Friday, May 26, 2006
The beautiful game...
A bespectacled Jimmy Somerville informs me that there was a Leeds vs. Manc office football match recently. Did the goals dry up for the Manchester team in my absence? Was Lunt on the losing team again? Match report please...
Thursday, May 25, 2006
News...
Ryno has moved out, and despite interest from Nightshade, Cobra and Zodiac the room went to Rob, a Man City fan from Preston. Finally, a flatmate who understands why I'm not going to be working from June 9-July 10.
The big story in the news here yesterday was a stricken British climber who was passed by 40 people making their way to the summit of Everest. No one stopped to help him and the poor sod died. Pretty shocking really.
Just imagine what state the galaxy would be in today had Han Solo not gone out in the freezing storms of Hoth to search for Luke. He didn't care that the odds of surviving were 7283 to 1. A lesson for all of us.
The big story in the news here yesterday was a stricken British climber who was passed by 40 people making their way to the summit of Everest. No one stopped to help him and the poor sod died. Pretty shocking really.
Just imagine what state the galaxy would be in today had Han Solo not gone out in the freezing storms of Hoth to search for Luke. He didn't care that the odds of surviving were 7283 to 1. A lesson for all of us.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Anticipation has the habit to set you up...
The Boots ad should have been on in the UK by now and as my phone has a distinct lack of texts congratulating me on my performance, I can only presume I failed to make the final edit. Bugger.
To cheer me up I have a picture to share with you. Disgruntled by Creegan passing me one of Heyes on his backside after his birthday celebrations (see post on Monday April 17th), Heyes has fought back with this photo from Breeny's phone. You should just be able to make out the familiar Creegan sozzled expression...
This was from Breeny's birthday night last week...Happy Birthday to Breeny and Mike, who (although not twins) both celebrated their birthdays on the 13th.
To cheer me up I have a picture to share with you. Disgruntled by Creegan passing me one of Heyes on his backside after his birthday celebrations (see post on Monday April 17th), Heyes has fought back with this photo from Breeny's phone. You should just be able to make out the familiar Creegan sozzled expression...
This was from Breeny's birthday night last week...Happy Birthday to Breeny and Mike, who (although not twins) both celebrated their birthdays on the 13th.
Friday, May 19, 2006
PARTY PICTURES
I've kept you waiting long enough. Here are a few snaps from our Dirty Disco party last weekend. Enjoy...
George Orwell would be turning in his grave...
Just had a quiet moment at work so I thought I'd cast my eye over this years UK Big Brother contestants. Oh dear. It would have been painful to spend the next 3 months watching round the clock coverage of those tossers. Which, I'm big enough to admit, I would have definitely done.
I'll just have to settle for spending a couple of hours a day reading about it on the interweb.
Groome, have you finished your giant heart-shaped Shahbaz banner yet? Or is Richard more your cup of tea?
I'll just have to settle for spending a couple of hours a day reading about it on the interweb.
Groome, have you finished your giant heart-shaped Shahbaz banner yet? Or is Richard more your cup of tea?
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
To kill a mocking bird...
Due to technical difficulties there's been a delay in getting my photos up from the party at the weekend.
So, to keep Boz from having to do too much work I'll babble on about my latest sporting excursion...indoor cricket.
Hamish (Kat's fella) asked me if I fancied a game on Sunday evening, so I went along to try and quench my thirst for competitive sport, with absolutely no idea what happens or how it worked. In summary, the game is 16 overs per side on a full size pitch, there are 8 players on each team each of whom bowls 2 overs and bats for 4. The court is about...hang on, I'm boring myself. For those who give a rats batty about how big the court is, how you score runs etc then look HERE
We bowled first and the opposition scored 122. Fielding is quite tricky - the game moves pretty quickly and it's quite an enclosed space. I was suffering with a horrendous hangover from the party and hadn't eaten since lunch time on the Saturday. So my performance in the field was more Sends'emback than Collingwood. I did however keep my bowling surprisingly straight and only went for 6 runs in each of my overs.
Our run chase started spectacularly well, then went spectacularly wrong, so by the time me and Hamish went in as the 3rd partnership things were looking bleak. It took me a while to get my eye in but I ended up doing ok scoring 10 of our 37 runs together.
We ended up losing, but it was a good laugh and something I'll hopefully be doing regularly. They really should have something like this in England - you don't need pads or any equipment...bats/balls/gloves are provided and they have several courts in one indoor place (about half the size of jjb). Maybe a business idea for some of you over there - cash in whilst the public is still riding on the waves of last years ashes euphoria.
So, to keep Boz from having to do too much work I'll babble on about my latest sporting excursion...indoor cricket.
Hamish (Kat's fella) asked me if I fancied a game on Sunday evening, so I went along to try and quench my thirst for competitive sport, with absolutely no idea what happens or how it worked. In summary, the game is 16 overs per side on a full size pitch, there are 8 players on each team each of whom bowls 2 overs and bats for 4. The court is about...hang on, I'm boring myself. For those who give a rats batty about how big the court is, how you score runs etc then look HERE
We bowled first and the opposition scored 122. Fielding is quite tricky - the game moves pretty quickly and it's quite an enclosed space. I was suffering with a horrendous hangover from the party and hadn't eaten since lunch time on the Saturday. So my performance in the field was more Sends'emback than Collingwood. I did however keep my bowling surprisingly straight and only went for 6 runs in each of my overs.
Our run chase started spectacularly well, then went spectacularly wrong, so by the time me and Hamish went in as the 3rd partnership things were looking bleak. It took me a while to get my eye in but I ended up doing ok scoring 10 of our 37 runs together.
We ended up losing, but it was a good laugh and something I'll hopefully be doing regularly. They really should have something like this in England - you don't need pads or any equipment...bats/balls/gloves are provided and they have several courts in one indoor place (about half the size of jjb). Maybe a business idea for some of you over there - cash in whilst the public is still riding on the waves of last years ashes euphoria.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Lousy, talentless, wouldn't know a good extra if he came up and slapped them in the face...
I received my cheque from the film company today. Although I was delighted to get quite a decent chunk of cash for doing not all that much, it was only the flat rate.
What this means is that I'm not going to have an elongated close up on the ad and am probably not in it at all.
Bugger.
What this means is that I'm not going to have an elongated close up on the ad and am probably not in it at all.
Bugger.
England squad announced...
Not much to say really as I'm pretty happy with the selection.
31 and a half days to go...
31 and a half days to go...
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Boom, shake shake shake the room
Panic and confusion hit New Zealand this morning but fortunately nothing else. The strongest earthquake of the year hit off the coast of Tonga in the early hours. Apparently NZ civil defence was told about this but decided not to mention anything and left if to foreign media sources to break the news that a dangerous Tsunami was scheduled to hit the NZ coastline at 6.20am.
As it turns out there was no Tsunami but it's good to know the authorities are on the ball.
Luckily there doesn't appear to be human casualties other than someone in a Tongan hotel who, when the tremour struck, panicked and threw himself out of his 3rd floor window. He's now in hospital.
As it turns out there was no Tsunami but it's good to know the authorities are on the ball.
Luckily there doesn't appear to be human casualties other than someone in a Tongan hotel who, when the tremour struck, panicked and threw himself out of his 3rd floor window. He's now in hospital.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
End of a goal-den age...
Sad news recently, the legend has announced his retirement from the professional game. No, I'm not talking about myself, I mean the one and only Alan Shearer. No longer will we see the famous celebration...
(This was after scoring in the 5-0 against Man Utd)
By way of a small tribute to the England player who's given me the most footballing joy since I was old enough to care, here are my top 3 favourite SHEARER related memories. Feel free to comment, contest or offer your own if you will. But be warned...any blasphemous comments will be deleted (and I'm talking mainly to the faux-Mancs like Millhouse and Smaje, and the faux-Welsh like Lunt)
3....England vs. Germany (Euro 2000 group game)
A group of us (me, Andy, James, Pete, Groome, Mike and Boz) were at the airport early on the day of the game as we were flying to Amsterdam for a couple of weeks touring Holland and Belgium during the tournament. Disaster struck though, and all flights we grounded due to some computer glitch.
After a couple of hours of mad panic we got ourselves on flights for the next day and managed to crash in Liverpool with the uni lot (Haggis/Merv/Jose/Dunc I think). We made it to the boozer in time for the game too - a load of us decked out in England shirts, carrying flags. The locals didn't seem to mind though and we got a free sausage and chips feed before the match.
Captain, number 9 and hero then headed the only goal of the game and the resulting party in Liverpool was one of the best ever. My last memory was watching a few of the group conga-ing round the dancefloor with the St George's flag lofted high.
2....Kavos, Corfu (1999)
I think this followed an England game but I can't quite remember. The location is Kavos High Street, in a bar called TJ Hookers, the people were me, Andy, James, Pete, Mike, Chris, Breeny and Raz and the drink was a pint of headfrigger (although the bar gave it a slightly different name). With DJ Tourette spinning the tunes and MCing in his own special way..."How you bloody f-ing doing tonight you virgins??"...someone came up with a drinking game. We had to take it in turns to sing a football song about Shearer, and if you couldn't manage it then you had to down your pint in one. Considering the ingredients for this pint were about 9 parts various spirits, 1 part mixed fruit juice, this was a strict punishment. And rightly so.
Round the group it went, with a variety of the usual songs, adapted to fit Shearer's name in, until someone (Breeny maybe) managed to invent a song. Probably not in the original rules of the game but it was so good it had to count (I think I'd need permission of the composer to post the lyrics). I think I was last (again, can't remember), and I'm fairly sure I was panicking but by the time it got round to me no one had used the only chant that ever gets sung about him...."SHEARER, SHEARER" so I survived.
Funnily enough, I don't think anyone pulled that night.
1....England vs. Holland (Euro 96 group game)
We gathered to watch this match in the greatest pub in Britain - the Tut'n'Shive in Donny. It was the final group game and a draw would have been enough to see us through as group winners. However, the Dutch were third favourites for the tournament and we hadn't played all that great up to that point, so tension was high. England went on to put in arguably their greatest ever performance as Shearer's impeccably taken penalty spurred them on to a magnificent 4-1 win.
The highlight of the game was England's third goal. On 57 minutes, Gascoigne received the ball from McManaman before passing a Dutch defender on the left wing - he passed the ball inside to Teddy Sheringham who squared to an unmarked Shearer. The legend duly crashed the ball into the top corner, grazing a post on the way and sending the whole nation into a frenzy. This was typified in the Tut'n'Shive where a local simply threw his hands up in ecstasy releasing his full (plastic) pint glass which looped in a high arc and landed perfectly on to Dave Santiuste's head. I can still hear the commentator (Martin Tyler I believe) scream "SHEARER!!!!!!!!" when he hit home. Thinking about that split second makes realise what Martine McCutcheon was making such a fuss about.
(This was after scoring in the 5-0 against Man Utd)By way of a small tribute to the England player who's given me the most footballing joy since I was old enough to care, here are my top 3 favourite SHEARER related memories. Feel free to comment, contest or offer your own if you will. But be warned...any blasphemous comments will be deleted (and I'm talking mainly to the faux-Mancs like Millhouse and Smaje, and the faux-Welsh like Lunt)
3....England vs. Germany (Euro 2000 group game)
A group of us (me, Andy, James, Pete, Groome, Mike and Boz) were at the airport early on the day of the game as we were flying to Amsterdam for a couple of weeks touring Holland and Belgium during the tournament. Disaster struck though, and all flights we grounded due to some computer glitch.
After a couple of hours of mad panic we got ourselves on flights for the next day and managed to crash in Liverpool with the uni lot (Haggis/Merv/Jose/Dunc I think). We made it to the boozer in time for the game too - a load of us decked out in England shirts, carrying flags. The locals didn't seem to mind though and we got a free sausage and chips feed before the match.
Captain, number 9 and hero then headed the only goal of the game and the resulting party in Liverpool was one of the best ever. My last memory was watching a few of the group conga-ing round the dancefloor with the St George's flag lofted high.
2....Kavos, Corfu (1999)
I think this followed an England game but I can't quite remember. The location is Kavos High Street, in a bar called TJ Hookers, the people were me, Andy, James, Pete, Mike, Chris, Breeny and Raz and the drink was a pint of headfrigger (although the bar gave it a slightly different name). With DJ Tourette spinning the tunes and MCing in his own special way..."How you bloody f-ing doing tonight you virgins??"...someone came up with a drinking game. We had to take it in turns to sing a football song about Shearer, and if you couldn't manage it then you had to down your pint in one. Considering the ingredients for this pint were about 9 parts various spirits, 1 part mixed fruit juice, this was a strict punishment. And rightly so.
Round the group it went, with a variety of the usual songs, adapted to fit Shearer's name in, until someone (Breeny maybe) managed to invent a song. Probably not in the original rules of the game but it was so good it had to count (I think I'd need permission of the composer to post the lyrics). I think I was last (again, can't remember), and I'm fairly sure I was panicking but by the time it got round to me no one had used the only chant that ever gets sung about him...."SHEARER, SHEARER" so I survived.
Funnily enough, I don't think anyone pulled that night.
1....England vs. Holland (Euro 96 group game)
We gathered to watch this match in the greatest pub in Britain - the Tut'n'Shive in Donny. It was the final group game and a draw would have been enough to see us through as group winners. However, the Dutch were third favourites for the tournament and we hadn't played all that great up to that point, so tension was high. England went on to put in arguably their greatest ever performance as Shearer's impeccably taken penalty spurred them on to a magnificent 4-1 win.
The highlight of the game was England's third goal. On 57 minutes, Gascoigne received the ball from McManaman before passing a Dutch defender on the left wing - he passed the ball inside to Teddy Sheringham who squared to an unmarked Shearer. The legend duly crashed the ball into the top corner, grazing a post on the way and sending the whole nation into a frenzy. This was typified in the Tut'n'Shive where a local simply threw his hands up in ecstasy releasing his full (plastic) pint glass which looped in a high arc and landed perfectly on to Dave Santiuste's head. I can still hear the commentator (Martin Tyler I believe) scream "SHEARER!!!!!!!!" when he hit home. Thinking about that split second makes realise what Martine McCutcheon was making such a fuss about.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Strike a pose...
Not content with being the drunken photo star of 3 barely read blogs I've now got my mug (along with 2 other reprobates) on the website for the big swim race that went on last weekend...
last one on 12th row
last one on 12th row
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