Tag Archives: club

Time for Some Local Cricket

The onset of summer in the UK got me thinking of cricket. It is true that the Pacific Northwest has quite a cricket scene that has developed – principally as a result of the many people that have moved there from countries where cricket is a big deal. However, I never really spent any time checking it out while we were there. However, village cricket is a quintessential element of the UK and I thought I should go and see one of the local clubs in Winchester.

I went to see St Cross Symondians First XI play. Even the name seems suitable for an English country game. I didn’t time it very well as I wandered up just as they were breaking for tea. Fortunately, there was a second game on the adjoining pitch, so I watched that for a bit from the other side of the hedge. Those players were in traditional whites, which fitted the traditional image I had in mind. When the main game resumed, they were playing in dark colours with a white ball. I have no idea how the decision gets made. With a lot of trees around the ground, maybe the visibility is an issue. If anyone knows, please let me know.

I walked around the pitch to watch the play from various angles for a while. I ended up experimenting with some different photo techniques while I was there because it was a sunny weekend afternoon and I was in no hurry. I will post separately about some of what I tried. For today, I just wanted to share some shots of the larger scene. Maybe next time I’ll take a chair, get a pint from the clubhouse and sit watching the game for longer. It has also got me thinking about going to watch some professional games, but we shall see.

Woodinville Cruisers Car Club Christmas Light Parade

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The run up to Christmas brings with it the annual Woodinville Cruisers Car Club Christmas Light Parade in our town. This might be an annual event but it isn’t something we had been to before. The evening was looking dry so we decided to pay it a visit. We didn’t have any idea what to expect but, as we drove down towards the town center, one of the cars for the parade was ahead of us. It wasn’t hard to know where it was going given how many lights were on the outside of the car. (We did spot it in the parade later.)

We went in plenty of time because we didn’t know how crowded it was going to be. This proved to be unnecessarily cautious as the town was still pretty quiet when we arrived – a Sunday night is not hopping in Woodinville – particularly when there is a Seahawks game on TV. We killed a bit of time but as it got close to the 6pm start time for the parade, plenty of people started to show up and, once the cars started rolling, lots of spectators were out.

A firetruck from the local fire department started things off. Then the cars came rolling through. We had no idea how many there would be so we were curious as to whether we would soon be back at home. We needn’t have worried. There were loads of vehicles coming through. Some were vintage vehicles that were interesting in their own rights. Others were modern cars but adorned with tons of lights. Some looked like they had barely bothered to prepare! I was surprised how willing some of the owners were to tape a ton of lights to their paintwork!

I would say that the parade took about half an hour to roll through. There was plenty of pausing as things backed up but there were definitely a ton of different vehicles. Local businesses also took part with their trucks decorated or, in the case of the local balloon pleasure flight business, they had a basket on a trailer with the burners providing a blast of heat and light on a regular basis. A local Facebook group had someone questioning whether there was a fire downtown!

The whole thing was a fun time and we were really pleased to have made the trip out. It far exceeded what we had anticipated and everyone seemed to be having a good time – particularly the kids grabbing the candy thrown from a bunch of the vehicles. There didn’t seem to be any left where we were. Thanks to everyone that took part for making it such an enjoyable event and congratulations to the organizers.

Ferraris

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The David Hobbs talk wasn’t the only thing going on at Blackhawk when I was there. Prior to the presentation, there had been a gathering of Ferraris and Alfa Romeos in the parking lot. I didn’t realize that this had been planned so I turned up for the opening hour of the museum and was surprised by the cars outside. I did spend a few minutes wandering around and checking out some of the Ferraris. As an 80s kid, I couldn’t help being attracted to the Testarossa. What a beast of a car. The others were cool too. Many of them look better but something about those side fins is cool. This one had mirrors on both sides. I always loved the large single mirror fit but I guess you don’t see many of those.

Porsche Club

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Weekends are a great time for coming across events that you had no idea about. Our jaunt to Sonoma for the long weekend yielded just such an event when the local Porsche Club showed up in the town square to show off their cars. Nancy had a few things she wanted to see that left me a bit of time to wander around. It wasn’t a huge turnout but the quality of what was there was impressive. The majority of the vehicles were 911s of varying vintage but there were some 928s and a 924 or two. Some Cayennes also showed up but that seemed like cheating to me!’

The owners were generally happy to discuss their cars and what they had done to them. They also didn’t mind the occasional photograph being taken. A number of the cars caught my eye but two are worthy of a special mention. One is the restored racer in a metallic blue which was in beautiful condition and had an interesting racing history.

The other was a 911. The name for this type varies depending on your country but back in the UK they were known as Flat Noses. I wasn’t sure that I had ever seen one other than in a magazine so was really pleased to see it. I am not particularly a Porsche guy (not that I am any brand of car specific to be fair) but I do appreciate a nice car of any sort and these certainly counted. Given that Sonoma has a fairly healthy number of people of means, I had hoped a Carrera GT might be there but sadly not. Only seen one of those before and that was driving down a street in Chicago – a brave thing to do with a vehicle that valuable!