I’m getting a little annoyed with O2 now. The mobile data network has been going down all too frequently.
Most of the time, the downtime has been more of an irritation than problem; however yesterday the service suffered what appears to be national outage all afternoon.
This meant I was unable to do the live updates from the Bath City game or check the scores from other football matches being played.
Sort it out, O2! Not impressed.
Yesterday afternoon, I made the short(ish) journey south to watch Bath City play Dorchester Town. However, the Dorset club’s lineup resembled more of that of Arsenal than a non-league side.
Before the game, it was announced ex-Arsenal midfielder, Ian Selley, had signed for Dorchester. Selley may not be up to the standards of Thierry Henry or even Patrick Vieira, but is a million times better than Emmanuel Eboué – a man who, if a horse, would have been sent to the dog food factory
Selley played many, many years ago for The Gunners, and must be at least 60 now. His Arsenal career was ended when he broke his leg, which had to be amputated and replaced with a branch of a tree.
Despite losing a limb, the journeyman carried on his football career playing for lesser clubs, eventually reaching an all time low, signing for Dorchester.
Yesterday must have been very exciting for Selley, playing against Bath City in the Blue Square South. Not since he faced Parma in the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final, had he played a game of such high prestige. To make Selley’s day even better, he scored against The Romans – impressively, with his prosthetic leg.
Selley wasn’t the only Gunner on the pitch, and indeed the score sheet, yesterday. Bath City’s ex-striker, Phil Walsh, joined Dorchester last season, and he scored against his former club.
Of course, ‘Walshy’ has never played for Arsenal under his REAL name – that would be too English-sounding for manager Arsène Wenger. Walsh, who is under a dual-contract with Arsenal and Dorchester, uses his alias, Andrei Arshavin when playing for the Gunners and the Russian national team.
Andrei Walshavin’s day got even better, when, at fulltime, he teleported himself from Dorset, all the way to Lancashire, where he scored for Arsenal against Manchester United – a pretty impressive day for the lad.
You may think this is a joke, but have you ever seen Phil Walsh and Andrei Arshavin in the same room?
Still not convinced? Take a look at this… same person :o)
While watching Sky Sports News this evening, I was disturbed and saddened by the news and scenes from Upton Park, London – the home of West Ham United.
The Hammers met Millwall in the Carling Cup 2nd Round. Both teams are fierce rivals, as is depicted in the film Green Street. Unfortunately, the violence tonight, which has been described as that of the ‘dark ages’ and comparable with the trouble seen in the 1970’s, was very much real and not a scene from a movie.
As the evening drew on and goals were scored in games up and down the country, like most fans watching Sky Sports News, I was more concerned about the events taking place in East London. Reports of stabbings, brawls with rival fans and 500-1,000 riot police clashing with supporters.
Then we saw the pictures of the so-called fans invading the pitch, installing terror in players and genuine supporters, who had simply made the trip for an evening of football.
I wish to echo the views of Phil Thompson on Sky Sports News. In this day in age, with high definition television, surely hundreds would have been caught on the television cameras, if not CCTV. Each and every offending fan must be brought to justice, and if found guilty, face a lifetime ban from all football as a minimum punishment.
The scenes tonight were totally disgusting, and sad the thing is, it was not the minority of the fans. The only way these hooligans will be prevented from causing trouble like this again, is to issue every single one of the animals the most severe punishment that can be served.
The events in London tonight are not what this country needs and will be extremely detrimental to England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
Football is a wonderful, beautiful game that should be enjoyed. Those hooligans tonight brought shame upon the sport. A sad day.
and this one from the Poland Microsoft website
No, this isn’t the title of the sequel to Brokeback Mountain, nor is a ‘coming out’ declaration…
Last week, I was very disturbed to receive a letter from the good people at Wessex Water, advising me that my water bill would be increased as my usage has massively gone up.
Having not installed a swimming pool in my sitting room, I am totally puzzled as to why such a meter reading would be made. Not wanting to pay a bill equalling that of a 3rd world debt, I contacted the supplier to tell them all was not right.
Agreeing something was wrong, they are sending a man out to investigate on Wednesday. In the meantime, they set me the fun task of locating my stopcock (see, that’s where the blog title came from) so that the water can be turned on and off upon his arrival.
Having checked all the usual places – under the sink, airing cupboard and fuse box (joke), I was totally puzzled – I even pulled the fridge out to see if Mr. Stopcock was hiding there. Alas, he wasn’t.
Then, a thought crossed my mind… I decided to read the manual which came with my flat. Being a male, I don’t normally read instructions, and this manual constitutes them, so I have never bothered to check until today.
Surprisingly, in the manual, there WERE instructions on finding the stopcock – in the corridor by the gas meter – a location I DID check during my mammoth hunt. I must have missed the tap originally, which was hiding in a corner behind a door. The sneaky little so and so…
Now to try and let the water man find out the cause of the colossal bill – my money’s either on a leak or some moron misreading the meter.
So, England did it! Andrew Strauss’ men battled hard – through blood, sweat and tears – beating Ricky Ponting’s boys and winning back The Ashes.
I feel very privileged to have been able to witness the series, and have been totally gripped today, watching the Aussie wickets fall.
The England trophy cabinet, which was about to be turned into firewood from lack of use, finally has some silverware to display. The little urn of ashes will no doubt take pride of place on the centre shelf – until next summer, at least, when we’ll win the World Cup.
You have to feel sorry for the Aussie’s – what sport can they boast to be champions at now? They no longer have the Ashes. Football they have always failed at. Their rugby success is long gone (not that I care for egg chasing). I guess they can claim to be quite good at Aussie Rules Football.
I must admit, I did enjoy watching ex-Aussie legend, now TV pundit, Shane Warne, struggle to admit England were the better side. I think the best he managed to choke out was “it was an evenly matched contest” – yes, Shane, that’s why we won.
This blog may seem like I am gloating and milking the victory just a little. Perhaps, but how many times do England actually win anything? We’ll probably lose the next Ashes series (to be played in Australia) 5-0. Let’s enjoy it!
IN-GER-LAND
IN-GER-LAND
IN-GER-LAND
etc etc etc…
What a marvellous afternoon of cricket England played today. I must admit, after the previous test ended in humiliation, I thought the series was over, and despite a sufficient first day of the current and final match, I was still unconvinced by England and thought the test and indeed the series would be drawn.
I started to watch the match this morning, but after England lost their remaining two wickets and struggled to get the opening Aussie batsmen out, I went into town to pick up a few things. Then things changed…
Although being away from Sky Sports and FiveLive, I was in constant communication with all the goings-on through my phone, thanks to the ECB Cricket app and Karl from work sending me messages, differing from despair to delight, depending on how well/poorly England were bowling.
I got back to my flat just in time to witness a total collapse of Australian batsmen, at the hands of some superb English bowling. England may have lost a few wickets themselves in their second innings, but it now looks like only a collapse of monumental proportions will stop England winning the test and therefore take back that little urn of ashes they truly deserve and yearn for. Then again, this is England, so I’m not ruling anything out.
IF England are to win the series, I just hope they do it at the weekend, so I have the pleasure of watching it on Sky as opposed to learning of the victory on the BBC website at work.
Fingers crossed this blog hasn’t jinxed the whole thing!
It isn’t very often I blog about videogames. While I like gaming, I do not play a large wealth of titles. If I had my way, I would still be enjoying GoldenEye and Super Mario Kart. I am even less of a gamer when it comes to the iPhone. Despite many owners being addicted to games from the ‘App store’, the only title I found of interest was Monopoly. Until now…
While browsing the latest applications available for download, I stumbled across a title known as Minigore. With cute looking graphics, yet lots of bloody violence and big guns, I was intrigued by the fun-looking game play. After reading the raving reviews, I decided to buy the app, especially with the bargain introductory price of just fifty nine British pennies.
The game reminds me of Loaded – a favourite with many owners of the original PlayStation console. Like Loaded, Minigore is an overhead shoot em up, where you walk around a basic landscape, shooting anything that moves with comically oversized weapons, resulting in blood being sprayed all over the screen in an amusing cartoon violence.
As there is no control pad on the iPhone (simply a touch screen), I was very dubious about how the game would be played. While the simplicity of a single touch screen is great for making telephone calls, sending text messages and even browsing the internet, the lack of buttons does make video games a real problem. Not so with this title.
As Minigore is a very simple concept – walk – shoot – walk – shoot, there is only need for two methods of input. There are two ‘controllable’ circles at either side of the screen; one of moves your character around the landscape; the other fires the weapon. Very basic, yet extremely effective.
If you own an iPhone and have any intentions of playing games on it, you would be clinically insane not to buy this at the price it is. I have also read a high definition version of the game will be released on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Arcade, so even those console owners without flash mobile phones can enjoy.
On a hot Monday afternoon, I made my way with Claire to Twerton Park, where we would wait for the supporters’ coach to take us to Hampshire to watch Bath City’s evening game against Havant & Waterlooville.
This is my second trip to Havant’s West Leigh Park ground, but my first visit since the clubs famous FA Cup run in 2008, which involved victory over Swansea City and a trip to Anfield, where they were defeated by Liverpool. The cup success brought Havant considerable wealth, which appears to have been invested in stadium developments as opposed to improving the squad – which is probably why they’re still in the Blue Square South!
The journey south, which involved a spell on the motorway, had drama in itself, when we narrowly avoided an accident on the M27. A car moving alongside the coach appeared to spin out of control, and had it not been for fast maneuvering by our driver, could have resulted in a nasty accident. We later learnt the car involved had spun out of control due to a burst tyre. Luckily, the woman behind the wheel managed to prevent any injuries to herself or fellow motorists.
Upon arriving at the ground, the fans piled into the clubhouse. Not the best watering hole in the league – the term ‘adequate’ comes to mind. While enjoying a pre-match pint, we discussed the incident on the motorway, as well as sharing our predictions on the impending match.
As has been the case in recent games (and will be for future matches), I had to pay extra attention to the action, as I was updating the City Updates website, via my iPhone, for the fans back home. Luckily there weren’t too many incidents to report, so I was able to give my fingers a rest and enjoy the game.
The match continued, with both sides creating chances. Then, with the end in sight and the home crowd starting to disperse, Bath City scored, drawing the game level; the goal sending the travelling fans into euphoric celebration. To add to the jubilant scenes, a penalty was awarded to City just a few minutes later. The spot kick was converted, giving City the lead and sending shock throughout both sets of supporters.
With little over 5 minutes to go, things were extremely nervous for the visiting fans. Could City hang on, or would Havant come back to salvage a point? Unfortunately, it was the latter, as Havant’s Manny Williams, who could have been sent off earlier in the game, broke through the defence and scored a deserved equaliser. It was a disappointing end to the game, but most fans would surely have taken a point pre-kick off.
The trip back on the coach was a lot less eventful than the inward journey. The 50/50 draw took place (for those not in the know, this is like a raffle where 50% of the money goes to the club, whereas the other 50% is shared between 3 fans). I have only won this once in the last three years. I was asked to make the draw for the 2nd prize, and ironically picked out my own ticket – and yes, I did take the money – all £8.00 of it!
As the coach made its way north to Somerset and the clock ticked closer and closer to midnight, the evening taking its toll on both Claire and me, who became very tired. I made her promise she would force me NOT to attend any long evening trips in future – as we have potential midweek visits to Braintree and Lewes later in the season. I hope I have the willpower to stay at home and Claire has the ability to make me!
We eventually got back home and were tucked up in bed and asleep by 1am. The game, or recent late nights, must have taken their toll, as I didn’t awake until 12noon the next day – I haven’t slept that long for years.
