Lolpolarbear

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Let it snow...

Very Christmassy round here with 4 inches of snow. So, now is the time we discover that the Purple People Carrier has a flashing light to tell you that it is skidding. It was on and off like a strobe at a disco. The Breadcrumbs were severely disappointed to still be going to school, but did manage to make a snowman in their pyjamas. Why it wasn't in the garden I'll never know (thank you Groucho). And of course to fall out over snowballs in the ears. It must be nearly Christmas!

you can get what you want and still not be happy

A great lesson in life.
The mighty Reds are top of the Premiership, and a point clear. And still I feel disappointed we didn't beat West Ham but drew 0-0.
It is going to be a tough old season.

Oh the Huge Manatee...

I laughed like a drain...
click here for dirigible fun...

http://www.drgblz.com/

I have a bad feeling about this...

Denial is just a river in Egypt, and I am sitting on its banks to prove that point.
Meanwhile, half a world away, the USA votes. The media are already acclaiming President Saint Obama. I hope that they are right, but I am worried. Nothing against the guy, but I suspect that the gloss will soon come off and the media will quickly turn on him as a glossy liberal with no clear economic policy. Maybe not - I was wrong about Mandela.

Also meanwhile, the Mighty Reds are playing up a storm while I am out of the way and my season ticket ticks down. Having seen the highlights of the defeat at Spurs I am somewhat mollified - we did hit the post 3 times. Sometimes the ball just does not want to go in. Still too early to talk of winning anything - not the Liverpool way -be it is nice to still be in the race come November.

The Truth

One thing that really ticks me off is having to sit through the anti-piracy videos on DVDs. I mean I bought the effing thing, so I am not the person they should be lecturing.

XKCD have it nailed.... http://xkcd.com/488/

A huge sucking sound

So apparently our entire economy is broken. In fact the whole of global capitalism is broken. And according to David Cameron, it is all Gordon Brown's fault. I don't know how long that line of argument can hold when the people with the biggest problem appear to be in Iceland - and I hadn't noticed us taking control of Iceland recently.

Meanwhile, the Mighty Reds continue to perform better than expected. I don't like to even mention it in case I jinx something. Got to give kudos to Hull City though - even if they go down eventually it is a major achievement to be 3rd after 7 games and to have beaten Arsenal and Spurs away from home. Go Tigers (but please remember to lose at Anfield).

When Saturday comes

At last we beat the Scum. Sorry to be so pathetically crowing about one victory, but the relief is fantastic. At the match we didn't sing to celebrate we just roared. And roared. And roared.

When Man Utd scored after 3 minutes I thought we were going to get pasted. And we were very lucky to get the equaliser. And another referee might have thought that Robbie Keane was interfering with play by standing on the goal line for the winner. But then again, we all thought Vidic should have been sent off for his tackle on Keane, rather than his elbow on Alonso.

And anyway, it is over now. And we can move on. But without a particular monkey on our backs. No, we are not a better team than them - but at least we have regained some pride.

Onwards and upwards...

PS I am finally begining to feel that it is late enough in the year for the football season to have started.

Beijing 2008

I miss the Olympics. It was great to wake up every morning and have some wonderful sport to catch up on. It is just too early for football - even if the mighty Reds were briefly top of the Premiership. I haven't given up on there being a summer yet - I can't think about football.

But tonight LFC have the first of their "make or break" games of the season to determine whether we get into the knockout stages of the Champions League. The team have been playing like they think it is too early too, so I hope that they come through.

Bolt was amazing - I watched his heats in the 100m in Schipol, and had to say to a colleague "he's fucking jogging!". It all seemed so easy for him. Wonderful stuff.
Asafa Powell must have been gutted.

More statements of the Bleeding obvious

I'm slowly watching the New Final Honest Really the Last We Mean it Version of Blade Runner. And it is good. Really good. This is a film I thought I knew and loved, but when I think about it I had not watched it in a decade. I have an old DVD kicking about somewhere, but it didn't do much for me. The new version is just so beautiful. And slow. And opaque - they don't explain much early on; it just starts.

Hardly an original thought I know, but it is good.

Peggy Sue still lives

Quite marvelous really. I was just listening to Buddy Holly through the random wonders of i-tunes when it occured to me that the person the song is named for (but was not originally written for) is still alive. The 50s seem impossibly far off and far away, as if they only ever happened in the movies (and in America). But in human terms they are close enough that millions of people still around lived through them, and are not even particularly old. I mean 70 is old, but nowadays not that old, and that would make you 18 in 1956 - old enough to get Elvis. My 60 year old sister (and that is quite a thought) saw the Beatles.

Some of the old Blues guys currently touring are being feted more for being alive than what they actually do, but it is quite a thought that there are musicians around who played with Robert Johnson.

Perceptions

No matter how bad was for you yesterday, it was worse for John Terry and Nicolas Anelka. Missing penalties in the European Cup final must be gutting. Particularly for Terry, who should have won it but his foot slipped.

How quickly the story changes - Ronaldo would have been the villan despite his wonderful season for missing his penalty with one bit of trickery too far. Instead his story is of success and not falling at the final fence.

As Kipling said, those twin imposters...

and that's the season

So, we lost to Chelsea, and that's the season over. I could hardly watch, but realistically we were not up to the job. Riise's own goal ended up being too much of a blow. When we had the upperhand we didn't push, and Drogba beat us. That is why he is so annoying - that is what he can do if he doesn't fall over all the time.


Now in Egypt with the world's most expensive internet connection...

drawing to an end

The season is now just about finished. We are safe in the 4th Champions league spot. So, it is a question of whether there are 3 more games this season or 4. After the gut renching disappointment of Riise's owngoal in the 95th minute, my hope is beginning to drag itself off the floor. Realistically though, we need to score at a ground where we have not scored for years, and where we usually get a drubbing. The Champions league magic will have to be especially strong, especially as Chelsea are on a high after beating Man Utd. Realistically we stand no chance. The only positive thing is that because we have to score it is not a problem if they score first. Oddly, them scoring the first goal changes little.
Now is the time for Torres to pay back his transfer fee.

Oddly enough if Man Utd get through against Barcalona I would feel better about losing to Chelski - better them than the scum.

Meanwhile I feel shattered - run over by a truck. I need a break. Only another 3 weeks and I can have one. By which time the season will really be over.

Well that sucked

So I stayed up until late to watch the mighty Reds overwhelm Chelski, and then throw it all away in the fifth minute of extra time. 1-1. Still all to play for, I guess, but realistically it looks like Chelski will be in Moscow. The luck is with them.

Retro

So, I am officially getting old and stopping listening to new music. As witnessed by the fact that my favourite listening at the moment is those radical new acts Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Still, occasionally I listen to the Byrds.

Ho hum. Senility cannot be far away.

Tomorrow is the next big day - the Mighty Reds vs Chelski. Again. I don't know how to feel. Dread and hope combine to neutralise me.

That's all for this season...

Thanks to a dull victory over Fulham we are 1 point or one Everton slip up from 4th place in the Premiership, and our ticket to the Champions league next year. Of course the better way is to win old big ears again - but first it is the Threepeat. Chelsea again. Oh, my nervous tummy. What would be best - winning it a 6th time. Which would be worse - losing to Chelsea or Man U? Please let Barcelona have a sudden burst of quality.

Now in my second home - a hotel in the UAE - surrounded by the minor luxuries of a new disposal keyboard and speakers. With a 1 pound copy of the Animatrix to watch when I have a moment. Life, but not as we know it Jim.

Tender Evaluation

At the moment I am taking a break from a massive tender evaluation programme - 15 lots, and 94 companies bidding for multiple lots. As a process it will take the rest of April.

When I am writing proposals, it is easy to forget what is going to happen to them when they are opened. In particular it is easy to remember how long it takes to write the proposal, and not to think about how long it takes to properly interpret them.

The companies in this process are no doubt eager to know whether they have been successful, and where they can improve if not. They should be reassured that this is being done thoroughly and with all due consideration - but it takes considerable time.

It does remind me though that effort put into presentation is valuable - as is reading the brief, and answering the questions asked. Obvious, but true.

too busy

But that brings in the pennies. Another day another dollar etc.

And of course it means no time to talk about our dismal failure at the home of the scum again - even if the referee was a liability. Mascherano was sent off for dissent because Ashley Cole was not 4 days before. Which is hardly the way to make the point about dissent.

Still, the Toffees and then 3 matches against Arsenal which define both our seasons. I would be happy to take the Champions league quarter final, and not the Premiership match. But realistically both of us need all 3. Beginning to look like Man U's season.

Next

Internazionale tumble to the mighty Reds, or at least the combination of 2 soft sendings off, and the mighty Fernando Torres.
So the season continues - at least until the draw on Friday. Never happy, us football fans. Though the season has picked up oddly after Barnsley beat Chelsea, and it became the year when "the big 4" didn't win the FA Cup. Somehow that helped deal with them putting us out in the earlier round.

Meanwhile... here are the countries I have visited. Still a lot to go.


create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

snow again

Which is a funny reminder that winter still has a last blow.
Well the might reds have squeaked past Inter 2-0, Middlesbrough 3-2, Bolton 1-3 and apparently the season now comes down to beating West Ham and Newcastle and avoiding defeat to Inter. Here's hoping.

Has to be said that Torres is a God. He singlehandedly destroyed Boro. Though it has to be said that recently I have wondered if we were actually paying the opposition to gift us goals.

I strongly recommend Melvin Bragg's In our Time on Radio 4. How many people can say that?

skiing...

...is rather good fun. Next week on statements of the bleeding obvious we will be saying that some middle aged men like golf.

Anyway, I go away for a while and Liverpool have fallen apart like Northern Rock - there is still something there but goodness things are not going well.

But as I write, we have just taken the lead against Internazionale...

More statements of the bleeding obvious

The new Radiohead album is very good. And so are Sigur Ros.

Next time on statements of the bleeding obvious, George W Bush is a controversial president, and Gordon Brown is rather dour...

Oh, and The Ghost by Robert Harris is excellent. More than that, brilliant. And short. I even forgive him for not writing another Cicero book.

On a tangent, I met Kirsty McGee working reception at an expensive and trendy office complex. She like los bros Hernandez, and is a rather good singer/songwriter in the Michelle Shocked mode. Click on the link and see...www.kirstymcgee.com

All of which I only know because the people I was seeing were an hour late. I mean, it is not as if I had driven 50 miles to see them.

reconnected

As I was saying... it is the time of year when we seem to reconnect with people. The aftershocks of Christmas cards unexpected, or reminders that a whole year (or more) has passed.

It lead to a party where we all seemed older, more mellow and more settled. Which probably means we don't have the thrusting vibrant hopes of earlier years. So we can afford to be more generous with each other and the world around us. If a little dissapointed that we were not in fact going to set the world ablaze.

Of course it can still all turn out badly, even if the upside now seems to be keeping what we have. A couple of friends have lost their marrriages when they retired and their partners realised that they didn't actually want them in their lives. And a couple more have remarried to Russian partners - which will have interesting consequences in the years to come.

Our lives move on, but even the drama seems so undramatic compared to our teens when a look, a glance, a word could be the whole world.

It is only fair to point out that Tesco have now paid up for bashing the PPC. Only 13 months after the incident. Or collision, because accident means there is no one to blame... (Hot Fuzz - great movie).

Looks like I was right about our season - off to see the mighty reds vs wimpy Wigan, and if we don't win then Rafa may be for the chop. So, all we have to do to save the season is beat Internazionale. Easy stuff. Next!

another year

Welcome to 2008. Sounds like the future to me.

Finally watched the last few episodes of Battlestar Galactica Series 3. Great stuff. Great.
Makes me hate Richard Branson for denying me it in May 07. Bastard. Virgin Media are still rubbish, and still have an almost total lack of HD programmes - as well of course as high fees, and no Sky ONE. Bastards.

I would willingly switcht to SKY, if they and BT did not want to charge me so much for the privilige of buying from them. £150 for a new phone line, plus £300 for a new HD box, plus installation. I mean, I would like to - but that is going to be £500. Somewhat cheaper to bitch about it and wait for the box sets. Bastards.