Stepping Up

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I'm not - ahem - generally known for espousing monarchist sympathies, and, to be frank, my main concern today has been the progress of the First Test between England and New Zealand, which, I'm happy to report, ain't going too badly for the home side, sort of. Here in Rachub - well, in the entire parish of Llanllechid, to be honest - there's not, as could have reasonably been expected - a jot of a sign of the Jubilee.

Takes me back to the Silver: our 'street-party' was an ironic piss-up that was more Sex Pistols than Land of Hope and Glory, culminating in a memory-lost curry. As in run-down Winson Street, Birmingham in the seventies, the monarchy has a somewhat different resonance here in - particularly North - Wales. Still, I won't be an old churl and deny that the old Queen has been the one stand-out in what is, after all, a pretty dysfunctional, publicly-funded institution, I think.

Still, the aircraft fly-past was pretty spectacular - I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff - and the Test seems to be boiling up to a good 'un: all down to the bowlers and the pitch at the moment, but pretty even at the minute. Great debut from Potts with the ball and in the field; a pity about his duck with the bat, but, your Test debut at Lords? Great start to his career...

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