The Golden Neep IC

What: Just a few wizards taking in a football match (not a shenanigan to be found!)
When: 15 March 2000, Evening
Where: Celtic Park, Glasgow
Warnings: Football Shenanigans (drinking, language, a million questions, friend wrangling, Statute toe-ing)




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Celtic (21-9-6) versus Kilmarnock (8-15-35)
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Play Started: 2000-03-15 19:45 at Celtic Park, Glasgow
Attendance : 55,194
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Celtic : 4
Kilmarnock : 2
Congratulations, Celtic
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( Only 90 minutes? And they never fly? )


(OOC: feel free to tag yourself!)

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Montrose Magpies (9-0-0 1.000) versus Wigtown Wanderers (4-5-0 0.444)
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Play Started:2000-03-11 at Scottish National Stadium at The Lamb
Snitch caught in : 6 hours, 0 minutes
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Montrose Magpies : 950
Wigtown Wanderers : 940
Congratulations, Montrose Magpies
( It's always a sad day when they don't let us out of the stadium until after happy hour ends... )

[Montrose +]

Time to take on the last scottish team! We have a bit of experience playing with and against them from the charity match and unfortunately that means the opposite too so they will be a bit more ready for some of our tricks.

This is a mediocre write-off season for them (they’re 4-5), but it’s a rebuilding season for the league. They’ve got a firm grasp on 12th so this isn’t a playoff year for them, but that’s mostly because they haven’t been in any high scoring matches this year. In fact their top score was 350 with the snitch last bloc. Their offense struggles a bit too much with putting big points on the board for this ranking system I’m afraid. So on paper they are deceptively bad. Really, their season numbers look average to bad across the board and if we hadn’t played with them earlier and if you don’t look at the matches on an individual basis, it’s easy to believe that.

Wigtown Notes

Chasers: Better than they are at first glance frankly. Have suffered from some big injuries that seem to have thrown them off, and haven’t really been able to put together the points they need to push themselves up. The chasers alone though have held their own against some big teams and even been ahead before they lost the match on the snitch. You can tell from the fact that none of their matches have seen huge point differences (160 points is the highest final point difference of their season and that was with losing the snitch). Parkin is their big scorer and Maddox their main defense and support type, so hold off whichever of them you can.

Beaters: They had a promising beater in Okeke but alas too promising as Portree poached her a few blocs ago. The remaining ones are respectable but so far haven’t been anything to write home about.

Keeper: Another case of better than she seems on paper. She was knocked out early in one match and her stats have suffered since. Other than that match, for all but one other match she’s been a solid 80-90% keeper.

Seeker: Alright. Blythe suffers from poor timing, as they’ve lost a few matches within their grasp from that snitch. Although she oddly enough has had more success against seekers that were better than her in skill (Mather and Lynch most recently). She’s capable of coming through for them just hasn’t been consistent at all about it.

Lineup:

Chasers: Jason, Roger, Angus
Beaters: Kal and Georgi
Keeper: Ada
Seeker: Kenna

As for the team sporting pink this match:

It should be a surprise to none of you that I’m fully for it.

But this is not something mandatory or enforced, that would ruin the good spirit behind it. I do want to say though that if you are hesitant for any reason, that I hope you consider doing this for this match. At the very least in personal support of those in our Magpie family involved in this wave of pink that’s sweeping the League.

If you want to talk to any of the staff about it still, our doors are open. And if you have concerns about the PR side of things: there’s Alex.

Dani has ordered boots with pink, and there should be a stack of rosettes too. If you’re interested they should be somewhere by her office (or ask her) and will be around on match day in the locker room too.

Jason, I believe Mick and Dani may have something for you soon.

[Gabi]

Between Lorna's birthday just now and Florrie's coming up, I have never seen so much glitter everywhere. It's almost resistant to magic.

Is the night before the match still the big Pão de Queijo making night?

Does anyone have a solid contact inside the Department of Magical Transportation?

[WARD to MONTROSE ALL]

My family has expressed interest in coming out to the Wigtown match on Sunday. I believe some of you may have met them at the Solstice Sprint. They have a limited working knowledge of the sport, but want to come see me play to support me. Especially as they are not able to join me in Sweden.

My father is an engineer and will bore anyone and everyone with maths and physics questions about quidditch. It also my niece’s first birthday. She is adorable and may steal your birthday thunder, Florrie. I am sorry.

[//WARD to MONTROSE ALL]

[WARD to AUGUSTUS PYE]

Pye, I had an interesting meeting the other day with Fraser Macmillan. I had asked if the Macmillan Foundation would be willing to support a Mental Health Practice at the Montrose Free Clinic, specializing in War Trauma. There is a lack of training programs and specialists to treat the issues are facing as a community and I think this could be a solid solution.

I know you deal in the other kind of trauma, but can you think of anyone who might be interested to sit on a committee to make this happen or even serve as director?

This is just in the idea phase right now, but there is momentum. I want to capitalize.

[//WARD to AUGUSTUS PYE]

[WARD to MONTE & JUSTIN]

I met with Fraser Macmillan on behalf of Montrose ownership and the Macmillan Foundation. Uplift is going to be entering into a partnership with them, hopefully to start a mental health practice at the Montrose Free Clinic. I think we can all agree that this is something we need.

I have also asked that someone either among ownership or BIQL publicly come out against what happened with Flint.

If you feel comfortable, I would appreciate if you accepted the invitation. I think it could give a good amount of weight to our movement.

[//WARD to MONTE & JUSTIN]

[WARD to DUNBAR]

I have been having some interesting conversations. What do you think QUABBLE can do to address hostile work environments in the league? Specifically with bullying among players. The Flint incident is not an isolated event, but surely there needs to be policy in place. Thoughts? Anything in the works?

[//WARD to DUNBAR]

Apparently most of my family is gonna be at the Pride match this weekend. Well, those who are able to be there, at least. Sometimes I wish I'd gone for football so everyone could go and watch me play. But there wasn't football at Hogwarts so that would've been more difficult.

[Terry]

So how do you think my hair is gonna look when it's pink?

You're gonna be at the match, right? I don't think they made me go when I was an intern, but I always went anyway so I don't know.

[Ainsley]

Alright?

Woke up to screaming bairns going Co-là-breith math. At least they are learning their Gaelic.

And the best gifts so far this year are...

Spell-o-Taped in

[ Private to Friends and Family ]
[ooc: If you think your character is a friend and/or family, you probably are]

Nothing too fancy, but there will be some food and cake tonight if anyone wants to drop by and say hi. No gifts necessary, please. The bairns decorated the house and the cake.

Thursday, 15 March 2000, Celtic v Kilmarnock at Celtic Park in Glasgow- who's in?

if I can get a good count, I can see about group ticket sales. We can bring food and make a day of it. Please let me know by 8 March.

If you can see this, you're invited! ....and, since it's unwarded- You're Invited!

Are people familiar with Celtic FC? My baby brother is considering an offer from them...

[Merc]
I told Kai he can stay with us. Built in baby sitter and part time nanny?

I keep thinking there's no possible way that the season can get even more grinding and then I remember Montrose is up for three matches next month instead of two, and that we'll probably be on a week to ten days for turnaround for most of the next ten weeks. Three more league matches, two or three Neep matches, plus tournament play.

I'm going to be exhausted by the end of it and I don't even leave the ground during most matches.

[Lorna]

What are we doing for our birthdays this year? Do you think we can just take an evening off and go somewhere and do something fun, just the two of us? Or do we need to wait until May for a night off?

[Montrose +]

What I want for my birthday is for everyone to come away from the Wigtown match without injuries. I know you can't promise me that but I'd appreciate it if you tried.

I'm not sure I've ever been to a match like that. It was extraordinary.

[Maddock]

Let me know when you might be up to a visit from the girls? They want to check up on you in person.

[Roger]

Can I ask you something?

[Merc]

Are you recovered yet?

[Ernie]

I've restocked my stores in case you need more supplies. I've also been looking into some alternatives.

( owl post to all Magpies players & staff )

Who: Gabriela Oliveira da Silva McGonagall & Rafael Oliveira da Silva
What: Confronting her older brother about what she saw during the match.
When: After Puddlemere vs. Montrose
Where: A quiet corner.
Warnings: Much portuguese.

( em português: Yes, I had to write the dialogue out in Portuguese first. I'm weird. )

( Me and Merc? Well, we're planning to run off and form our own quidditch league. )

Well, it's been a whirlwind. I had my first multiday research trip since Theo was born which was difficult to be away from him and the rest of the family, but there was no way I could miss the opportunity of a Super blue blood moon lunar eclipse. The magical properties of plants on such a night. I think I slept for twelve hours after coming back.

It's always difficult to be away from Brazil during Carnaval, but with two of my brothers here it seems as though they managed to bring a bit of Carnaval here to Scotland. Both of them will be here for awhile - and well, if Kai's tryouts work out, well, he might be here for longer. Chelsea and Liverpool have already expressed interest in him, but he's looking to line up another team or two.

[Ernie]

How are you doing with your supplies? I'm fully restocked should you need anything.

McGonagalls & Macfustys, etc

I'm hoping to throw together a little get together while the boys are in town (which should be a month or two). I'll work around quidditch & tryout calendars, but hopefully we can do something. It might even be Carnaval themed... but safe for the wee ones.

Since it came up the other day, I'm curious how many people here are familiar with football. In Brazil, it wasn't an exclusively muggle thing, and we all played growing up. And now it seems my brother Kai will be coming here next month to explore some options with some teams over here.

I must say it's been lovely having my brother Rafa here, especially since I'll be out for a few days on a plant gathering trip. Some of you may have met him at the quidditch game. He played quidditch back in Brazil so some of you may have crossed paths with him in the past.


[Merc]

I leave the morning of the 29th and I'll be back on 2 February. Rafa doesn't have anything on his schedule this week so he's free to mind the schedule though he's requested a few nights off. (Because apparently he has the social life of a twenty year old). There should be plenty of food.

Also, it seems Kai will be coming next month.

We have a new round of begging for a dog at our house. The boys saw signs advertising for an adoption drive for pets without homes in Montrose. I wasn't sure if I should be glad that their reading skills are coming along quite nicely or resigned to the pleading for a pet.

[Working Mothers with Children Under Hogwarts' Age: Gabi, Shona, Gwen, Lorna (and anyone else I'm missing)]
How do you do it?

I know I have spoken with some of you in the past about the difficulties of having social events and activities for children not yet old enough to attend Hogwarts. Normally, I would be among the first to organise such events or opportunities, but my priorities time has been more limited of late.

I was wondering if there was still any interest in this.

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Tutshill Tornados (3-2-1 0.500) versus Montrose Magpies (6-0-0 1.000)
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Play Started:2000-01-22 at English National (Manchester)
Snitch caught in : 3 hours, 44 minutes
( three and a quarter hours of egg-citement! )

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The Pride of Portree (5-1-1 0.714) versus Ballycastle Bats (2-4-0 0.333)
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Play Started:2000-01-20 at Rannoch Moor
Snitch caught in : 7 hours, 16 minutes
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The Pride of Portree : 740
Ballycastle Bats : 340
Congratulations, The Pride of Portree
( The most warnings since the charity match... )

It always takes a day or two to readjust after coming back from Brazil. It was however a wonderful trip, though the girls may start asking for two Christmas' in future years. Needless to say, my entire family is now kitted out in Montrose gear, and my brother baptized Theo while we were there. We packed as much as possible into our time there.

I wouldn't not complain, however, if Scotland had a bit more of Brazil's warmth.

[Florrie]

Do you have time for lunch or a cuppa in the next week?

[Georgi]

How are you settling into your new place? Is there anything you know or that we can bring?

Who: Lorna MacFarlane & Gabi McGonagall (and the babies!)
What: Christmas shopping!
When: December 17, 1999
Where: Hogsmeade
Warnings: Adorable little McGs and MacFustys?

( Christmas Shopping! )

WHO: Everyone! IC/OC
WHEN: Thursday, 21 December 1999
WHERE: The Manor House, Macmillan Park
SUMMARY: Mid-Season (Christmas) Party hosted by the Montrose Magpies at Macmillan Park, cocktail dresses and blazers suggested.
RATING: Low

( Welcome to Macmillan Park )