You may have noticed there are a lot of lights out on Court 1. This is because the ballasts for 3 or 4 of the fittings have blown. These are very expensive and difficult to replace so we have decided to replace all the 8ft fittings and tubes on court 1 with 6ft fittings and tubes as per Courts 3,4 and 5. These tubes are cheaper, last longer and are more energy efficient so in the long-term will be much more cost effective.
Please bear with us while we organize this mod.
WORDS FROM THE FAR EAST (no not springs)
Hi all I trust that this mail finds you all in good health and not suffering too much from the global melt down :-)
Speaking of the global financial crisis, I must say that South Africa seems to get a lot of good publicity over here. Also with the world cup and all that coming up, it's a good thing. So far Thailand seems to have been immune to everything going on around the world, but I think that that is mainly due to the masses not really worrying about tomorrow! We will see in a few months time.
While on the subject of a few months time, I am now officially on holiday for 10 weeks. Yes that's right, school is closed now and reopens in the second week of May. Thai school year runs from May to February so eat your hearts out. I have agreed to another semester at the school as it has been quite an enjoyable experience, teaching english to 14 year olds. It was rewarding to see their progress through the year. So I will be in SA for a few days in March and then I will return here and spend a month touring around with my car loaded with golf clubs and bicycle.
Going down to the South of Thailand in the area of Phuket and Krabi, and some other lesser known places.
I have just got back from my monthly bike ride with the Bangkok bike hash club. We did a 48 Km ride on Saturday and then about 28 Kms on Sunday in a beautiful area called Petchaburi, about 180kms from Bangkok.
It's really hot because the Saturday ride starts at 13h in the afternoon in this tropical heat. But a lot of fun as the format is fun as opposed to racing, but still some challenging sections. It is the dry season here, but still the lanscape is covered in flowers like Hibiscus, Bouganvilla, Flamboyants and Frangipani. Orchids grow here like wild fire too so it is really stunning. The resort we stayed at cost the equivalent of R 350 per night per chalet so quite inexpensive too.
As far as friends go, I have a few western friends including from Germany, America and the UK. But of course one still misses "old" friends. I have had few visitors the last few months so am moving to a smaller apartment at the end of this month, also 'cause I will hardly be here for the next two months. I am surviving quite nicely on my R 8000 per month salary but the extra savings will do me well.
Well hopefully I will see you all soon in Sunny SA.
Catch you later
Michael
12th LEAGUE vs Edenvale
Not a very good start to the season for the 11th league, played Edenval at home. Although some of our team really tried – it was all in vain.
Final score 7 /13 to Edenvale.
John was first up playing No4. against a youngster who could have been his great-grandson, and true to form John indeed played like the boys great-grandfather. Score 0/3
Brian playing No. 1 put up a heroic effort taking the first two games with grim determination, then running slowly out of steam to a very fit player finally going down 2/3.
Geoff stole the limelight quietly dominating his opponent to take the match 3/1 – well done Geoff.
Paddy playing No. 3 got off the a great start against Graham, a familiar old Edenvale player. At 2 all it looked as if Paddy was going to take the match, but spectator enthusiasm by Edenvale for their player turned everything around and Paddy hanging on for dear life, threw it away 14/16 in the final game. Score 2/3.
Maybe next week !
9th LEAGUE vs UJ
So I haven’t been around to give this report the attention that it deserves (being the first of the season and all) and there isn’t even the bonus of a short report with a positive result. In fact, the result was as abysmal as the report. Shocking way to begin, but it can only get better from here. And to make it worse we had to deal with the loss on their ugly, yellow courts.
Here follows the abbreviated rundown:
No. 3 Brennan lost 1 – 3. Sharp opponent and some good rallies, but probably let it get away from himself in the first 2 games.
No. 2 Phil A lost 2 – 3. On points, Phil won easily and should have taken the game, but let his opponent back in to steal it.
No. 4 Lyal lost 1 – 3. Playing a rusty, but handy opponent, Lyal never got to dominate like he shoulda.
No. 1 Nigel lost 0 – 3. Outrun and never testing the opponent, I got a rude intro to the season.
At least we got this one behind us at the beginning. From here on in we have to shine to salvage some pride and dignity.
Final result 4 - 16
8th league “B” vs. Modderfontein
Not a great start to the season with the team losing 4-16 to Modderfontein as follows:-
Graham Vermaak lost 1-3
Peter Fillmore lost 0-3
Peter Le Roux lost 2-3
Dave Hamilton lost 1-3
Match result: 4 - 16
8th League “A” vs. Edenvale
What a start to the season, a convincing win carrying on from where we left off last season; that was true up to mid 2008 then the wheels came off.
Whispering George hits the boards first, playing Clint Eastwood. Actually we don’t know his surname but it sounds good. The match races to two all and 14 all in the fifth; George plays “with swagger” and wins 16-14 and is now “ledge”. Words from the younger generation; got to keep up with the times. Celebration follows with his patented war dance and chanting around the court. Patented is stretching it ‘cos it looks like a one man Haka. Will try to catch it on camera, that assumes George wins again, which we want him to do.
Michael on next and only raises a sweat in the changing room when he decides to see how fast he can shower (not really needed) and change from his squash kit.
Mark, our Egyptian mummy fresh from his tombs trip, plays well and wins in three despite stuffing around in the second (17-15), making drop shots from behind the entrance door to the court. Probably over critical, after all, it was a drop shot!
A 16 pointer in the bag; over to Bruce. Our Vesparian, makes a darn good effort coming back from two love down, and scoring more points 68-66, but unfortunately missing out on the games. Our captain will be putting in a request to the Gauteng league for a change in the scoring system.
Normally the team noshs at the local eatery with a traditional Kleftico (scan last years report) but the hard economic times have even hit the lamb industry and the price has gone from R68 to R94. Steak egg and chips went down well.
Squash Tip of the Week
With the new PAR scoring, it is like golf: if you drop a shot against par it is a point/shot gone forever, so you must concentrate all the time.
#1: Bruce vs. Terry, 2-3: 14-16, 16-18, 16-14, 15-3, 7-15
#2: Mark vs. Stephan, 3-0: 15-11, 17-15, 15-9
#3: George vs. Clint: 3-2: 15-12, 14-16, 15-11, 13-15, 16-14
#4: Michael vs. Peter: 3-0: 15-13, 15-7, 15-12
Match score: 14 - 5
7th League vs. Parkview
7th league went up against the neighbours, Parkview, and had a less than stellar start to the season. Manie on first lost the first game to a youngster after he stopped playing at 9-7, then worked out the scoring system and won easily 3-1. Jacques' on next looked a little rusty more than anything else in his 1-3 loss but nothing a couple of court sprints won't sort out! Duncan cruised through the first game but lost the next two rounds (aggressive actuary opponent) before taking the fourth only to lose 17-15 in the last - will have to join Jacques in the court sprints. Our last hope rested on Gerhard who also started slowly before looking like he may stage a comeback. Unfortunately he too went down 3-2. So a 8-13 start to the season and things will hopefully only get better from here!
Coty award jointly to the caterers at Parkview who didn't save any food for us!
Match score: 8-13
6thth League vs Wits
The season started very well with a nice warmup at Wits.
What really impressed me, was the price of chips at R3.50 and Powerades at R7.00, so Big George and I had a full go at depleting the stocks.
Back to the matter of the day:
3) Gavin B - With the captaincy duly handed to me, I was also elected to be the cheerleader, scribe and treasurer. Even for me this was taking the piss, and handed the fiscal function back to Dirk (who no doubt will make sure that he builds in a management fee).
I was up against a guy who played 5th league last year and had a 7% win record - well after I sorted him out, his win-loss record doesn't look much better this year. He is doing a doctorate in "lightning and associated risk" - he certainly needed a cracker under his ar...
3-0
2) Dirk - up against a 6ft4 beanpole who was prepared to run all night - as was Dirk 2-2 all and an hour into the game, Dirk was on the cusp of greatness at 13-11 and then decided he was tired ( I suppose a normal reaction for the amount of court he covered).
Our game teammate crossed the line second losing 13-15, but overall a nice workout to start the year 2-3
4) Gavin G - made short work of a guy who even George Palmer expressed concern about the tightness of his t-shirt covering a rotund midriff 3-0
1) George Palmer - played a young Indian guy - the first 2 games were pure class with overhead nicks and general trickery and chicanery. Then George's heartmonitor warned him about excessive running?? and he promptly lost the next 2. The fifth was all tied up at 6-6, until George unleashed a barrage of effort and destroyed his opponent to take the match comfortably 3-2
Match result : 14-5
5th League vs. Parkview
Dave lost 0-3 against a very steady player who made no mistakes. Dave seems to battle to get past 10 points, and was at 10-10 in all three games!
Fergus won 3-2 in a hard fought match, proving to have more tenacity than his younger opponent.
Chris won 3-1 against Dean who was fortunately suffering from a bout of the flue.
Flip lost 2-3 to David Paella who lasted the five setter despite wearing a knee brace (probably more to psychological than physical).
Result lost 8-11. Retired to Doppio zero for beer & pizza.
4th LEAGUE vs JCC (Woodmead)
4th LEAGUE vs JCC (Woodmead)
Trevor lost 0-3 against a really good player (the slippery court didn’t help much)
Jeff lost 0-3 against not quite a really good player
Vevek won 3-2 (19-17 in 5th) against a competitive Arthur
The Silver Fox won 3-1 at not quite a canter
Match result : 6-11
3rd LEAGUE vs Old Eds
3rd LEAGUE vs Old Eds
Third had a bad start to the season. We played Old Eds, who came second last year. (We came 3rd.)
Francisco played first against Thomas Martin who had amazing shots. Although the match was close, Francis managed to win 3-2 with the 5th being quite convincing.
Willem played next against Robert Martin, who too had great shots and ran well. After being 2-0 down Willem had a good 3rd game, but had no more legs for the 4th.
Mike (newly returned) Baldwin played next against Mark Sapphire. Mark played 1 last year, and was too fit and strong for a rusty Mike.
Gary played last against Paul Minolas (spelling?) and although ran Paul to exhaustion, couldn’t win the match. Pathetic.
Francis: 3-2
Mike: 0-3
Willem: 1-3
Gary: 1-3
Result: 5-14
Ladies 4th LEAGUE 02 vs Dainfern
Ladies 4th LEAGUE 02 vs Dainfern
Caroline won 3-1
Pat won 3-0
Sonnelle lost 1-3
Chrisna lost 2-3
Overall result 11-7
Ladies 3rd LEAGUE 01 vs Edenvale
Ladies 3rd LEAGUE 01 vs Edenvale
Julie won 3-0
Heather lost 0-3
Audrey lost 2-3
Jenny lost 0-3
Overall result 5-12
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