Fernando who?

Well, to be serious, Torres is a great player and will get better at Chelsea. However, beating Chelsea in London was more than I could have hoped for. Despite my reservations about the potential damage to King Kenny if he should fail, it seems that (so far) he is succeeding. Liverpool again look like a Liverpool team. They seem to have confidence that they can actually beat anyone (personally I am pretty pleased this is not going to be tested against Barcelona). A cause for (cautious) optimism.

On that tack though, if Arsenal can conceed 4 to Newcastle, what is going to happen when they play Barcelona and Lionel Messi?

things could be worse

Bleak as things sometimes seem, they could be worse. A friend of the Breadcrumb's little helper has had a breakdown and is needing round the clock support and attention to make sure she does not harm herself. As well as taking herself off the grid she had cancelled all her bills, including the rent, with the clear implication that she would not be around to pay them next time.

As Peter Hook said about Ian Curtis - a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

I hope she makes it through.

off we go

Mrs Breadcrumb is escaping the evil empire, otherwise known as Bastard, Bastard and Greedy GmbH, and heading for the wilds of Widnes.
We means that me, the breadcrumbs, one cat, 5 fish, and 2 gerbils will also be heading west. But not until 2011. Cut off for schools is 1 March, and we don't know where we are going to live, so the move has to wait until next year.

As David Tennant said as Dr Who, "I don't want to go". I shall be happy when we are there, but the thought of the upheaval and losing our friends here is rather disheartening.

Still, we are only here because of Mrs Breadcrumb's job, so it is not surprising we have to move again. And hopefully this will be the last time. But it is unlikely we can ever again afford something as large and rambling as this house. Shame, but there you go.

Transfer Madness

£50m for Torres seems about right. £35m for Andy Carroll? I hope I am as wrong about that as I was about Roy Hodgson.
I had forgotten that it was Chelsea at the weekend. Shouldn't we have a clause saying that he could not play in that game?
Got to feel sorry for Anelka, and that is not something you can say everyday.

two in a row

So the Mighty Reds sneaked past Fulham, after their convincing display against Wolves. It means we only need 8 or 9 points to avoid relegation. Which is both good and sad. We need about the same to get 5th place. So our best chance of Europe next season is to win the Europa league. But it shows that things can get better, and I take heart from that in both football and real life.

Still hanging in there

Blue Monday over a week ago, but I am still hanging on by my fingernails and expecting the sky to fall at any minute. I need more good news. I find it almost impossible to watch the news now - just too glum for words.

Beyond Blue Monday

Yesterday was apparently the most depressing, or depressed, day of the year for most of us. Really felt like it. Anyway that it gone, so maybe I can be more positive from now on. The trouble is the crushing anxiety that is currently a constant companion.

Deep breaths.
Next!

Till things are brighter

Things are pretty bad wherever you go...

Been a bad time, and things are still remarkably tough. Call it reality biting, or seasonal disorder, I find it hard to keep my head in the right place. The black dog is not exactly with me, but I can hear a howling in the trees behind the garden.

And this feels like a year of change. Mrs Breadcrumb will find out next week whether she has a new job which will mean uprooting us all. The Breadcrumbs would of course have to find a new school. And their joint carer is probably getting married and going home to central Europe in the summer.

I would like to be really positive about it all, but I live my days in a state of dread worrying about what imminent disaster is about to befall us.

Compared to some others we have it pretty easy - oppressive debts but a fairly large (though unstable) income. Loving family life.

So it goes.

dear oh dear

Losing to Wolves at home for the first time in 26 years is not a good way for the once Mighty Reds to go into the new year. I wish them, and everyone else, a better year in 2011 than they had in 2010. And particularly Roy Hodgson, in the new job that appears to be coming his way...

I'm still standing

There is never a good time to quote Elton John, but at the end of 2010 that is about all I can think. This year has been a gruelling slog, and it is still not clear exactly what the light is at the end of the tunnel. Or whether it is real or an illusion. Certainly, to jump metaphors, we are not yet out of the woods.

Still, here we are, another day older and deeper in debt (as they say - not entirely accurately).
If we are still in the same position in 12 months, that would actually be a major achievement. So, time to pause. Rest. Try to regather the energy that seems completely spent. Pick myself up off the floor. And go to it again.

God, I am tired. But the fight is not gone entirely.

Hope that 2011 is better to you than 2010, or you can imagine.

Half a world away

Britain is under a metre of snow, as shown by the love of my life. Meanwhile, I appear to be visiting the set of Blade Runner. Literally half a world apart.

two nil torres

I really did not expect that. Been a good month for the mighty reds, but beating Chelsea two nil was unexpected. Roy can rest easier tonight. What a difference a month of good results makes.

A history of the world in thousands of Objectives

In London for a week, and able to slip away to the British Museum. I thought I was getting a little bored of going there everytime I could. But when I walked through the doors into the Grand Court I changed my mind (again). The changing light as it got dark made the area feel amazing. Going up into the Mesopotamian section there was such a wealth of artifacts about such as little known area of human history. Then coming out of that section (53) into the Grand Court at the cafe at the top of the old reading room - amazing (again). It made me feel proud that in the UK we can still do such amazing things so well.

And of course the History of the World in 100 objects is an amazing series of podcasts/broadcasts.

I'll be back

Amsterdam

In Amsterdam for a week. Wondering round I am coming to the view that Amsterdam is in fact a massive trick played on the stoners, tokers and nere-do-wells by the strict and Presbyterian Dutch - who do not partake, but do take the rent, and the taxes. The smokers and hookers and visitors are all non-Dutch, while the Dutch seem to exist in a parallel world of books and high design.

Sadly, I am now old and reactionary enough to side with the Dutch. I find myself wandering past yet another "coffee" bar and thinking "don't you have anything better to do?" Suddenly Bohemanian just seems to mean not working hard enough. What a difference 20 years makes - not in the city but in me.

LFC again

I’ve just been reading Michael Lewis’s Moneyball. Tom Hicks and John W Henry both crop up in it as baseball club owners, which is relevant to their battle for LFC. Moneyball is about the way the Oakland A’s baseball club overachieved for their budget, because their General Manager worked out ways to value players in a different way to other clubs. Hicks appears a couple of times in a generally negative light as someone who overpaid for underperforming players. Henry appears as a club owner open to new ideas, and willing to learn and change to become more successful. If those are accurate representations, it would be a good sign for LFC.

Make or break

I was a supporter of Roy Hodgson becoming manager at LFC. Now I think he is at make or break point. A defeat to Everton in the derby game and I think his position will be unsustainable. LFC in the relegation zone until November would be unacceptable to the supporters and club. Personally I hope he makes it.

this week's blasts from the past

Johnny Cash and Scritti Polliti. Odd combination I know.

So tired

A month of deadlines, many of which are making Douglas Adam’s famed whizzing sound as they go past.  There is something incredibly disspiriting about getting up tired and dragging myself down to write.  At least I have something to do, so I should be grateful.

Onwards and upwards – or at least sideways.

October looms.

Thin margins

My life is getting run on ever thinner margins. The global slowdown and recession took away all my room to manoeuvre, and any room for error. Like many people I am in daily worry about letters from the bank and credit cards. In theory I am a lot better off than many people. I worry for them.

These are hard times. Which is a cliche, and easier to say if you are the multi-millionaire, Eton educated son of a multi-millionaire. Harder for those of us with no safety net. The people that the banks, in their wisdom, are now screwing with high interest rates and no opportunity to change to another provider because of their tightening of credit controls. We are paying interest rates that are double what they should be realistically. They rebuild their profitability, and the rest of us cannot sleep.


Things are scheduled to be brighter. But I worry about rain.

A joy for ever

Groove is in the Heart. Deee-lite.

There has never been a time in the past 20 years (it was released in 1990) that this song has not been a real joy to listen to. If you haven't heard it - go buy now.

Planetary

I have at last finished Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Casaday (and Laura Martin). And I mean at last. I first came across it on a newsletter from those nice people at Page 45 in Nottingham (a recommended comic shop). Probably 5 years ago. I read the first compilations and then waited. And Waited! But not as long as the people who started at the beginning. These meagre 27 issues took more than a decade to be delivered (really - 10 years). And then I decided to wait for the Absolute edition rather than read it piecemeal.

It was worth it. If you love comics, and for some reason have not read this - go buy it now. If you don't love comics, you'll probably enjoy it but it will not mean the same to you. Just at the moment, think it is better than Watchmen.

The Absolute editions are worth the money, because the artwork and colouring need to be seen. Bright lights, flat pages, clean hands, full attention. Beautiful. And the homages to all the other comics add something rather than being pastiches. You seen how things could have turned out differently.

Now off to read Locas II, a compilation from my all time favourite Jamie Hernandez

Latitude

I didn't think that Belle & Sebastian would be suitable headliners for Saturday night.
I was wrong. They were excellent. They created a real family party atmosphere, and Stuart is really funny. Their off the cuff version of Jumping Jack Flask should be the stuff of legend. As was their stage full of dancers for Boy with the Arab Strap.

Overall Latitude was brilliant, though the organisational aspects were down on last year, and there were 2 terrible incidents.

Holland or Spain

If it can't be England, I shall settle for that choice. Either really. But for different reasons.
And then I think I shall forget about football for a long, long time.

King Kenny

The Mighty Reds are in a fine pickle. Rafa Benitez is now at Internazionale with a salary probably bigger than our transfer budget. We have no manager, and our 3 best players all in play for transfers.

Dalglish is helping pick the manager, but has indicated he would be willing to do the job himself. It is a fine gesture, but I hope it does not come to pass. The risk is too high, the likelhood of failure too great, the threat to his legendary status very real. Maybe that is the appeal.

Good advice, is "you can never step in the same river twice". Liverpool fans are sentimental and nostaligic, but I fear this could damage rather than help. I would be pleased to be proven wrong.

7lbs

Is what I have put on in 6 months of not going to the gym.
Ouch.
And now it has to come off again. Not pleasant.
Times have been hard, and I have been punishing my body by not taking care of myself. Things are still tough, but it is time to get fitter and not so depressed.

Here comes the summer.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

God knows what the movie will be like, but the trailer is funny. Mind you, given it is from the director of Shaun of the Dead it should be good.

Dollhouse

Just watched episode 1 of season 2 of Dollhouse, one of a couple that I missed. Has there ever been a darker tv series? It is presented lightly with lots of explosions and surface glamour, it could almost be the heist of the week show that Fox probably thought they were buying. But it is dark, dark, dark. Every episode shows nice people struggling with moral dilemmas and failing utterly, while subjecting other people to unimaginable but all too believable abuse. Eliza Dushku is terrific as the lead character, but like so many of Joss Wheedon's shows this is an ensemble piece. Overall the guy who plays Victor is incredible - playing a huge range of roles and being totally believable in all of them. To be watched.

An odd sense of achievement

A while ago I had to change my i-tunes library from the PC to external hard drives. In doing so I ended up resetting the play status of a lot of songs. Coupled with quite a lot of ripping from CDs, I ended up with over 2100 songs marked as unplayed. Following a quite dedicated programme of only playing "unplayed" songs, I have got that down to below 500. (Which is still about 50 albums worth). It has been enjoyable, but not always as easy as you might expect. Crossing the broad steppes of Radiohead took forever, no matter how brilliant they are. The mountain range of Kristin Hersh and 50ft wave were full of highs and lows. The slough of Leonard Cohen takes self confidence. Still to come are the fields of Joy Division.

It gives me a rather odd sense of achievement.

Vote, vote, vote

Today is likely to be a big change in the country. Obviously. It is election day. The signs are not good nationally and although I have some hopes locally, the reality is that the damage has probably been done and we will be lumbered with our incombent MP for another term. Which is depressing.

The best we can hope for is a hung parliament with "call me Dave" denied an absolute majority. Which is a shocking performance on his part. In the teeth of a once in a century recession he has failed to make the case for the Conservative party. And his call for change failed to consider that people could also change to the Liberal Democrats... oops.

limping to the end

A tame and lacklustre end to a terrible season. The Europa cup would have been some return, but we didn't deserve it. Good luck to Fulham - hope they can do it and Roy Hodgson gets the recognition he deserves. The rumour is we are looking at him to replace Rafa.
To be honest I fear a firesale before Hicks and Gillette sell up - cashing in on Torres, Gerrard and Mascherano might net them £100m, and would it change the value of the club? Their strategy has failed though - now we cannot finish in the top 4 and are out of the European Champions League, will we ever regain that position? Will we now slip down to take the traditional Spurs role - pretty good, may win a cup, but can't attract or keep the strongest players and so cannot crack the top 4? It is an ominous thought.

Still there is a perverse pleasure in our feeble performance almost certainly denying the Premiership to Man Utd. But that is a pathetic way to go.

Sleeping with a Bear

The Breadcrumbs identified something that was missing in our lives. They recognised that Mrs Breadcrumb and I share a room and a bed, which is obviously nice and fun, but oddly we did not have any cuddly toys in bed with us. Everyone needs a toy to cuddle. So they gave us a bear to share in bed. And oddly enough they were right.

busy busy busy

Which makes a change.
Phrase of the week: Context is for the weak.

Meanwhile, 2 good wins in a row but Man utd on Sunday. Oh well. Roll on next year.

Sutcliffe

I have a personal connection to the Yorkshire Ripper case. His last victim, Jackie Hill, lived in the same group of flats, and at the time of her murder I was probably less than 50m away.
The debate over whether he should be allowed to appeal for parole seems based on the idea that he would eventually get out. The subsequent furor over James Venables raises the pressure even higher.

I always felt that the Ripper trial was something that was done to please the public. He was judged sane to stand trial, but my definition of sanity does not encompass what he did. However we tried him as a sane man, and decided that he was insane later. With that background he is entitled to ask for a parole hearing. Justice should be seen to be blind in these things. He should be allowed his hearing - and never, ever let out. This is surely a case where life must mean life. But even monsters are entitled to a due legal process.

that's more like it

A one goal home victory over Roumanian opposition at Anfield. We are clearly on the path to glory. (What is the emoticon for sarcasm again?)

no reason

Bob Mould
Sunspots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsKrkqCUacI

The 4 Horse riders of the Recession Apocalypse

Fear, Panic, Debt and Robert Peston.

As they used to say in the war, "it's being so cheerful that keeps me going".

Thucydides

I think that 2009 was so rubbish I have been driven to delve into history. Anyway, I seem to be reading history books at the moment (Andrew Marr Making of Modern Britain, The Perfect Thing, History of the Pelopenesian War).
Thing about Thucydides is, apart from the fact that all that killing becomes strangely undifferentiated and samey after a while, is that people have not changed in two and a half thousand years. I paraphrase but one of the Athenian debates about how to treat a rebelious colony had a speaker saying "if a man does a patriotic act everyone says he only did it for his own benefit". Sounds very familiar in these times, when no politician is portrayed as anything but venal and self interested.

Plus ca change, as the French say.

2010

The year we make contact. According to Arthur C. Clarke.
Well hopefully it will be better than this year, which has been a disaster the like of which I cannot remember. Annus Horribilis is what the Queen called one year - oh, boy, this was it for so many of us.

Here's to next year.

Ouch!

When Saturday Comes have nailed Liverpool's problems. Truth hurts. "We just need another 9 good players". Indeed.

The glamour of travel

That will be the bit when I slept for 90 minutes on the marble floor of the zone between gate check in and the water bottle removing security station at Schipol airport. Ah, yes. That glamour.

The future is already here

It is just unevenly distributed - William Gibson

Dubai skyline 2009

Up

I almost cried. Up is the funniest and saddest film I have seen in ages. Mrs Breadcrumb cried - the breadcrumbs laughed, and didn't really notice the aching poignancy. Plus, talking dogs.

Strongly recommended.

And a reminder of my increasing age ("time travel one day at a time") is the increasing length of time I have to spend in the bathroom getting ready for the day- teeth, floss, shave, moisturise, anti-net shampoo, foot powder, verucca salt. It all takes time!

3 down

The defeat at Chelsea killed off the season for the mighty Reds.
Last season I gave up all hope in April. This year in September. Cruel times.

This is personally a year not to remember. No money, no work, no titles for my team, hard times at work for Mrs Breadcrumb.

Enduring is the hardest. And being blunt soccer is just soccer.

2016

Hard to believe that it is more than 4 years since London won the right to stage the 2012 Olympics. What a thrill it was, coupled with a certain Schadenfreude at the French disappointment. London 2012 made a great pitch - pointing out the UK is such as young country, and that London is one of the great international cities. Maybe only New York has that same And now less than 3 years until the Games themselves.

not getting my hopes up

Just in case they may begin to rise after 4 successive victories, Man Utd beating City 4-3 with a goal from Michael Owen is a reminder that realistically our chance was last season. I shall not be becoming optimistic. Oh no, not me.

Happy Eid to everyone.

TS Elliot was wrong

April is not the cruellest month - August is.
One match down, a loss to Spurs, and already the season is over for the Mighty Reds. I'm not joking. That is it. We will never catch up.

So, here's to the 2010/1 season.

50 gigs

Following on from Jude Rogers and David Hepworth...
1. The Pirates in Hull – my first at the Ritz or similar grotty nightclub
2. Human League – meant to be the second but eventually at GMex on an 80s package
3. The Beat/Au Pairs – first uni gig, and still one of the very best
4. The Beat – last year at a grotty pub in Bradford– amazingly brilliant
5. The Beat – Last Year at a grotty pub in Bradford – somehow it all failed second time around
6. Beck – Manchester Apollo - the best I’ve ever seen
7. Bruce Springsteen – Roundhay Park 85 – first big gig. Ok, but put me off festivals
8. Radiohead – Warrington – next big gig. And worth it
9. Thom Yorke – Latitude 2009 - my first festival and a wonderful experience
10. Pere Ubu – Carlsberg free festival in Copenhagen, following the Blue Brothers Band and just before Kool and the Gang. Who booked that?
11. The Undertones – Hull – just happened to be passing
12. The Undertones – supporting Peter Gabriel at Crystal Palace, their last English appearance – we slept on the streets
13. The Go-betweens – Leeds, when I drank in the pub with them and Tracey Thorn beforehand
14. The Eagles in a corporate box at MEN, with an Aussie friend of the Go-betweens
15. Alanis Morrisette at MEN – amazingly disappointing
16. Symbol at G-mex, good but even he can’t ignore Prince’s back catalogue
17. Robert Plant – and evening of swing jazz at Leeds Uni – god how they called for Stairway
18. The Waterboys in Newcastle – fine until they turned up the volume
19. REM in Newcastle city hall – Nick Lowe supported- can you believe I didn’t know what they looked like?
20. The Who in Newcastle – but Keith was already dead, and really so was the band.
21. Pixies in Newcastle – my 27th birthday with the girl I loved and her new boyfriend. Now out on bootleg
22. Dr Remi Engala and the Orchestra Super Matimbele – Stockton Riverside Festival – every year and totally brilliant
23. They Might Be Giants – Redcar Bowl 1989 with the woman who I would date and marry 7 years later
24. Sisters of Mercy- Leeds Uni -3 shows in one term, moving up the venues each time. They lived round the corner from me
25. Motorhead – Leeds Uni – never saw them for more than a minute, but I HEARD THEM
26. The Pogues – Leeds Uni – I delayed starting work for a week to see them
27. Gil Scott Heron – Boston, USA 1990 – found out he was on by accident and drove 50 miles on the off-chance
28. Gill Scott Heron – Newcastle Riverside – met him backstage, but the drugs were taking hold
29. David Byrne – Nottingham – that’s near Cambridge isn’t it? Oh, not really. Worth the trip
30. David Byrne – Newcastle – he’s actually good said the people I dragged along
31. Husker Du – Leeds Uni – these guys had a plan
32. Julian Cope – Riverside on the Peggy Suicide tour – my female friends all wanted to have his children. Did I really meet Courtney love at a previous JC gig?
33. Kitchens of distinction – riverside – why were they not big? Why?
34. Smashing Pumpkins – Newcastle night club – they have anger issues. Really.
35. Fatima Mansions – Middlesbrough crypt – another one with anger issues.
36. Sugercubes – Newcastle night club – curiouser and curiouser said Bjork. Who’s the twat with the trumpet said everyone else.
37. Jesus and Mary Chain – Leeds Uni for 15 minutes. It was only a small riot
38. Jesus and Mary chain/Blur/My Bloody Valentine/Dinosaur Jnr – Rollercoaster tour on an Ice rink in South Shields. Bloody cold. Bloody loud. Blur surprisingly good
39. Blur – MEN greatest hits tour – and got better. That Boy Coxon can play.
40. Richard Thompson - a tent in York – and so can this boy. First time was such as surprise
41. The Velvet Underground in Edinburgh. The first reunion gig. I never thought I would see that, and could not understand how few people wanted to see them.
42. Billy Bragg – Bradford Uni 2006 – he was as drunk as the rest of us, but we had a good time. Phil Jupitus sang Beastiality
43. Franz Ferdinand – Bradford St Georges hall – the homecoming show. Mach shau!
44. Aztec Camera – Newcastle – how can he reproduce it all so perfectly, so effortlessly?
45. Tinariwen – Bradford st Georges – guardian reading worthies have supreme pleasure
46. The Mission – Leeds Uni – more tins of hairspray than booze
47. Steel Pulse – Leeds Uni – no need to bring your own, get high just breathing in
48. The Streets – Leeds Uni 2007 – is that what rave was really like? I got it for just a song
49. The Smiths/Red guitars – Leeds Uni - and the Smiths were blown off stage
50. Madness – Leeds Uni – 2 hits, a new song, repeat for 2 hours of delirium

Is that the time?

The summer rain is still lashing down. England are still throwing it all away in the Ashes. The breadcrumbs are with their grandparents in the obviously superior nation. It still seems like it should be summer. But next Monday is the Anniversary of Middlesbrough 3 Liverpool FC 3. Or to put it another way our wedding anniversary. 13 summers. And time for another season of soccer.

Time for hopes to rise, and disappointment to lurk. To be honest - I can wait. It's only when the season has started that I get carried away. I am quite happy now before hostilities begin, when all is possible once more.

Come on you Reds...

harry potter 6

Well I enjoyed it. The Breadcrumbs were suitably terrified, there were jokes about young love that went completely over their heads, and Mrs Breadcrumb and I could forget our crummy lives for 2 1/2 hours. Result.

Phineas & Ferb

The breadcrumbs prefer The Suite Life, but I like Phineas and Ferb. There, I've said it.

No Power in the 'verse

I'm still a Browncoat. Firefly still rocks.
Dare I finally start watching Dollhouse?

Technically it is the other fascist - but you get the point.
You can buy this on mugs and t-shirts if you click here.

No, I don't get a cut.

Oxymoron

There are posters around saying "vote for change - vote conservative". Don't they actually understand the English language?

Anyway, a bloody awful result in the European elections, and the loss of Richard Corbett as an MEP in place of a BNP candidate. The very best we can hope for is that they will show themselves up badly.

all ends in tears again

MUFC were just to good for us over the season. I would have like Arsenal to have won to take it to the last day, but at least we were in it until almost the end.
So another season without silverware, another season without the Premiership - and I don't think we will have a better chance. It all comes down to individual moments - that last minute winner for MUFC against Villa, compared to us putting on Lucas rather than Mascherano with 10 minutes to go against Everton, and the referees error gifting Stoke a point. Small differences, but in the end we did not have either the luck or the ability.

Star Trek

Another rave. Brilliant. Far better than I could have hoped. Far better than all the previous films (except possibly 2).
Go see. Now. We are going again. Soon.

American Flagg!

Just read this again for the first time in 25 years. Brilliant stuff

Hillsborough

On the 20th anniversary of Hillsborough I was in Paphos in Cyprus, and surprised to see an organised memorial service being conducted at the waterfront. People were asking me what was going on, and I explained.
There were about 50 or 60 people (including me and the breadcrumbs) who followed a couple of priests down to the water to throw a wreath to commemmorate the 96.

After all this time it is still emotional. There was a photo on the memorial at the Shankly Gates of one of the victims - forever frozen in his 80's tache (ala Soueness). The victims and their families can never move on. Looking again at the memorial it reminds me of how young so many of the victims were - just teenagers. Now they would be in their 30s. Never grew up and had families of their own.

It is too late for justice, but there are still the badges saying "Don't buy the Sun".
And let's hope it never happens again. And let's not forget the victims of Heysel either, or the Bradford fire.

4-4 Repeat

Well I suppose we can't say we don't get our money's worth. Liverpool 4- 4 Arsenal.
Can't knock Arshavin - took the only 4 chances they had all evening with perfect success. We on the other struggled, and the defence was too ropey. For once we were too focussed on the attacking half of the pitch.

When was the last time we scored 8 goals in 2 matches and didn't win either of them?
So, advantage Man U. I would say game over, but I've said that enough times already.
In the end the team did brilliantly to conjour a final equalizer and gain a point.

I just hope Arsenal can do us a favour at Man U and Chelsea now.

ouch

That was a spanking, and why I didn't want us to face Chelsea. So that is the Champions League over for us - now we can concentrate on the Premiership. So, realistically - it is all over for another season.
At least it is April, and not August.

And the toilet seat

That broke too. Unfortunate with the LFC vs Chelsea Champions League game coming up.
Oh, I don't want this. Again. Too many times. It just hurts - whether we win or lose, it just hurts. It would have been so nice to have one of non-British teams.
Still, given that the scum drew 2-2 there is always the hope that if we do get through this we will not have to play them if we get to the final.
But the hope is always the thing that kills you...

things fall apart

The house appears to have taken it ill out that we repaired the roof. Since then things have just given up the ghost for no reason. Several lightbulbs - not unusual - couple of lamps, the underfloor heating, the kettle. Aha, I hear you say - so it is the electics that are the problem. If that is the case why did the tap handle join in?

an apology

I was going to write about more than LFC, but apparently I don't. What that says about my life, I leave to your imagination.

Meanwhile, Mrs Breadcrumb apparently works in the Office. Her boss has just done the good news/bad news thing. The bad news is that everyone's pay is frozen. The good news is that he has a swanky new job in Europe. Not irony. Not even a little.
Apparently he was hurt that people were so pleased he was leaving that they almost cheered.

The times they are a changing

Just been in a Virgin megastore, or what ever they are called now. It was surprisingly difficult to find actual music in there. The CDs are now only given a small portion of (underground) floor space, and the easy access bits of the shop are all DVD boxsets and Games. Funny how the world moves on. I used to spend my weekends browsing such places for new music - now there is more music than I can ever listen to available for free a few keystrokes away. Really these places are dead, dead, dead.
As obsolete as warships in the Baltic (c) Paddy MacAloon.

This is what they pay their license fee for part 2

Ok, so Mrs Breadcrumb was not impressed because it was Mother's day, and neither where the friends who came to visit. But it was worth it to be at Anfield for the Mighty Reds crushing of the Villa 5-0. Oddly enough Villa were pretty good, and Friedel should not have been sent off. Hey, ho.

More please.

The problem is that I occassionally start believing it might be possible...

ouch

So, the deal is beat Chelsea, beat Barcelona and then beat Man U to win the Champions league. Sorry, but it is not going to happen. The red scum have had the luck of the draw, and the easy ride should help them win the Premiership too. Bastards.

That is what we pay our license fee for!

Even if it was actually on Sky. Manchester United 1 - Liverpool 4.
Coming 4 days after Liverpool 4 - Real Madrid 0, it was a good week.
Still United's Premiership to lose, but there was a joy in it anyway.

Now all I am hoping for is to avoid the other English teams in the Champion's league until the final. My ideal would be Man U vs Chelsea with the winners to play Arsenal or Barcelona. Unlikely, but as likely as any other combination. Just not Chelsea in the semis again please.

free album from 4ad

Can't say fairer than that.

Sometimes you can't win

The 1-1 draw with Everton in the cup was nowhere near as painful as the draw in the Premiership, but still not good. But being realistic this is a match where there is no good result - winning would not have got us 3 points, or made up for dropping 2 in the league. Losing is never good. A draw is the worst of all worlds - with a match we really don't want.

Following football really is a pastime for masochists. As a friend said, you should try supporting Swindon.

The moment we lost the Premiership

85 minutes into the derby game with Everton, 1-nil up, and we take off Torres and put on Lucas. Lucas! Not Mascherano. Lucas! Inevitably he ran around like a headless chicken, giving away pointless fouls and not touching the ball. Also inevitably 2 minutes later Everton equalised. And thus ended our challenge for the Premiership. Still it was a lot later than usual.

And yes we are still 2nd, but with the filth a game in hand and ahead on goal difference we are in the ackward position of having to beat Chelsea in the next match just to stay in touch. What would normally be seen as a good result (a draw) will probably mean that the filth go from 8 points behind us to 5 points ahead of us in 3 weeks. And that, my friends, is the sound of the Fat Fergie crowing...

January gym bunnies

Good intentions and new year's resolutions mean that the gym is full of people trying to reverse the ravages of time. Including me. But it is so hard to get motivated when you can't get parked.

This level of drive and determination is why I need to lose 20kg!

It's 2009

So this decade is already on it's last legs. Where did it all go? Nearly 20 years since Kurt Cobain killed himself, more than 30 since punk, and 20 since the Mighty Reds won the league. Funny where the time goes.

Meanwhile, I can hardly bear to think about our chances of winning the Premiership. The longer we stay at the top, the harder it will be to take if we don't win. It is hard to realise that we actually do have more points - that the opposition don't have games in hand. So what I am hoping for this weekend is a 0-0 draw between Chelski and the scum with 3 sendings off per side. It could happen!

Lolpolarbear

more animals

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.

That was the season that was

So, Merry Christmas. The Premiership is gone with the loss to MU, the League cup with the loss to Chelsea. And now we have Inter, run away leaders of the Italian League. So, that's the season gone right there.


So, here's to 2008/9

Happy new year.

Hey, I missed November

Listening to Central Reservation, Beth Orton.

I appear to have missed out November. First time. Says something about my month. And now 2 in a day.

Click on the Link - I find it rather romantic.

Outside it's Blade Runner

For what seems no good reason I find myself in Kuala Lumpur. It is night and raining. And indeed, it appears to be Blade Runner. Ok, there are no flyers and I have not actually seen Deckard hunting replicants, but apart from that this is it exactly. Constant warm rain, glowing neon, a sky the colour of tv tuned to a dead channel, mixed English and Asian languages, every nationality under the sun. Or rather the rain.

The future is now - just not evenly distributed.

The fusion of William Gibson and Blade Runner reminds me that WG had to leave the cinema when watching the film because he was seeing the Neuromancer in his head on the screen. And somehow they merge in the real world.