A little flutter or a little footie . . .

I'm neither Irish nor much interested in horse-racing but even I have noticed that tomorrow is the day of the Grand National. I mention the Irish factor as most of the horses seem to have either Irish riders, trainers or owners, or in some cases all three.

Being female, I'm much more interested in who was wearing what on Lady's Day at Aintree today.

Typically, I would always choose a horse to back by its name rather than by form - I did say I was not really into horse-racing!

Looking at the card for this year's National, I suppose the obvious choice for Catholics must be 'Preists Leap'. Strange spelling!

Apparently the horse was named after the legend of a priest ambushed by brigands on an escarpment in Kerry. Cornered, he turned his horse towards Bantry and jumped. "In the town there's some rock, with four hoof marks where the horse landed," trainer Tom O'Leary explained. "Only it's four miles from the mountain."

By the way, the odds were 66/1 at the time of writing.

I'll be focusing on the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday, especially as Number 2 Son managed to get a ticket for Wembley.

Multi-tasking . . .

I wonder, were you watching this today?

Or maybe, this was the focus in your house?

Maybe you took the opportunity whilst the menfolk were otherwise engaged to go out for a bit of this?

. . . and possibly some of this too?


Well, I did that thing that we women are supposed to be good at and managed to do a bit of 'all of the above'. I say, 'supposed' to be good at, as the Pater Familias always thinks it's a great joke and a bit of an 'urban myth'!

I had to make a few journeys in the car and managed to get a fair of idea of what was happening in the sporting arena today thanks to good old Radio Five Live. Then naturally, having to go to the shopping centre, I had to stop for the obligatory cappuccino! Once home, I managed to sit at the computer with the pop-out screen of the live streaming of the Rugby whilst still listening to the radio and dipping in now and again to the live text commentary of the football. Phew, it can be very confusing, especially when you have calls on your mobile and Skype at the same time!

What struck me about all of this, was the fact that the Rugby was all about the game, the teams, Twickenham etc. but the focus on the Chelsea/City match was all about action off the pitch. All eyes were trained on the pre-match handshake. Look at the photo above. I wonder what the young mascot made of it all.

Who'd have thought it? . . .

It's been a great few days for sport recently.

I'm definitely in the category of 'armchair sports fan'. The Pater Familias, when describing his attitude to sport says, 'I'm a doer not a watcher' - I, on the other hand have to admit to being very much a 'watcher not a doer' but I'm still enthusiastic about many sports.

It was exciting listening to Usain Bolt's amazing 100 metre run in Berlin recently and then again this evening when he broke another world record. We've had Andy Murray doing well in the tennis and the football team Number Two Son (both a 'doer' and a 'watcher') supports winning 5-1 last night plus newly promoted Burnley beating the Champions Man U!

Today saw the beginning of the final Ashes Test at The Oval. I'm always surprised when I hear of certain people being cricket fans - no reason to be, I know - I'm probably a very unlikely looking fan to anybody who knows me! Stephen Fry being keen on cricket seems quite natural - but Lily Allen? (pictured above at The Oval, courtesy of BBC Sport's website).

That's one of the things I like about cricket - it appeals to all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons.

It really is quite simple . . .

I've just been looking at Mulier Fortis and her post on having someone explain the laws of cricket to her, reminded me of the famous joke, 'Cricket as explained to a foreign visitor.' Here it is again for those who need reminding:

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.

Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in

and the next man goes in until he's out.

When they are all out, the side that's out comes in

and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out,

and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.

There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time

and they decide when the men who are in are out.

When both sides have been in and all the men have out,

and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in,

including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

You see, it's quite simple really!

Guilt-free couch potato . . .

I'm not interested in tennis most of the year but like lots of people I do like to watch Wimbledon if I have a chance. I expect some serious tennis fans don't think much of people like me who suddenly get interested in the sport for two weeks in the year and just as quickly forget all about it but I don't mind.

It's not just the actual tennis, it's everything that goes with it; the reappearance of the stars of my 'yoof' reincarnated as commentators (the likes of John McEnroe and Boris Becker are still great entertainment); the endless discussions about the weather and examining the clouds - will it or won't it rain? This year we've have had the added question - will we get to see the roof in action?

Then there's the tennis fashions - who's wearing what this year? Another point for discussion seems to be who can 'grunt' the loudest? Sounds more like a scream to me sometimes! Either way, I'm not a fan.

And don't forget the strawberries and cream. You just have to indulge at this time of year. (At least that's what I tell myself!)

Best of all, it's one of the few times of the year when it's perfectly acceptable to say you spent hours slouched in front of the TV.

In fact it's one of the few times in the year when I actually want to sit in front of the TV - most of the year, I'm a radio fan.

Can't wait for the Ashes to start next!!