(Sung to the tune of ‘The British Grenadiers’)
Some talk of Robin Cousins and some of Bartelski
Of Alcott and Jayne Torvill
The greats of history
But of all our winter heroes there’s none of whom we dream
Who will bring great glory to our shores
But the British Curling Team
When they step out onto the ice they step so merrily
And neither do they fall about
They have gripper shoes you see
I guess they’re likely legal but maybe they are not
But it means they are so steady as
They line up their first shot
The British stone it slides away and ends up in the house
The foreign shot is very poor
Enough to make them grouse
For all their busy sweepers their shots go all astray
While the British stones line up and guard
Their winning shots all day
All through the opening rounds they’ll go
Beating every team in sight
For none at all can match their skill
And they’re beaten out of sight
And when they reach the final we’ll watch them on TV
By now we know the funny rules and recite them endlessly
And now we have new heroes
We sing of Eve and Bruce
For never do they miss a shot none of them are ever loose
But if they lose the final they’ll ruin our greatest dream
No longer are they British
They’re the Scottish Curling Team
Knew of Torvill and Dean and. Had to look up Walcott.
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Aargh, thank you Pat, it’s Alcott. Changed.
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Living in the land of curling, we follow the entire competitive curling season at our house. And Bruce Mouat and Eve Muirhead are stars, no doubt about it!
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Oh I didn’t appreciate curling has actual followers, even in the sport’s stronghold Jane. Here it’s once every four years if one of the GB teams has a good run at it. I don’t think more than a few in Scotland would follow the sport in the regular season and it certainly wouldn’t get TV time. It is a source of self-deprecating amusement when we suddenly all become armchair experts 🙂
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It’s funny, isn’t it. It started in Scotland, but it’s a perfect recreational sport for a country like Canada, with long, long winters. Nearly every small town has a (indoor) curling rink, and it’s the kind of sport you can do well past when you can do other sports. It’s very social. And it’s very friendly. The entire “elite curling circuit” takes place in Canada and is all televised. That’s where all the European star teams get their competitive practice. Mouat, Nick Edin, Peter de Cruz, etc., they all play in Canada! I love it!
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Yes I hadn’t appreciated that the top curlers must seek out world class competition. The Scots would hardly compete for medals by playing against each other all the time. (I don’t think it’s played elsewhere in the British Isles at all.) In Canada I guess outdoor bowls is out of the question in the winter though no doubt there are indoor facilities for that as well. Curling is very precise isn’t it? No vagaries of grass, the weather etc. GB gals have just beaten the USA 🙂
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Lawn bowls in winter?! 🤣🤣🤣 The lawn is sleeping under lots of snow and ice, re-emerging in April or May! No indoor lawn bowls. Bowling and curling. When playing the winter curling circuit in Canada, Bruce Mouat’s team, and before them Dave Murdock’s team, is Scotland, not GB! We have Scotland, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, U.S., Japan, Korea, Russia, and many Canadian teams competing. And now we’ve trained them too well, we’re not holding our own! Good on GB for beating the US!!
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I laughed at your final line! Curling is a fine sport and bloody difficult to do. Those balls are made of granite…
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Hi Kerry, both GB teams did brilliant – pleased I set the alarm to watch Eve and the gals win. I’ve no doubt it’s difficult and the skill levels are awesome. A pity we won’t see it again on TV for another four years.
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