Allez les Girondins

For a birthday treat, I went to my first French League game with my mate John who was over on his holidays ( Tina would have come, but she thought it would be a good boys outing and that if John went instead, she wouldn't have to watch and talk football all day with me).

Girondins Bordeaux were at home to Nice on the Sunday after my birthday, ( the French FA refused to move it to coincide) . I brought and printed the tickets on-line 10 days before the match, all for the princely some of €16 each. Not a bad price to see the current French champions, compared with £24 to watch Saints play Brentford, or £50 to see Arsenal give the skates a good hiding.

The game was a 5 o'clock kick-off, but we decided to get down to Bordeaux in time for lunch. We had a very civilized pre-match tapas, and had plenty of time for a few beers before kick-off. We stopped of for a couple in a bar that was owned by La Tupina, one of the top restaurants in the world according to surveys. While we were in there, a old boy came in with his dog, ordered a glass of wine, pointed at a large piece of left over steak on a plate, and asked if he could have it for the dog. We thought they might just put it in a napkin for him, but the chef promptly chopped it all into bite sized pieces, and served to the dog on a plate. Can't imagine Gordon Ramsey doing the same.

We set of for the ground an hour before kick-off, which should have been plenty of time, as the ground is about a mile out of the city centre. It is in quiet a nice residential area, no Kingsland estate or Dickensian Fratton slums, and there was a decent bar right within 100 metres of the turnstile which was heaving, so it is not just the British who like a bit of lubrication before the footie.

The turnstiles weren't very well sign posted, so we ended up going to the wrong end at first and then marching all the way back to where we started in 30 degree heat. We then got passed from queue to queue as our E-Tickets wouldn't work on the bar code readers until finally we were referred to a steward, who sent us round to the only side of the Stade that we hadn't walked round yet to where the special E-Ticket turnstile was located. All of which meant that we didn't get to our seats until 5 minutes after the kick-off.

As you can see, Nice didn't bring much of a crew with them, not surprising as Nice is 800 km away from Bordeaux, but there were probably more than the Skates took to Bolton last year. The main home support, with all of the flags, banners and fireworks, was at the other end. Our end was a mixture of all ages, with a group of about fifty nippers gathered around a bloke with a megaphone, stood right behind the goal. With no roof, and the full sun on us, it must have been nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit in there, like watching a match, sat in a sauna.

Onto the game itself.

The first half was quite even, with Bordeaux attacking the home end. Both teams played to fee, and defenders all tried to play there way out of trouble, so much so that the first an only corner of the match didn't arrive until the 78th minute.

Nice's main threat was their number 7 Remy, who was very mobile, good at taking on his defender, and had a decent cross as well. I doubt if he would be interested in swapping the South of France for Southampton though. The crosses were often wasted, as Nice seemed to be playing with just two wide plays up front, so there were never enough bodies in the box to get on the

Bordeaux's played two at the back, with wing-backs pushing up all the time. Diarra, the

ex-Liverpool player, was the anchor man in the midfield, which allowed Jussie and Gourcuff to play the attacking roles. Jussie scored the first goal, in the 42nd minute with a bullet header, from some good overlapping on the left.

At half -time, John and I headed for the shade, under the stand. I checked out the catering. There were no pies, but you could get chicken and chips, and the only beer was Amstal Libre with no alcohol, but in that heat it tasted great, better than the Carlsberg at St Mary's.

The second half was a lot more one sided, with Gourcuff running the show with the sort of touch, power and movement that has seen him called the new Zidane. He was on loan from Milan last year, and this season he has signed for €15 million. Why Milan let him go at the same time as selling Kaka, god only knows. He scored two very similar goals, shooting home from either side of the box after good one touch passing moves.

Diarra netted the fourth with a firm header ( coup de tranche) from a free kick with 15 minutes left, and we thought we might be in for a cricket score, but the game eased off a little, not surprising really as it was so hot.

So it finished 4.o to Bordeaux. It was a great atmosphere throughout the match. We didn't understand most of the songs, but they had borrowed an Italian favourite 'Niceois, Niceois, va fan...... ' which we got the drift off. After every goal, you all have to chant 'buteur' when the announcer reads out the name of the scorer, and at the end of the game, they all sang 'Merci Bordeaux' with typical French politeness.

It was a long day out as it is a 2 and a half hour trip each way, but it was well worth it. The football was of a much higher standard than the West Ham v Spurs match that we had watched beforehand, but it did lack the tension of watching Saints, a bit like a nicotine patch instead of full tar St Mary's.

Green fingers

We have joined the growing trend for self sufficiency be growing a bit more of our own food this year, something of a challenge as I don't like much veg in the first place.



We dug a new vegetable patch, where we used to have the bonfire, and set to work filling it with natures goodies. It took a bit of work to clear it, as it was full of charcoal and bits of metal from old doors that we had burnt, but it does seem to have left us with decent soil.


We planted spring onions, aubergines, tomatoes, broccoli, courgettes and squash.




We also planted some more broccoli and some red onions in our old veg patch, and put some potatoes in an old dustbin full of compost.


The broccoli in the old bed all got eaten by something, and no amount of slug pellets or traps would stop it. The red onions started well, but started to go sideways, and then stop growing all together, so they have had do be dug up and dried, to try again next year, and the spuds were nice, but we only got enough for a couple of meals. We think that the old patch is too much in the shade, and so next year we will just use it for courgettes ans squashes, which seem to grow anywhere.


The new bed is a different story. The spring onions were great, and the broccoli heads have been huge, although they all matured at the same time ( we planted F1 broccoli which apparently is not some new motor racing offshoot but is in fact a hybrid grown to be picked at the same time).
The aubergines are looking good, and we have had so many tomatoes for the last month that I am in danger of hitting my five a day target on a regular basis, as opposed to my normal 5 a week.





The colours and flavours have been much better than anything you could buy at a supermarket, so we will definitely be planting even more next year.

On the landscaping front, dad cleared back the old conifers, which were still dying, and showing no signs of forming an orderly hedge.





While I was getting round to chopping down the stumps, they made a great hunting stool for Henry.