First blood Rangers

Well, the first Old Firm game of the season took place yesterday. I managed to get access to the game on Freeview and watched with growing dejection as the game slipped away. A poor decision by the referee, Stuart Dougal to send off Thompson for a tackle which only warranted a yellow completely spoiled the game as a contest. The feeling in the media is that Dougal got it wrong. Report of the game is here. Neil Lennon was also red carded after the final whistle for "pointing out to the referee that he had a bad game" - when the red card was brandished in his face, Lennon reacted badly, barging the referee in the chest. He will no doubt receive additional punishment to the automatic one-game ban. He is an eejit and to be honest I am quite glad if he has to sit out a few games - he is as slow as a week in the jail.

Books gone

I was walking to get the bus to work yesterday and was passing the phone box where I had left the books the day before - they were gone. Just as I was passing, 3 schoolkids were approaching from a side-street and I heard this snippet of conversation:

"....they're not there anymore, they had a sticker on the front saying take me home, I'm free..."

I have checked on-line and no-one has logged them as "caught" yet.

First day at school

I am off today (and also yesterday), first day at school for Kira. She will go in for the morning only for a month before going in for the afternoon. She was absolutely fine, it helps that she went to nursery at the school and is used to the environment - in fact today was a shorter day than she is used to as they started at 10am. I don't remember too much about my first day at school but I do clearly remember sitting in class watching one of my classmates being in the middle of a tug-of-war with the teacher and his mum. He was absolutely howling and would not let go of his mum whilst the teacher was holding his other hand and trying to wrest him away from mum. This is a very vivid memory and I can even remember thinking "gee, what a baby", or words to that effect!

I also released a couple of books into the wild. This may sound a bit strange but there is a web-site called Book Crossing, where you log details of books that you no longer want, label them with a unique ID number and leave them in a place where they should be picked up by a member of the public. Once found, that person can then log on to the site and register that this book has been "caught" and once read, they release it again. The idea is that you can keep track of a book that you have released and follow it's progress, possibly to the other side of the world. There is a public phone box about 150 yards down the road from my house and I wandered down this afternoon and left a couple of books there (both with sticky labels on the front saying "I'M FREE, TAKE ME HOME, SEE INSIDE COVER"). I await with interest!

Sounds of the Seventies

The other night, just before going to bed I stumbled on Sounds of the Seventies on BBC3 (or 4?). It started off with The Clash, so looked promising. I stuck in a tape and went to bed. Watched the rest of it last night, what a line-up, from start to finish! All from programmes where the band played live, such as The Old Grey Whistle Test and Something Else.

How about:

The Clash
Buzzcocks
The Damned
The Jam
The Stranglers
Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Undertones

and finally, Joy Division.

Magic stuff!

Channel five baseball

Well, last week I taped the Wednesday night baseball on five. When I got round to watching it on Thursday, it wasn't a live game but was the film of the 2004 World Series. Internet rumours abounded that the Wed live game was no more. Sure enough, watched Sunday night's game and this is indeed the case. Jonny Gould advised that unfortunately the Wednesday live game was finished for the season but he was unable to tell us mere viewers the reason why. He says we should be grateful for the fact we have Sunday night live baseball as well as the whole World Series. That is all well and good but the live Wed game has been going for 7 years. Why stop now? Are the viewing figures so bad or can five not afford to pay? It's a bit worrying for the future of live baseball on five.

Trainspotting

Last night, Lynn and I watched Trainspotting on DVD. I got it for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and haven't seen it for a couple of years. It really is an excellent movie, I am actually listening to the soundtrack just now.

The girls are out enjoying the evening sunshine while Lynn takes her mum home and pops to the supermarket to get a couple of things. Once she comes back, we are going to pour ourselves a drink and sit out the front and watch the world go by and wish it wasn't Sunday evening!

Rising Son

I have just returned from seeing Shunsuke Nakamura make his debut for Celtic. He is the first Japanese player ever to play for Celtic. He was head and shoulders above everyone else today. His touch, awareness, speed of thought and downright ability to pass the ball were a joy to behold. He set up Zarawski with a great pass in the first half. In the second half he came incredibly close with a curling, dipping free kick and almost scored with a delightful lob over the keeper from inside the box. Magic stuff! This guy is going to a be a sensation!

Oh, incidentally, Celtic won 2-0 with goals from Hartson and Beattie.

I am just listening to the Dropkick Murphys. Discovered them when their song, Tessie, was played at the end of the 2004 World Series Film which was on Channel 5 the other evening. They are from Boston and play punk/Irish folk type songs. Pretty good stuff.

A little list

Came across this set of questions and thought I would answer as honestly as possible:

1. When was the last time you went to the bathroom outside? About 2 weeks ago, in a little sheltered cave on Whitby beach.
2. When was the last time you saw one of your parents? Saw them both last night, handed in an e mail I had received from dad's cousin (they don't have a PC so I am used as a "go-between")
3. Which family member do you most resemble? My dad
4. Do you wear cologne/perfume? Yes, Activist After Shave
5. Do you wear deodorant? Yes
6. Do you 'clean up nice'? Not really
7. When was the last time you tripped and fell? Last night, slipped on the top step and fell onto my back. Never, ever done this before.
8. where was the last place you slept besides your home? Napped on the train, overnight at Guest House in Filey
9. What are you listening to right now? Bicycle Race by Queen
10. Have you ever started an uncontrollable fire? No
11. Ever run out of gas on the road? Yes
12. Would you rather cut the grass or rake the leaves? Leaves, hate cutting grass
13. Your name spelled backwards. Niloc
14. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? Can't remember
15. Last time you swam in a pool. Last year on holiday in France
16. Have you ever been in a school play? No
17. How many kids do you want? Two
18. Type of music you dislike most? Anything that has no tune i.e. house, techno
19. Are you registered to vote? Yes
20. Do you have cable? No
21. Ever prank call anybody? Yes, mainly when I was a boy but more recently when I called my wife's friend and kidded on I was this guy she had just started seeing. Quote - "you sound different", "oh, I've got a cold"
22. Best friends? Steven, Tom, Kevin, Graham
23. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? No
24. Do you have a garden? Yes, front and back although not too large
25. What's your favorite comic strip? Peanuts
26. Bath or Shower, morning or night? Shower, morning
27. Best movie you've seen in the past month? Don't think I've watched one
28. Favorite pizza topping? Pepperoni
29. Crisps or popcorn? Crisps
30. What color lipstick do you usually wear? Pass
31. Have you ever smoked peanut shells? ?? No
32. Orange Juice or apple? Orange
33. Favorite type of chocolate bar? Mars
34. When was the last time you voted at the polls? General election, in May I think it was
35. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? No idea
36. Are you a good cook? No
37. Ever order anything from an infomercial? No
38. Sprite or 7-up? Sprite
39. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to work? No
40. Ever thrown up in public? Yes, yes and yes again
41. Would you prefer being a millionaire or find true love? True love
42. Do you believe in love at first sight? For some people
43. Can ex's be friends? For some people
44. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital? Lynn's aunt
45. Did you have a lot of hair as a baby? Yes, more than I have now!
46. What message is on your answering machine? Hi, sorry we can't come to the phone right now, please leave your message after the tone (pretty boring I know)
47. What do you think about most? Sadly, probably work.

Raffy and other stuff

So Rafael Palmeiro has been banned for 10 days for taking steroids. I haven't really read too much about this until now as I have been busy. He "doesn't know how steroids got into his body" but accepts the 10 day ban.....hmm. All very sad, following on from him achieving 3000 hits just a couple of weeks ago.

I have been out most of this week. As part of my job, I have to visit brokers from time to time. On Tuesday I was in Forfar, famous for the bridie. On Wednesday I was in Dundee, famous for jam and jute and also Perth, famous for, well just being Perth. Rounded off with a trip to Edinburgh today, at least I got home nice and early.

Oh, I was at the game on Tuesday night, Celtic 4 Artmedia Bratislava 0. Not enough I'm afraid, out of Europe disastrously early this year!