At world’s end – well, Chew Magna

The Mendip Farmers’ Skittles League takes us to many towns and villages, but surely our furthest drive of the season was last night to Chew Magna.

After driving for what seemed like an eternity, especially as it was so foggy, we finally arrived at the rather nice Queen’s Arms. Joe did a sterling job as driver despite ignoring his sat nav on numerous occasions, and being told off by the posh voice in the process.

Victory was ours as well, once again beating the top side in the division. To be honest, I am surprised how easy we were able to beat Sparks soundly two weeks in a row. The win puts us right back at the top of the table and in contention for the title.

Top scorer was Wyatt Earp (who is having his best season in years) with a disciplined 44, followed by the Fat Controller with 42 and Nashy with 40. Hurricane Hellard was in the Chair and not doing too badly until he got a big fat zero on his last hand! His score of 29 drew with Skipper though so at least it got money off someone.

I hit 35 which was not bad considering I was tackling the Five Half-Pint Challenge (see earlier blog). My time in this dropped considerably for my rather poor effort a year ago. I did it in a storming 23 minutes and five seconds, and kept it all down, unlike after our skittles Christmas meal last week.

Ah yes, the Christmas meal. I can’t really remember very much of it, but from what I do recall it was good fun. There was rather a lot of drink downed, the food was lovely and DJ’s new missus didn’t seem too scared by us all so I think, all in all, it was a success. I’m not sure my delightful other half would agree, though, having to deal with a rather ill Tim the following morning.

We now hit our Christmas break, with the next scheduled game being a friendly for players and their partners on January 7 at home. This is because we were due to play the team which has pulled out of the league. Anyway, until then…

Go for wood, merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Tim

Player of the week: We’d best start with me (pictured right), I guess. What can be said about me that hasn’t been said before? Well, that I’m fat and I have lots of hair really. I’ve been a member of Team Clothier for eight seasons or so and self-nominated myself vice-captain. I can often be found at Team Clothier matches tapping people up for stories for the paper or shouting abuse to DJ…

Title challenge back on track

After a dip in form that a charging Light Brigade would be proud of, Team Clothier got back into title contention with a win by eight against the unbeaten league leaders last night.

Consistent performances all round and our opposition struggling a bit meant we were able to stay in contention when we had a bad leg and stretched away with the finishing line in sight.

Pasty lead the way, hitting 52 in the Chair and winning money off of everyone. He seems to play better whenever money is involved so we might have to introduce a win bonus for him.

All the other scores were in the 40s apart from DJ and Joe The New Kid who both hit 37. They ended well but started dodgier than a 1980s rock star’s haircut.

After my appalling performance last time out, I was playing on the bottom and I hit my top score of the season! I hit 50, including my first flopper of the year – serve them right for leaving me out of the team…

At this point I must make a mention to the honourable website of the Berkeley and District Skittles League. They have kindly put a link to this fine blog on their site so hopefully we will soon get comments from as far afield as, well, Gloucestershire. Check out their site at http://www.berkeleydsl.org.uk/index.php.

We are halfway through the season and the fixtures now reverse. This means we play the team we played last night next week as well – Tuesday night in fact at the Queen’s Arms in Chew Magna. I’ve never been to the pub, let alone played there, and apparently the alley is long and difficult. Before that, though, we have our annual Team Clothier Christmas meal, about which I’m sure there will be many amusing stories to tell in the next Inside For Beginners. Anyway, until then…

Go for wood!

Tim

Definition of the Week: Playing on the bottom – a player on the bottom will be there because he or she hit a rubbish score the week before, and needs to hit a higher score than a player in the team to get back into the eight people who have their scores counted. This is the final Definition of the Week, as from next week it will be replaced by Player of the Week!