… football match this after noon at the Cité des Sports. This time, not played in a hurricane, just a high wind.

So that’s all right then.

The 2nd XI of US les Mouettes de Donville were playing the Jeunesse Cenillaise in Division 3 of the District League of the département. Not a very high standard at all and these two clubs are relatively low down the table too, but the match was of some interest.

For the first 30 minutes Cenillaise swarmed all over Donville with comparative ease. They had a n°10 playing up front who certainly looked as if he had been around the block more than once, and the Donville centre-backs were extremely pedestrian. How Cenillaise didn’t score any goals at all was a mystery to me – they even missed a penalty.

But whether the n°10 took a knock I really don’t know, but after half an hour he slowed right down and the game became much more of an even contest.

Not to any good purpose because after 90 minutes the match ended 0-0. You might be thinking that this match was rather boring, but it was anything but. It was very finely balanced and quite interesting from a neutral point of view.

One player stood out head and shoulders though. Cenillaise had a young lad playing centre-half, wearing n°3. His name was Gildas apparently, and he was totally outstanding in defence. His positioning, running and tackling were excellent and it was quite clear that there was no attacker going to ever get past him.

How he’s only playing at this level and not three or four levels higher up is a total mystery to me. I’d have him in any side that I would be picking.

With it being Sunday, I had intended to have a long lie-in. Waking up at 06:20 was no part of the plan at all. Mind you, 08:00 was much more of a respectable time to be raising myself from the dead, although 09:00 would have been much more like it.

Plenty of time to go on a travel too, and when I find where I put the dictaphone I’ll tell you all about it;

After breakfast I finished off the photos and started to add them to the blog. I reached as far back as last Wednesday, and one that I took on Thursday has to be on eof the best that I’ve ever taken.

Lunch was inside again but afterwards I headed out in the wind and the occasional light shower of rain for the football.

Back here, tea was a vegan pizza followed by a rice pudding, and it was all so delicious. One of my best efforts yet.

And while I was walking around the headland Rosemary telephoned me so I rushed back to speak. We put the world to rights, and we also discussed a cunning plan.

Now I’m off to bed. Back to work in the morning and there’s a lot to do. I hope that I’m up to doing it.