Monday, June 26, 2006

maybe England can beat Portugal

In response to Troy joy's comment: Mrs L says: another day of football
Indeed we did see the England game. On a lovely big telly as well. Very tense. Although we seemed OK for a while after the first goal.

I wasn't hopeful at all for the next match. But after watching Portugal last night, I think if we can get an early goal and defend well - we'll be alright. (that's quite an obvious comment - isn't it?)

troyjoy - have a great holiday.

(I'm not sure I've sussed this linking stuff yet. Permalink, backtracking - still so much to learn)

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Another busy week

Well work has certainly been busy. I certainly seem better at taking on things than finishing things.

As I said last Friday I went to my friend's gig at the Vibe bar in Brick Lane. I love going to Brick Lane on warm evenings as there are always so many people about and it has a nice vibe. It was Moefoe's album launch and it all seemed to go well. Managed a celeb spot at the Truman Brewery as well - Dave Gorman.

Saturday was my friend's daughters 5th birthday. A very enjoyable afternoon in the park. Although I have to admit I did arrive after the kids games. I did bring a pink skipping rope that played house music though - so I was down with the kids a bit.

Sunday was spent gardening and watching football. I'm still getting used to this gardening lark. It takes so much time but I do feel proud when I manage anything, even if it is pulling all the strangle weed from one bed.

On Tuesday we went to a friend's to watch the England vs Sweden game. Evidence from his kitchen suggests that he has never cooked before but he assured us he would provide food. We were skeptical and more than one of the girls had emailed him to ask if he needed help. He assured us "no". There certainly was food when we got there and lots of it. Raw. And the cooker didn't work. Our host took no responsibility for cooking so I got busy with the b-b-q. I thought the bonus of b-b-qs was that men did the cooking. Why is it then that I've had to do the cooking at the last three. Maybe it's the men I know.....

Our Swedish friend put up a good fight for her team. She did well defending herself against the tirade of abuse from everyone else. During the second half several people seemed less interested in the football. We escaped before midnight. Many didn't.

We also went to see Carmen this week. I thought it was the opera but actually it was a modern dance adaptation. It wasn't what I had expected but brilliant to watch. We went to see Carmen because we played a song from it at our wedding. I came down the aisle to .... Our wedding anniversary is July 9th. Yep the World cup final. No nice weekend away this year! So a trip to Carmen was negotiated.

Also lots of football watching this week. As you can tell if you read any other posts. I'm not really into football, but I seem to have got sucked in. Maybe it's because I haven't watched Big Brother yet... Mr L and whambam are very into it. I don't really have any choice, but I do like making predictions on the scores. I also love it when an under dog does well.

And then another weekend. Football. Beer. Junk food. Indigestion.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

listen to the final comments from the boys on today's football

Mr L: "Normal order of the world is restored by the end of the day. Mexico can, however, go home with their heads held high"

Whambam: "Where are we going next?"

Troyjoy: "Delightful, final goal was reminiscent of the Justin Fashanu goal of the season"

Whambam: "I love the world cup. All those nations together. Having fun. United. I want more. Please don't make me go to bed. Can I have another beer please?"

We're looking at extra time

Whambam Dan believes Mexico are the moral winners.
I'm still cheering for them.

Of course the afternoon hasn't been all football and beer. We've had burgers and discussed books as well. Troyjoy and I are both reading the Tipping Point. We both got it yesterday and have got to about page 40. So we've been talking about who we know who are connectors and mavens in our group.

another day of football

Currently watching the boys watching football.
Can the Mexicans beat Argentina?

Mr L says no, not in open play
Whambam Dan says probably not
Troyjoy says no

I say - I hope so - then I can carry on drinking Corona as my world cup beer.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Ban oversized hand luggage

I read in the Metro earlier this week that airline passengers are to banned from taking over sized hand luggage on flights.

Excellent I say.

This was something that wound me up when we were in America. People with "hand luggage" they couldn't even carry themselves.

It meant long queues as you entered security (but I have a bigger beef with security - I'll come to that another day). And long queues as you entered the plane. This was because so many people had luggage they couldn't lift to get in the over head lockers. Then when someone else taller or stronger offered to help them lift it they had to spend about 5 minutes trying to shove it in because the bag was too big for the locker.

What happened to taking on the flight what you need for the flight? Eg ipod, book, passport, water?

I realise that people don't want to wait for their luggage after the flight but it annoyed me that I had to wait to board and unboard my flight whilst lockers were crammed and unloaded the other end. It wasn't like we waited long to get our bags either - but this was probably because there were only about 20 suitcases on the plane. So if airlines are going to let people with big hand luggage board they need to start designing planes for short haul flights differently - less cargo area and bigger over head lockers.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

England are through

And due to play Ecuador at the weekend.

I was in Ecuador, in Quito, 5 years ago when Ecuador beat Peru (I think) in a world cup qualifier (the victory led them onto their first world cup). There were massive parties in the street and celebrations that night like I'd never seen before. It was an amazing atmosphere. Hundreds of cars drove through the streets with their horns blaring and people hanging out of the windows.

Although I'm please they are doing well lets hope it is us who is celebrating on Sunday. I'll also be celebrating my Nan's birthday. Happy birthday Nan!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

thank you Ukraine for some goals

Even in the last few minutes they were still going for it (OK so they had a big goal difference to make up)

But Spain - what happened to you?
You were meant to score goals in the first half.
You lost us a fiver

Good luck to England tonight!

Monday, June 19, 2006

There aren't enough goals in this World Cup

I'm bored with defensive play and 0-0 draws. There's been France vs Switzerland, Mexico vs Angola and on Sunday Japan vs Croatia. I fell asleep during this game, the biggest excitement had been looking for two friends who were in the crowd.

OK - so I may not be the biggest football supporter and so you can tell me it's not all about scoring goals - but attacking play is far more exciting to watch. And I believe this world cup has seen the least goals scored so far..

So how about spicing the world cup up a bit - no entry into the second round unless you'd scored 5 goals or something like that?

Mr L said this was a pretty silly idea and would be far to hard to control. His idea though is a cracker. No points for a nil nil draw. This would at least force some attacking play. So what do you reckon?

I think it's great - let's hope FIFA are reading.....

Friday, June 16, 2006

Busy week

Well, the end of the week. And what an action packed week it's been. Last Friday we went to our friends wedding. It was a great day. They'd got together at our wedding a couple of years ago and so we got a mention in the speech. Of course I'm so modest I didn't stand up and milk it to much! The weather has been really hot in the UK since we got back from holiday and the wedding was in the countryside so it was all rather lovely.

On Saturday though, there was a mad drive back to the City to watch the first England football game. The drive should take an hour or so, but there were a million cars on the road and lots of road works. The prospect of football coupled with the hottest day of the yequaledlled lots of very angry drivers. 2 hours later as we reached London and were still stuck in traffic coming into town, so we jumped out the car and walked the last bit of the way home whilst our friend driving carried on to drop someone else off.

Anyway, we made it with time to settle on the sofa before the football started and a few friends came round. Luckily England got a goal within the first couple of minutes but they didn't play well. We won though - and of course that's what matters! The sun was shinning and the grass was cut so we spent the rest of the day having a barby and drinking lots of beer, cava and pimms. Actually we drunk the supply we had for the whole tournament in that one day - but never mind.


Back at work after my holiday and very busy with things. Including looking at blogs for work purposes. Hence me starting a personal one here. So what do you think of company blogs? More to come on that maybe...


And of course there has been football all week. But there are so many other people with more to say on that matter than me.

Off to a friends gig tonight - www.moefoe.co.uk

And my friend's 5 year olds birthday party tomorrow.

Hopefully it will be a nice sunny weekend.