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 Charlie Knox26, m, resident of spa, northern ireland, a thinker, who tries to be real, enjoys the company of nala(left), indebted to jesus for his grace and instruction in life and whose, amongst other things, studying sports science at UUJ. enjoy rugby a whole lot! |
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Saturday, April 29, 2006 A most bittersweet day! When i woke this morning i knew it was going to be a big day for Ballynahinch Rugby Club. My U14's had their cup final in Armagh against Omagh and our first's had their crucial relegation game vs Barnhall in Dublin. As it turned out one went superbly well and the other ended in disaster.  Gladly my U14s pulled out a first class performance against a strong Omagh side to win by the narrowest of margins taking the game at 5-3. It was one of those say nothing, feel everything moments when the final whistle went...tears of joy definitely weren't too far away. The boys had put alot of work into this season and to see them lift the cup was most rewarding..they are now ulster's u14 champions! Of course the customary singing and shouting followed the game for a considerable period of time!!! (Full Report here.)Things did take a little downturn about 1/2 hour after the game when i discovered that i didn't have my phone. As it turned out it had been nicked by some little hallions! We found this out after ringing the phone and listening to some of their abuse! Wasn;t to big a worry...was a free phone and pay as you go! Losing a few numbers was the only downer! Anyhow the day had to go on and riding on the high of the 14s win i decided i needed to be in Dublin to see the 1sts. I hadn't planned to go before the game but when i suggested it to Dad he was keen enough so we hopped in the car and hurtled down the road to Dublin...making fairly good time along the way!!!!!!!!!! When i arrived Hinch were down but only by 4 points. I'll not bore you with the details other than to say that they were defeated in the cruelest of scenarios. Deep into injury time Paul Marshall struck a left footed drop goal which bounced in off the posts giving hinch a 1 point lead. The travelling Hinch support went absoutely wild, jumping up and down, cheering, dancing, hugging etc knowing that victory was more a less a given! The boys were told that the first lineout after the restart would be the game over. From the restart Barnhall put the ball deep into the Hinch half. The ball was caught and our boy ran out close to his own line thinking the game would be blown up. Instead the referee awarded the line out in a position that would prove to be fatal for Hinch. Barnhall won the lineout attempted to drive for the line but were stopped by a fighting Hinch defence. They then whipped the ball out to their out-half who eyed up his target, and then struck a perfect drop goal, as the ball sailed between the uprights the ref blew his whistle to end the game, sealing Hinch's fate. Beaten and relegated to Division 3 in the last second of the last game in the season. I, along with the rest of our travelling support, was gutted! A sad moment for the club and yet a most bittersweet day for me! posted by charlie | 7:06 PM | Friday, April 28, 2006  First ever job interview Today i had my first ever job interview. I've had fair number of jobs in the past but have always evaded the interview process somehow. I have had a few interviews for university and colleges but never one for a job. The job i was in for was the role of 'Summer Camps Administrator' working for the IRFU ulster branch at ravenhill. I think it went reasonably well but I'll have to wait for a week or so before i hear the result. The format of the interview involved me giving a 5 minute presentation at the start indicating how i would most effectively promote the camps to a bunch of primary school children and then i sat down in front of panel of 3 men who hit me with a range of questions. Of course when i came out things came into my head that i wished i had said in response to their questions, i remembered one or two things that i had forgotten to include in my presentation etc etc. Generally though i think it went ok. It would be a great job to get....good remuneration, relevant experience with a well known organisation, rugby related.......time will tell! posted by charlie | 1:07 PM | Tuesday, April 25, 2006 So close! In July 2003, as part of the Ukraine team from the church, i was 10 miles away from this former secret soviet submarine base. I now feel pretty peeved that i didn't know about it and didn't get to see it! Don't when i'll be back in that neck of the woods! posted by charlie | 4:13 PM | Sunday, April 23, 2006 My lads won their semi-final in the u14 Ulster Cup yesterday beating Limavady 31-5 and played some first class rugby in the process. They are now in their second final of the year, this time playing Omagh. I'm very proud of them. Final should be in a couple of weeks time. posted by charlie | 11:50 PM | First bloody bridge dip of the year.  A few of us headed up to Bloody bridge for a dip tonight. We didn't hang around in the water for long....it being very baltic! No doubt we will return as the summer unfolds! On a side note it brought great joy being able to drive through newcastle on a sunday night rather than driving to it!  posted by charlie | 11:28 PM | Thursday, April 20, 2006 A few days in the Hills  Well i feel a bit guilty posting about more fun times.....i guess holidays are one of the joys of being a student again. Anyhow, myself, colesy and niall nixon took off yesterday up into the mournes. We started off with a fantastic fry in Cafe Creme and then drove out to Annalong to scale Slieve Binnian. When we reached the top we found ourselves in thick cloud but after 5 minutes or so it began to clear and we were gifted the amazing views that you get up there. On the way back down we stopped by at Percy's Butress for some caving. After our 4/5 hour dander we headed back to Newcastle to load up on some snacks for camping that evening. We camped at the beautiful Spinkwee River just behind Tollymore enjoying a superb camp fire cooked up by Colesy along with plenty of snags! The campsite was also midgey free which makes a massive difference! This morning we woke up and cooked up some bacon sarnies with tomato sauce, cheese and beans before heading back down.A great few days with two good friends. Hard to whack it! posted by charlie | 3:32 PM | Tuesday, April 18, 2006 Powerful Images. *You may need to click on them to get the full effect!    Unfortunately i couldn't find the the name of the artist who took these shots...i found them here. posted by charlie | 11:11 PM | After much local speculation Andy Ward has announced the opening of his new gym in Ballynahinch. Find out more at Andy Ward leisure. posted by charlie | 10:57 PM | Monday, April 17, 2006 Down's Delights On sunday i spent most of the day introducing two friends from Slovakia to the local area. Martin and Tina have been living in Ballynahinch for a few months now...Tina works with YFC Eastern Europe and Martin works with an electronics firm in Ballynahinch.  The weather was first class and allowed us to enjoy a fair few sites around the county. Our itinerary was as follows: Inch Abbey St. Patrick's Grave Dundrum Castle Spelga Dam and magic road! Drumeena Cashel and Souterrain Castlewellan Forest - Arboretum for Picnic and Maze Legananny Dolmen We did swing by Binder's Cove but it isn't open yet because of flooding! On monday a crowd of us headed first of all to Newcastle and then onto Tollymore. The decision to include the former was a big mistake. Easter Monday just doesn't bring out the best in Newcastle and after about 2 minutes on the promenade i began to feel nauseas!!! Tollymore, although a little busy, was great fun...we played some Ultimate Frisbee and then enjoyed a bbq. posted by charlie | 11:11 PM | Saturday, April 15, 2006 Rugby going's on - 1st's had a stormer today against Old belvedere keeping their hopes of staying up alive. They now have a massive game on the 29th of April against Barnhall in Dublin. It's quite simple...the winners of the game stay in AIL 2, the losers get relegated. - 3's re-played their cup semi final today and beat Ballymena 4's. They play the final at Ravenhill' big green acre on Tuesday. A big hinch support will be there to cheer them on! - My boys have the semi-final of the Ulster Cup on saturday 22nd. We play Limavady away. A win would mean that we'd get another bite at some silverware! -We've got the go ahead from the Club Council to take a team from the club to Africa in the summer of 2007 with Habitat for Humanity. Already there's a fair bit of interest about the club .......an exciting adventure ahead of us!!!!!!! posted by charlie | 6:27 PM | Bag Packing The edge needed a wee hand last night with some bag packing at M + S sprucefield for their trip to Romania in the summer. I only did it for 2 hours but it was a fair tightner... a lot of respect for those who do long shifts in these establishments. Hardest thing was watching all the lovely food go by with an empty stomach. I did also have a fright when my second or third customer approached the till with a bra, a thong and some other womany type product. I panicked....i really didn't want to have to pack them.... so i avoided eye contact, looked distracted by sorting out my plastic bags and was eventually let off the hook by the cashier who packed the items for me! Phew! In 4 hours the edge picked up £800+ which is fair going! posted by charlie | 6:20 PM | I was remembering the joys of LW Atlantic 252 today for some reason..... posted by charlie | 6:19 PM | Friday, April 14, 2006 Visited Carlingford for the first time on Tuesday with Jenny. It's a lovely wee medieval town on the far side of Carlingford lough. It has a few historical sites about it and fantastic wee pub called O'Hares where we stopped for some grub and a few drinks. Worth dropping by if you're ever in the region! posted by charlie | 12:24 AM | Tuesday, April 04, 2006 A few overloaded vehicles via j cooper posted by charlie | 10:22 PM | Sunday, April 02, 2006 This weekend's highlights - Visited my prayer-daughter Eva McConville on Friday evening. She just turned one yesterday! Had a fun half hour with her and her brother. We even had her scoring tries with a rugby ball - Played some 'settlers of catan' with Colesy, Chucky and marky on Friday night. - On Saturday morning my U14's beat Portadown 26-19 to progress into the semi-final's of the cup. - Enjoyed a trip up North with Niall Nixon and Michael Kirkwood to the Senior Youth Weekend -stopping at Burger King and noticing that all the pictures of burgers behind the counter were made up on photo-shop or something. The bun and the dressing were the same on every burger. ie. Exactly the same sesame seed layout on all the buns! Check it out next time you're in. - Hearing Stevie Auld bring some OT stories to life......all about standing firm, fighting, being courageous.....his insights reminded me of Mel Gibson's freedom speech in Braveheart. - Taking part and WINNING SJ's quiz and in the process finding out that HMV stands for 'His master's voice'. - A lovely late night dander under the canopy of a completely clear sky with all stars on display. - Checking out the Ballintoy caves and nearly getting our heads taken off by an angry pigeon that we'd disturbed - Going for my first outdoor dip of the year in Ballintoy harbour with James McConkey late on Saturday night. - Visiting Causeway Vineyard after several years hearing about it. They got some good stuff happening up there. A very down to earth approach to church. posted by charlie | 10:16 PM | Saturday, April 01, 2006 nature knows best! i was playing in drumkeeragh on thursday. i thought it would be fun to make a river by draining a big pool of stagnant water. and fun it was until i discovered there was a big pile of frogspawn in the pool. it was now exposed, with no water. i felt bad. ecosystems don't tend to like needless human intervention. with a heavy conscience, i did try to rectify the situation by building a damn where i had previously made a river and then built another river from another pool to re-fill the one i'd just emptied. i think it worked. i hope it did. ps frogspawn feels funny on the hands. posted by charlie | 1:35 PM | RCA introduce Landon.  his album is due for release on june 27th. 4 songs have already been released on the US Itunes store. posted by charlie | 1:31 PM | |
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