Notes from the Road - Travels in City and Country

Notes from the Road - Travels in City and Country

Cool photography site.

And I see that Britain has finally finished paying for defending the free world back in World War II

UK settles WWII debt to Allies

Ah Christmas

It may be a cliche (and could possibly do with 20 minutes cutting out of it) but this is the best Christmas film there'll ever be.

Merry Christmas. Happy Nativity. God Bless.

Went to the football yesterday...bit of a dour affair but this Johnson penalty drought is getting stupid now. What does he have to do? It looked like Anichebe should have had one too (although I'be not seen a replay yet). Other than that it was pretty poor fare...we just lumped the ball into the middle time and time again and they never looked troubled. Woodgate and Pogatetz were both immense and, basically, we lacked the nouse to get past them.


The story of the game in one handy picture.

The cricket is proceding tamely towards another Australia win but not helped by our bowling plan going missing from the dressing room and being delivered immediately to the Aussie media to crow over.

Oooh look

Chelsea

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Wigan 2-3 Chelsea

Well they just keep doing it don't they? This was another example of the big players stepping up when required.

In fairness they should have been out of site by half time but a goal by Wigan with the last touch of the first half gave the Latics hope and in the 2nd half they equalised. Again they got back into the game and stole all three points from under the oppositions nose. Even Mourinho admitted it was three points they didn't really deserve. The sign of the great side I suppose. Whatever it makes the loss at Goodison last week a little easier to take.

Reading 0-2 Everton paling into insignificance

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Reading 0-2 Everton

Get in...that's a top result that. We are a good side this season but if we'd have not got three points there it could have set a worrying tone for us going into the new year.



More importantly it means that AJ has broken is drought. 12 games was a long stretch but anyone who's been watching us knows that his overall contribution has been high. Getting amongst the goals is very important though. Arteta has had a couple of injury worries but it continuing to play well...it's great the wat he's stepped up and took responsibilty in the absence of Cahill.

Joy at Everton's win was tempered with the news that Dancing Dave Christian finally lost his fight against cancer. Dave was a rednose who went on the ToffeeWeb forum. Frequently an agent provocateur he'd mock Everton and Evertonians mercilessly occasionally crossing over the line but ultimately remaining a chap you always had tremendous affection for. The reaction on the forum was one of immediate sorrow stopping any talk of Everton's win in it's tracks and provoking an immense amount of tributes.

I bring this up as my tribute to the man...the fact that the sad news cut off all thought of our team and lead blues to post "You'll Never Walk Alone" and be truly glad that that lot across the park had won is the best way I can think of to outline what a great guy he was.

God bless you Dave, I still owe you a pint.

SB

fog

It's making people's lives a misery down south with terrible delays down at Heathrow.

Air travel disrupted

but this is a fantastic picture :


Glastonbury tor

BBC Photos

Christmas shopping

Done...as in 100% complete.

I've just got a the last few bits I'd hoped to get. I now need nothing else in the run up to Christmas aside from a crate or two of Cains Lager or Cains Liverpool Lager.

Chuffed!

Bring on the "Away in a Manger", "Ding Dong Merrily" and maybe even "The First Noel"!

I am also ahead of the game with my new years resolution of not using any plastic bags from now on having got some decent quality shopping bags. I know this makes me a bit of a hippy queg but *shrugs*

Anyway, with thanks to Nate, have a very merry Christmas :


"The real Santa moved un-noticed amongst the imposters...he had plans for a certain Mr Gerrard...oh yes! Big plans!"

Also the season of goodwill is spreading it's warmth :

Jose Mourinho statement (also on the BBC)

Good old Jose! Can we have our three points now back please!

and here's a cool site for footy shirt histories :

Everton - Historical Football Kits

AJ again

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Johnson insists he is not a diver

Good on Everton for pressing this point. Johnson get's goal-side and defenders start pulling him all over the place. Fair enough he goes down easy but he's getting fouled plain and simple.

A chap on ToffeeWeb made an interesting point...he reckons the instant furore over the Johnson thing was orchestrated by Chelsea to get onto the back of the ref. It makes sense...it was an honest tumble. The defender is behind Johnson shoving him whilst the goal-keeper is flying at his legs...and all of a sudden Mourinho is going mental. They were waiting for Johnson to go to ground so they could all cry foul and get the officials under pressure. Sneaky gets.

gutted

Everton were superb at the weekend...they deserved so much more. Tonnes of pride and work-rate and not completely lacking in skill. Twice we were in the lead against Chelsea and in the end they had to pull something truly special out of the locker to get the better of us.

It was so gutting when Drogba's shot hit the net.

The fans were singing and applauding at the end, the players deserved nothing less. Goodison was rocking when Yobo put us into the lead...a reminder why the place is so special. Mourinho spat his dummy out of the pram over a penalty shout from AJ. It looked pretty valid to me



Moyes put him firmly in his place by mentioning the fuss when an opposition didn't jump over a Chelsea keeper.

Waterloo held a fairly decent lead at half time at the weekend but let it slip...you get the feeling it'll take a miracle now.

England handed the ashes back to the Aussies in the shortest possible time...this really is depressing.

*sigh*

YouTube - The Tokyopia Wedding Game

This is awesome...my mate Dave's wedding was spiced up by his tecky mates.

Truly brilliant

It's Ground-move day!

Another ground move announcement :

BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | Everton confirm new stadium talks

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Everton | Everton reassure fans over move

This is a tricky one...I'm not totally against a ground move but I think it has to be shown why it'll be better and more profitable than what we've got now. Why will it generate extra cash? How long will it take to pay for itself? How long will the club be in debt for?

Every true Evertonian loves Goodison...for all it's faults it's a great old ground, a proper old footy stadium. On it's day the atmosphere is immense, thinking back to the Blackburn game last season you have to say that these new ground just don't have the same feeling. People need to realise that it's a big sacrifice to leave our home, especially when a move will take us out of the city. Do we really want some shiny polished concrete generic "Reebokside Stadium of Pride". The aborted Kings Dock project would have been something special and was, basically, laid on a plate for us but the club screwed it up. That would have been a great ground in the heart of our city, this new thing just doesn't entice.

There's a lot of convincing to be done methinks.

Sport personality

BBC Sports Personality of the Year?!?!?!?!

Who on earth voted for that?!?!?!?! St Helens and Zara Phillips topping a poll ahead of the Ryder Cup team and Darren Clarke.

I ask you! Clarke & Co had the entire nation captivated. St Helens did brilliantly but it's a minority sport. Phillips & her equestrian buddies barely register. How could she win it ahead of Beth Tweddle? She was working Tescos in between training sessions to make end meet, she's the first British world champion in her field. I mean hats off to Zara for her achievments but there is no way she's had to make the same sacrifices as her.

Phone vote, block vote nonsense!

icLiverpool - Sheikh is not a Roman ruler

icLiverpool - Sheikh is not a Roman ruler

Bugger me...The Echo is actually worse than the fanzines you can buy outside Anfield. Do they really try and pass this off as journalism.

Given that they have a case involving child slavery currently hanging over them.

Amnesty International

Child Camel Jockey

I'm not saying this is a shocking scandal and the rednoses new owners are pure evil or anything but these links were turned up in five minutes and yet the Echo are putting out shamefully one-eyed 'articles' (Advertising Features) basically slagging off Roman Abramovich and beatifying "Sheikh Mo". I wouldn't wipe my backside with The Liverpool Echo.

BBC SPORT | Football | Europe | Porto 0-0 Arsenal

BBC SPORT | Football | Europe | Porto 0-0 Arsenal

90 mins: Now Arsenal aren't even pretending to compete. Blow the whistle ref.

89 mins: Neither team has had a shot for what seems like weeks, and news filters through from Germany that Hamburg have gone 3-2 up.

88 mins: Merciful god, please let this turgid display end.

87 mins: Guess what? More largely unchallenged passing around by Arsenal. In a minute they'll give it back to Porto to do the same....repeat to fade.

86 mins: This is reminiscent of that game in the '82 World Cup when Germany and Austria colluded to keep out the Algerians. Not that I'm suggesting any funny business.

Good job Arsenal don't indulge is anti-football eh?

Steve Claridge set to play 1,000th game

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Bournemouth | Claridge set to play 1,000th game

Congrats to Mr Claridge...1000 games is a pretty big milestone.

Also it seems the Flintoff and the senior players all went head-to-head to Fletcher over his planned inclusion of Panesar. It's difficult to tell because maybe they thought he just wasn't ready but given the nick the other bowlers are in you can't really defend leaving out a player who you know will be dangerous.

Australia Strikes Back. | The Daily Telegraph

BBC - Radio Five Live Sports Extra - Test Match Special

BBC SPORT | Cricket | The Ashes | England crash to Adelaide defeat

BBC - Radio Five Live Sports Extra - Test Match Special

That is shamfeul...that highest ever declared first innings to end in defeat. What a sickening way to wake up.

Gutted

Top stuff

It’s a bit embarrassing really, we had visitors up from down south as they were going to the Tranmere v Peterborough game. We were sitting and having a few beers on Friday night expressing regret that the Everton/West Ham game would stop us from going over to the Wirral with them, an incredulous look was soon followed by a confused “But you are playing on Sunday aren’t you?”. A quick check of the teletext revealed the fact that we didn’t even know when our team was playing. Subsequently Saturday afternoon found us popping over to Prenton Park to see the Posh take on one of the form teams in the division above them.

Our Posh friends usually have a pretty cynical black humour about their team but now they are bouncing along because they have a new chairman…Darragh McAnthony an Irish property magnet has taken has taken over and is making all the right noises. He’s not trying to bullsh!t them about being a lifelong Posh fan, he just seems to be loving owning a footy club. On Saturday he paid for 30 coaches to take the fans up to the Wirral making for a pretty packed away end..

Tranmere were pretty sparsely supported and were easily shouted down by the happy Posh fans around us. The plastic scousers took the lead after about half an hour but Peterborough equalised on the stroke of half time and then bossed the second half until they took the lead with twenty minutes to go. Aaron McLean and Danny Crow were particularly impressive. It was a good game and Peterborough survived late pressure to go through…they’ll now want Everton in the next round to avenge their League Cup defeat.

A quick curry to celebrate then a couple more beers watching MotD.

The cricket in Adelaide is going much better then it did a week ago…nice to see the team standing up to be counted. Collingwood, Pietersen and Hoggard putting in great performances but the ultra flat wicket means that a draw is most likely result now.

Sunday's games saw a patched up Everton take on West Ham...a game played in a raging gale that neither team ever controlled. Like in the Bolton game I'd say Everton deserved to win and win we did. 2-0 with Osman and Vaughan both scoring. Brillaint stuff. Especially liked Tim Howard's celebrations after the goals and the final whistle. Everyone seemed pretty chuffed for Vaughan after what he's been through.

What a nice guy

icLiverpool - Ex-Sun editor: I was right on Hillsborough

How odd that Kelvin McKenzie goes out of his way to be an absolutely detestable wretch.

Don't buy The Sun.

Nice while it lasted

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Man Utd 3-0 Everton

Bugger...that loss means that we are no longer looking down on the redsh*te.



Further bad news revolving around the game is that Ferguson is still keeping Tim Howard in his plans. I was hoping that we'd be able to make that deal permanent asap.

Howard returns after loan?

BBC SPORT | Golf | Clarke uneasy over sympathy vote

BBC SPORT | Golf | Clarke uneasy over sympathy vote

It's basically the BBC Sports Formality of the Year awards this time round.

Give me a slap on the chin with a wet fish if Darren Clarke doesn't win the the Sports Personality and the rest of the Ryder Cup golfers don't win the team award.

It's not about sympathy..it's about acknowledging the emotion of the whole thing.

Weekend report

Lots of lovely sport this weekend but I didn't get to enjoy any of it 'cause I had to finally bite the bullet and start the Christmas shopping. Apart from tramping round town I saw the new Bond film and considering I don't like Bond films at all it was pretty good.

We also nipped down to Cheshire to visit a wood that contained trees bought for us by someone as a wedding present

The Woodland Trust - our woods

and on Sunday we watched Planet Earth which is redefining brilliance in terms of wildlife shows.

BBC - Science & Nature - Planet Earth

It's just getting stupidly good now.

Everton should have won but other than that it was all gloomy...a brief fightback by Peitersen and Collingwood showed that there's hope for the cricket and a new era is about to begin for the rugby team. 'loo got battered again. That's about it.

Oh dear

602-9 v 42-3. Poo!

More later.

Slow start

Hmm, well it was hardly unexpected but England are looking pretty undercooked going into the first test in Brisbane.



Harimson especially looks out of sorts but given his recent form and his history of being an unhappy tourist it's hardly surprising. When you think of the bowling attack we had last time round it's not that surprising we've struggled.

Anyway there is still reasons to be positive...We actually lost the first test in 2005 and Brisbane is meant to be a batsman's wicket. If the batting holds up then we can hold our own but we need Harmison and Anderson to stand up and be counted if we are going to win.

BBC SPORT | Cricket | The Ashes | Countdown to Australia v England

BBC SPORT | Cricket | The Ashes | Countdown to Australia v England

Not long now...it is looking tricky but we beat them once, we can do it again.

Hail, hail

BBC SPORT | Celtic 1-0 Man Utd



That was ace last night. I was due to play 5-a-side but it got cancelled, usually I am like the kid that Father Christmas forgot when I miss out on footy but I wasn't bothered at all last night. It was far too wet and windy for the walk to The Victoria so I settled down to watch the game with some Tsingtao and Brooklyn Lager (both of which seem to be being practically given away at Tesco). Absolutely tremendous effort by the Celts although you couldn't say they were the better team. Brilliant free-kick to win it and a superb bit of goalkeeping heroics to save it (although for some reason United captain Gary Neville knew Saha would miss and didn't give the pen to someone else).

Take a bow Bhoys

YouTube - Arteta Vs Bolton

YouTube - Arteta Vs Bolton



Only just appreciating how good a goal that was...absolutely superb stuff!

Also I am now only just apreciating how lucky England where to beat South Africa. Good old Andy Goode.

It's a grand old team...

Woohoo!!!!!!



BBC Match Report

Bolton. Well you know what you are going to get. Love them or loathe them. Big, strong, fit and quite pacey all over the field. Not a lot of flair, rough, physical and no delusions of how football should be sweeping and breath-taking. Being effective is what they’re all about…nothing wrong with that as Everton proved down at The Emirates a few weeks ago.

The prospect of Everton without Cahill would be interesting to behold. I do not think he’s Roy Keane and Steven Gerrard rolled into one nor do I think he’s simply a yard-dog who chips in with goals from midfield. Some blues adore him and others, possibly ‘cause of this admiration, are pretty critical of him. I have to say I lean towards the former. He’s a superb player for us. In my view he sets a tempo for the team whilst disrupting the opponents. His eye for goal is worth its weight in gold. He can however go walkabout in games where we are playing a four man midfield.

Whatever you think of him in general I’d say today’s game was one where we could really do with him. We lined up with Yobo filling in at right back and Valente at left-back. This allowed us to have Phil Neville shoring up the midfield in Tim’s absence. Ahead of them we had AJ and Beattie…going by the heights of what we know those two are capable of it’s fair to say that neither are in decent form. Fifth place Bolton was a game we could easily lose.

The game was preceded by an ovation and impeccably observed minute’s silence for Royal Marine Ben Nowak made more emotional by his friends and family standing on the pitch with home-made banners.

For an hour Everton were clearly the better footballers. Bolton closed down everything we threw at them and chances were pretty thin on the ground. Then Arteta popped up about 25 yards out with a superb curled shot into the left hand corner of the net…easily the best goal the Gwladys St has enjoyed since McFadden’s screamer against Fulham. Brilliant goal….from there on Everton remembered they were Everton and Bolton actually started trying to win the game. We sat deeper and they were doing the probing. The blues only really came out of their shells sporadically with Beattie, Johnson and Arteta doing well to turn defence into attack. Old boy Idan Tal hit the post and had a header saved but at the end I think we deserved the three points.

Man of the match plaudits had to got to Arteta for such a superb goal but honourable mentions had to go to Valente and Beattie. This was a good game for us to win. We are now 7th but without a smidgeon of exaggeration we should easily be out on our own in 3rd. Too many easy points gone begging in games we really should have won otherwise we’d be having a fantastic season.

Whilst the blues were turning round their recent bad form I was getting updates from Waterloo. Newbury at home is the sort of game the lads really have to win if they are to have any chance of staying in that division. Alas another defeat…it’s difficult to be optimistic about avoiding relegation as we are now rock bottom. Still, as I’ve said before, we are only in this position because they were so good last season. If this turns out to be a bridge too far for them then que sera sera.

Other than that the Posh won and the week has shown England show signs of recovery in footy, rugby & cricket.

On Friday night I dreamt that liverpool scored three goals against Boro…shows how out of touch with reality my subconscious is…liverpool scoring away goals!!!!! Outrageous!

Also it’s worth mentioning that I’ve discovered the true bench-mark of turning into an old get. When the council drop round a brand new composter unit and you are genuinely looking forward to setting it up I think it’s time to acknowledge your youth is over.

EVERTONFC.COM: | News | News Archive | TRIBUTE TO BEN NOWAK

EVERTONFC.COM: | TRIBUTE TO BEN NOWAK

Moments silence at the weekend for the marine who died in Iraq this week.

East Terrace | For the rugby football enthusiast

East Terrace | For the rugby football enthusiast

The East Terrace strikes again :

"The IRB have announced that in 2012 they will launch the Argentinean Solo-Nation Championship to allow the Pumas regular competitive rugby.

With the SANZAR nations having dismissed the idea of expanding the Tri-Nations in favour of playing themselves ad nauseam and logistical and cultural reasons being blamed for them being left out of the Six Nations, the Pumas have no regular, structured tournament to play in.

The IRB have proclaimed that the new tournament will see Argentina play themselves three times a year for the chance to be crowned the Argentinean champions."

"Book makers have revealed that Argentina are 2/1 to lift the inaugural title in 2012."

EVERTONFC.COM: | News | News Archive | CAHILL FACING TWO MONTH BATTLE

EVERTONFC.COM: | CAHILL FACING TWO MONTH BATTLE

"Tim Cahill is facing between six and eight weeks on the sidelines with a medial knee ligament injury.

The Aussie international had to be stretchered off during Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa following an accidental collision with teammate Lee Carsley.

Following a series of scans, the Club's medical team have confirmed Cahill did not damage is anterior ligament but that damage to his medial ligament is set to keep him sidelined for up to two months."

Bugger! Get well soon Tim.



You could say the same for Marcus Trescothick but I don't think we'll see him back any time soon.

It's such a shame what's happened to that side...when you think of the problem that have beset Vaughan, Trescothick, Simon Jones, Harmison, Giles and Flintoff since we won the Ashes. It's difficult to see how we can give them a decent run for their money down there.

Nothing really to grumble about

Grumble, grumble, grumble. In future weekends I think I’ll publish a list of all the teams I’m rooting for…this will allow you folk to bet against them and clean up.

Everton took on Villa…Martin O’Neill is one of my favourite managers. He did a superb job at Celtic but even stretching back to his Leicester City days. He’s a good honest manager. He calls a spade a spade and always puts out a decent side. It wasn’t his fault he had zero budget at Leicester, there was very little class in that side but two league cups were a tremendous achievement.

His Villa side, a team that looked utterly clueless last season weren’t anything breathtaking…they were just fully committed and well organised. They took their chance and then took control of the game as Everton probed and huffed and puffed but never really carved anything out. Cahill went off with a twisted knee and Beattie came on. Him and along with Osman seemed to flirt on the fringes of the game when more was required. There was no balance to Everton and certainly no brains or guile. The effort was there but they kept us at arms length and ultimately Sorensen didn’t really have much to do. AJ could have got one or two but he’s having a barren patch…the thing is though that he is doing everything he can to compensate for it and make a contribution to the team. I don’t think you can say that of Beats. It’s very frustrating.

As we trooped out to meet our jubilant Villa fan Nigel it was cold and rainy and windy…kind of matched our mood.

A quick check of the internet phones revealed that England had ballsed up against Argentina at Twickenham…that is just not good enough. Argentina have some good players, they are a decent team but that’s all…we are meant to be world champions. It is worth saying that the Pumas really deserve to be invited into the tri-nations or the six nations. They have potential but as mere bystanders to international rugby (world cup notwithstanding) they can only go so far. England are caught in a terrible trap…their every move is scrutinised. The nerves are palpable, the decisions they players are making are a bit baffling…but basically the team need to have a look at themselves.

The depression over the result was dispelled somewhat by two things…a crowd booing a kicker as he’s about to take a penalty deserve everything they get. The interview with the Argentine captain was a reminder of how much sport can mean to some people.

Waterloo took another caning away at Coventry…another game where we really needed to pick up a point at least. It’s all a bit of a downer sportswise but on Remembrance weekend you realise that it’s not the be all and end all of life. Moments silences and singing “Abide with me” bring it home how lucky we are to have had forbearers who were prepared to give up everything and lay down their lives answering their country’s call. Even today four soldiers have died in Iraq (one of whome was a bluenose). We will remember them.

General stuff

Heard about this site whilst listening to Banter on BBC Radio 4 :

Gossip...What people were overheard saying on the London Underground

England got off to a properly ropey start to the Ashes defense...we took a trouncing by a Prime-Minister's XI. Hope things can pick up else it'll be a humilatingly tame handback of the little urn.

BBC SPORT | Dismal England thrashed in opener

A lot of news about Britney Spears filing for divorce...big f#cking deal (pardon the language). Wouldn't it be more news-worthy when celebrities don't get divorced. "Today in the news some famous people reached their 5th wedding anniversary and a bear left the forest in order to defecate".

You could also say the same of poor Jonny Wilkinson being injured. This time he's got a lacerated kidney.

BBC SPORT | Wilkinson faces three months out

Get well soon Jonny...we all remember this :


World cup glory


Here's an interesting one...I suppose it's one of those "It's cause you don't have to wear a poppy that you should wear one".

BBC NEWS | TV's Snow rejects 'poppy fascism'

Personally I can sort of see that he could be making the point that if people are told to wear them that the gesture is completely empty. I'd still be wary of causing any hurt to veterans who sacrificed so much for our freedoms though.

McFadden denies comment over Poll

BBC SPORT | Football | League Cup | Everton 0-1 Arsenal

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Everton | McFadden denies comment over Poll



Regardless of what happened last night Graham Poll is a gobshite. I couldn't see the penalty incident and I've no idea what passed between him and McFadden but it wasn't like he was running upto him screaming in his face.

After that Everton were always going to be up against it but they played superbly but just ran out of steam. It's a pity AJ didn't score late on but they were dead on their feet by then.

Disappointed.

Update (it didn't take long) :

Now I've finished pouting - The weekend

On Friday night we went to the theatre to see The man with two gaffers. It was good fun and featured a pub me and Anne visit from time to time. (The Cross Keys, East Marton).

Then after Saturday's disappointments we went to the Victoria in Woolton to see The Ferriswheel junkies.

After the England game on Sunday we took the bus down to Sefton Park to watch the fireworks...so although the sporting events were annoying it didn't hamstring our weekend.

BBC NEWS | Tory suspended over racist e-mail

BBC NEWS | Tory suspended over racist e-mail

Rumours abound that Ellenor Bland hasn't been sacked for being a racist rather she's been sacked for being a Conservative who actually has a policy on something.

I'd give the benefit of the doubt but for the pathetic way she tried to justify hereself :

Racist Tory scum speaks her mind

Stuey's Song of the day Parklife by Blur 'cause they played it on xfm whilst I was stuck in traffic on the M56



Plus here's Sunday, Sunday and There's no other way.

YouTube - Grant Lee Buffalo - Fuzzy

Stuey's song of the day :



Fuzzy by Grant Lee Buffalo.

Here's a cool pic of the moon I took with my camera placed on the eyepiece of some binoculars :



And here's the little oak I've planted



and here's his younger brother :



I'm not really sure why I find growing oaks from acorns cool.

Spanking season

icLiverpool - Waterloo 15, Leeds Tykes 77

Ugh...that was a hell of a beating whatever way you look at it. Painful to watch. Leeds looked every bit the Premiership refugees and Waterloo, it has to be said, looked shell-shocked. It isn't to shameful when you consider the gulf between the two teams...last year Leeds were playing in the Premiership and the Heineken Cup whilst Waterloo were in National Division 2. The RFU give them 1.5 million pound a year whilst 'loo get 180k.

Twelve tries to three made pretty grim watching though. The only bright point was some pretty funny barracking coming from a South African gentleman on my left (Sean Ruwers uncle I think)...get that man a season ticket.

In other games Waterloo have done most of the game almost right...but got punished for almost everything. This week was something completely new. In a way the England game the next day was very similar to watching 'loo most weeks. Corry's team did so much of their work well but coming up just a fraction short means you end up a mile off really challengeing. The new boys Allen, Sanderson and Sackey all looked good, there is grounds for optimism but when it comes to a team like the All Blacks they just looked second best. It is worth having a moan about the ridiculous descision to deny Noon his first try...England always seem to get screwed by the officials regardless of whether it's the Celts and Gallic chappies or the southern hemisphere. It's getting a bit stupid now.



BBC Match report

Switching over to footy Everton's luck ran out at Fulham. We took them apart in the first half but couldn't make the breakthrough. They got booed off but in the second half they, by the sounds of it, were the better side and nicked a flukey deflected goal. Further ignamony was to come when some knobhead calling him/herself an Evertonian threw a coin at Jenson which will result in an FA enquiry.

BBC Match report



By the looks of things the blues still played well although they didn't really press enough at the end...this might have been due to half the squad suffering from a virus but still more points lost.

All in all the only team to raise a smile were Peterborough...they won 4-2 after their new celebrity fans luvvied it up on Soccer AM! Notice our mate Andy next to Ms Chamberlain. Hats off Millsy, full marks....apart from the shorts.

Roeder bemoans fixture 'madness'

BBC SPORT | Roeder bemoans fixture 'madness'

"Glenn Roeder has hit out at a fixture list which has left his Newcastle side facing three matches in six days.

The Magpies meet Sheffield United on Saturday, two days after facing Palermo in the Uefa Cup, then travel to Watford on Tuesday for a Carling Cup tie.

'It's utter madness,' said Roeder. 'To expect players to recover in less than 48 hours is ridiculous.'"

Fair point Glenn (he also says later in the article : "I wouldn't have it any other way".) but it has to be said that when a club fights tooth and nail to get into a European competition they can't really complain when the fixtures mount up.

No-one forced Newcastle into the Intertoto cup and therefore the UEFA...they knew the number of games it'd mean and they knew the size of their squad and no-one forced them to play on Saturday evening...Clubs in the UEFA cup can always switch their game to Sunday but that would have meant them losing their Sky money.

The board their are only interested in the money, the teams form is only a concern in terms of the cash it can bring in. Now I know everyone's board is the same but it feel like this is Newcastle tring to distract the fans from the fact that this is a problem completely of their own making.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Purple rain

Sony Bravia advert :



Caught this advert over the weekend...unfortunately I instantly assumed it was all CGI...they actually filmed all that live ona Glasgow estate that was due for demolition (They used bio-degradable paint).

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Purple rain



Reflected glory all round today...Good old Nige is in another advert

Cheesy Finance Inc

...and I've just found out that our mate Andy Mills is one of the fans of the week (Peterborough Utd) on SoccerAM this week. No gawking at the soccerette Millsy...and if she's a kopite you know what to do.

Now you see it, now you don't

How impressive is this :

Reality gap!

Comedy delusion from a rednoses forum:

"'The criticism of Benitez's signings is also poor judgement. Benitez has worked within a tight budget since he arrived at Anfield and has missed out on top targets such as the likes of Luis Figo, Simao and Daniel Alves because of this. Yet he has still managed to land top players like Xabi Alonso, Daniel Agger, Momo Sissoko and Dirk Kuyt without having the riches of other clubs at his disposal.'"

They actually believe that liverpool aren't amongst the Premiership's big spenders. I assume in their minds Stevie Gerrard plays for nothing and the likes of Kuyt, Cisse and Alonso just turned up begging to be allowed to play.

It's really quite sweet! I wonder if they have images of Benitez chasing players for their subs money and the new boy washing the kits. They genuinely seem to believe that they are plucky minnows taking on the cynical might of United and Chelsea.

You judge

Then again if you look at the what happened to one of their directors when he had a audacity to criticise the manager maybe the nonsense the Echo et al write is a bit more understandable :

Stalinist purge?

Anyway here's Stuey's song of the day. Modern Girl by Sleater-Kinney

The East Terrace | Fantasy Rugby

The East Terrace | Fantasy Rugby

Woohoo!!!!!!!! sign up!

and in other news :

England believe they can win the world cup

That's an optimistic call...we just never seem to have the one-day team no matter how good our test side is.

Arsenal 1-1 Everton

Arsenal 1-1 Everton

Given the blues record away at Arsenal this was a fantastic result...it is slightly disappointingly given we lead for an hour of the game but a point is a point. Wenger and van Persie seemed to be moaning about our pragmatic approach to holding our early lead.



We are hardly going to throw caution to the wind whilst leading away from home to one of the best attacking teams in the country. Arsenal are flat-track bullies. If you let them play and set a tempo they'll destroy you...I seem to remember them trying to slow the game down immeasurably at Goodison a couple of seasons ago. Also virus had been doing the rounds with our squad so a point there is all the more creditable.

My sporting weekend was a bit up and down...it started off very, very well with the St Louis Cardinals winning the world series...truly tremendous stuff given their stuttering form towards the end of the regular season.

Here's a vid that contains a bit of a sly dig at Kenny "Pine Tar" Rogers :



I also heard that our friend's Diana's beloved Chicago Fire got dumped out the playoffs at the Semi-Final stage :(:(:(.

Everton's early lead kept our nerves on edge as we watched Waterloo V Pertemps Bees. Again Waterloo had those lapses in concentration which cost them two early tries. They rallied well but never really go back into the game after an attack broke down and the Brummies went up the other end and nicked a third try. A late, late spear tackle on van DeVenter didn't help matters as he's now broke his arm. A great ground out phase-upon-phase effort eventually breached their line and a late interception lead to a breakaway try but ultimately after the slow start Waterloo made a losing bonus was all they could ever hope for 18-38 the final score...We rushed into the clubhouse to watch Sky Sports Centre to see if Everton could hold on, the Evertonian Waterloo fans were all huddled round the television for what seemed like ages. I'm not sure how much injury time was added but eventually Moyes got so annoyed he got sent to the stand for pointing to his watch (painful memories of the City game haunting both fan and management alike methinks).

Here come the southerners

Autumn Internationls

International fixtures

Saturday, 04 November 2006
Wales v Australia, 14:30

Sunday, 05 November 2006
England v New Zealand, 15:30

Saturday, 11 November 2006
England v Argentina, 14:30
France v New Zealand, 20:00
Ireland v South Africa, 17:00
Italy v Australia, 14:00
Scotland v Romania, 14:30
Wales v Pacific Island, 14:30


Friday, 17 November 2006
Wales v Canada, 19:30

Saturday, 18 November 2006
England v South Africa, 14:30
France v New Zealand, 20:00
Italy v Argentina, 14:00
Scotland v Pacific Island, 14:30

Sunday, 19 November 2006
Ireland v Australia, 16:00

Saturday, 25 November 2006
England v South Africa, 14:30
France v Argentina, 14:00
Italy v Canada, 13:30
Scotland v Australia, 14:30
Wales v New Zealand, 17:00

Sunday, 26 November 2006
Ireland v Pacific Island, 14:45

BBC SPORT | McGrath back from the brink

BBC SPORT | McGrath back from the brink

Good article here about Paul McGrath. Interesting the way he says about Ferguson turfing him out when he wouldn't stop drinking. You are reminded of Tony Adams but he straightened up his act and got the extra years on his career.

Telegraph | News | Lt Col John Pine-Coffin

Telegraph | News | Lt Col John Pine-Coffin:

The odd name made me check that it wasn't April 1st but I loved this bit :

"A series of staff appointments followed. In 1963 he was in Nassau when he was ordered to investigate a party of Cuban exiles that had infiltrated Andros Island, part of the Bahamas. His seaplane landed in thick mud and Pine-Coffin decided that his only chance of reaching dry land was to strip off.

On coming ashore, plastered in mud and wearing only a red beret and a pair of flippers, he was confronted by a party of armed Cubans. Mustering as much authority as he could in the circumstances, he informed the group that they were trespassing on British sovereign territory and were surrounded.

The following morning, when the Royal Marines arrived to rescue him they were astonished to find him and his radio operator in a clearing standing guard over the Cubans and a pile of surrendered weapons. He was appointed OBE."

YouTube - Sleater-Kinney - "The End Of You"

Ace stuff....God bless Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weis. Hope the good ship Sleater-Kinney is out of dry dock soon.

This is ace too :

Go go Gormleys

BBC NEWS | Gormley sea statues win reprieve

BBC NEWS | Gormley says statues should stay

So the Gormleys are to stay on Crosby beach! Common sense wins the day!

League Cup | Everton 4-0 Luton

Everton 4-0 Luton

Everton ran out comfortable winners last night against a pretty lively and well balanced Luton side. It was surprising given the makeshift nature of our side, Lescott and Davies employed as emergency full-backs. It never really looked in doubt but when they got the ball in the box in the first half there were a few anxious moments. We were down in the Park End and the Hatters fans seemed to be having a fine old time criticising our supporters for not singing whilst even finding time to sing happy birthday to Wayne Rooney (cheeky monkeys). My colleagues Pete & Nev are Luton fans and were too angry with us afterwards so alls well that ends well.

Despite Everton creating a lot of chances Luton continued to play footy...they hadn't come to defend or kick lumps out of us. It made for a great game, you could argue that they deserved better but ultimately their keeper was their man-of-the-match.

I like the new Victor Anichebe song ("Do, do, do Victor Anichebe" to the tune of "C'mon lets do the conga"). Davie Weir was taken to hopsital after a nasty clash of heads...hope he's okay.

Backing up your trash talk

O'Gara talks trash

It's an old cliche that when an opposition team start mouthing off before a game about how much better they are the manager generally says that the opposition have wrote his team talk for them. This was the case as the English and Celtic teams went head to head in the Heineken Cup at the weekend

"I honestly think that both for Munster and Ireland, we've got more talented players than the English in many positions"

"At the minute I don't know many of the English players on a friendly basis and I'd say a few think they're better than they actually are in reality."

"We no longer suffer from being beaten before we even travel to England or France any more. That's the level we're at in Munster. We expect to win when we go over there,"

Well the best way to respond to that would be for the English teams to spank the Celts last weekend...unfortunately none of them did. Munster bagged a late penalty to complete a clean sweep leaving English rugby licking it's wounds and feeling pretty abject.

liverpool capitulated yesterday in alarming fashion...there is something wrong there. Everton and United will not have easier games this season for their wins over Raffa's title pretenders. Very odd.

Weekend report

Well Everton won, we should be happy. The prematch drink in the Black Horse had been accompanied by Wigan V Man City...Four lost Everton points floating before our eyes. Hopefully Sheffield United would provide a chance for us to get back on track.

For most of the first half we were totally in control and indeed until we went two up they weren't really in the game at all...then with Sheffield United down to 10 men Everton suddenly remembered that they were Everton and retreated into themselves and the Blades came much more into the game. If AJ had put away a chance from the edge of the box just before half time it would have been game over but gradually chances started to fall to United and a less profligate team would have scored...had they I don't know if Everton could have rallied and taken control again. The Blades were never in control of the game but Everton just seemed to be totally disrupted, distracted and utterly lacking in fluency. This week substitutions seem to shore things up (Osman, McFadden and Anichebe) and looking back I suppose the fans' nerves were probably unjustified, it's just life as an Evertonian. It has to be said, however, that Goodison was like a morgue on Saturday...strange as the place has been bouncing since our super-strong start to the season. We didn't give the team much of a lift...perhaps after the previous two games we were just too depressed.





It's nice to get back in the winning habit...even if replays show that both goals were dodgy (there was a push on their defender just before our opener and AJ was tugged back but was pretty happy to go to ground). Warnock did a Warnock afterwards bemoaning the referee Dermot Gallagher (hinting that he was a homer due to the fuss Everton had made of him 'cause it's his retirement year). They should take heart from how they rallied and didn't give up even though they were down to 10...Everton should just bank the points and get on with it, take it as recompense for some of the wins we've let slip through our fingers recently. Honourable mentions go to Joleon Lescott who, on what we've seen so far, is a brilliant player and Phil Neville who ranged forward and delivered a superb cross for our first goal even though it was obvious he was going to get clattered late by the defender. Arteta played well whilst the rest of the team were playing well but too many people went missing in the second half for me to sit here singing their praises. Beattie took a superb penalty but again didn't put himself about enough. Davies was positive and strong after his recent superb showing for Wales.

BBC Match Report

As we grumbled our way out of Goodison the lovely autumn day turned pretty wintery so we nipped off home sharpish pausing only long enough to grab a yummy lamb korai. Once home teletext told us that good old Waterloo had won down at Exeter. That's a hell of a result, they've invested a lot in the team and infrastructure and have ambitions of getting to the Guinness premiership (if the money men don't declare themselves untouchable and abolish the promotion/relegation system). Nice to see the lads get something for their efforts after weeks of hard slog being undone by little dodgy spells where they ship two or three tries.

Exeter website match report

The Heineken Cup kicks off this weekend amid lots of big-talk by our celtic cousins about how they rule the roost in terms of the relevant quality of the Guinness Premiership and the Magners League...So far they've certainly lived up to their hype with Leinster punishing Gloucester and the Ospreys beating Sale whilst Llanelli went to the Madjeski to win against London Irish. Let's hope the Tigers can tear a strip off Munster.

So far so good for the Cardinals as they won the opening game of the world series and Scouser Beth Tweddle deserves kudos for winning Great Britain's first ever gold at the Gymnastics World Championships (asymetric bars).

Sunday meant we had a curry to burn off...my throat was destroyed after the match and so my attempts at hymns in Mass were very much like strangling a cat. After Mass we got the bikes out and cycled over to Camp Hill...it's funny how you only notice the 'Hill' part of the name once you are trying to cycle up it. Once we'd got there and my pulse had returned to something like normal (lots of fitness work to do I'm afraid) we kicked a rugby ball to each other with varying degrees of success and played some frisbee...who could ask for more?

As I write this United and the rednoses are just kicking off...let's hope the sh*t doesn't hit the fan as it has done, quite literally, in recent meetings.

Everton have a new investor in Robert Earl. The founder of Planet Hollywood certainly talks a good game in this News of the World interview. Welcome aboard Robert.

Videos on YouTube

More tremendous stuff on YouTube - I might make this a regular feature so for today...girlie indie :

10,000 Maniacs - Because the night (unplugged)



Belly - Full Moon, Empty Heart



Belly - Gepetto



Throwing Muses - Not too soon



Sleater Kinney - You're no rock n roll fun

Cards reach World Series

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap

BBC SPORT | St Louis seal World Series place

Congrats to the St Louis Cardinals who did what is, in baseball terms, the almost impossible. In the regular season the Mets were so far ahead of the redbirds as to make the contest barely worth looking at. They were something like 27 games better.

Article outlining the odds.







Sounds like that 9th inning would have given me palpatations! The Tigers are going to be very difficult but the pennant is an achievment in itself. Congratulations to Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor and the boys? ;)

I'm not going to touch the whole Muslim veil women issue with a 20 foot poll. Suffice to say I disagree with the whole veil issue but they should have a right to where it in their everyday lives...however if your work has a dress code and your religious attire interferes with that then you've just got to lump it...not get all bolshy and take the country to court. I oppose politicians getting involved with the issue and I would oppose a ban like the French introduced but you are employed to go into a classroom to teach. There are rules and standards which everyone has to obey.

Reading players escape FA action

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Chelsea | Reading players escape FA action

Personally I think Mourinho's comments about the ambulance services are pretty out of order. He does, however, have a point about it being daft to have no stretcher route between dressing room and door apart from going out along the touchline (especially given that their stadium is practically brand new and used for rugby where neck injuries are more common).

As for the Cech challenge I didn't think anything of it until I saw it from this angle.



I don't for a second think Hunt is trying to seriously hurt Cech but it is a bit naughty to leave your leg in like that when you are clearly going to be second the ball.

The Cudicini one is odd too...that's a funny way to jump for a ball

BBC NEWS | Beach statues set to leave coast

BBC NEWS | Beach statues set to leave coast

Anthony Gormley's Another Place is to be removed over health and safety fears. This seems a shame...it gave the area real character.





I suppose they should also get rid of the Mersey Wave in case motorists are distracted and crash or the Super Lamb Banana in case someone climbs it and falls off.

The world will be a pretty dull place if everything that can possibly cause someone to injure themselves is taken away. Those statues made an otherwise non-descript section of Crosby beach a national tourist attraction. Art exhibits like that and the aforementioned wave and, erm, banana are what make the place unique.

Celtic 3-0 Benfica

BBC SPORT | Football | Europe | Celtic 3-0 Benfica

Hail Hail, the Celts are here,
What the hell do we care,
What the hell do we care,
Hail Hail, the Celts are here,
What the hell do we care now...

For its a grand old team to play for,
For its a grand old team to see,
And if you know the history,
Its enough to make your heart go,
Nine-in-a-row

We don't care what the animals say,
What the hell do we care,
For we only know,
That there's gonna be a show,
And the Glasgow Celtic will be there.

Sure it's the best darn team in Scotland
and the players they are Grand,
"We support the Celtic"
'cos they are the finest in the land.
We'll be there to give the bhoys a cheer
When the League Flag flies,
And the cheers go up 'cos we know the Scottish Cup
is coming home to rest at Paradise.

PS Thanks for Andy & Helen Mills down in lovely Higham Ferrers for being the first folk to leave me a message on the fridge thingy! Superstars

Celebrity cults

Sweet Jesus....as if it wasn't enough 20 year old footballers having books out :

Amazon.co.uk: Living the Dream: My Story: Books: Chantelle Houghton

This country's obsession with the cult of celebrity makes me want to emigrate. It's truly, truly pathetic when bimbo no-marks like her have people slavering all over them to read their 'story'. It's truly an embarrassment. From soft girl up there padding out "I am a vapid, blonde Paris-Hilton-a-like who fancies herself" and Jade Goody's "I am thick as pig-excrement" through Kerry Whats-her-name and Jordan gurning at me from newsagent shelves right up to the omnipresent but omni-not-doing-anything-of-note Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and Sadie Frost.

A load of utterly average, utterly fatuous famous-for-being-famous egomaniacs who for some reason people are obsessed with. There is part of me that says "Good luck" to these people...if morons are going to hang on your every word and deed then who not cash in but for God sake...what are you people famous for. I mean the fact that Chantelle used to work as a Paris Hilton impersonator is, for me, the ultimate statement. The most pointless air-headed spoilt-little-rich-girl has an impersonator...so that other people can book the wannabe no-mark-a-like to come to there parties and flounce round allowing the party throwers and all their stupid little friends pretend to know Paris Hilton...who is famous for going to parties....and being thick.

I despair....but then again I am obsessed with living vicariously through sporting teams so different strokes for different folks.

At the other end of the I'm-blonde-so-I-have-a-right-to-be-famous scale is this :

Sheffield girl group Twin launch a foul mouthed tirade at stadium full of people.

Updates on the Madonna baby story...it seems that Malawian human rights groups have raised objections to her adopting a kid without the usual checks. Before the objections could formally lodged, and for reasons other than Madonna's vast wealth and fame, the child was issued with a passport and allowed to leave the country. Maternal Madonna immediately dispatched a staff member to Africa to retrieve the little urchin.

Now the upshot off all this is one child raised out of poverty and others helped by her donations but it does basically mean that if you have enough cash a child is for sale and the normal procedure don't apply.

Leave me a message

*Update*

Scroll down to the bottom...I've decided to keep the bugger permanently

TV Links

TV Links

Good place to catch up with any My Name is Earl episodes you may have missed.

Still doing the decorating...grim, grim, grim. Still after we'd called it a day we had a nice bottle of Brooklyn lager. Can definitely recomend....full flavoured and hoppy although not at all lagery. Over the weekend we had Cains Lager...which I've already extolled at length on here and some Magners Irish cider just to see what all the fuss was about. It gets a thumbs up. It's not a dry cider but certainly not a sweet teenagers in the park type affair. I'd certainly go for it on a hot day.

The Brooklyn Lager was part of my abortive scheme to have a beer for each and every one of the Everton first team. I put it on hold until I could get my hands on some Nigerian beer and some Tooheys New. The full list read thus :

Howard - Brooklyn Lager
Wright - Greene King
Hibbert - Cains
Lescott - Banks
Yobo - Star (from website)
Stubbs - Cains
Weir - McEwans
Valente - Super Bock
Arteta - San Miguel
Naysmith - McEwans
Neville - Boddingtons
Carsley - Guinness or Magners
Cahill - Tooheys
Osman - Cains
Van der Meyde - Heineken
Davies - Brains
Beattie - Lancaster Bomber
Anichebe - Star
Johnson - Bombardier
McFadden - McEwans

I suppose the rednoses I know can just get a full crate of San Miguel.

NewsBiscuit: France to be ‘constantly reminded’ it lost 2012 Olympics

NewsBiscuit: France to be ‘constantly reminded’ it lost 2012 Olympics

Hee hee

Another weekend of sporting disappointment

Middlesbrough 2-1 Everton

Another pooey weekend of sport for me...I think I am jinx. A few weeks ago I could do nothing wrong and now every team I support seems to be lurching from disaster to disaster. I put this down solely to me losing my lucky hat. I have no idea where it could be so I assume I've left it on a train or something.

Everton lost their unbeaten record up at Middlesboro. Sounds like we can't really have any complaints. Cahill chipped in with a goal and we pressed for an equaliser (during 8 minutes of stoppage time due to a mobile phone being hurled onto the pitch).



The cricketers were playing one-day cricket and therefore were getting beat.



We now have to beat Australia and the Windies to stay in the tournament.

Waterloo took there usual hammering...apparently Waterloo held their own. They scored as many tries as the opposition but their kicker kept them well clear. Most of these games 'loo seem to come away with positives but they seem to have a period in every game where they concede a tonne of tries and the game is out of sight. They do need to start picking up points otherwise it'll be all over for them :
p w d l pts
10th London Welsh 7 3 0 4 13
11th Coventry 7 2 1 4 13
12th Newbury 7 3 0 4 12
13th Nottingham 7 1 0 6 9
14th Moseley 7 1 0 6 9
15th Waterloo 7 1 0 6 5
16th Sedgley Park 7 0 0 7 2

I also fancied Northampton beating Leicester purely due to Grayson being an ex-Waterloo player. Saints lost by two tries to nil. Goode kicked everything in the same way Simon Binns kicked everything for Otley.

Anyway the two teams I forot about Peterboro and St Louis did okay over the weekend so all wasn't lost.

Unusually for me and Anne we went to a gig at the weekend, our friend Paul designated Amsterdam's gig at the Carling Academy as his official birthday do. Had a good old time apart from the fact that all of Amsterdam's fanbase seemed to be at least 6'2. Ludicrous!

Sunday was spent decorating our front room...I now have someting in common with the Queen 'cause aparently her entire world smells of paint too. I hate decorating but we've put it off for over a year now and it really needed doing.

Time for a photo blog

Time for a photo blog methinks...here's some piccies from the Waterloo V Bedford game.













and here's a stork sitting atop next door's house!!!!!

BBC NEWS | Madonna 'adopts child in Africa'

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Madonna 'adopts child in Africa'

Am I missing something there...was has Madonna adopted a baby from a single parant family. I'm not saying her heart isn't in the right place but is it okay for celebs to just stroll in an buy an African baby?

EVERTONFC.COM | AJ IS PREM PLAYER OF MONTH

EVERTONFC.COM | EXCLUSIVE - AJ IS PREM PLAYER OF MONTH

Hope he's okay for the weekend though. The two week break will have given him time to rest his injury. We've picked up another hamstring problem too. Phil Neville dropped out during England's warm-up. When you add to that Yobo and Cahill's globetrotting for their international appearance you can imagine us being a bit depleted and weary going into the weekend's game. Losing out on the win against City was a kick in the balls...hopefully we can put it right against 'boro.

YouTube - Introduction to webcameron

YouTube - Introduction to webcameron

Be warned this link will make you wretch. I've only just caught up with WebCameron...I am truly speechless.

I thought nothing could top Menzies Campbell's action man video at the Liberal Conference but this is a million miles past that.

This is politics in modern Britain. They truly, truly think we are complete imbeciles they really do.

Croatia 2-0 England, Ukraine 2-0 Scotland. Poo!

Croatia 2-0 England



You could argue that the ball taking a freakish bounce over Robinson's foot is fairly useful in England's media response to the 2-0 defeat. It is what people will focus on first when they should be focusing on the fact that Croatia, as far as I could see, took them to the cleaners. Coming after Macedonia a performance like this was unnacceptable. Croatia have never lost a competitive game at home so it was always going to be tough but there was no spirit and certainly no brain involved in last night's performance. Ironically Robinson was a strong man-of-the-match candidate, he made at least 3 great saves. You have to wonder about these lack-lustre performances? They make the right noises about pride etc etc but how much does playing for England mean to them? Is it one big jolly for them? They seem to have trouble turning it on at kick-off time.

The Scots didn't fair much better in Ukraine...They were outclassed but at least showed character and spirit. They really should have been level, Kenny Millar made a superb run and missed a header from a perfect cross...sad really. The ref didn't do them any favours but it would have been nicking a point rather than deserving an equal share.

Nice to see Killa grab a goal for the Republic :

BBC SPORT | Hunter loses battle with cancer

BBC SPORT | Hunter loses battle with cancer

Sad news this morning...not particularly a big snooker fan but by all accounts he was a really, really amazing person.

Don't you wish that disease would just f*ck off.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/

Otherwise not a lot going on...This is an interesting project

History Matters

They want a mass blog on October 17th...just a record of what you were doing, what was on your mind. A sort on snapshot of everyday Britain in the year 2006.

Sport eh!

What can you do. You've got to take the rough with the smooth I suppose but Saturday, in sporting terms, was a bit rubbish.

Waterloo V Bedford

Bedford shape up like a team who belong in this division (and hope to go one better). Waterloo, at the moment, don't. It sounds odd but a pretty even game save Bedford run out 42 - 13 victors. Up until 60 minutes Waterloo had held there own but at present they are the antithesis of the word 'clinical'. After conceding an early penalty they pushed Bedford onto the back foot on several occasions but didn't make anything out of it. A couple of times in the first half points went begging. A try (where the ball was across the line & only need to be grounded but wasn't), possibly another (knock-on) and a penalty that we declined to take (because by that stage we needed to points). I know this is all "What if..." but with a bit more experience and nouse it could have been a different game. Instead Varndell scorched through for the opening try and Bedford started to exert their obvious class.

In truth you can look at the game and say the result was never in doubt, at the start of the second half 'loo pushed and pressed and the score stood at 22-13 but after 60 minutes Bedford started to punish us in a blistering spell where 3 tries were scored in rapid succession. After that there was only one winner much to the delight of their fairly sizable travelling support (complete with air-horns no less). Teams like Bedford are teaching us lessons about life in this division. We do have the players and fitness & stamina will come as the game-time mounts up (Amateurs playing against professionals will always find it tough) but by playing against quality opposition will expose our naivete and hopefully before too long we'll be able to take the chances when offered. The bad news was that Tom Varndell looked to twist his knee and was helped from the field looking very, very gingerly. Hope he's okay. It was the same for us too...van DeVenter went off with a foot injury. Hope thing are okay there 'cause we really don't need more injuries. Muchie, Loader and McKay all looked impressive for Waterloo. Another game further up the learning curve I hope.

Beds on Sunday - Match Report

Echo Match Report

England V Macedonia

From there we nipped into the clubhouse to watch the England game, by now we were drowning our sorrows whilst still celebrating my birthday (The half pint of port was a bit too much for me) so perceptions may have been skewed. England looked woeful from the off...Whereas 'loo had took a tanning but had lots to be positive about it was difficult to come up anything truly positive about the game. Macedonia actually looked the better side overall. The cliche about playing like a team of strangers could have been invented to describe our midfield and forward.

Scotland stole all the plaudits with a well earned win against France. They now sit on top of the group of death. Congrats to Walter Smith, Davie Weir and James McFadden.

Anyway that was my day...Thanks to Anne, our Ste & Claire, Katherine & Sara, Jack & Penny, Tina, Anne & Mark, Mike & Mary, Paul & Rachel, Jenny & Mike, Louise, Mark, Bernadette, Caroline and her little dog. The sport was grim but the beer was good.

BBC - Comedy - QI - Homepage

BBC - Comedy - QI - Homepage:

"Quite Interesting - or 'QI' to its friends - could loosely be described as a comedy panel quiz. However, none of the stellar line-up of comedians is expected to be able to answer any questions, and if anyone ends up with a positive score, they can be very happy with their performance."

Dave Gorman's Genius is pretty good on Radio4 too.

I love this show, here is the QI website...God bless the BBC.

Pope revokes concept of limbo

BBC article and report.

I'm surprised at all the fuss over this...it was just an outdated concept that he's stated is invalid. If there is an afterlife of course there wouldn't be a difference between good catholics and good atheists etc etc. It reminds me of this old joke :

This atheist dies and wakes up at the gates of heaven, apart from feeling a bit embarressed about being wrong he is surprised to find he's immediately ushered in by St Peter. "We know you were one of the good'ns so don't worry, in you come".

Now heaven is ace and he gets the grand tour, everything you'd want, loads to do, everyone's smiling & happy but St Peter points out this big huge wall and says "The only rule we really have here is when you are by this wall we like you to keep the noise down...The Catholics are on the other side and they like to think they are the only ones up here".

There are enough sticks to beat the Catholic church with without having to make stuff up and wave dead babies in our faces. Still anything to let the Grauniad readers blither around and prove what good liberals they are.

Telegraph | Sport | Dropped Varndell gets the message

Telegraph | Sport | Dropped Varndell gets the message

Hmm...aparently he'll have to start on the bench as he hasn't trained with Bedford this week. It'll be a wee bit surreal seeing last season's leading premiership try scorer lining up against us.

CHELSEA HIT BACK AT CALDERON CLAIMS

A Madrid president saying Chelsea's money is ruining the game!!!!!!!! Talk about the Galacticos calling the kettle black. That's actually trumped the rednoses making similar claims. How much did they pay for Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo et al?

Anyway even if Roman does take his millions away Chelsea can just get their local council to use public money to buy their training ground at a fantastically over-inflated price thus clearing their debts....allegedly.

It's my brithday today...32. Ho hum, got a nice shiny new bike off Anne should be good for keeping fit although it's probably the wrong time of year to start a regime. Happy Super-Birthday wishes to my mates Paul Cunningham and Carmel Wilde.

Links

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Clicking with comedy

Web satire sites.

And before I forget it, this is the train crash sketch from That Mitchell And Webb Sound :

Radio Presenter: Those are are the headlines at 5.09. And for an immediate reaction to today's events I think we can speak to Tom Hilton. Hello, Tom.

Tom: Er, hello?

Radio Presenter: Chris Powell here from Radio 4, thanks for speaking to us. Can I ask what your response is to today's announcement that Rail North East will not be funding the laser-assisted train early warning system?

Tom: Erm, well yeah. I personally think it's a shame.

Radio Presenter: So, it's shame on the management? Shame on the Government?

Tom: Well, I suppose, but look, can I just say I'm really not the best person to talk to about this, I mean it's weird you even had to call me. You see, by a spooky coincidence, I actually lost my wife in a train crash.

Radio Presenter: yes, we know.

Tom: One exactly this kind of system could have prevented.

Radio Presenter: That's why we're in touch with you, Tom.

Tom: Oh. Oh, right. Blimey. That does seem a bit, almost, ghoulish.

Radio Presenter: Well, no. It's because you've got personal experience of a rail tragedy that your views are so important.

Tom: Really? I would have thought that it was because I've got personal experience of a rail tragedy that my views should be dismissed out of hand.

Radio Presenter: No. No, look. Would you say, that to you, safety is by far the most important issue facing the rail network?

Tom: Well, of course I would. My wife just died in a train crash.

Radio Presenter: Thank you.

Tom: But you really should talk to someone else. It's impossible for me to have any objectivity at all.

Radio Presenter: Right, but if spending the three billion on system could bring back your wife that would be worth it?

Tom: Well, obviously. Although I must stress I lack any objectivity.

Radio Presenter: Nevertheless, what would you say to the minister? What would your message be to him?

Tom: My message would be, "Minister, good luck in judging how to allocate your finite resources given the many competing demands you face."

As found here! (Well here actually but it's out of date)

Ringfencing

BBC SPORT | RFU considers ending relegation

"'Promotion and relegation has always been an article of faith on our side,' said RFU chief executive Francis Baron.

'But we are prepared to look at that again.'"

Surprise surprise...'quins back in the fold, let's nail that trapdoor shut.

They'll have the bigger Div 1 teams dancing round like monkeys in a season or two so they can haul up two or three teams from geographical area's they want a presence in (Ie Yorkshire, Brum and Cornwall. Franchises at the ready, screw the little clubs. Very Corinthian!

Surely to God sport has to be a meritocracy. Otherwise what's the point?

Anyway, on a lighter note here's the posh waiter and insecure nazi sketches from That Mitchell and Webb Look :





More here

AJ hamstring.

BBC SPORT | Bent replaces Johnson for England

"Striker Johnson will miss Saturday's game against Macedonia at Old Trafford and the 11 October trip to Croatia because of a hamstring injury."

EVERTONFC.COM: | JOHNSON OUT OF ENGLAND SQUAD

"Andrew Johnson has withdrawn from the England squad ahead of the European Championship qualifiers with Macedonia and Croatia.

The Blues striker misses out after picking up a hamstring injury during Saturday\'s 1-1 draw with Manchester City."

This is certainly worrying news for us blues...I've got no desire to see Everton players running around for England (though I always want England to do well) but the news that they has a hamstring strain certainly makes the ears prick up. I suppose a player who puts so much effort into covering the ground and winning the ball is bound to get strains and pulls but at the moment he's been in superb form so naturally we are relying on him. Beattie isn't playing well (although not as bad as some people are making out) so it might well be upto McFadden, Anichebe, Vaughan, Osman and Cahill to cover for AJ. It's amazing how quickly Johnson has become a talisman for us Evertonians.

Speaking of Beattie & McFadden, any excuse to post these :





Get in!

Perceptions

This is an interesting example of media reporting.

BBC NEWS | Commission joins search for girl

Mother's statement

When it was first reported it was basically Molly Campbell taken from her home and abducted to Pakistan for an arranged marriage only for the girl herself to paint a completely different picture.

BBC NEWS | Police pledge in girl custody row

BBC NEWS | Girl at the heart of global family feud

In other news the Conservatives are beginning their conference with the Liberals and Labour having had their's over recent weeks. I've made no secret that I detest the Tories. Their Are you thinking what we're thinking campaign made me sick to my stomach and seeing as it's the only set of policies soft lad Cameron has put his name to you have to draw on of the following conclusions :

A) He is an evil racist fear-mongerer
B) He is cynical enough to put out a load of stuff he doesn't believe in in order to get people to vote Tory
C) He was spineless and lacking in integrity enough to quietly go about writing that nasty, nasty manifesto on his boss' say so

Whichever way it's not looking good eh Dave you lame schyster. Labour are still hovering on the edge of disaster and will continue to be so until next May, the media will continue their pathetic scandle, scandle, scandle politics (as emphasised with the Cherie Blair 'liar' debacle "It doesn't matter if it's true" said one BBC journo)...the Liberals still haven't got the strength of character to put themselves truly on the political radar. It'll be an interesting year.

icLiverpool - Rotherham 66, Waterloo 17 and other sporting disasters

icLiverpool - Rotherham 66, Waterloo 17

There are times when sport really does kick you in the balls. Everton should have been out of sight on Saturday. Instead we were 1-0 up and falling further and further into our shells as City rallyed. You knew what was going to happen, Moyes made 3 dozey substitutions and we fell deeper and deeper....they equalised with the last kick of the game. Gutted. It felt like a heavy defeat. That's 4 points wasted in the last two home games. Games we should have won easily but have got no-one to blame but ourselves. I'll try and write more about it when I'm less pissed off.

We grumbled our way home to find 'loo had been absolutely battered by Rotherham. Great!

1-1...two points dropped

Congrats to the St Louis Cardinals for turning their appalling form into merely very bad form and holding on to their playoff berth.