Me and my i-pod

I am pleased to report I am getting constant use from said item. L kindly re-invested some of her finest english pounds in one for my birthday. It has 12,000 song capacity (although at present holds 965) and is seldom out of my earhole whether it be commuting or at the gym

I read that the use of poddy at the gym gives the average male capacity to compete a further 12 more reps on average per exercise than without such item.

Now, I am sure that is not necessarily so if say Brighton's finest Joe Jackson comes on with Is She Really Going Out Him but early indications appear to suggest that the following are most effective

1. Anything by Pearl Jam

2. Simple Minds at the Barrowlands

3. In the Cage(Live) Genesis

Raikes and lions

I shall be catching up with the Second lions Test this afternoon. Damn disappointing last week. I spent the pre match warm up in a favourite abode of mine with J, Robert Raikes pub in Southgate Street. This is a fine establishment,highly recommended,fine array of specialist lagers and beers,superb setting,magnificent refurbishment,highly competitive food and drink and a large south facing beer garden.

For those into such events,I am led to believe a musical folk night is hosted on an evening although I shall be looked to be excused for that.

As for the match,I wandered into Sloanes where I met DP. Not such a good write up I have to say about Sloanes, it had Tvs and beer so served a purpose. A match of missed opportunities,intimidation not matched and maybe a bridge too far this afternoon?

My choice of viewing venue is still in the high air pretty much like the Lions

Knaresborough

A decent trip and hopefully some long term business secured. Let me enlighten you on the above.

1. Has a decent River(Nidd) running through it

2. Medieval town in which in 1644 Oliver Cromwell forces beat the crap out of it(some might say certain portions have never been replaced)

3. S and I just missed the annual bed race where up to 50 beds race through the town and river with people pushing of course. This year I was told that OO7 himself, who is a local resident ,took part but I suspect an urban myth in the making.

4. Poor relation to Harrogate

5.My taxi driver intimated that all locals have 11 fingers (given he was from Nottingham where most locals have less than 8 fingers due to the crime rate) i thought that was a bit rich



An enjoyable trip although not compounded by the first hand experience of Cross Country trains new at your seat trolley experience.



Why would they do that?



In the 21st century we have sadly returned to a lumbering trolley (and pusher) coming through the train with warm sandwiches,cash only,exact change only luv and crashing into the nearest unsuspecting leg,bag,small child,household pet that it sees. Passing is impossible in that you rise from your seat at Newcastle to empty your bladder and you might just get there by Exeter if your lucky.



I am told people spend more at their seats rather than walk on up to the buffet car (only if they have a 10p,5p,and 4 x 1ps i guess) For me the buffet car was an excellent place to

1. Get away from the person opposite you

2.Have a look a the local scenery, if you know what i am saying

3.Have a decent conversation with the host


Lets hope common sense prevails

Glastonbury.Yes.No.Maybe (Not)

This time of the year I find myself torn between the desire to break my Glastonbury duck versus the feeling that common sense has prevailed and I instead view from the luxury of M Towers via the BBC red button facility.

Broadly speaking this year

For: Weather(when good),Springsteen,Doves,Neil Young,Blur,Madness,few beers

Against: Weather (when bad) Standing in a field for 4 days, lack of luxuries,generally surrounded by rough sorts

i think the No's have it, the No's have it.

Not that I am against outdoor venues. In August L and I will be partaking the Millennium for a pop concert by Irish rock band U2. Seats booked.cold beer and toilets on standby, marvellous. This will be my 5th viewing of the 4 piece combo ..2 x Roundhay Park, 1x NEC, 2 x Millennium . Its the last leg of their European Tour and promises a revolutionary 360 degree stage...maybe a revolutionary album should have been higher up the agenda

We are hoping to make a night of it but all Cardiff hotels appear booked...any ideas for the 22nd August appreciated.

Finish with a top 5 concerts attended

1. REM Hyde Park 2005

2.U2 Roundhay 1993

3. Elbow London 2007

4. Seahorses Nottingham 1998

5.Genesis Birmingham 1997.

Twenty/20 Vision

I caught the final, Pakistan v Sri Lanka. A bit like watching Wasps v Bath,you want it to be 0-0 and a crap game. They are both chuckers and cheats so Hobsons Choice really

Richie Benaud

Those that know me are aware that list compiling is a bit of a hobby ( top 5 sandwiches is always a well debated subject after a few ales) and I stumbled across one today that combined 2 real interests: top 50 sporting commentators.



Granted it was on the Daily Mail website but that aside, all my personal favourites were there...Alliss,Barry Davies, sadly departed Reg Gutteridge and rightly so ,the top man,numero uno,Richie Benaud. A man who just let the pictures say the words until the wisest and most astute of words were required. Confectionery stalls all over England lit up in 1981 following yet another Botham six and a Benaudism that was probably never bettered. Of the new crop ,it was good to see Mike Atherton in there,he has a sharp eye for detail and an even sharper mouth for saying what really needs saying at times.



Tomorrow morning will see me rise at six of the cloakings for a new destination of Knaresborough i shall be travelling via my usual mode of cross country train and report back soonest

Twenty/20

Suppose had better have a word about the above.

Marvellous concept for the masses and caught up with the India game yesterday. Great tension and a surprising home win. I follow The English cricket team in a more positive light than I do the football and rugby counterparts.I put that down to a naturally more supportive tone of a club side in those sports but we also dont seem to set ourselves up for as big a fall in cricket as we do the other two pastimes. Failure is the norm so any success is widely acknowledged and overplayed. In saying that I would shudder if 20/20 success resulted in the usual round of MBEs and London parade for what is ultimately a game of cricket. There appear shades of a euro 96 spirit emerging though which has to be acknowledged in some quarters.

It rained tonight and England lost. Seems the weather is our penalty nadir

GRFC

Difficult days for my political party but also for the lads at Castle Grim Estate (this was the original block of land now known as Kingsholm) What is about the rugby soap opera known as GRFC?

A season in 2008/09 that ended up in nightclub scraps,cup final hammering,in/out of contract payers in a mass exodus,falling league position and increasing evidence of a wheelie bin culture is being dragged on still by an ongoing review. Re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic might have been more appropriate, this is the anticipated outcome but lets have an outcome TW. Your leadership has never more being needed, oh and your cash as well.

Whatever the outcome, J and I will be taking in a series of games next season and todays HC draw was very kind and offers the prospect of visiting 2 of the toughest,hardest, roughest environments in the UK.

I was a slow burner with GRFC and my first game was a 1990 semi final victory in Northampton; we will gloss over my second game. As time goes by, the result becomes less important but I still like to win of course. Participation,education,enjoyment seem to be taking over the win at all costs passion of the 90's and early 21st century; why some on Shed Web would look to turn their back completely because they cannot dictate coaching selections suggests a very narrow frame of mind to me.

sa ..

Demise of the Red Rose

Ok. My political thoughts need an early airing.Growing up I was always a fan of the underdog and I had this thing, in a completely straight way for David Steel and the Liberal Party. Of course, reality bites and I ended up growing up in Thatchers Britain. To be honest I was oblivious to the rhetoric of the era but images of the Falklands and the Miners shaped how I thought due to my pubic years.
I then became hooked on the New Labour Project. It came to symbolize all I stood and wanted for in a modern Britain. I read everything I could. Ideological policies and the real Third Way in politics. This was a natural extension from the 92 Democrats and everything the men in grey suits of the Tory 90's stood against which was fine by me. I welcomed every faux pas they committed, every scandal, every aspect of sleaze; back to basics was coming home.
The Blair,Brown,Campbell but particularly Mandleson combination represented everything I thought I stood for. A week in Benidorm was once made much easier reading Donald Macintyre's brilliant book on the latter.
So to see the project at its knees is a massive shift in time for me. Brown for his abilities,passion,intellect,his virtues in a poisoned society just doesn't seem to be working. He is set upon by the media principally because he is not media savvy ; this fact makes the heart sink that one notch lower.
Why has it gone wrong? Trends. People become tired of the same record. They seek change without knowing exactly what change is. David Cameron's Conservatives, to give them there full ballot paper name, are the perfect example. Voters vote for what they believe is right rather than what they believe in.
I once lived in a small mining village in Sheffield. If a man in a gorilla suit was the local Labour candidate then people would have voted for him because its all they knew. Now, if same man,same gorilla suit turned up with same red rose he would be lynched as though the local paedophille was in town. Why? its still the same guy in the gorilla suit.......
I suspect we will push onto the conference season; will the collective will of cabinet hold? I wish Gordon well; he's a decent guy and for the record one of 13 prime ministers that went onto hold the post with their party being in power but without being subject to a general election. Unlucky 13 maybe.

Easy As ABC

Tonight sees the start of my bi-annual alphabetic re-arrangement of around 1000 CDs that belong to L and myself. This is a mainly alpha male obession of mine but given I hold about 80% of the stock a worthy one nonetheless. Whether in alphabetic or chronological,as per High Fidelity (top 5 books list that were crap films?) its an uplifting occasion in the M household. And at the very beginning?

Well,I have never followed Sheffield crooners, ABC,despite spending 7 years in the fair city. Instead the worthy suspects of Aerosmith and the Adams boys (Bryan and Ryan) claim the top spots but they have to bow to 80s icon Adam Ant.

Looking through said CD, it took me back to my virgin vinyl days where at the ripe age of 10 I distinctly remember walking to Woolworths on Eastgate Street and purchasing with my some of your finest english green pound notes my first ever 33, Kings of the Wild Frontier.

For those with no knowledge of who I am talking about, Adam Ant cut a dashing, eccentric,pop ideal supreme who could write a song or 2. His latter days under the 1983 Mental Health Act should not diminish his talent and I believe a comeback of sorts with the Kaiser Chiefs is in the offing. Me thinks that says more about them than him

My latter taste in music will of course make up many future blogs but in the interim more pressing concern; 10cc......T or miscellaneous

In the beginning....

What possible event could drive a sensible level headed chap to reach out to the outside world and expose at the age of 38 his innermost feelings?

Local /European Elections to be dominated by single issue independent parties
An Englishman becoming Scotland rugby coach
Impending collison course with a leader of North Korea that Gerry and Sylvia Anderson could not have created any more life like

No,a bunch of loonies,has beens,have nots entering a TV studio house in the name of entertainment and more worringly, those than watch it being drawn into an event which ultimately registers 0.0001 on the reichter scale of life

Thank you Big Brother,I have now found the world of blogs,the sacred cow of independence and hopefully an entertainig half hour hewre and there.

Welcome to my world,enjoy the ride