Well the European Championship is being held soon and although looking forward to it I already know that I'm going to miss a fair bit of it because of work commitments (boo hiss). Still it's now summer and to find football other than continental championships requires investigative searches. You suddenly become grateful for those countries with a March-November season.
Last year I'd stumbled on an Internet stream in the Norwegian Tippelgaen and found myself rooting for the home team Viking FK. They became the Norwegian team I follow online when work permits it. So to reiterate, I probably am the only Englishman living in Wales to follow a Norwegian League team. Footballing fame at last.
Now even though the commentary was (surprise,surprise) in Norwegian which I don't speak (my ignorance) that didn't matter. As long as I knew which team was which I was involved. Background could always be looked at half time.
I'd wanted to see whether Viking FK were playing yesterday but in the event that proved irrelevant because a cousin of the wife's came for Sunday Lunch so there was no opportunity to watch a game online even if it had come on. The afternoon was spent between watching a cricket game that was so dull until the end that I could have died of rigidity. Tennis where Andy Murray fooled us all by winning the first set before collapsing into swift defeat and darts.
Must admit I'm in two minds towards darts. On the one hand there is a skill involved and it is a sport. On the other what possesses people to see these players in these massive arenas where depending on where they're seated they could hardly see the darting gladiators let alone the darts?
When I put it to our guest who has gone to these things he responded as follows. "Well there are big screens". Was silent at this. Though did think couldn't people just stay and watch their big screen in the comfort of home?
Anyway wasn't able to watch a match until 10pm that night when online I saw a match in the Copa America. Jamaica were playing Venezuela in Chicago. Two teams I've really seen play. It was about 10pm here in Wales and it felt rather humid (and for those of you who know about Welsh weather you probably do believe in climate change after reading that sentence).
Venezuela started well with an impressive goal. Cue the camera to focus on a pretty blonde I'd remembered seeing before the match started. I'd wondered whether the cameraman was going to ask her out for a date. The commentator stated that the team's performance was "high energy". I'd wondered whether he was being deliberate in his choice of words given their economic problems.
But the game really turned on the sending off of a Jamaican player soon after the first goal. To my eye it looked harsh. After half time (during which I did the very British thing and made myself a cup of tea) the manager was sent to the stands by the referee for arguing with him. One player off,one manager off and one goal down. You got the feeling that it wasn't going to be Jamaica's day. Still although they lost it was only by that goal. Given what they faced it was an impressive performance by the team in yellow.
Monday evening I watched the friendly between Italy and Finland. If you're wondering what my allegiance is here then.....
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| Blue is the colour |
So Blue is the colour, apart that is from the Italian goalkeeper whose strip was of a colour best described as motorway maintenance. The Azzuri won 2-0. Really it should have been more. Italy is at it's best when they play with a swagger which was missing here.
Italy was captained by Chiellini. Or as Luis Suarez would call him...a snack.
By the way you can learn a lot about a country by watching their TV commercials. Italians like mineral water. They are also led to believe that teeth whitening toothpaste will attract women in the way aftershave/deodorant was once meant to do (note for the next shopping list I think).
After that I watched a bit of the second half of Iceland Liechtenstein which was won 4-0 by the home team. Unfortunately it was 3-0 by the time my eyes I'd joined them.
You may remember a challenge I set myself a long time to buy a football sticker pack a day to fill a Panini Euro sticker album with. Well it's gone surprisingly slowly. At the beginning I saw more packs for trading cards than for stickers. Don't ask me why. Anyway in Porthcawl on Monday all of the packs so far have been bought. Will spend a bit of Tuesday on a football sticker special post....I know you can't wait.
Here is incidentally the Porthcawl picture of the week.
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| A warm day |
You will note the fence at the bottom of the photo, Because if you turn a bit to your left this is the view you'd see.
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| Preparing for the summer crowds |
Today I bought Neil Taylor of Swansea and Wales.....this is the proof.
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| Told you |
Kudos to the local Coop supermarket in Porthcawl for selling something Welsh that Tesco Bridgend at time of writing only sells the English version of.
You may remember that in my last post I quibbled with Andy Miller with regard to him wondering how you could call yourself a sportsfan but not particularly liking every sport. Well I've realised that you could call yourself a reader (which I am) but missing a notable subject out.In my case, as you've realised from the title, it's poetry.
I wish I could say that the reasoning was amongst the classic ones thrown out.
"It rhymes? How poncey is that" or
"It doesn't rhyme? How pathetic. Anyone can be a poet." or
"I wander lonely as a cloud? You cannot be cirrus? When do you see cloud by itself? They hunt in packs. Especially when it's about to rain".
No it came down to finance. I've no idea about the price of poetry books now but when I was a teenager you'd pick up a slim volume of poetry and you'd be shocked to discover that it was about the same price as a novel (autobiography etc). So poetry gave you less bang for your buck, less pull for your pound.
Of course there were the poets I read at school. I liked T S Eliot when he was depressed only to lose me when he discovered God and cats. John Donne the womaniser who discovered religion (how convenient.Covering your bases I'd say) wrote poetry I shrugged at. And there was another that so influenced me that I've forgotten his name.
There was one exception which was John Betjeman who was the Poet Laureate when I was younger. He was a man of varied interests but was capable of writing poetry that made you laugh or feel sadness. He was the one who would go on TV chat shows. He made poetry accessible to everyone without the feeling he was dumbing down. I don't know how good Betjeman was in comparison to others because I've read so little poetry. But I liked him.
So then me and poetry. Not against just apathetic. Not in denial just indifferent.
However my collection of classic Penguin paperbacks has a few poetry books in it. John Donne (been there Donne that) and this.
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| Robin Skelton (editor) - Poetry of the Thirties |
The point is that I've finished the last "car book" I've used to dip into from time to time. (The Henry Cooper post sporting career biography which read more like the finish from one of those "An Evening With.." events) so this seems like the perfect book to dip into.
We shall see.
Until the next time.
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