Funny how time slips away...

My lovely wife Sylvia, or Mrs P as I like to call her on this blog, came up to me last night when I was typing the blog and put her arms around me.

In her normal, lovely, gorgeous way she kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear.

"Do you remember what happened 25 years ago this weekend?"  she asked.

 "Of course I do," I replied with a smile, having made sure to check earlier in the evening. I looked into her eyes.

 "We lost a three-day game against Sussex  at Eastbourne, despite "Bud" Hill scoring an unbeaten century in the first innings..."

She laughed at my little jape. We've been married 25 years on Sunday, so this weekend is a cavalcade of festivities, meals and celebration. Its quite a feat, though still some 33 years behind my parents, who are still going strong after 58 years of marriage.

To be fair, Derbyshire have come out at the other end in better shape than they started our marriage. Barnett, Hill, Morris, Miller and Malcolm were joined by lesser names such as Finney, Roberts (good batsman, poor starter), Warner (steady stalwart) Sharma and Marples. We lost that game by three wickets and I didn't find out until we got home two weeks later to our new house, where the paper boy had thoughtfully left all the papers as I'd forgotten to cancel them...

The intervening years have seen more bad years than good at the cricket, but lots of good times marriage-wise. If the Derbyshire batting line-up had been as reliable as Mrs P we'd have done a lot better. If the side had been as much fun as the kids we'd have 5,000-plus members...

Yet still I follow their fortunes. I'll never love Derbyshire cricket as much as my family, but they come a pretty good second. I don't think any of them will follow in my footsteps of following the county through thick and thin, but it doesn't matter that much.

Here's to the next 25 years of marriage, all being well. If the cricket club manages to give me as much enjoyment and fun over the forthcoming years I reckon it will be a blast!