Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.
Well at last it's finished. Volume two of Michael Palin's diaries. Bought in the summer fete at Laleston where I came from the tip smelling of grass and wearing ripped jeans (sorry about that people of Laleston again)
It was, you may remember, my "car" book that I read when waiting for daughter from school etc. Because I'd started it in the summer as well it's length (609 pages) the volume has taken me a long time to complete.
So after climbing this literary mountain I wish I could say it was worth the effort but to be honest it's like reaching the top of a montain, looking round at the view and then saying "Is that all there is?"
It's not an awful book, just unsatisfying. No real humour in it. A lot of Python and/or broadcasting politics and a bit of family life. It was worth the one pound I paid for it but it's gone straight into a carrier bag for when I donate it to a charity shop so that someone else will spend the same amount for a good cause next time.
Of course this means I'll need a new "car" book which is:
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| Alan Coren - Toujours Cricklewood? |
This was the sequal to A Year In Cricklewood which I couldn't praise highly enough so I'm looking forward to this.
When I was a child in the seventies England/Scotland was a bittersweet affair. They would play each other every year as part of the "Home International" tornament along with Wales and Northern Ireland. On the one hand these matches would be shown live on television, rare at the time. On the other it was at the end of the season, which meant if there were no Euros/World Cup to look forward then for me football was about to close down for the summer.
But the Home International tournament is no more and the England/Scotland matches are now few and far between. The rivalry is however just as strong which brings me to the imporant World Cup Qualifying game between the two. Live on free to air television on a Friday night.
But....
My daughter's piano lesson was postponed from Wednesday to Friday. It was only a few blocks away from where we live but it was night and the wife was out I had to walk with her to the tutor. The lesson started at seven thirty for half an hour. The match started at seven forty five. She is old enough now to understand,if not agree, as to why Dad was rushing her to the lesson.
So daughter with tutor I raced back to watch the start of the game. Was just in time to see the national anthems being played with the Scottish, then English tunes being booed at by opposing fans with a venom I'd never heard before, even for a game like this. I'll say now that Scottish independence seems a question of when rather than if and that moment,not Brexit,was the point of no return.
The other point to note before the match started as that Scotland were playing in pink. Now apart from Palermo I can't think of any other team that plays in pink, or perhaps how it was sold to them Salmon, Personally unless it's for breast cancer awareness it doesn't work.And besides there was no reason why they couldn't just wear the traditional dark blue strip.
And so the match began, and to be honest for the first twenty minutes or so it was rather dull. England in particular seemed to be playing as if they were frightened of losing. Then suddenly the match was paused...whilst I went out to pick my daughter from piano lessons. She tells me that she's learning to play jingle bells, I tell her in full Ebenezer Scrooge mode that I don't want to hear it until Decmber
On our return I continued to watch the game and it contined to be dull until Daniel Sturridge scored with an impressive header. One nil England with the only interesting bit of the entire half. The second half started well for Scotland where they missed a couple of clear cut chances but then England scored a second where Adam Lallana had so much space to place his header he could have started a farm.
Gary Cahill a few minutes later scored a third with another header which made it jackpot for England and Scotland losing all their chips. It all just petered out from that moment, I've never watched a football match ever where even the TV commentators sounded bored and willing the final whistle to be blown. In truth, both teams were not very good but England could finish better and that is of course the point (or rather the three points) of it all.
Until the next time.
The other point to note before the match started as that Scotland were playing in pink. Now apart from Palermo I can't think of any other team that plays in pink, or perhaps how it was sold to them Salmon, Personally unless it's for breast cancer awareness it doesn't work.And besides there was no reason why they couldn't just wear the traditional dark blue strip.
And so the match began, and to be honest for the first twenty minutes or so it was rather dull. England in particular seemed to be playing as if they were frightened of losing. Then suddenly the match was paused...whilst I went out to pick my daughter from piano lessons. She tells me that she's learning to play jingle bells, I tell her in full Ebenezer Scrooge mode that I don't want to hear it until Decmber
On our return I continued to watch the game and it contined to be dull until Daniel Sturridge scored with an impressive header. One nil England with the only interesting bit of the entire half. The second half started well for Scotland where they missed a couple of clear cut chances but then England scored a second where Adam Lallana had so much space to place his header he could have started a farm.
Gary Cahill a few minutes later scored a third with another header which made it jackpot for England and Scotland losing all their chips. It all just petered out from that moment, I've never watched a football match ever where even the TV commentators sounded bored and willing the final whistle to be blown. In truth, both teams were not very good but England could finish better and that is of course the point (or rather the three points) of it all.
Until the next time.
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