Balls.

It that time of year again, when the england rugby shirts  come out of the attic and the sales of Guimmess in the pub take a sudden jump. Tes, its six nayion time again and the Lamb was predictably busy yesterday for England's first outing of the contest which resulted in a victory over scotland  in The Calcutta Cup, played at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

I noticed yesterday, that quite a few of those who turn up in the pub when the game is onm, dont actually watch the match, but spend the entire proceedings chatting to their mates,  only taking time out from chatting and drinking to cheer in the appropriate places when their team scores. When I lived in Prestwick  we had the even more interesting phenomena of Welsh rugby fans who came from wales, booked in at a local hotel, and watched the Scotland v Wales game at Murrayfield on the TV in our local pub, The Toll Bar. Why anyone would want to go all the way from wales to scotland, to watch a rugby game being played seventy miles away on Tv  when you could see the same game in the comfort of your own local, is beyond me, but  , that like those in The Lamb, who turn up when the match is on but dont watch it, I suppose thar a sense of group solidarity and a sense of occasion is the point of the exercise.