville might have got a duck. We go down another 2 points and pins.
Up steps Lancelot and M3/452. Some good skittling and Lance has 38, M3 has 40. We level the points and go pins up.
Toyah and Nelson take to the stage. This games no mystery for Toyah and he hits a 42, Nelson trying one across the bows with 38, but its not enough, and we go down 2 points losing the set by 1 pin. But we are still up in pins.
The Blockbusters have a normally strong anchor pairing of Captain Peacock and Mr Humphries. Our lads were going to be up against it.
Captain Peacock's quality pair.
Some good news for our anchor pairing of Chippy Minton and the Wizard. Apparently menswear are having an audit and Mr Humphries is not free.
Mr Humphries "I'm not free"
Chippy ignores the chisel going straight for the mallet with our first spare of the night. The Wizard choosing not to use spells in favour of solid 8's and 9's. The Captain and his partner try to hold on to our shirt tales(different story) but all in vain as Chippy finishes with 49 and the Kitty, the Wiz with 2nd highest 44.
We win 16-6.
"E for exit from skittle alley please Bob".
Stop Press- We have a cup match against the Blockbusters 19th March.

Dartus Weekus Horribillis

A week of darts failure, could hurt if I wasn't so used to it.

Monday night is Scrumpy town darts league. Due to work I am unable to make all these matches, but when I can I play for the Drum and Monkey. M3/452 also plays for both the Drum and the Sexy Bristols.Thatchers Scrumpy for sale here, M3/452 has had too much.
Sadly tonights match is not here.
We are playing the Bristol who have quite a strong team this year. The Bristol is the centre piece pub in Scrumpy town, and, as such is ok.
The Bristol-mostly yuppie ciders,occasional scrumpy.
I'll be drinking Guinness tonight, although they do have a collection of Yuppie ciders.
I'm afraid we turned up, tried, but came second, losing 7-2. The only success comming from The King-Elvis, who saved the 1st leg, and Bubbles Devere, who was our best player of the night, despite the heckles, "Call me bubbles darling".
Can't remember who beat M3, but I lost to a Leprechaun, and didn't even get the gold.
Thursday saw the Sexy Bristols playing at the Waggon and Horses to stay in the Congs Premier league.They sell Addlestones Scrumpy here- go and get some,now.
It has to be said the Waggon has neither a waggon, nor a horse, and sometimes not alot to drink, however it does have Scrumpy, in the name of Addlestones. I have to confess I've not been a big drinker of the Addlestones, but that might have to change, as tonights is sheer quality, unlike the darts thrown by the Sexy Bristols. If we played like our lives depended on it, then we can forget the walk to the oche and go straight to the crematorium, for it was to be a 9-0 stuffing. Nothing much to say about individuals, other than Model-T who did win the captains cup game after the match, beating the Bishop.
On a personal note I had a good thrashing from Spanky, something I'm not proud of, and probably won't tell Mrs G.
Sadly the result does mean the Sexy Bristols will be relegated with 2 games to play.

Divison Singles @ Warrens Holiday Village

Warrens Holiday Village
Thurs 12th Feb and its divisional singles for the Congs dart league. This year to be held at Warrens Holiday village. The photo is very deceiving, and the venue is larger inside, with 10 darts boards. The Sexy Bristols- team Scrumpy plays for on a Thursday night- have entered 8 players, with every confidence of making it to the first round, although it is a large venue and after a couple of drinks we are quite capable of getting lost. The Sexy Bristols will not be entering University Challenge.
Our eight superstars of darts, in no particular order, are- Mickey Murphy(see end for clues), Idris the Dragon, Model-T( the first mass produced darts player, capable of playing on 160 proof alcohol, and contrary to myth, is available in colours other than black),Gnasher,Scrumpy,M3,Katy andThe Missing Link.
There is no scrumpy for sale hereAfter some stunning practice Scrumpy fails to turn up for his game, scoring little more than 26's, perhaps the Guinness is off. Model-T played at the same time, couldn't see game, but he lasted longer then me. Katy played well with some big scores, but still lost, as did Murphy, although Murph had chances to win- the bun was in the oven and he just left it to burn.
The only player with any fire was Idris, who after hitting 7 bulls to decide who will start, played local legend The Bull Turner. After some stunning darts Idris turned the bull to cheers of, "taxi for Bull Turner".
M3 and Gnasher had byes, so we now have 3 players through to next round.
The Missing Link missed, and was seen leaving through a side exit before his turn to check. Not a counter maybe.
M3 and Gnasher both go out in this round, M3 to top player The Hat, Gnasher to some bloke from Weston.
" I could of had' im, I really could. Should of had 'im". Next year for Gnasher.
Idris is spitting flames now and goes on to a collection of victories before facing The Hat at a board final stage. The Hat snuffs out Idris's pilot and its all over for the Bristols.
With all the team out and gone home, I find myself back at the bar to see which 4 players go on from tonight to make the finals night. Its a bit diificult to see through the beer glass, but the winners are The Hat, and 3 chaps from The Glasshouse in Nuttersea, a neighbouring town to Scrumpy.
It is recommended not to visit pubs in Nuttersea without an interpreter.
It is possible to live at the Warrens site. To do this succesfully you must asume the life of a rabbit. I do have the ears for this but Mrs G says I am lacking in other departments.

Mr Murphy is a master baker,
Pudding pies and pastry maker,
Biscuits buns or birthday cake,
Everything is marvellous that Murphy makes

Driving along with the bakers man,
In a rackety, tackety baker's van.
Each loaf and cake the bakers bake,
Will roll and shake,
As our rounds we make.
With the baker man,
In the baker's van
The rackety tackety baker's van.

Crabs- decapod crustaceans, also good at skittles

Scrumpy United Football Club
Last Wednesday was Scrumpy's first skittles match in 3 weeks.
For those not familiar with the game, its a bit like ten pin bowling, except we have 9 pins in the shape of a diamond. We use 3 balls on each throw, and have 6 throws. The teams in Scrumpy Town consist of 12 players, who play in pairs. There are 2 points for each winning pair, and 10 points for the match, a maximum of 22 points available.
Tonights match is against The Crabs, who are one of the friendliest teams. Despite their name, they are not aggressive, do not walk sideways, have no pincers, but may slightly smell of fish.

The United Skittle Alley
This alley is quite tricky to play on as it is somewhat unevenly cambered. Scrumpy says it has been under water on occasions- don't know if thats due to the crabs-game would be quite hard under water, with or without pincers.
The Crabs are very close to us in results, both teams usually finishing somewhere mid table. Last season we finished above them, and thats the way I'd like it to stay.
We opened with Mrs Gecko, who, as captain has hand picked tonights side from the finest available. Not sure how she comes to the order, but its not done on who has drunk the most scrumpy. I have suggested this, and further, that you should not be allowed to play without first partaking of the succullent fermented juice of the apple. Apparently my sggestions have been noted, and duely filed, somewhere.
Mrs G's partner is the Magic E. G was consistant with only 1 slight hiccup, scoring 42, E, after a nervous start rose to the occasion hitting 35. We are in front and have 2 points. Next up we have Florence Nightingale and Sir Lancelot. Florence was our first casualty of the alley- maybe her lamp was a bit dim- more parafin required, score 24. Lancelot did not fare much better with a 32. To be honest I didn't follow much of this or the next pair, being drawn unhealthily towards the bar.
Nothing of interest here, forced to the large black and white pump, another night on the Guinness.
3rd pairing of The Whistler and the Prof also lost with fairly respectable scores, 35 and 42. we are now down 4-2 in points. Its now my go, and under my rules I should be dropped for not drinking cider. I am partnered with Model T, who is drinking cider, all be it one of those new yuppie ciders from a bottle that needs ice to take the taste away. Still, he is playing by the rules and should be commended for that. We put up a good fight, me with 47 and the model with 40, but we still lose. Now 6-2 down and 15 pins. Its not looking like our night.
Next up we have Toyah and Nelson, very reliable players, however both driving,(see scrumpy rule) so should be prohibited. Toyah gets us our first spare, and goes on to get 48, Nelson gets 39, and we win this pair. Just thought, Toyah and Nelson both wanted to be free, but this has nothing to do with this pairing, in fact its a different Nelson.
Last up is Chippy Minton and the Wizard. Chippy gets our next spare to finish with team highscore of 51, taking the kitty. The Wizard finishes with 43.
Apparently the last 2 sets were very exciting, however the Guinness has got me now, and I can remember nothing of the finale except being told to cheer.
Mrs G has pointed out my state is another example of why my rules would not work.
We win 16-6, and by some pins? hoorah.
The Crabs retreat back into their shell. I haven't got a photo of that, so here's the scoreboard.

Snow- you can't eat it, and you can't drink it.

Last Week, some good and some bad.
The good- Sunday, Somerset 9 aside darts, held in Bath. Struggled to get to event, deciding not to take one train, and then missing the next- and this is before a drink. Mrs Gecko came to rescue providing wheels. I arrived in time to be greeted by large queue at bar, one barman, no scrumpy.
The queue did provide time to decide on liquid for the day.
It was 11.30am, with the lack of real ale, that must be Guinness time. I bought two.
The 9 aside consists of all the superleague teams in Somerset, playing a straight knock out, over nine boards, so everyone in your team will play at the same time.
I found my captain, who for a change wasn't disappointed to see me- turns out we are a player short, would have been two. We are allowed to borrow a spare player from another team.
Sadly I don't get to finish my game. I'm at 2-2 in legs, but 5 of my team mates have lost, so the match is stopped. Later there is a triples and singles competition. My triples got through first round, but failed at the next. Finally got to play my singles some time after 7-00pm, and lost.
I now have no idea how many pints of Guinness have been drunk, but its clearly time for home.
Manage to buy a ticket for train and get on the right one, however a change at Bristol Temple Meads will be required. The change should have been simple, had it not been for the chocolate vending machine.
I normally don't pay much attention to vending machines, but the mutual attraction between this chocolate machine and myself was clear. I needed sustenance, and this machine needed to provide.... chocolate!
I started with a twin Mars bar, handy because you can eat one, and keep the other bar for later.
They were both gone in seconds, so I went for the healthy option- a bounty, it has coconut so must be good for you. I still had change left but the train announcement took away any further options. Now it really was time for home, and hopefully I'd be able to keep the contents of my stomach.
The Bad- Thursday night darts league game cancelled due to Snow.