Was there a boat race?

Last Saturday, I voyaged up to London to join up with Simon Savory and Ronny Rogers to see the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race and voyage is the correct word. 2 & 1/2 hours it took to reach Putney Bridge and for once it wasn't the fault of the District Line. It was a weekend service, the kind usually associated with Sundays. I had to get a bus from Gillingham to Strood, wait on a windy station for 2o minutes (because they can't have a train waiting for the buses can they?), then get on an interminably trundling train that crawled into Victoria eventually. Luckily Private Eye preserved my sanity.
Danni and Henrietta were there too, along with countless associates of either Ronny or Simon. We moseyed on down to the Thames at around 4pm. It was raining and so we hoped that would thin the crowds out lining the banks of the Thames. It did, but those who were attending brought golf umbrellas, providing a very effective screen for anyone standing beside them. Even if the Thames had been packed out on a dry day, I would have had a better view standing on tiptoe, but not with this panoply before me. So we enjoyed ourselves with an impromptu serving bar on the top of an enclosed bin. After seeing less than ten seconds of boat race, we frequented several pubs and fast food outlets before I called it a day and went home at quarter past nine, knowing of the journey that awaited me.
A good weekend improved massively when Newcastle beat Spurs 4-1 on the latter's own turf. That's a double league double over the cockerels, part of a consecutive winning run over these opponents stretching to five games. Can we play you every week is a chant most appropriate. The other interesting point was Arsene Wenger at his most irritating. If we follow the Wenger method of discipline then Abou Diaby should never play again for his dangerous tackle; that he didn't break the leg of his victim a sign of his luck compared to Martin Taylor's. It was clearly similar to Taylor's tackle on Eduardo and it the roles of Taylor and diaby were reversed what would Wenger have to say? Just weeks after saying these kind of tackles must be eradicated from the game, Wenger is defending his player, totally undermining any authority he has to speak on the matter. That Arsenal have picked up an average of seven red cards a season every season Wenger has been in charge proves that Arsenal are just as dirty as the teams they berate. But it didn't stick in the craw as sometimes it does when Wenger speaks in such a blinkered way because it was so pathetic that he should do so.
There was interesting media yesterday. One of the topics on Woman's Hour (they released a factoid today saying 42% of their audience is male though I only listen occasionally) for thursday was "Why does a man look good - to a woman - in a (military) uniform," using as an excuse for this puff piece the Russian army's revamping of their military dress to go for ultra-retro Tsarist-style. Interviewing several youngish officers, they had a bizarre choice of background music tacked on. First, it was "Macho, Macho Man," followed by "In The Navy," both expressly gay songs. So, the first interviewee told of how he went into town in his uniform. Of one shop he went into, he was stalked by two women working there. He assumed they believed him to be shoplifting. After two weeks, one of the women stopped him and he fully expected to have to turn out his pockets (to prove his innocence), when in fact she asked him whether he wanted o go out with her friend, the other woman. Rounding off, he said "You do get a lot more attention from people, especially the female fraternity." What? Minor alliteration yes, but this is most disturbing - surely it should be female sorority. Suddenly the music made a lot more sense. The answer to why a man looks good in a military uniform is because the uniform is associated with heroism, strength and bravery and is designed for masculinity (but is therefore ill-fitting on women).
Also on the media, it was amusing to see Kirsty Wark struggling with a sore throat and possibly cold on Newsnight. Presenters of this programme must present an image of implacability and invincibility, but Wark shattered the illusion. These are moments that catch the eye of witty analysts and when they write about them, you can say "I saw that live!"