Punch drunk boxer 0 - 2 St Sebastian

Arsenal 3-1 Everton Waterloo 5 - 46 Cinderford

Seriously, getting propery fucked off with all this sporting getting-shat-upon-ness. I know in the grand scheme of things it means absolutely nothing...there are people in the world starving/getting opressed/dying/getting shot/listening to Sarah Palin....but in terms of my Saturday afternoons I am getting pissed off with watching Everton fucking up then getting home and finding out Waterloo have been battered OR watching Waterloo get kicked round the park whilst Everton piss it all away. I didn't sign up for this....well actually I did....but it's all getting bit monotonous.

I have been pouting all afternoon...and at the same time I am really looking forward to next Saturday and attempthing to get from Everton's 12:45 kick-off against United to Waterloo's 2:30pm kick off against Cambridge. hence the punch drunk boxer reference. I do think St Sebastian, patron Saint of athletes, should stop being so mean to me.

I'm not going to comment on the two games because A: Waterloo players aren't professional, they are the players we've got and we just have to trust they are doing their best and B: I am too pouty a fan to watch Match of the Day when Everton lose.

There you have it....not the best basis to write a sports blog.

In my misery I turned to 90s indie music for solace. Star by Belly and Acetone / Montrose Gimps it up for Charity by Kenickie just about saw me through

Salute : Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Peter Norman

Thought this was worth highlighting :

Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Peter Norman



When Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave a gloved Black Power salute on the Olympic podium in October 1968 it sent a shockwave through sport. But what happened to the other man on the platform?

Forty years ago, two black Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, won gold and bronze medals in the 200m final at the Mexico Olympics, and used their time on the victory podium to protest with a Black Power salute.

The photograph of the two men with their heads bowed, each of them with an arm raised in the air and a fist clothed in a black leather glove, is one of the most striking images of the 20th Century.

Their actions caused havoc at the Games, ensuring the pair were ejected from the US Olympic team. But three men won medals in that race, and the consequences for the third athlete on the podium would be every bit as significant.

The silver medallist was a laid-back Australian, an up-and-coming runner called Peter Norman who, in the words of his coach, "blossomed like a cactus" when he got to Mexico. While observers expected the Americans to make a clean sweep of the 200m medals, Norman kept them interested by breaking the world record in the heats.

The three were waiting for the victory ceremony when Norman discovered what was about to happen. It was Norman who, when John Carlos found he'd forgotten his black gloves, suggested the two runners shared Smith's pair, wearing one each on the podium.

And when, to the crowd's astonishment, they flung their fists in the air, the Australian joined the protest in his own way, wearing a badge from the Olympic Project for Human Rights that they had given him.

The repercussions for Norman were immediate. Seen as a trouble-maker who had lent a hand to those desecrators of the Olympic flag, he was ostracised by the Australian establishment. Despite qualifying 13 times over and being ranked fifth in the world, he was not sent to the following Munich games, where Australia had no sprinter for the first time in the Olympics. Norman retired soon afterwards without winning another title.

No change at the tops

Martin O'Keefe new head coach at Waterloo RUFC - Crosby Herald: "WATERLOO have appointed prop forward and last season's captain Martin O'Keefe as their new coach at St Anthony’s Road.

O'Keefe, 30, takes over from Chris O'Callaghan, who resigned last month. He comes in at a difficult time for the Blundellsands club, who have lost all six matches so far this season and are next from the bottom of National Two.

Having played for the likes of Orrell, Pertemps Bees, Leeds and Wakefield, ‘Cakes’, as he is affectionately known at the Crosby club, will be assisted by Mark Godwin, who has been in charge of first team since the departure of O'Callaghan.

Former Waterloo captain and coach Gareth Hopkin is expected to help out in an advisory capacity."

Good Luck Cakes. Hope you can turn it round mate.

In other news Evertonians were lifted by Moysie FINALLY signing the contract. Wonder if this was a due-diligence issue prompted by the rumour takeover?

BBC : Moyes signs new deal at Everton

Manager David Moyes has ended speculation over his future by signing a new five-year deal at Everton.

Moyes, 45, delayed signing the deal and admitted it may have unsettled his players after they were knocked out of the Carling Cup and the Uefa Cup.

"There have been many different things for different reasons," Moyes told the club's website of the delay.

"But we are here now. The big thing for me is that I am at Everton, as far as I am concerned, for another five years."

Belarus 1-3 England

Belarus 1-3 England.



So far so good. Another impressive performance by England. Great result away from home that.

The team seems to have a confidence now even if the balance isn't really there yet.

International Blog Action Day : Poverty

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to blunder across International Blog Action Day via Catherine Bray (Many thanks Catherine). From there I quickly embarked on an article for the HitSearch internet news feed publicising the day. During the course of that I got in touch with Stuart Fowkes, online press officer for Oxfam.

Catherine recently did a triathalon for Shelter...Stuart is currently promoting Oxfam's campaign highlighting the rising food prices around the world.

So what do I do? Hmm, tricky one. Regular readers will know that Things & Stuff isn't exactly the most noble of endeavours...in fact it's almost entirely throwaway (unless you are a fundamentally obsessed Everton or Waterloo fan). I do however think it's massively important to be involved in things like Blog Action Day...even if it's only to stand up and say you don't do enough. I'd like to think I am not a shallow person but do I do my bit? Well I do more than some but that's not really the point.

Thinking about it I am an active charity giver in terms of my cash but certainly not my time. I think that would be most valuable than anything. I give without fail to the appeals that go out, I always give to the church and make sure I've got a bit in reserve for those unexpected 2nd collections. Hardly earth shattering stuff. A week of voluntary work down in Lourdes is a step in the right direction but I think of that as a religious duty and a social thing as much as a charitable act.

I do have decidedly left-wing views...coming from Liverpool it's difficult not to. So where does this leave me in terms of poverty. Unfortunately the only conclusion is that I, like tones of others, fall into that wishy-wash void inhabited by people who do genuinely care and will give when necessary but are basically not involved....and from there you can see the need for things like Blog Action Day. A chance for the people who do care and are willing to help to discuss and get better informed. If nothing else it might direct a few un-allocated charity dollars to the right causes. I know my contribution ain't going to be anything earth shattering but I don't think we all have to do that...just sign up, say your piece and then, most importantly, take the time to read what others are talking about.

How tough can that be?

Ringo would snub Marge Simpson now

Ringo won't sign any more autographs

Former Beatle Ringo Starr will no longer sign memorabilia for fans and will throw away all fan mail he receives in the future, he has said.

"Please do not send fan mail to any address you have," he said in a video message on his website.

"Nothing will be signed after the 20th of October. If that is the date on the envelope, it's gonna be tossed.

"I'm warning you with peace and love I have too much to do," the 68-year-old drummer said.

Dressed in black clothes and dark glasses, Starr said it was "a serious message to everybody watching".

He added: "No more fan mail and no objects to be signed. Nothing."

Kinds of ironic given that in his Simpsons appearance he spent every waking hour answering a massive backlog of fan mail.



Meanwhile, somewhere in England... Ringo is surrounded by bags of
mail with the word `mail' on them, in various languages.

Dear Sally. In response to you letter of December the 12th 1966,
me favourite colour is blue, and me real first name is Richard.
Thanks for the snapshot. You're a real cute bird. Love, Ringo.
PS: Forgive the lateness of my reply.

Ringo explains to his butler that he insists on responding to every
single piece of fan mail. The next letter is Marge's painting.

Dear Marge. Thanks for the fab painting of Yours Truly. I hung
it on me wall. You're quite an artist. In answer to your question,
yes, we do have hamburgers and fries in England. But we call French
fries `chips'. Love, Ringo. PS: Forgive the lateness of my reply.

Not having a go at Ringo...just thought it was ironic

How the f*ck did he miss that?

Chris Iwelumo somehow misses an open goal for Scotland :

Where've you bean?

Some general internet stuff today (you notice I am avoiding all mention of sport).

I found this on the superb GoogleSightSeeing blog.


http://flickr.com/photos/jamesturnbull/2925421664/in/photostream/

Get a birds eye view here : Google Sightseeing Maps

Earlier I noticed this Great Schlep thing on the BBC website. Sarah Silverman has done a promotional video which I can't decide if it's brilliantly subtle or ham fistedly rubbish. I can never decide whether Ms Silverman is funny or not.



Very interesting scheme though, we all remember how important Florida was 8 years ago.

The American election is great news viewing at the moment. Some of the stuff you watch from over there is so pathetically puerile whilst other stuff like the Tina Fey Sarah Palin skit was pure political genius.



In other new I noticed that Thing and Stuff is actually a Google Whack....providing you are searching for Harumble Quirkafleeg

Post script. I've been informed that it's not a GoogleWhack unless both words are in the dictionary. I think I should be allowed them because if you listen to Radio 4 or played Jet Set Willy as a kids they are perfectly cromulent words.

Hat's off to Stade Francais

If you asked me I'd probably say I was a Biaritz fan when it comes to French rugby....after FC Lourdais of course.

There is, however, something wonderful about Stade Francais. Those pink shirts / maillot rose were pretty outrageous when they first came out but they are tame compared to what followed.













Just with I had the spuds to wear one.

erm...any chance?

Everton v Newcastle

It's difficult to be optimistic about sport really. Not looking forward to the game today one bit even though I'm wearing my new, hopefully lucky, Everton away shirt.

Come on Blues...sort it out for us. I know things are glum at the moment but it's mine, Paul Cunninghams and Carmel Wilde's birthday today. Give us something to smile about. Please.

Waterloo played like fools for the first 60 minutes and then suddenly turned into world beaters for the last part of the game. It turned a very glum afternoon into a very heartening one especially with the return of Martin "Cakes" O'Keefe. A couple of great tries in there to cheer the dwindling number of fans who are going to see Waterloo these days.

Notre Dame, Nuestra Senora, Our Lady,

Not sure what to make of this...sounds a touch pavlovian but it's nice to see scientific proof of what we've always known, that one way or the other Our Lady is always there for us :

Why faith in God really can relieve pain

Belief in God 'really can relieve pain' - Telegraph: "Academics at The Oxford Centre For Science Of The Mind gave electric shocks to 12 Roman Catholics and 12 atheists as they studied a painting of the Virgin Mary.

They found Catholics seemed able to block out much of the pain. Using brain-scanning techniques, they also discovered that the Catholics were able to activate part of the brain associated with conditioning the experience of pain.

The experiment is one of a series being conducted by the academics, a group of scientists, philosophers and theologians from different departments at the university.

A sparking device was strapped to the back of the participants' left hands to deliver an electric shock.

The scientists then asked them to contemplate two paintings, Sassoferrato's 17th Century Virgin Mary and Leonardo da Vinci's 15th Century Lady With An Ermine.

The researchers hoped that the face of the Virgin Mary would induce a religious state of mind in the believers, while da Vinci's secular painting was chosen because it did not look dissimilar and would be calming.

They spent half an hour inside an MRI scanner, receiving a series of 20 electric shocks in four separate sessions while looking at either the religious or non-religious picture.

The Catholics said that looking at the painting of the Virgin Mary made them feel 'safe', 'taken care of' and 'calmed down and peaceful'"

There's only one thing to say to that :

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
ad te clamamus
exsules filii Evae,
ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

Although thinking about it perhaps it was just an excuse for a bunch of Dawkins obsessed scientists to electrocute a bunch a Catholics.

:( :( :( :(

Gutted, Gutted, Gutted, Gutted!

Surpirise how absolutely gutted I am after last night. I've took it all on the chin over the past few weeks but going out last night has totally deflated me.

Over and over again I look at that draw and it still annoys me. How, after our, fantastic exploits last year (Lets not forget we beat all conquering Zenit St Petersberg last season) did we draw them when every other English team, teams that got in via the fair play league and the intertoto cup, get Wisla Plebeless or FC Shitforbrains. That's the thing that really, really guts you.

Ultimately Everton didn't do enough. The 2 away goals meant Liege could just sit behind the ball, the ref should have sent off one of their players and the penalty was ever so slightly harsh but there's no point moaning about it now. The blues played well enough but there was probably only ever going to be one winner. And that's that. With Villa looking good and City poised to splash the cash in January a return further European fun looks a long way off from hear. Next up Newcastle, you can see how that script pans out already.

I think the club need to sort out the Moyes new contract...that would provide a bit of a lift at least.

COYB!

COYB COYB COYB

Tonight basically defines Everton's season. A win against Standard Liege would take the pressure off so much as it would maintain the focus and give us something to play for and look forward to. I think it would act to release the pressure on both the players and fans.

It's going to be so tough though. A clean sheet is vital then "Feed the Yak and he will score".

Come on you Blue boys!

Liverpool Biennial

This infinity room is part of this year's Liverpool Biennial :



Simple but brilliant stuff. If you get a chance I'd definitely check out the various installations.

Definitely need to see the Joyful Trees.

Sporting weekends

Everton 0 - 2 liverpool

Blackheath 48 - 12 Waterloo

Ugh, what a crappy weekend of sport. Everton got lost the derby and Waterloo got another beating down in Blackheath.

The main problem with Everton on Saturday was that their usually hard-to-play-against 4-4-1-1 was shackled all day and kept as a 4-5-0-1. It made all the difference as Cahill just could not get himself into the game. We kept fairly close to them but created nothing with Yakubu up front on his own. Moyes tried to push Fellaini further forward and we looked more dangerous but left acres of space for them to dominate the midfield.

There wasn't that much in the game but you can't really argue with the result. They grabbed a goal and then we went to pieces for 5 minutes...after that there was no way back. It was a surprisingly low key affair with scarecely a murmur from either bunch of fans. Odd.

Hope we can salvage something from our season on Thursday. I do think it comes down to that.

Waterloo apparently played well but came away with absolutely nothing from London. That makes it 4 losses out of 4 and not even a losing bonus point to show for it. Bottom of the pile in a division where potentially 4 teams goes down. Tricky times.

At least Lancashire staved off relegation this season...it comes to something when that is the highlight of your sporting weekend.

Robinho sacks his agent

Robinho sacks his agent

We can only assume that this is because he is SO happy to have ended up at Manchester City instead of Chelsea and therefore he's feeling so settled and blissfully contented that he no-longer needs the services of an agent.

That's really the only conclusion to draw.

UEFA Cup to become UEFA Europa League

UEFA Cup to become UEFA Europa League



New impetus? Changing landscape? Wholesale changes?

How about getting a sponsor and a tv deal and sharing out the money so that clubs don't make a loss by being in it whilst any Champions League club who happens to slip up get's to negotiate it's own telly deal and basically keep the whole pie for themselves.

Just a thought.....love the new name though. No, really.

The bit of Britain near me in bloom

Well done to the good folk of Woolton for winning gold in the Britain in Bloom awards.

Because we are (infrequent) regulars at The Victoria on Quarry Street in Woolton we walk through it fairly often and it's so obvious how much the appearance of the place is a labour of love to it's residents (This year the floralness even seems to have spilt over to dear old Hunts Cross). Great to see them getting something in return.

I'd like to follow on from yesterday's Harumble for Radio 4 with a Harumble for BBC Radio in General. We are not big telly people but even without that our license fee is worth every penny. Last night on Radio 4 we had a fairly decent Comedy show with Marcus Brigstock at half six plus shows on the feasibilty of Hydrogen powered cars and then a debate about the history of miracles throughout the last 200 years. This morning we had a brilliant think tank about the US economic situation on 5Live featuring Richard D North, Alistair Milne and Sarah Churchwell. All sounds rather high-brow but it was pitched just right for fairly middling intellects like me.

Tonight Sport on 5 comes from Liverpool ahead of tomorrow's derby. Not looking good for The People's Club. We are just incapable of keeping a clean sheet. Most of the blues I know are fairly fearful but you never know.

Harumble for BBC Radio 4

Radio4's comedies come and go and at the moment we are waving a fond goodbye to Bleak Expectation and Mark Watson makes the World Substanitally Better. They were both brilliant. Hut 33 is good whilst the jury is still out on The Castle.

The 6:30pm slot on BBC Radio 4 is absolutely superb...I don't know what I'd do without it.

Harumble!

SuperLambanana donated to Liverpool museum

Well done to Phil Redmond for donating his SuperLambanana to Liverpool's World Museum.

Phil Redmond donates SuperLambanana to museum.

The most popular superlambanana at an auction of the iconic sculptures has been donated to a Liverpool museum by one of the city's most famous sons.

Phil Redmond, creator of Brookside, Grange Hill and Hollyoaks, bought Mandy Mandala at a recent charity auction of 170 superlambananas for £25,000.

Now the creative director of Capital of Culture events, Mr Redmond has handed her to World Museum Liverpool. Mandy will move to the Museum of Liverpool when it opens in 2010/11.

Mr Redmond bought three of the sculptures with the intention of donating them to museums in the city.

Mandy was designed by artists Patricia Lee with the communities of Granby, Dingle and Toxteth. Her patterns are based on a mandala - a symbol of peace, hope and unity.

David Fleming, director of National Museums Liverpool, said: "National Museums Liverpool was determined to acquire at least one superlambanana at the charity auction for our collections.

"We didn't want to see all of them disappear from public view into private hands after all the excitement they generated during 2008.

"Imagine our dismay when the bidding for Mandy went beyond our reach, and imagine our delight when Phil and Alexis Redmond stepped in and ensured that Mandy was bought on our behalf! Now Mandy is owned by the people of Liverpool.

"I am sure she will bring delight to museum visitors for generations to come, as a reminder of the invasion of our streets by these extraordinary creatures."

We do love those SuperLambs don't we. They are even talking about it becoming the new symbol of the city.

West Ham are cheats and have got away with murder

West Ham ponder tribunal ruling

I am very pleased for Sheffield United but basically the FA are shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

At every stage West Ham have been found guilty and at every stage the authorities have bottled it. They have gotten away with murder and the only conclusion you can draw is that it's because they had just got a big money backer OR it's a London friends-in-high-places thing.....or something more murky.

Whatever happens I still feels immensely sorry for the Blades fans.

Cains' former owners buy it back

BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | Cains' former owners buy it back: "The former owners of Cains brewery in Liverpool have bought it back, securing 90 jobs.

Brothers Sudarghara and Ajmail Dusanj finalised the deal, which includes nine Cains Beer Company pubs, administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said.

The 158-year-old brewery went into administration in August.

A spokesman for Cains said: 'They (the Dusanj brothers) are focused on getting back into the driving seat of the brewery.'

'They are working closely with the team there and are focused on building the Cains business in the coming weeks and months,' he said.

'The good news is that the jobs have been secured and the future of brewing on Merseyside is also secure.'"

Glad to hear that...the Dusanjs have worked wonders at that place. It was a shame they just over-reached themsleves at the wrong moment.

Raise a glass to Liverpool's beer.

Chris O'Callaghan leaves Waterloo

Chris O'Callaghan leave Waterloo.

HEAD coach Chris O’Callaghan has resigned from Waterloo following three successive defeats have left them at the bottom of National Two.

O’Callaghan joined the club just before the start of last season following relegation from National One.

“Chris has left the club by mutual agreement,” said chairman Simon Robb. “There is no animosity in his departure at all and I would like to take this opportunity in thanking him for all the work he has put in.”

O’Callaghan said: “There is certainly no animosity,” he said. “I told the club at the end of last season what finance they needed to sustain the present level of rugby but unfortunately they were unable to meet that.”

Not looking good at Blundellsands at the moment 3 games 3 defeats and 4 going down out of our division.

Indefensible

Hull 2-2 Everton

What on earth has happened to Everton's defence? It's crazy. We are shipping 2 goals a game every time we play. You've got to admire the spirit in the camp but really, what is happening? We've got the Carling Cup this week, the derby and then our UEFA Cup 2nd leg...if we aren't careful our season is over before it's begun.

What's bizare is that going forward we are superb.

Crazy!



Pretty dissapointed about the Ryder Cup but ultimately I suppose they were due a win.

underway

Loved this from the BBC website's Ryder Cup coverage :

"The European fans are in good voice on the 1st tee, singing such classics as 'Walking in a Faldo wonderland' and 'Where's your Tiger gone?'. The US can only reply with 'USA, USA'." Read the full report on the 1st tee Ryder Cup banter here

Now I know earlier I alluded that the Ryder Cup is a the only time Golf is interesting but this Guardian article on Maurice Flitcroft gives lie to that


The 37th Ryder Cup starts today in Kentucky, and last week, as the world's top golfers made their final preparations, the personal effects of one of the game's most singular talents were briefly on display in Carlisle. At Home With the Flitcrofts told the surreal life story of the late Maurice Flitcroft, self-styled "Golfer Extraordinary", and while it is a shame that the show passed completely under the radar before it closed, this somehow seems apt. For Maurice was the golfer who went undetected by officials at the 1976 Open championship, competing in golf's grandest tournament despite never having played a round in his life.

Maurice became headline news that day, carding a round of 121, the worst in Open history. His story didn't end there. For the next 14 years, he would engage in a farcical game of cat-and-mouse with Keith Mackenzie, secretary of the R&A, golf's governing body, and a man whose constitution appears to have been 10% flesh, 10% blood and 80% rulebook. The humourless Mackenzie felt humiliated by Flitcroft's antics in 1976 and banned him sine die - so Maurice simply entered again and again, employing ludicrous pseudonyms such as Gerald Hoppy, James Beau Jolly, Count Manfred von Hofmannstal and Gene Paychecki. Usually the denouement would feature Flitcroft being chased from the course, but by the time that happened the battle had already been won.

Flitcroft's tale would be amazing as it stands, yet At Home With the Flitcrofts somehow managed to embellish it further by covering the antics of his twin sons, Gene van Flitcroft and James Harlequin Flitcroft, whose scrapes include caddying for Lee Trevino, winning the 1984 World Disco Dancing championship, and becoming proud recipients of the UK's first-ever anti-social behaviour injunction. For swordfighting. Each other. Whatever unfolds at Valhalla this weekend, it will have nothing on this.

high 5

Just read a good post on The People's Forum. Segundo Castillo scored a bleter last night and then as he ran off to celebrate he appears to high-5 the ref. Tremendous if he really did do that!

deal or no deal

Well it would seem that Moyes has not yet signed a new deal which is a bit silly of the BBC to report that it was a done deal. I know he will sign and I can understand why he hasn't signed yet but let's just get it done.

Anyway in 4 hours from now golf becomes interesting as The Ryder Cup gets underway! Wohoo!

It's in America this time so expect shouts of "Get in the hole" at the tee of a par 5 and random shouts of "U-S-A" and "That's what I'm talking about". Part of me wouldn't be upset if the yanks won this one, part of me remembers Kiowa Island.

Moyes 'agrees £17m Everton deal'

Moyes agrees £17m Everton deal
"Everton boss David Moyes has agreed a new five-year contract with the Merseyside club worth over £17m, BBC Sport understands.

The 45-year-old Moyes, who joined Everton as manager in 2002, confirmed in July that he had opened talks on a new deal with chairman Bill Kenwright"

17m...that's pretty impressive. Can't begrudge him a penny of it. God bless the ginger one.

down but not out

Everton 2 - 2 Standard Liege

Hmm, what do Everton do to deserve drawing such tough oponents. Seriously : Villareal, Dinamo Bucharest, Metalist Kharkiv and now Standard Liege.

We are looking seriously ropey at the back but good going forward....I am the most pessimistic, glass-half-empty of Evertonians but it has to be said we were the better side tonight. We just went to sleep twice and got punish by a very efficient Liege side. Aside from that though we looked good. There is little doubt who the Belgians will think is the strongest team on Merseyside.

We are behind on away goals now so we have it all to do in the away leg but at least we are still in the tie.

Great goal from tree-trunked legged Segundo "Do the basics" Castillo...hope Anichebe is okay.

Quite liked their fans until just before the end. Noisy, bolshy bunch....pity about the colour scheme. You do, however, have to wonder about fans who will hold up scarves of a team who just utterly 100% robbed you of a place in the Champions League in order to annoy fans of your next opponent. They had a penalty claim waved away and they seemed to go nuts, throwing stuff onto the pitch and into the Park End. No need for it at all because until then it was good natured stuff going to and fro. Hope it's noted that is was the Liege fans that caused all the unpleasantness.

Great India photo album at National Geographic

This photo album took me back to our time traipsing round India a few years back :

National Geographic : Indian photo album

There's also a cool video here too :

hNational Geographic Video of India

I both loved and hated my time in India...but ultimately I'd go back there tomorrow given the chance. It's definitely the best place to travel. Yeah, it's a hassle but it's so much fun and just so interesting.

Everton win 3 - phew

Awful pun there, apologies.

Stoke 2 - 3 Everton

Well it, that could have been a pretty disasterous day for Everton. As it turned out it could scarcely have turned out better. Playing Stoke at the Britannia we raced out to a two goal lead playing pretty well. Segundo Castillo and Marouane Fellaini both made debuts in central midfield and dropped Anichebe back to play out wide...the most important addition was Timmy Cahill. The man is a legend.

With that line-up the team has a natural balance and poise that it just didn't have with other none-midfielders shoe-horned in there, it also frees up the rest of our squad to play in their more natural positions. Of the debutants Castillo impressed people more, he just did the basics of winning the ball and calmly distributing it. Sounds simple but every team needs one. Yakubu put us a head with one of those ridiculously simple goals that only he seemsto be able to score. Anichebe doubled our lead with a simple, glancing free-header. Interesting how Yak just stood there knowingly after he'd scored his goal and yet joyously mobbed young Victor after he'd scored his.

Anyway from there Everton got suckered by two Delap long throws...It's a pretty potent weapon but it's hardly earth-shattering but it caused chaos in our box and two goals cam from it. It's a worry how many we are conceding at the moment. We have always looked solid at the back but I suppose Lescott, Yobo & Jagielka haven't become bad players overnight, I just hope they get it together soon. So at 2-2 Everton could have gone to pieces. Both teams had cause to berate the ref. Stoke had a goal dissallowed after a tackle from behind robbed Yobo of the ball and we had a quite ludicrous decision go against us where the ref actually awarded us a penalty (rightly) and then changed his mind deciding somehow the offense had taken place 5 yards away outside the box. Pathetic. For arguing against this Moyes was sent to sit amongst the Stoke fans.

Anyway we need not have worried 'cause late on Tim Cahill just did what Time Cahill does....pops up in the box and scores when we need it most. God bless him. Great player and a great Evertonian. Moyes was seen to politely shake hands with the Stoke fans around him before marching over to the travelling bluenoses and celebrating with them....and that was that. It has lifted the gloom around the place a lot. The forthcoming game against Standard Liege will still be ridiculously tough but at least we should have shaken off our depression.

St Domingo one, Everton Church club association nil.

Noticed this over on ToffeeWeb. The only known match report for Everton under their original name of St Domingo. It seems we played on the 20th of October 1879 at Stanley Park and won one nil. Come on you blues!

St Domingo 1, Everton Church Club (Association) 0.

"ST. DOMINGO v EVERTON CHURCH CLUB (ASSOCIATION)
This match was played at the ground of the former, at Stanley park, on Saturday last, and after a closely contested game victory rested with the St. Domingo by one goal to nil."

Great to hear little gems of Everton's history get unearthed after all this time.

Superlambananas sold at auction for over 500k

Superlambananas sold at auction: "About £550,000 has been raised from the auction of 70 of Liverpool's superlambananas at St George's Hall.

Three of them were sold for more than £20,000 and 12 went for more than £10,000 each.

A large proportion of the money - about £400,000 - is going to the Lord Mayor's charities. It is the most money ever raised by a mayor in the UK."

Farewell to the SuperLambs it seems. We all loved them to bits and their legacy is half a million quid to charity. Superb. Hats off to everyone involved

Guinness Premiership highlights on ITV4

ITV to air Guinness Premiership English club rugby highlights | Media | guardian.co.uk: "ITV has secured the rights to show highlights of the Guinness Premiership English club rugby union matches this season in a new show to be presented by Craig Doyle on ITV4.

The broadcaster has signed the deal with Premier Rugby for the new season, which starts September 6, taking over from the BBC, which previously aired domestic club rugby highlights in Rugby Special.

ITV, which has held the rights to the Rugby World Cup since 1991, has committed to launching a new hour-long weekly show that will air on Sunday nights at 6.30pm - around the time Rugby Special used to be broadcast.

The show, which will be repeated on ITV1 on Tuesday nights, will cover each of the 22 rounds of the regular Guinness Premiership season, as well as two extra shows covering the semi-final and final matches."

This is a welcome addition to the freeview schedules. There's long been a gap for a potention Match of the Day for rugby. ITV are generally cack at sport but beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway there first show was pretty enjoyable.

Much more enjoyable than Waterloo's outing against Blaydon at the weekend. It was tough going from start to finish. Pretty ropey beginning for the entire team. Blaydon looked pretty impressive but Waterloo looked pretty short on sharpness. Hope things improve because the rugby is always good fun but you still don't want to see the ladss getting slapped round the park.

Croatia 1-4 England. Wow!

Croatia 1-4 England

Ingurland, IN-GUR-LAND!

So long since I felt like singing that. :) :) :)

Didn't see that coming at all...England really turned it on for once. The balance of the midfield looked spot on. It just goes to show how much better we are when we aren't trying to fit big name square pegs into round holes.

Hats off to England. Superb performance. Well done to Theo and Rooney too...great stuff.

La Machine : La Princesse videos

Last one, I promise. I've decided to put the videos I took onto Youtube so here they are :


La Princesse makes her way along Church Street, Liverpool


On Church Street again, getting closer.


La Princesse steps over the crowd


La Princesse makes her way to her destination


La Machine : The finale in front of the Mersey Tunnel

Aussie Minister Kate Ellis pays up on her Olympic bet.

For us Brits there's nothing quite like getting on over on the Aussies when it comes to sport. They are just too good at it all so when the occasion comes round that we do end up looking down on them it's good to milk it for all it's worth. The 2005 Ashes may have been eclipsed by the debacle in Australia that followed but that doesn't change the fact that for those fleeting 12 months we had the one up on them. The 2003 and, perhaps even sweeter, 2007 world cup was an awesome victories should not be forgotten too.

Latest in our all too infrequent sporting triumphs is the Olympics when we finished a fair bit above them in the medal table. Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe had a bet running with his Australian countpart Kate Ellis. As her forfeit Kate had to wear a Team GB tracksuit at a recent visit to the 2008 Paralympics.

Kate, it has to be said took it all in good fun saying "It's great that there's a healthy rivalry between our two nations and I congratulate Great Britain on their success at the Olympics,I'll eat a little humble pie along with the Australian team and we'll work a little harder for our future success."

This is not atypical...Oddly enough for a nation that gets so little practice at it the Aussies always strike me as good losers. They always seem to be awful winners however. It's odd how a nation we all like so much can annoy us so much in the sporting arena.

La Machine's La Princesse. Review of the Liverpool Spider

Awseome is such an over-used word but in this canse it's the only one that fits. Hats off to everyone involved with La Machine. It was truly amazing and as far as I could see everyone absolutely fell in love with it.



I stood for hours on Church Street, I sat for hours outside Liverpool Museum, it was worth every second when you first see that long leg extending out in front of the spider.

The finale in front of the Mersey tunnel with the flames, water and fireworks salvo was just astounding. Kids, both little kids and big kids alike, were just mesmerised. I don't want to bang on about too much but it was something that deserve lauding for it's scale and ambition...and for the way they were determined to keep the whole spectacle right in amongst the people.

Cap doffed, viva la Princesse.

Update from right underneath La Princesse

BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | Giant spider stalks city streets

"Liverpool city centre was brought to a standstill as thousands of visitors turned out to catch a glimpse of La Princesse, the 50ft (15m) spider.

Crowds packed the streets to follow the mechanical beast on its walkabout from the Cunard building through the city.

And although the rain eased for part of the day, onlookers were still soaked by huge jets of water from her abdomen.

The £1.5m Capital of Culture event, operated by French company La Machine, was continuing on Sunday.

La Machine's 37-tonne beast has generated headlines around the world, and culture bosses say they have been delighted with her impact. "

Let me tell you it's every bit as spectacular as they say. It's awesome. I was on Church Street and it basically stepped right over me. Astounding stuff. Hats off to everyone involved.

Keegangate

Right it now seems that Kevin Keegan HAS gone...it's just whether he was sacked, walked out or was forced out.

Crazy times up there.

When Keegan came back it delighted the Newcastle fans and bemused the rest of us but this time I think we can all agree that Mike Ashley is pretty much public enemy number one.

Reports put David Moyes as one of their main targets which is mildly worrying but I think after Bill Kenwright conjoured up another record signing I think that'll probably be enough to see that he'll stick with The People's Club.

La Machine, Liverpool : Full Schedule

This looks ace :

Wednesday 3rd September
Dawn The creature appears suspended on the side of Concourse Tower.
10.00h A Research Base is set up at the Echo Arena at the ACC (Kings Dock).
16.00h Scientists arrive at Concourse Tower to set up searchlights to light the creature.
20.30h Scientists switch on searchlights, which stay lit overnight.

Thursday 4th September
11.30h The creature is craned off Concourse Tower.
12.30h The convoy carries the creature and sets off for the Research base at ACC.
13.00h The convoy arrives at the Research Base.

Friday 5th September
11.30h The scientists perform experiments on the creature using different special
effects to see how it responds to different stimuli. The creature wakes up and
is prevented from running away by a wall of Chinese firecrackers and by a
fire effect. Eventually the creature is sent to sleep by a snow machine.
18.00h The creature wakes and parades to Salthouse Dock.
19.30h The creature arrives at the Dock and takes abath, accompanied by live music.
The creature sets off for Cunard Building and at around
21:00h the creature arrives at Cunard Building. It begins to snow gently and she falls asleep.

Saturday 6th September
11.30h The creature wakes up in the middle of a magical snowscape, and is
serenaded with music.
12.30h The creature goes to sleep again.
14.45h The creature leaves Cunard Building and walks up Water Street.
15.30h The creature arrives at Town Hall – smoke effect.
15.40h The creature walks towards Derby Square along Castle Street.
16.00h Water ballet at Derby Square (Waterproof clothing highly recommended).
16.15h The creature walks down Lord Street to Holy Corner where it is snowing.
17.00h The creature sleeps.
18.30h The creature wakes and walks down Parker Street, serenaded on the way.
20.00h A tempest rages at Ranelagh Place.
20.30h The creature arrives at Concourse Tower, climbs up the tower and goes to sleep.

Sunday 7th September
15.00h The creature wakes up and is prepared for the evening’s entertainment.
16.00h The creature goes back to sleep.
19.30h Cherry-pickers and musicians arrive.
20.00h The creature is removed from the tower with a crane.
20.30h The convoy leaves the tower and parades to Queensway Tunnel entrance.
21.15h The creature tries to escape, but is prevented from doing so by the special
effect machines.
21.30h Finale at Queensway Tunnel.

Waterloo news

Martin O'Keefe will be fit soon and Freeman Payne and Jan van deVenter are back at the club

Great to have these three back...Looking forward to Saturday even more now.

La Machine lands in Liverpool

It's here. La Machine made it's bow and apparently it's just as spectacular as they'd promise.

It won't be to everyone's tastes though....giant spiders tend to give people the creeps.

La Machine



La Machine terrorises Liverpool

Wow

It now seems that Kevin Keegan has been unsacked.....pretty good going Mr K. This meant that after breaking the news to my mate Carmel I then had to unbreak it later on. What a fascinating little circus that place is.

Gabbo....er I mean Google Chrome is coming

Google is about to launch it's own web browser, Chrome. Should we be excited? Yeah why not...just jump head first into the raging hype torrent. It looks like they've took a leaf out of Cuil's book. Just announce yourself loudly and let the image fly over the content.

If Google do it then let's face it it's bound to be good but why not just release it instead of keeping us waiting?

In other news Kevin Keegan has been sacked by Newcastle....the day after transfer deadline day. Outstanding stuff by Mike "I can neck a pint" Ashley, almost as good as bringing in Dennis Wise A: Get paid loads, B: Do not a heck of a lot and C: Totally undermine Keegan. Genius.

Sky Sports News advice

EXCLUSIVE : DO NOT WATCH SKY SPORTS NEWS FOR 4 HOURS SOLID BEFORE GOING TO BED. Stuart Brandwood confirms "You will not get any sleep whatsoever". Reporter in Liverpool reports no sleep for 7 hours. Scrolling ticker going through head all night.

After all that it seems Everton pulled a rabbit out of the hat by bringing in a new record signing in Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini. On the surface of it that exactly what we need and there is massive relief about strengthening an area that was in desperate need of a replacement for Lee Carsley. Not sure why we left it so late but I'm glad we've sorted it. I am just left wondering where all the money has come from.

Curiosity grows for La Machine

Seem to be getting a lot of traffic hitting this site looking for info about La Machine which hits Liverpool this coming weekend. Here are the top 25 La Machine related keywords so far :

la machine liverpool
la machine bbc
la machine liverpool 08
la machine"" liverpool
la machine liverpool 2009
la machine"" & liverpool
la machine 2008
la machine in liverpool
la machine liverpool 2008
la machine liverpool 7th
la machine liverpool locations
la machine liverpool september 08
la machine liverpool what is it?
la machine liverpool what will it be
la machine sultan's elephant
la machine sultans elephant
la macine in livepool
lamachine liverpool 08 what is it???
liverpool 08 la machine
liverpool awaits la machine
liverpool la machine
rumours regarding la machine liverpool september
sat 6th sept 08 liverpool art
what is la machine going to be in liverpool?
what is liverpools la machine

They are still playing it very close to their chests. As far as I can tell it'll start around the entrance to the old tunnel on Friday. Can't wait.

Everton 0-3 Portsmouth

Everton 0-3 Portsmouth

Ugh! what a fundamentally depressing afternoon. There was just something in the air at Goodison...there was no singing our cheering, instead just a constant hubbub as Evertonians digested the new signings and the cup draws.

Nothing went right for the blues, essentially we had the better of the first half but went in 2 goals down, we missed a penalty and you just knew it wasn't our day. I thought Phil Neviile, Leighton Baines and Yakubu all played well but other than that we looked pretty low on confidence and organisation. A distinct lack of balance as players wandered all over, desperate to make things happen. Just a grim afternoon all round.

We cheered ourselves up by going to The Victoria for a Lourdes reunion featuring two superb sets by Joyce.

Arrrrrrrrrgh!!!

More rotten luck for Everton

We got Standard Liege in the UEFA Cup 1st round. How gutting is that? How they weren't seeded is truly beyond me. They took liverpool to the cleaners the other night.

I didn't mind tough games but it was so much fun getting to the group stage last season.

Every time we are in one of these draws we seem to get the worst one imaginable. Villareal, Dinamo Bucharest, Metalist Kharkiv and now this! So annoying.

Everton sign Saha

Everton have signed Louis Saha! That means we have a right back, and midfielder and a striker which was basically what we needed out of the summer.

Given his recent fitness record I'd have preferred a loan with an option but I suppose Utd were playing hardball.

Onwards and upwards I suppose.

Welcome back Mathew Street festival

God bless the Mathew Street festival. It's just good...it doesn't matter about the line-up it's just fun and that's all that matters. Last year's cancellation just brought it home how much we all like it.

This year was extra special for us 'cause my cousin Michael was playing one of the outdoor stages with his band The Little Hydes. Anyway, after we'd checked that out we ambled round from venue to venue for the rest of the day checking out the various acts. Led Zep tribute rocked, the Elvis was ACE (well not THE Elvis but you know what I mean), Rolling Stones spent more time trying to look and act like the real thing instead of actually playing the songs and we witnessed possibly the most proficient but least engaging Beatles tribute band ever. Really, it doesn't matter how proficient you are, if you are going to get a square full of revellers and then just play a series of low key numbers from Abbey Road and The White Album you might impress purists but you aren't going to keep the crowd.

None of that matters though 'cause the whole day is just great fun, everyone just seems to walk round having a great time. This year there was a new bands fringe which is a great idea. Unfortunately the best intentions disapeared amidst a late flurry of real ale and then tapas. Sorry....anyway there's always next year.

Mathew Street Festival - The Echo report

Daily Post - Mathew St Festival

Fame at last

Woohoo. The blog FiveLittleThings published my travel tips!

FiveLittleThings about Backpacking by Stuart Brandwood

Plus the BBC quoted me the other day! I know this is a pretty dull little blog but it's nice to know people out there are reading.

Phew!

West Brom 1-2 Everton

Ohhh gerrin, gerrin, gerrin! COYB! COYB! COYB! SO happy with that today. I've been so down about all things Everton for weeks and weeks. Last week knocked me for six despite my attempts to remain detached....today had me bouncing round like a big kid again. So silly but I'm sure every footy fan reading this knows what I'm on about. God bless 'em.

A loss, and by the sounds of it West Brom can feel aggrieved at not getting at least a point, would have put things on the slide. A win solves nothing but it at least buttresses us.

Love our new high vis 3rd kit btw!





Many, MANY thanks to Sarah DeWitt for her surprise transatlantic Everton present buying. Superstar.

Cider time

Sheppy's traditional Somerset farmhouse cider from Taunton.

Thatchers Cider

Have to say I'm generally not a big cider fan but these two are doing really sterling work. Really nice stuff.

Cains - Robert Cain Brewery. Liverpool

Cains - Robert Cain Brewery Liverpool Why would a Scouser drink anything else?

Worrying times. Slowly watching the stock of Cains dwindle at the local ASDA. No Cains Bitter left and, after I'd finished tonight, there was no Cains Lager and only 4 Cains IPAs. A decent amount of Cains FA, 08 and Liverpool Lager left but that ain't going to last for ever.

Will someone come in and buy them soon. PLEASE!

Same old, same old

England 2-2 Czech Republic

***INSERT LAZY NONSENSICAL COMPARISON WITH BRITISH OLYMPICS TEAM HERE***

It's too easy isn't it but...



List of Great British Olympic Medalists

Stuey's song of the day - Echobelly : Close...But

Top marks to YouTuber GraveMaurice for hosting these two :

Echobelly - Close...But

Echobelly - I can't imagine the world with out me

I loved Echobelly back in my studenty musicky days. Ah, so many memories. I hope people like Sonya Aurora Madan realise how much of my grant and dole went on buying their records!

Whilst we are on the subject of girl-lead indie music :

Sleeper - Delicious

Olympic Glory

A few months ago I decided not to blog on the Olympics 'cause of them being in China...I didn't realise how hard our athletes would make this. Their efforts out there have been awesome. Truly fantastic, inspiring stuff.

Hats off to all the "Team GB" Olympians. We are all watching and loving it......just don't let the Chinese government know this! ;)

As this perhaps mischeivous blogger points out it's actually now just less than 4 years until London 2012....it does bode well.

Liverpool awaits La Machine

BBC NEWS | England | Liverpool awaits La Machine

There's a lot of things that have been spot on about the Liverpool 08 Capital of Culture thing...we were just having the last throws of SuperLambBanana mania when rumour started circulating about La Machine doing something that will even top The Sultan's Elephant last year in London...no one is saying much about it apart from the fact that it's going to happen on the 5th, 6th & 7th of September and it's going to be spactacular.

Judging by the website it's going to be something to do with the old Mersey Tunnel...the new report on the BBC said that they'd had to remove the traffic island there. I love this sort of 'event' art so can't wait.

Hope University used in Nigerian scam

Liverpool Hope University used in Nigerian scam

"The name of Liverpool Hope University has been used in an internet scam.

About 15 students in Nigeria have been sent fraudulent degree offer letters purporting to be from Liverpool Hope University.

The bogus educational and scholarship agencies have then asked the applicants for non-refundable acceptance fees.

The university was alerted to the scam when several students got in touch who had paid their fees but not heard anything more about their places."

Now I think that is a terrible story and really shows the terrible situation in the 3rd world. The that these people were desperate enough to go to Hope University in the first place is truly heart-breaking.

No mention of the fact that Hope has been masquerading as a University for years before the Nigerians got onto the scam. ;) :) :P

Everton 2-3 Blackburn. Argh!

Everton 2-3 Blackburn

Absolutely gutted about that but I can't really comment about the game 'cause I was down south at a family do...look at that midfield though. Arteta plus two defenders and a kid. Not strengthening the side during the close-season is little short of dereliction of duty.

With all due respect and even taking injuries into account this is NOT the line-up a top 5 team should be starting the season with :

Howard, Neville, Yobo, Lescott, Nuno Valente (Baxter 78), Arteta, Rodwell, Jagielka, Baines, Osman, Yakubu.
Subs Not Used: Turner, Jutkiewicz, Gosling, Agard, Kissock, Wallace.

I look at the long, long fixture list and dread to think what shape we'll be in by February. We were stretched paper thin last year and we've been reduced even further since then. Really depressing.

Oh it's all gone quiet over there

So we approach the new seasons and I'm feeling pretty rubbish about them. Everton have marked time for 2 months whilst everyone else has strengthened and reports from inside Blundelsands are about as frequent as those from inside Area 51.

It would appear that my two teams are becalmed...not expecting great things from either team this season to be honest. At least in David Moyes and Chris O'Callaghan we have two managers I believe in. Everton especially is a dissappointment...we were ideaally placed to kick on and consolidate after last year. We've lost Johnson, Carsley & Wessels and replaced them with no-one. The youngsters coming throughare a bonus but let's face it, it's a gamble. As for 'loo I just hope we stilled have Pablo's services...we'll just have to see.

Anyway I've done my collated fixture list and the prognosis for a sport filled season is looking good. So far only 3 games clash...there will doubtless be cup games coming into the equation but there'll also be Sky switching games too. There is I notice a fantastic looking double header weekend on my birthday. GET. IN.

As to the prospects for the new season "Bring it on" I say.....just with less enthusiasm than normal. For those of a Royal Blue and Myrtle & Scarlet persuasion there is rough and ready dual fixture list at the bottom of this blog.

Everton and Waterloo fixture list

I am supporting ANYONE who is playing against the Spanish

I am almost speechless about this. My boss, Andy, showerd me it and I assume it was a spoof but it seems kosher....unless I am being dense.

The Spanish Olympic Basketball teamhave posed in full official national kit all making a slitty eyed gesture.



Unbelievable. According to Jose Manuel Calderon "I would like to share a story with you about something that happened with the Spanish National Team that someone interpreted incorrectly. It happened in the photo session where the Spanish National Team was introduced; one of our sponsors asked us to pose with a “wink” to our participation in Beijing, we made an oriental expression with our eyes. We thought it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as somewhat loving. Nevertheless some of the European media did not see it this way.

From here I would like to declare that we have a huge respect for the East and their people, some of my best friends in Toronto are from China and one of our Spanish National Team sponsors is the Chinese brand Li Ning. Anyone who would like to interpret this differently is absolutely confused."

The Spanish just go on amazing me.

Chavasse memorial to be unveiled in Abercromby Square.

Capital of Culture has been good so far...at present we are all going mental trying to see as many SuperLambBananas before they are auctioned off at the end of the month. Gutted I missed the tall ships but duty called.

One of the annoying things about the whole thing however has been that Liverpool One shopping centre being plonked on top of Chavasse Park. God knows how much it's cost and essentially all it's done is moved a load of well established shops 50 yards down the road whilst leaving Church Street feeling distinctly ropey.

On top of this is that a load of concrete commercialism is definitely NOT a fitting replacement for a park named after Noel Chavasse. Double Victoria Cross winners deserve better and at the end of the week the city is going to recitfy this :

"A STATUE commemorating Noel Chavasse, only British winner of the VC and bar, and all of Liverpool’s Victoria Cross recipients, is about to be unveiled.

After three years of fundraising, the statue, by city sculptor Tom Murphy, will be situated in Abercromby Square where the Chavasse family once lived.

The memorial, which depicts Captain Chavasse and a Liverpool Scottish stretcher bearer attending a wounded soldier, will be unveiled in the course of a drumhead service on Sunday, August 17." Read the rest of the report here : City poised to unveil double VC hero statue.

Seriously it's the least this man deserves. Read his Wikipedia page : Noel Godfrey Chavasse VC and Bar MC.

BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | New Everton stadium faces inquiry

BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | New Everton stadium faces inquiry: "Everton Football Club's proposed move to a new stadium out of the city has been called in for a public inquiry.

Government officials announced the decision on the £400m Kirkby development, which also includes a Tesco superstore, on Wednesday evening.

The club previously expressed fears an inquiry would put back the project for up to a year."

Chuffed about that. I genuinely believe that would have killed the club...this isn't bemoaning the fact that it was on the other side of some like on the map of Merseyside. I was just such a paltry, ill-thought out option. I know it was a bargain but would it have helped the club? I really don't think it would have.

Anyway...We are staying in our home for the time being.

Raisin a glass of Cains while you are Able

Pun-tastic title there I'm sure you'll agree.

Gutted that our beloved Cains Brewery is in financial trouble. Not only is it Liverpool's brewery it's absolute quality.

Really, really hope they can sort out the problems. Everyone loves the stuff.

It's even in The Times at present :

The Times top 10 British Beers

"Cains Raisin Beer : An incredible beer, brewed with the addition of Californian raisins. It has some similarities to Pedro Ximinez sherry, with its rich caramel, prune and, of course, raisin flavours. Another reason to get your hands on this beer is that the brewery’s future is currently very uncertain, so sup it while you can."

Check out more of Melissa Cole's beer based musings at here blog (by "beer based musings" I, of course, mean musing about beer rather than drunken rambling....just thought I'd make that clear).

mmmm Rahman

Here's a link to Gordon Ramsay's chilli beef Rahman recipe. I WILL make this one day.

We had so awesome rahman whilst we were over in Japan. Two especially, one in Tokyo with Dave when we first arrived and the other in Nagoya.

Dave took us to a place in a Tokyo shopping centre and the soup there was so nice...it had a gorgeous oily broiled sauce in it...the other one was recomended in the Lonely Planet and was basically just mince and chilli. It was gorgeous but massively spicy...reminiscent of my first time eating Tom Yam soup "This is gorgeous. I want to eat more of this but if I do I'll die".

Anyway I'd love to perfect my own rahman recipe. Spicy noodle soup and beer, a winning combination!

Ida Maria Live From Leicester Square - Xfm

Ida Maria Live From Leicester Square - Xfm

Ida Maria has been getting top marks off us recently just for here glorious messy under-produced old skool indie brilliance however the cover version of the Violent Femmes Blister in the Sun is deffo worth a look...or check out the original here : Blister in the sun

All quiet on the signing front

Now seems as good a time as any to bring Things & Stuff out of it's post Euros hibernation. It has to be said I'd hoped there'd be lots of Everton signings to get excited about...nope. Nothing to report really apart from the perplexing and slightly worrying departure of Andy Johnson. We'll see how good Yakubu looks without AJ's darting runs taking defenders away.

The only enternainment has been Nartin O'Neill's brilliant rebuffing you-know-who's attempts to land Gareth Barry. Seeing them publicly bleating about the price of the player they've just tapped up is fantastic. Pity more of us "small clubs" don't dig our feet in when the arrogant top four cartel try to cherry pick any player who gets into the England team.

Everton do need to bring in a central midfielder to replace Carsley...without that we may as well just give up. It's heartening to see Rodwell, Gosling, Yutkevicz(?) and Baxter doing well in pre-season but you can't just rely on them stepping up. You need experience in positions like central midfield and centre-forward. Youthfull exhuberance will only take you so far.

Interesting the Wyness has decided to jump ship. He divided Evertonians straight down the middle. You either love him or loathe him. In fairness Everton will look great on his CV, he came in in the wake of Trevor Birch leaving and has been in the position for a period of massively improved stability. The glaring bad points on the record will be the sour taste left over the Kirkby stadium move and the utterly pitiful state Everton's outsourced merchandising seems to be in at the moment. You try and get an Everton scarf in town. JJB seem to treat Everton as an inconvenient afterthought in it's Liverpool shops, God knows what it must be like in the rest of the country. I know we aren't particularly fashionable but when it's easier to find Celtic, Chelsea and Sunderland shirts in Liverpool than Everton ones you have to assume that the rest of the country must be utterly royal blue free.

Odd, odd occurences

It's very rare that I arrive at work and find about a 100 world war one soldiers milling round the car park....very unusual indeed.

A brief investigation (Ie a rumour flying round the building) is that it's something to do with Wayne Rooney and a Hovis advert. We'll see.

Anyway it'll be an interesting SEO experiment to see if this page suddenly get's a load of hits when the add (if indeed it exists) hits people's screens.

hard work

I'm still recovering from my week in Lourdes so I can't see this being a particularly interesting post. My fatigue wasn't helped by having a 18 hour stag do oddysey to deal with the day after travelling up from the south of France by train and plane.

Still, nice to know I can still pull my tripe out when required.

Lourdes (my "Voluntary work" in "The South of France" was great, hard work but great. Fantastic bunch of people to work with. The Esplanade team just seems to get better and better each year. Nothing is too much trouble for anyone and the hard work, planning and common sense that goes into it shines through. I am not blowing my own trumpet, I'm just the minorest of minor parts but it such a great thing to be involved with. It's great that everyone descends on France for their week (1,500 for Liverpool this year)...seeing people you've not seen for, well, 51 weeks. Working hard and having a drink in the evening. Can't say enough good things about it and to thank everyone individually would only embarress people.

My lack of linguistic ability got criminally exposed by a French family we had dinner with....really must do more to learn languages when I go to places. One of the lads we work with held a conversation with one of the sisters we were talking to in no less than 4 languages....all this whilst I sat there with my basic GCSE French "Jai voudrais un bier sil vous plait" & "Je suis tres fatigue" is not good enough really. Merci Helene, Evelyna et Eric pour les lessons Francais(? Hope that's right).

Our Saturday after I got back I was up and out at 8am and down to Nottingham to go White Water Rafting at the National Watersports Centre. This was FANTASTIC. Recomend it to anyone....just remember to apply lots of sun cream. My shoulders are still red and painful.

Anyone fancy a pint

Anyone fancy a pint

Google Street Maps : Lourdes, France

Off to Lourdes in a few weeks, Google Maps has put some street level mapping on for the Tour e France....looks like they are going right past the Jeane D'Arc, The Carre Four, The St Frai hospital, The entrace to the shrines and finally off past the abri (where I'll be staying). It is really useful though...it'll help me find my turning as I walk down from the station. Brilliant stuff....long overdue. Hopefully they can get the UK mapped soon.

Blast from the past

Found an old Bellatrix song on a compilation...still made me smile. They were a great band. Spiky, punk, sexy, weird & fun....what mroe can you want.

Also on the CD was Santa Poca's Dream by short-lived Kenickie phoenix band Rosita...perhaps the perfect indie-pop song. I think I'll dig out my Kenickie cds.

Those were the days.

Unfortunately for Bellatrix their place in history seems to have been elbowed into the sidelines by a Harry Potter character. Still at least one nostalgic indie fan is walking round Liverpool singing JediWannabe in their honour.

"We must perform a Quirkafleeg" Wow, at last an explanation

At long last I've found an explanation behind the phrase "We must perform a Quirkafleeg" (and indeed "We must peform a quirkafleeg" too).

Many, many thanks to Russ and Em, the authors of this fine website. A little bit of my childhood now makes a little bit more sense (will kind of).

Just out of interest

Why is it that Liverpool and Gareth Barry are demanding Villa "Get real" over them digging their heals in over their £20m valuation of their England international whilst it's okay for his potential new employers to sit back and demand £15m and £18m for two players who aren't even getting near the team.

Is it something to do with Villa not being a Champions League team and therefore almost obliged to meekly stand aside and give away their asset. The grubby arrogance of Barry, Benitez et al is appalling.

When you look at the way the likes of Barry, Bentley etc go around whoring themselves in order to line their own pockets (under the guise of them 'needing' Champions League football) and the way richer clubs just blatantly go around tapping up the best players from any team that gets near them makes you so disillusioned. Modern football really does make you sick sometimes.

Thank God we've got a good, honest footy festival going on in Austria and Switzerland. Last nights game was another enjoyable one...Turkey took Germany to the cleaners. How the Germans got through that game was beyond me (although saying that they really should have had a penalty in the second half). It was all strangely predictable once Rustu had his moment of madness...Even when Semih was shushing the crowd after he'd made it 2-2 you could still see the inevitable happening...this was, after all, the Germans. The main thing to come from the night was how ace the BBC are, the feed went down from the central broadcast point Austria after huge thunderstorm hit Vienna...the BBC managed to keep us in touch and then must have got a feed direct for Switzerland and put the 5live commentary over it. Top stuff

So German v Spain or Russia....very interesting.

post Quarter final round-up

I have to say this European Championship has been great fun so far...here we are at the semi-final stage and there has only been a couple of bad games. One of them was Italy V Spain. Italy smothered the Spanish by playing classic catanacio football and unfortunately their only outlet we Toni...who looked like, as my mate Andy Redfern said, "a poor man's Brett Angel". I am chuffed for Fabregas, stepping up to take the deciding penalty when you've never taken a spot-kick before in your life took real guts...I am just a bit gutted every time that vile racist Aragonnes win a game.

The Russians are the team everyone is talking about now...they look a completley different side with Arshavin in it. The Dutch never got going against them. The likes of Kuyt, van der Vaart and Van Nistlerooy looked totally different players. Such a shame 'cause our mate Joost had made the trip to Basle to see the game.

I am hoping Germany win now...puerly 'cause their players have the coolest names. It's a brave man who write off Turkey though.

Everton announcement pre-season

My mates Diana and Sarah over in Chicago have been jumping for joy about the Chicago fixture for a couple of weeks now but the rest of Everton's pre-season has been announced and it looks pretty good :

Everton will kick off their pre-season programme with an away game at one of manager David Moyes' old clubs Cambridge United on 19 July.

They will then face another, Preston, at Deepdale on 22 July, and Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on 25 July.

The highlight will be the two games in America against Chicago Fire (30 July) and Colorado Rapids (3 August).

Everton will play their final warm-up match against Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven at Goodison Park on 9 August.

Euro 2008 : Round 2 rankings

Holland - Rode their luck but they were once again awesome.
Portugal - Not been troubled yet but not really firing
Spain - Made to work hard by Sweden...compacent?
Germany - Hit the wall...suddenly looked very frail and average.
Italy - Seriously underperformed and in the end they are lucky to still be in the tournament
Croatia - Superb performance against the Germans. Showed they mean business
Sweden - Looked bright against one of the favourites...they are could well qualify
Turkey - Awkward customers but definitely second best to Portugal
Russia - Again, you can't judge team on their performance against Greece...the last game against Sweden will be very interesting
Czech Republic - Largely matched Portugal but somehow don't look upto it.
Romania - Massive improvement...Classic smash & grab against the Italians
Austria - Naive...should have been out of sight of Poland but once they'd wasted those chances you know what was coming.
France - Nowhere near as bad as the scoreline suggests. Ribery played brilliantly
Poland - Were made to look ordinary by a naive Austria side...can't complain about the penalty.
Greece - 4 years out of date.
Switzerland - Plucky and enthusiastic...still. Not upto it though

My song of the day

Thing I've done this one before but what the heck.

Here Comes your Man by The Pixes

outside there's a box car waiting
outside the family stew
out by the fire breathing
outside we wait 'til face turns blue
i know the nervous walking
i know the dirty beard hangs
out by the box car waiting
take me away to nowhere plains
there is a wait so long
here comes your man

big shake on the box car moving
big shake to the land that's falling down
is a wind makes a palm stop blowing
a big, big stone fall and break my crown
there is a wait so long
you'll never wait so long
here comes your man
there is a wait so long
you'll never wait so long
here comes your man

Where's the catch....surely there must be a catch

Tory becomes my new hero....I feel dirty.

David Davis resigns over the 42 day detention

Shadow home secretary David Davis has resigned as an MP.

He is to force a by-election in his Haltemprice and Howden constituency which he will fight on the issue of the new 42-day terror detention limit.

Mr Davis, 59, told reporters outside the House of Commons he believed his move was a "noble endeavour" to stop the erosion of British civil liberties.

He is one of the best-known opposition MPs and his resignation came as a complete surprise in Westminster.

Stuey's Euro 2008 rankings

Here is my thinkings after the round of games :

Germany - Looked very comfortable against Poland, and looked like they had a lot more in the locker
Holland - Rode their luck but put in a fantastic shift against Italians
Spain - Dismissed the Russians once they found their feet but in the first half they weren't firing on all cylinders
Portugal - Were easy winners against a limited Turkey side
Italy - Had a nightmare night against the Dtuch but still looked good
Switzerland - Plucky and enthusiastic.
Sweden - Looked lame against a dogged Greece side until they scored an absolute pearler
Turkey - Awkward customers but definitely second best to Portugal
Russia - Difficult to judge...they kept up with Spain for 45 minutes but faded badly
Czech Republic - Difficult to judge...given problems by the lowest ranked team in the tournament
Austria - A lot better than people were giving them credit. Unlucky to lose
Croatia - Were given plenty of problems by Austria. Dissappointing
Poland - Looked very limited it has to be said
Greece - 4 years out of date?
France - Come on, at least give it go
Romania - Not a lot to judge them on. Might well have been batoning down the hatches hoping to hit the Dutch on an off night

Lost property

Love this story from the BBC : War veteran reunited with watch after 67 years

"A former Royal Navy Lieutenant has been reunited with the watch he lost during the Second World War.

Teddy Bacon, 89, of Tarvin, Cheshire, lost his Swiss Bulova watch while throwing a line from HMS Repulse to Gibraltar Harbour in 1941.

He left his name and address with the harbour master but expected to never see it again.

Mr Bacon said he was "amazed" when he received a parcel with a Gibraltar postcode and his watch inside.

"I told my wife, you unpack it, and you will find out it isn't a present for you," he said.

"Then out came my watch complete with everything, exactly as it had been when it disappeared.

"It's exciting to have an old friend, I won't lose it again."

The watch, which he was told had been underwater in mud, is still working and telling the time perfectly.

Mr Bacon added: "Remembering what my father said, nothing is lost until you are certain it's left the planet.

"Well it didn't leave the planet, it's back."

Hup Oranje!

Netherlands 3-0 Italy

That was such a good game...The Dutch were superb and to be honest the Italians looked pretty impressive too. The two Dutch counter-attacks were breathtaking but when you look at it if you take the offside first goal out of the equation all you have is two moments were the Italians came within a whisker of scoring and 20 seconds later they'd conceded. Enjoyed every second of it.

Euro 2008 Day three

So onto day three of the European Championships....with the home nations not being in it there is defintely less media coverage. This means it's tricker for the early kick-offs 'cause I need to live match updates.

Worry not though 'cause UEFA.org has one :

UEFA.org Euro 2008 live match updates

and it looks like Sky do too :

Sky Sports Live Euro 2008 updates

as do the ever reliable Times

Euro 2008 Match centre - live scores

The beeb are doing live match centres as well as their ever popular virtual replays.

France v Romania is good but Netherlands v Italy is a "cancel everything" sort of fixture can't wait.

"Hup Holland Hup laat de Leeuw niet in zijn hemple steen"

Saturday amblings

Did some pubbing and ambling about yesterday after missing out on the Klimt Exhibition and the HMS Ark Royal's open day. Both are massive popular and over-subscribed...the queue to go onto the Ark Royal was 3 hours long and on top of that there were 1000s of people milling around just to have a look at it (It was a really impressive site). So after that we looked around St Nicholas' Church opposite the Liver Buildings and then watched the Lord Mayor's parade (complete with an awesome samba band). Also had some nice beer at Ma Boyles & Thomas Rigby's.....then off home to get settled in for the start of the Euros. Decent day all round really. Thought Switzerland were unlucky not to get a draw against the Czechs but it would have been a travesty had Portugal not beaten Turkey.

Giving him the business

Now this is refereeing :



"He was giving him the business"

Noticed in the news this morning that Jagielka's England cap may be taken off him 'cause FIFA are now disavowing all knowledge of the much reported special permission they gave to allow 7 substitutions in the Trinidad game. Ridiculous stuff.



Away from England I see that pictures are out of the new 2009/2008 Everton kit. Not sure about it yet...don't like that thingamy on the back.

Everton are the Champions

How great does it feel to type that!

CD Everton, Everton's South American offspring have just won their league. Congratulations Ruleteros!

Evertonian gets the Anfield rocking

Okey dokey...no sour grapes here, the Paul McCartney gig at Anfield sounded immense. Didn't go due to not getting round to applying for tickets. Hmm, was sitting there on Sunday a bit gutted about it all. Still lots of my mates went and had a good bit of text message banter with Flynny about the relative merits of concrete and wooden stadia.

For us non-gig attenders there was recompense though...Oh yes. Ray Mears interviewed THE Bush Tucker Man. Oh the nostalgia!!!!! (Although his standing was somewhat tainted whilst I was in Oz by a distant relative of ours telling air-conditioned catering vans and the great man himself getting stuck in a ditch. However the nostalgia value alone was worth sitting in for. After all that was done we watched England play a plucky Trinidad & Tobago team who might have done better if they didn't have the worst defenders on God's green earth. It was embarrassing really. It was, however, great to see Phil Jagielka get an England cap. Jags had a ropey start this season but once he found his feet he was immense.

With all that over and done with we settle down to look forward to the big European Championships kick-off on Saturday. Inbetween then and now we have the long awaited (if google analytics is anything to go by) revealing of the next season's Everton shirt and then the attention is solely focused on Austria and Switzerland. This should be a great tournament. One for the real footy fan...not a lame footy themed Argos advert or loud, replica shirt wearing biennial England supporter in site....No hype, no hysteria, no band-wagon....Euro 2008 : if you love the game, get into it and enjoy.