Ch ch ch changes.

I have scrapped the message board, I think it was a crap idea, there's enough writing on here. So, I've replaced it with a guest map, you can now stick your pin in the map and leave me a message. As promised I've added a photographs page, just some snaps of the local area using my digital camera. I will add to it as time passes. Oh, and I have added a f.a.q page.

New poll.

I've just added a new poll, it's based loosely on a conversation I had a little while ago. I'll post my thought on the subject after the vote is finished, but that doesn't stop you sticking your two-penny worth in the little box below.

Cross country.

Just got back from Newcastle, I got some blue things and a round glass thing, and Tracy got some long things and some soft squishy things. I asked a bloke in a shop how much something was, only he didn't work there. He seemed a little put out because I though he looked like he was at work.....well he did have a blue shirt on with his keys attached to his belt ! Anyway, time for some Chinese food and some German beer. I might find time to test my round glass thing later, stranger things have happened.

I am, among other things.....

A happy Prozac page.
Dedicated to providing solutions.
The author of over 200 highly acclaimed science books.
A sophisticated multipurpose simulator.
The perfect foil.
About "being alive" and learning how to live - not die.
A free swinger.
Missing in a layer of the Abyss.
A contemporary singer songwriter.
So simple and so small in fact that it could be built to fill up less space than a grocery-store box; about four cubic feet.
Done.

The box [1].

A sudden drop in temperature shook Gary from his reverie; a cold breeze investigated his bare ankles and then moved on. "Shut the fucking door" he shouted, but the last word trailed off as he remembered he was alone in the house and had been these last six weeks since his wife had left him and taken the kids with her. Gary had been staring at a small cardboard box for hours, trying to decide what to do, but now as he closed the kitchen window it all seemed clear. He pulled his cardigan tighter around himself and headed back to the warmth of the living room and a half-finished bottle of cheep gin.

Sitting in front of the fire half an hour later everything was in focus, it was like an epiphany, he had awoken from a dream and had just been going through the motions for the last ten years. Such clarity of thought was rare for Gary and he decided he was going to make the most of it, plan now whilst things were so clear, measure twice and cut once was the order of the day, no mistakes and certainly no second chances. He stared at the box again, after finishing the rest of the bottle it didn't take long for the reverie to take hold again, his lips felt fat and he drifted far away, but this time the box went with him.

The tyranny of numbers.

My life is ruled by a concept so abstract it is sometimes mind-boggling. Time is my jailer, wrapping me in chronological chains, easing me forward with it's sweeping fingers. The continuous passage of my existence is split into countless divisions, pigeon-holing every individual aspect of my life. The clock has become my bible, oracle and mantra, it has become the shackle that tethers me to society and keeps me from following my own path. I want to live out of time, remove the framework of those twelve dictators and escape the tyranny of numbers.

Oh ! right....

sorry, I was miles away.

On the beach.

Last night, after we had eaten, we went for a nice leisurely stroll on the beach (being careful to avoid the accumulated excrement of a large portion of the local dog population). In this part of the world it doesn't go completely dark until about ten thirty, so by nine o' clock it was just dusk, and the sun was throwing all manner of light and colour at the sea. There's something primal about standing on the boundary between the land and the water, you can imagine the same feelings of helplessness in our distant ancestors as they stood and gazed in awe at it's relentlessness and permanence. Like the night sky, the sea fosters a feeling of insignificance in me, and makes me realise how short a time we have here, the blink of an eye in which to make our mark, a cosmic heartbeat to leave our footprint for future generations to stand in. As always it takes something innately human to bring me crashing back down to earth. Before Thatcher ripped the heart from the manufacturing industry in this country, Workington had a thriving steel industry as well as coal mining and a host of others now gone. When these industries went to the wall, along with the people that were discarded, the accumulated detritus from these old workings and factories was dumped unceremoniously on the surrounding beaches. On Harrington beach there is what looks like a very large lump of once molten iron, hereto known as the "slag". It looks like it was poured from a very large cup, onto the rocks, swallowing everything it touched. Logs and parts of an old trammel can be seen sticking out of the slag, along with iron bars, bricks, lumps of coal and all manner of ceramic shards. In comparison to the neat re-developed sites of the old coal mines (incidentally now owned by ex Tory ministers) the slag is a sharp reminder of the area's past,. I wish I could say it was an eye sore but I can't, it reminds me of the industrial heartland of the country where I'm originally from, an echo of home right there on the beach. Last night as I looked at it's oily rainbow sheen, I wondered about years to come, when it has eroded more and become an integral part of the scenery, and I wondered what future generation will make of it, and will they know that I stood there.

The return of the dirty look.

Nearly nineteen years ago when Tracy was in hospital after the birth of the tax dodger, the rest of the women in the ward were nice...until they found out how old she was, then they stopped talking to her. That was just the start, you could see people working out the maths, just before they looked down their nose at you. It did get a little easier as he we all got older, but it was still there even up to a couple of years ago. I have to admit that it's never really bothered me, in fact sometimes it was quite amusing. When the tax dodger left for uni' last September it simply wasn't there anymore, one less thing to think about.......or was it ? Recently I have noticed people looking at us with the same quizzical expression on their face, they see us in our little sports car, music blasting out, and you can see them thinking "why haven't you got any kids yet" and this time it's pissing me off. So , today we went out in our little blue sports car with our music blasting out, and when we encountered these thirty-something, career orientated, Volvo driving fuckers we just pointed and laughed, it made us feel better. I think it's going to become a sort of pastime, our little retort to all those fuckers who didn't have the balls to come out and say it to our faces.

New stuff.

I've just added a new poem, The Fall by Fergus Allen. I've also added a bio page to compliment the 100 things page, just some background info for those who need it.

Turkey and Turnip.

Turkey are through to the world cup semi final, a brave substitution by Senol Gunes got them the golden goal that assured their place in next Wednesday's semi final against Brazil. Just after the substitution, Graham Taylor who was co-commentating on the game, again justified his failed substitution of Gary Lineaker against Sweden in 1992. It just illustrates so well that these decisions can make or break a manager. Ten years later he is still appologising for a decision that cost England dearly, and cost Lineaker a place in the record books. In ten years time Senol Gunes may well be reliving the time when his team exceeded all expectations. Personally I think Brazil will win the competition, but I would like to see South Korea go all the way.

pachyderms and adjectives.

Jesus ! what was I thinking ? fuck the google challenge........

[this post was edited in the cold light of day]

A few years ago the Mac lads (a group from Macclesfield) did a song called “beer and sex and chips and gravy” it summed up their lives, and the lives of a few of the people who paid good money for the cd. I have been pondering what four words would sum up my life. I’ll get back to you on that, but feel free to sum up your life in four words, not forgetting the three and’s. Just stick them in the comment box.

Fuck

Fuckety fuck !!

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter P.

Perugia petulant ? perhaps ! Personally poetry pleases. Piss poor post ? Purple pants……Peter Piper, pah !

Back in the saddle.

After exactly a month off work I finally went back last night, just eight hours though…..to ease me back in gently. I wont miss the quarter final, I’ll stay up and watch it, then sleep later. Hopefully I will be on nights next week as well, so the semi’s are safe. Oh no….I’m tempting fate, I’ll shut up now !

I have just added links to two new sites in my weekly reads, "tagline", a movie blog which makes me laugh, and "synearth", a news site that makes me go "hmmmm". I think you will like them both.

Yesterday we went to a continental market, it’s on a tour of Cumbria and well worth a visit if it comes to your neck of the woods. We got some Fig jam, which we have had for breakfast with continental bread and coffee. Among other things we got; something tasty, a blue thing, something soft, and some runny things. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anything with a pointy end !

Nostradamus, Pele, and Soccer !

It seems the old french git was a little wide of the mark with his England v Italy cup final prediction. It makes you wonder what else he has got wrong.

Whilst Nosradamus has been fucking things up from beyond the grave, Pele has been telling us men that it's ok to talk about our erections.......or lack of them presumably! The bit that made me laugh was his closing words in the ad', after telling us it's ok to blab, he utters the classic "I would". Obviously implying that he doesn't have any problem in the hydraulic department.

The yanks have progressed to the last eight of the world cup, but it's still blatantly obvious to everyone that back home the rest of their nation hasn't the foggiest idea what all the fuss is about.

Pundit schmundit.

I am sick of the amassed forces of TV punditry extolling the virtues of the Brazilian style of football. Today the Brazilian team looked decidedly shaky at the back, and more than one pundit spouted the age old cliché that Brazil operate a “we’ll score more than you” tactic. These are the very people that vilified Kevin Keegan for operating the same system with the England team. Brazil are obviously better at it than England were, but you can’t achieve world dominance overnight. Kev’ eventually buckled under the pressure, and England’s loss is City’s gain. The top teams in the premier league have used a similar approach to football over the past couple of seasons and it worked ok for them, the pattern being that they all took some time to get it just right. Let’s hope that Brazil play as poorly on Friday as they did today, then maybe we will score more than them ! Then we will see what Venables et al have to say on the subject…..COME ON ENGLAND !!!

I must be really bored !

via [crazy beautiful]

Blast from the past.

I was just hopping from blog to blog, and someone had signed off with the legend "see you on the flip side". It hit me like a train, a memory so vivid it was frightening. I was about thirteen or fourteen, sitting in my bedroom trying desperately to find some nudity on the three channels that were available on my black and white telly back then. I found a program that would have been classed as drama, but I was riveted.....and I have never thought about it since. The program was "The flipside of Dominic Hyde". I'm on a mission now, I must find out about this memory. Does anyone else remember it ? Time travel was involved, and the punch line to the whole thing was that he was his own grand father ! A blast from the past in the truest sense of the word.

Wash out.

The lions day party suffered from heavy rain and extra time and penalties. It pissed down while I watched a very brave and determined Republic of Ireland team get knocked out of the world cup, after looking like they would overcome the odds yet again, but it wasn't to be. Mick McCarthy has come out of the world cup with his dignity and reputation intact.......I don't think the same can be said for the man that missed out. We have just got back from having a very nice meal, and now I'm going to chill out and try a drop of brandy.

Part two !

This time I want you to tell me the name of a certain dog. To find the name you will have to navigate through several web pages, weblogs, and also some internet searches. The first part of the puzzle is to find the missing link from the url below, and for this you have to solve a cryptic clue:


No medicine for swollen glands in backward country.


Insert the answer into the following url:
http://www.pravda88.freeserve.co.uk/.html

Party and puzzle

It's Lions day in Harrington tomorrow, they are setting up the fun fair as I type this. There will be beer tents, and other things that I can't quite remember, a good time will be had by all. Let's hope the weather stays nice. Tomorrow is also fathers day, my card from the tax dodger arrived this morning....he must want something, it's usually three days late or non existent.

I have nearly finished the clues to part two of the puzzle, this one should be a little harder, I hope to post it sometime tonight. I'm still working on the prize also, but that can wait.....it will be more of a mystery !

Present imperfect.

Disregarding any miracles of modern science, if you are reading this within a couple of days of me posting it, then you probably wont see the next century. I know it’s a sobering thought, and probably a little morbid, but I need to set the mood. Do you ever think that you were born far too early ? I do, and it pisses me off big style. All the things we are going to miss, scientific discoveries, technological advances, and a host of others good and bad. I’m sure those of you that have vivid imaginations can envisage some amazing things, but it doesn’t come close to knowing the way things will be. Remember the seventies idea of now ? they were way off the mark, all white rounded plastic, sterile and clean. Our idea of the next century will be equally way off the mark. You have probably guessed that I have been watching science fiction movies, they always do this to me, from the time I read “time machine”. We have just watched a film about Mars starring Val Kilmer and that woman out of Matrix, not a great film, but it had some good ideas. In the film Val is the first man to walk on Mars, now considering what Neil Armstrong said when he set foot on the moon, Val had a lot to live up to…So what were his words of wisdom as he became the first human being to step on another planet ? What philosophical pearl did he leave for history ? He said…….."ugh !" I could have done better than that. What would you say ?

Pop up ad’s.

Are they doing your head in ? I’ve got a link to a couple of pop up killers, the only downside is that comment boxes are classed as pop ups, so you may have to keep turning it on and off. Oh, by the way, who is your preferred movie tough guy ? New poll active from today.

Changes and mushroom clouds.

I’ve been arsing about with the layout again, I suppose it will never be finished….a bit like painting the forth bridge. Still no takers on the puzzle ! The clues are there if you look deeply enough.

One of the nuclear trains from our local power plant trundled past at quarter past eight, bang on time. If a dedicated terrorist wanted to hijack one of these babies all he would need to do is have his henchman park his helicopter near our train station, and bingo….bomb juice ! Or maybe if he asked nicely, Mr. Straw would sell him some. Talking of nuclear devastation, the theme tune to the BBC's world cup program is a re-working of "Kashmir" an old Led Zepp’ tune……do you think the BBC are trying to tip us off about India and Pakistan ? Perhaps president fuck-fuck has contacts in Cumbria !

Forum.

I have added a message board, please feel free to use it at your leisure. You can post on any subject you want to....it's a little more versatile than the comments box, and easier to navigate. I hope you find some use for it !

Fixture list.

Next season's fixture list is out ! City have got a tough month, starting with Leeds away, then Newcastle at home. The two big ones are November the 8th at home and February the 9th away. I'm nervous already.......

Nostradamus backs England.

The old French prophet has foreseen England beating Italy in the world cup final ! He makes reference to David Beckham, Japan, the world cup itself, France the holders, Italy the finalists, and making reparation for losing in France four years ago.

The young lion will lead his nation to the east;
The chalice will be lifted to many lips.
Once the property of Gaul and coveted by Rome,
He corrects the fault of his predecessor.

It’s a dead cert ! get yourself down to the bookies and have a flutter, the price has already dropped from 7/1 to 11/2 and it will carry on dropping after Saturday.

Reality television ?


The most noteworthy thing to happen in the newest version of Big Brother took place last night. Channel 4 decided against broadcasting it, instead they showed film of the housemates sleeping. I have made a point of not watching this series, and I'm pleased I haven't wasted my time.......Someone escaping would have been good tv, and worth tuning in for, but channel 4 obviously have a different definition of reality to mine. Maybe we should make sure that the news doesn’t give us the real picture of world events, and instead puts a different slant on things, we need to be protected from the “truth”…….Oh, hang on a minute, they already do that !

New stuff.

I am going to add a questionnaire section somewhere in the column on your right. The first one is to determine whether you are a student or not. You may not even know that you are afflicted, I urge you to get tested !

More will be added as time passes, you the reader could add ones of your own if you wish, just e-mail them here and I will stick them up.

Better late than never.

We went to see Attack of the clones, I enjoyed it more than Phantom menace....I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't had the time to see it yet, but one bit really made me laugh. Time machine or Spiderman next.

Typical Sunday.

Nothing much has happened, Tyson was gracious in defeat...there's a turn up for the books ! I overslept and missed the football, I don't think I missed much. Went for a walk on the beach after tea (mmmmm steak pie), the sea air is tiring. I'm going to watch the end of "thirteenth warrior" then have a couple of drinks.

Front men update.

Instead of having an all time top 5 every week, I've decided to put a poll on here. I'll try and put a new one up every week, so if you have any burning questions for the rest of the visitors to this site and can't be arsed asking them yourself, post them in the comments box and I'll make a list.

Is your name Bond ?

Hidden within this weblog is a coded message, and two clues. Solve the puzzle and you will be able to answer this question: Do I keep a record, or running tallies ? When you have the answer, post it in the comments box of the most recent post. Please include a letter of the alphabet, you'll know which one. There will be an original piece of Pravda88 artwork for the winner. (not that it's worth anything....yet).

What goes around !

After yesterdays memorable victory against Argentina, the losing side were less than graceful in defeat, they verbally abused the England players, after refusing the customary swapping of shirts. The manager refused to acknowledge that England played well, instead blamed the defeat on their poor performance. He had released his team selection two days before the game, this is seen as disrespectful…….it’s like saying “I don’t care who you pick, or which system you play, we will win”. I think it’s time we told them exactly what we think. Gabriel Batistuta has a guestbook, unfortunately it’s already full. Maradona’s however isn’t. Hand of god my arse !

I am a green chilli.

Not literally I hasten to add, the geezer in our local curry shop told me that my surname means green chilli in his language ! I have no idea which language that is, he was too busy laughing to tell me…….or too busy laughing at me to say. I suppose if we went to live in Asia and we met a man called Mr. Cauliflower then we may find it mildly amusing. At least it cheered him up, on a day when the England fans were out in number and drunk since before dinner, he probably needed all the laughs he could get. The curry was top notch as well, which was a bonus.

I have got a bottle of Brandy to finish off, New Statesman and webuser to read, but before I do that I have time for a little more surfing.

Lions roar and Jocks bore.

What a fantastic performance, England out classed the favourites to win the world cup in every department, and it more than made up for that night in St Etiene four years ago. We now need only a draw against Nigeria to progress to the next round. COME ON ENGLAND !!!

No world cup comments today, I was too engrossed in the match to take any notice of Motty, although Hansen is pissing me off, he constantly interupts the other guests with his "I'm going to argue with you just for the sake of it" tactic.....I wish Lineaker would tell him, live on air, " look you whinning scotch twat, you didn't qualify so take your point of view and your twatty accent and fuck right off". Now that would be quality television.

Cometh the hour, cometh the ad.

Advertising on the internet is getting ridiculous, one of the message boards I use regularly has recently taken to forcing multiple pop-up ads on me every time a view or refresh a page. The new ad craze are the ones that seem to float over the text on the page, obscuring everything until the ad has got it’s message across. This seems a bit silly on a message board, the one in question has alienated a large number of it’s loyal patrons over a period of only a couple of days. The internet needs to evolve to a more independent entity. I know that sounds a bit rich from someone with a blogspot weblog, but take a look at the top of this page, there is the pay-off, they are getting something out of it, and to be fair blogspot don’t take the piss…….yet ! It’s a symbiotic relationship, I get access to a publishing tool designed for monkeys, and they get access to between forty and seventy readers per day. It seems to me that once big business gets involved in something, it’s days are numbered. Lets hope weblogs aren’t seen as a potential money spinner by the marketing managers of the world.

World cup comments [5]

Denmark v Senegal.
Joe Royle: “It’s slow, slow, slow slow slow”.

Cameroon v Saudi Arabia.
Guy Mowbray, on goalkeepers: “I think they’re all mad, but we’ll call them eccentric”.

France v Uruguay.
Barry Davis, on Dario Silva: “The expression, cry baby, comes to mind”.
Gary Lineaker: “Could it be time for Zidane, Zee desperate Dan ?”.
Barry Davis also waffled about the rings of Saturn just prior to kick-off, but I didn’t catch it all………anybody ?

Nocturnal emissions.

One for the conspiracy theorists amongst you, via [something]. One for those of you who need to know, via [recreational chemistry]. And finally, one for the animal lovers among you, via [minutiae].

The grassy knoll, chicken legs, and fire.

They say that people who were around in 1963 can remember where they were when JFK was shot. I was still three years from my grand entrance at sunny Ashton under Lyne general hospital. I can, however, remember exactly where I was when the chemical plant I worked at exploded. I was sat in the lab brew room eating a chicken leg, it was the only place I could get some peace and quiet. I had almost finished a particularly plump, barbequed drumstick and was about to wash it down with a cup of steaming coffee when all hell broke loose. Now I’m not one of those people who enjoys a good skive, but some do, and a good electrical storm can provide an afternoon of downtime in the chemical industry, but what happened that sunny Sunday afternoon was a little drastic to say the least. Our descent into hell was caused by a bolt of lightening striking, with unerring accuracy, a vessel which contained a chemical that doesn’t get on well with sources of ignition. Suffice it to say that there was a fucking large bang, followed by an unmistakable roar of an extremely big fire. I took my chicken leg with me, my secret shame is out ! At this point things get a little blurry, I remember thinking, as I watched someone hit the fire alarm, anyone who didn’t hear that is either profoundly deaf or in orbit as a result of the explosion. It never ceases to amaze me that when you expose someone to a stressful situation all logic is removed and replaced with an all-consuming desire to get away from the fucking big fire. At some point during the blurry bit me and my chicken leg parted company, and the next thing I know, I’m standing on the road outside, directing traffic away from the growing cloud of noxious black smoke, that was making it’s way leisurely toward the canal. Anyway, the fire brigade turned up and very efficiently extinguished the fire, OK it wasn’t really that easy, but I don’t want to get anyone into trouble, or be sued for liable. The main thing is there was no one hurt, the insurance paid up and everyone went back to work. But I never did find out what happened to my chicken leg ! I learned a valuable lesson that day, check the weather forecast before you go to work, if it forecasts thunder and lightening make sure you finish your dinner before the sparks start to fly.

World cup comments [4]

USA v Portugal.
Barry Davis: "Eddie Pope plays for DC United, in the American major soccer league, a highly questionable definition of the word major".

Six clicks from captain Kirk.

I don’t know if you are familiar with this, but a few years ago there was this thing called “six degrees of separation”. The idea being, that you are only six handshakes away from the president of the USA. For example: You shake hands with your company director at your office party, he shakes hands with a mafia crime lord during his normal day-to-day activities, the Don shakes hands with his CIA contact after his de-briefing, the CIA man shakes hands with the senator he is blackmailing, who in turn shakes hands with the hooker he just used, and the hooker shakes the hand of El Presidente after a tour of the oval office….you get the idea ! Anyway it spawned, among others, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon. The premise is the same, but you link two actors or actresses to each other via the films they have starred in alongside Mr Bacon. For example, Demi Moore and Meryl Streep: Demi Moore starred in “A few good men” with Kev’, who starred in “The river wild” with Meryl Streep. So I did that in one degree !

I have been trying this recently with weblogs, I have tried to avoid web rings and instead just followed random links in peoples daily reads. Yesterday I ended up at William Shatners personal weblog, and I thought it would be interesting to see where other people ended up. So, if you can be arsed, have a hop around the world in six clicks, see where you end up, then come back here and post the link in the comments box……Happy hopping !

World cup comments [3]

China v Costa Rica.
Trevor Steven: "well, I don't think Brazil will be quaking in their boots".

Japan v Belgium.
Clive Tyldesley: "who is that masked man ?".

S. Korea v Poland.
Joe Royle, on a nasty groin injury: "don't rub 'em, count 'em".

All time top 5 [2]

What are your all time top 5 books ? Mine are:

1. Perdido Street Station - China Meiville.
2. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck.
3. On the Road - Jack Kerouac.
4. Germinal - Emile Zola.
5. Cosmos - Carl Sagan.

I've changed my mind.

I didn't really want to have a title for every post, but it looks a little neater, and probably easier in the long run for the archives. I have spent a couple of hours checking out other weblogs, and some have them and some don't. I suppose it's further proof of my obsesive-compulsive tendencies, untidiness does freak me out ! As well as the titles I have cut out a couple of line breaks, it's an attempt to make it all look a little better, I'll reserve judgement for now, things could change back.

The results of the "front men" question are inconclusive, but here they are with the number of votes along side. Please note, I have removed all non-serious entries.

Ian brown 2.
John Lennon 2.
Bono 2.
Paul Weller 2.
Kurt Cobain 2.
Robert Plant 2.

Jim Morrison 1.
Bruce Springstein 1.
Dave Mathews 1.
Steven Tyler 1.
Mick Jagger 1.
Steve Winwood 1.
Mark Knopfler 1.
Tim Booth 1.
Thom Yorke 1.
Damon Albarn 1.
Frank Black 1.
Robin Zander 1.
Freddie Mercury 1.
Johnny Rotten 1.
Jeff Lynne 1.
Lou Reed 1.
Joey Ramone 1.
Ian Curtis 1.
Steven Morrissey 1.
Liam Gallagher 1.
Smokey Robinson 1.

Franks wild years.

Well Frank settled down in the Valley and hung his wild years on a nail that he drove through his wife's forehead, he sold used office furniture out there on San Fernando Road and assumed a $30,000 loan at 15 1/4 % and put down payment on a little two bedroom place, his wife was a spent piece of used jet trash, made good bloody marys, kept her mouth shut most of the time, had a little Chihuahua named Carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind. They had a thoroughly modern kitchen, self-cleaning oven (the whole bit) Frank drove a little sedan they were so happy.

One night Frank was on his way home from work, stopped at the liquor store, picked up a couple Mickey's Big Mouths, drank 'em in the car on his way to the Shell station, he got a gallon of gas in a can, drove home, doused everything in the house, torched it, parked across the street, laughing, watching it burn, all Halloween orange and chimney red, then Frank put on a top forty station, got on the Hollywood Freeway headed north.

Never could stand that dog.

World cup comments; Brazil v Turkey.
Lineaker on Ronaldo: "The man who can eat an apple through a tennis racket is back".
????: "It's the longest wall outside Beijing"

Lately I have been posting very short, link orientated stuff, it’s a bit of a departure from the original intent and I think it’s a combination of laziness and lack of imagination. My train of thought has been derailed by leaves on the lines of my mind, they need to be cleared away. It’s a motivation thing, also because I am still off work sick I have lacked the level of interaction I am usually exposed to. Besides, it’s the world cup, my mind’s on auto-pilot.

I have just watched a documentary about the fortunes of the England football team over the last couple of decades. What struck me most was the England fans (myself included) complete belief that we were capable of winning whichever competition we were in at the time. It’s even true now, after all we’ve been through we still think we can win the world cup. Until we come to terms with the fact that we haven’t a divine right to win everything we enter, we will always have the massive down that comes after our all too regular defeats. Positive, enthusiastic, patriotic…yes, arrogant ? let’s leave that to the Germans ! Yes I know they’ve won it three times, but they got lucky. COME ON ENGLAND !!!

Lately I have been plagued by song lyrics appearing in un-connected sentences, I will be reading something about the political situation in the middle east, and up pops a “Damned” lyric. Another weblog has just pointed me to an old Simon and Garfunkel song in a paragraph about something completely different. I might start saving them, just to see if they have the same effect on you. If you find any put the link in the comments, and I'll see if I can see it, then I'll make a list.

If you are one of the people who’s link has been removed, it’s nothing personal, I’m just tidying things up a little.

I’ve been reading this sort of stuff for years, and I think the theories are finally being taken seriously. [ via 2012].

World cup comments; England v Sweden.
Clive Tyldesley: "Mills with an agricultural clearance"
Bobby Robson: "We're still on the dance floor"

Just out of interest, who would be your top five front men of all time? mine are:
1. John Lennon.
2. Ian Brown.
3. Steven Morrissey.
4. Bono.
5. Liam Gallagher.

L | I | N | K | O | R | A | M | A

Good day for football, I've seen three games, and Jensen looked really good for the Danes.
Musically today has been wierd, VH1 are showing their 100 greatest male artists. Morrisey, 39 ? Phill Collins 29 ? who decides these things, they need a fucking good hiding ! I have just listened to one of Tom Waits two new albums, Alice, and it's up there already, in fact I'm going to listen to it again, then I'm going to put it in the car and listen to it there for a time, while I'm on the move.