Sunday 23rd July

The heat is on

Being a fairly unfit, fat bloke, I don't really cope with high temperatures too well. My cooling systems seem to go into overdrive once the mercury gets above 25 degrees (Centigrade that is), and I become even more lethargic than usual. So you can imagine how well I've coped with the recent heatwave. It's been made worse by the fact that my new pad has a south-facing aspect so my bedroom has been trapping in that heat all day whilst I'm at work. As a consequence it's about 5 degrees warmer in my bedroom than outside. I can't leave the windows open while I'm out, for obvious reasons, and leaving the curtains shut all day seems to have a negligible effect. I've tried moving into the back bedroom but that seems to be almost as warm. I think I might have to sleep in the bath if this carries on. And it might - even the fact that I've bought some new prescription sunglasses seems to have had no effect on the weather.

Actually, I hope the good weather continues as this week I'm off to both the Nantwich Show/International Cheese Festival and the Great British Acoustic Festival. The Nantwich show is always interesting and this year the TV legend that is Keith "Cheggers" Chegwin will be there. The Acoustic Festival is a new thing, being held in the same grounds as the Nantwich show, so if the weather breaks we'll be walking round in mud and cow dung all weekend.

I've finally got the picture pages sorted out - it took slightly longer than expected as I had to resize all the images to make them small enough to fit on the page and not take about six years to download. Take your pick, there are Miscellaneous pictures or Family Gathering pictures to look at.

Following England's disappointing exit from the World Cup (let's not talk about it, eh?) I've thrown myself a bit more vigorously than usual into the pre-season action. Thus far I've taken in:

• Nantwich v Crewe - About half the Crewe squad, including some triallists, made the short trip to Jackson Avenue. (The other half went to Quorn.) Crewe dominated the first half without creating too many chances but deservedly went ahead when Higdon seized on a defensive error and pulled the ball back for Rodgers to knock it in. After making a number of changes at half-time Crewe seemd a bit more disjointed in midfield and Nantwich were more in the game. Triallist Bas Savage then went down in stages for what looked like a soft penalty. Luke Rodgers duly despatched it. And another decent move involving Rodgers and Savage set up new boy Lowe for a fairly easy tap-in. Still Nantwich carried on taking the game to Crewe and got a deserved consolation late on.
• Crewe v Southport - A warm, sunny Friday evening and rather more beer than I'm used to, means that I can't tell you much about the game which finished as a 2-2 draw. I can tell you it was nine quid to get in and that I managed to knacker my shoulder by failing to negotiate some railings whilst trying to get to the pub. (I fell backwards rather heavily) Anyway I was still drunk by the time I got home on Saturday lunchtime...
• Nantwich v Stafford Rangers - Hey, it's just round the corner from my house. Stafford had about three shots in the first half and scored three goals. They had more chances in the second half but couldn't add to their tally. Nantwich scored their usual consolation.
• Crewe v Liverpool - A sell-out at the Alexandra stadium for the first time in ages. Sadly, it was full of Liverpool fans,but fair play - they turned out to see a Liverpool squad still missing their World Cup players (Stevie G, Kewell, crouch, Alonso, etc). One decent bit of skill from Robbie Fowler - a neat backheel as he drew the defender - gave Craig Lindfield the space to put one in the top corner. Liverpool had a few more chances in the first half but good goalkeeping and decent defending kept the score at one-nil. For Crewe, Luke Rodgers looked the most likely to score and his pace troubled Hyppia. In fact, Luke was unlucky, I thought, not to get a penalty in the first five minutes. The defence looked really sound, especially Billy Jones, who had Craig Bellamy in his pocket throughout the second half, until he was forced off through injury. Higdon gave a much improved performance as the target man and the midfield looked steady enough, although Bell and O'Connor will certainly be looking to get back in there once they get fit again. Lowe should maybe have done better with one good chance in the second half but having controlled the ball on his chest beautifully couldn't get his volley the right side of the post. Of the subs, I thought Ben Rix looked useful - busy and prepared to put a foot in - and Nicky Maynard looked very lively up front, causing the Liverpool defence all sorts of problems. Luke Varney came closest to forcing an equaliser, with the defence scrambling the ball off the line. Liverpool were disappointing and I shouldn't imagine any of the missing World Cup stars would be too worried about their places based on that display. As far as Crewe goes though, it was actually quite encouraging. The back four look solid, the midfield are a match for almost anyone in terms of skill and we've got at least one decent striker and a replacement on the bench. The two things that concern me are that the midfield are a bit lightweight and will get knocked off the ball too easily (ah 'twas ever thus) and that Dario's insistence on playing with a target man will limit the amount of goals the side can score.

There's still a few more games to go before the season proper starts but the Crewe v Wolves game is on Wednesday and I think that after trekking round the Nantwich show the last thing I'll be up for is a trip to Gresty Rd. I might go and watch Nantwich at home again on Tuesday night though...On the other hand I could stay in and try to finish off my BT Rant page - it's turning into an epic....

Go on, stick your oar in:

Monday 17th July 2006

Back for good

Funny isn't it? You'd think that after waiting more than two months to get my phone line installed and get back to the point where I can update my website, I'd actually have something prepared to post as soon as that joyous day came. Well, no, it's more than four hours after the BT guys finally finished the job and I'm still typing out stuff. Anyway I've finally got myself sorted out after all the delights of moving house, transferring my worldly goods over from my parents' house and plugging into the phone network. All I need now is to get my self Broadband and Robert is your mother's brother. Incidentally, I did start writing about the "comedy" capers I was having with BT but it started to take over the page, so I've hived it off and once I've completed it there'll be a link on this page.

So here's that long talked-about update and to kick off the new-improved, possibly more regular updates, I bring you possibly the biggest news you can think of; something that many of you have waited years to see, and probably one of the most momentous things to happen to me for a long time. Yes, after almost twenty years I finally got fed up of my goatee beard and have shaved it off once and for all. To be honest, it wasn't really the beard that I got fed up with but the tell-tale spread of the grey hairs in it that were making me look old before my time. Coupled with the fast-thinning hair on the top of my head, it wasn't a particularly good look, especially as I'm only 28.... So a couple of weeks ago I shaved the damned thing off. There will be pictures to follow once I've downloaded them from my camera, although they're possibly not safe for work or small children.

Outside of shaving my beard off there have been plenty of other things going on. As mentioned above, I've finally managed to move out from my sister's house. I'm now renting a small, two-bedroomed, terraced house on the other side of town. It's slightly further from the town centre than I would have liked but does have the advantage of being Number 69 ("dude") so there's plenty of juvenile comedy capers to be had in inviting people round for a "69 Party" and the like. Anyway, I've settled in OK so far and have moved most of my stuff over from my parents' house. I haven't actually managed to finish unpacking it all. In fact, most of it is piled up in the spare bedroom, so don't be in any rush to stop by. However the important things are all unpacked and when I get more than ten minutes spare I'll sort the rest out. Possibly sometime before the start of the footy season, but don't hold your breath...

There's also a couple of old news stories that deserve some coverage. The first being the revival of an old love affair with Nantwich Town. Admittedly, I wasn't interested when they had nothing to offer but post-Christmas last season they started a run in the FA Vase. (Way back in the '80s I used to pop along to Jackson Avenue to watch Nantwich, usually on weekends when I didn't have enough money to get to Crewe and back. One of my school mates, Pete Prince, ended up playing for them but I think he was still giving it a go at Blackpool when I first started going.) Anyway, as I may have mentioned before, having been drawn away in the early games they finally got drawn at home in the fourth round against Buxton. I dragged my nephew, Will, along, not expecting too much, to be honest. It was a game that had everything - a well-taken goal, a missed penalty, some sterling defending and a mass punch-up about five minutes from time. And I won a bottle of whisky in the half-time draw. Nantwich scored against the run of play in the first half and then conceded a penalty, which was well saved. In the second half Buxton threw everything at them but couldn't score. Their fustration grew and some of the challenges by both sides were robust, to say the least. Their frustration boiled over about five minutes from the end when the Nantwich chairman held on to a ball for a throw-in and a Buxton player ran twenty yards to remonstrate with him. Well, I say remonstrate but actually he just whacked him in the face. In the ensuing melee there were plenty of punches thrown. Once the ref calmed things down he sent off the Buxton player, the Nantwich captain and sent the Nantwich chairman to the stand. Never mind, Nantwich held on to make it into the fifth round. They were again drawn at home against Pickering, who were actually higher in the league than Buxton. The weather conspired against Nantwich the first time but the game was on the second time. This time Will decided he didn't fancy the cold weather, but Roger, my sister's boyfriend turned out. Will missed a cracker - a goal in each half and, if anything, an easier game than the previous one. All of sudden Nantwich were in the semi-final - a two-legged affair with possibly only one stronger side left. Unluckily, it seemed, Nantwich drew that side - Cammel Laird, fellow travellers in the NW Counties league and strong favourites having beaten stronger opposition on their way through the competition. The first leg was away and Nantwich came home with a one goal advantage, again slightly against the run of play. The second leg saw an almost complete turn-out for the clan Fakir - me, my sister, her boyfriend and one of her two kids (the non-footballing one spending the day with his Dad instead). Once the Cammel Laird centre-half had got in a muddle with his goalkeeper over a long ball and allowed Blake to nip in and tap in a simple first, the result was never in doubt. Two up by half time (three on aggregate) and running out four-nil winners on the day, Nantwich were suddenly and unexpectedly in the FA Vase final. Well, of course, I have to go to the Final. I end up getting tickets for the whole clan Fakir. So Saturday 6th May we all headed off to St Andrews, Birmingham to see the boys take on the mighty Hillingdon Borough from the South East Counties league or somesuch. We weren't the only ones - around 3,000 made the trip and I had the great pleasure of bumping into quite a large number of old friends and acquaintances. The statistics suggest that the game was fairly even but the evidence of my eyes was that Nantwich were always in command. The first goal came after only 14 minutes. The second - a decent strike from 18 yards - soon followed and after half hour Nantwich were two up and cruising. At half-time the feeling was that the game was in the bag. Well, that was one of the feelings. The other feeling was that they should have opened another bar or had more staff on or something as there was no way that 3,000 thirsty and hungry Nantwich fans could get served by the inadequate facilities provided by Brimingham City. Anyway, Hillingdon came out in the second half determined to get back into the game and for 15 minutes or so they were the better side. Fortunately, Nantwich regained command and killed the game off with their third, and Andy Kinsey's second in the 68th minute. Unfortunately his goal was followed by the sort of comedy incident that will surely make it on to Question of Sport's 'What Happened Next?' Running towards the ecstatic Nantwich fans, Kinsey whipped off his shirt and threw it towards the crowd. As he did so, he managed to dislocate his shoulder. As he was lifted on to the stretcher and carried away to the treatment room the referee booked him for taking his shirt off. Sadly, Kinsey was unable to continue and was substituted. Despite the game clearly being beyond them Hillingdon still took the game to us and were rewarded with a late consolation (technically the first goal I'd seen Nantwich concede in more than twenty years, although that only covered about 4 hours of playing time).Unbelievable! Little Nantwich Town had won the FA Vase! The town went crazy - there was a commemorative pull-out section in the local paper, and an open-top bus tour and civic reception were arranged. I had made up a song for the Final itself and, in it's slightly adapted form, I now offer it for the general consumption (to the tune of 'The Laughing Policeman'):

We might not be the best team that you have ever seen
We might not have knighthoods or dinner with the Queen
But you can take your Premiership and shove it up your arse
'Cos we are Nantwich Town and we've won the FA Vase!"

Of course, Nantwich's winning ways contrasted sharply with that of my true little smashers, Crewe Alex, who were shipping goals at the rate of about three a game for much of the season. The curse that I obviously inflicted on them by buying a half-season ticket in December showed little sign of being lifted. The rational argument would state that selling our leading goal scorer without bringing in a replacement, failing to bolster a leaky defence and playing a largely non-tackling midfield are the real reasons for Crewe's decline, but I know that it's just because I bought a season ticket for the first time in ages. True, Dario did finally plug some of those gaps in the team for the last couple of months of the season, but by then it was too little, too late. The inevitable happened and we were relegated for the second time in five years. And with all of the loan signings walking away from the club in the summer, followed by some senior professionals, things aren't looking too hot for the forthcoming season either. To be fair, we've signed some decent central defenders, we've kept our full-backs (although Billy Jones is wasted at left-back in my opinion) and there are plenty of options in midfield, but once again we look lightweight up front and that is going to cost us. I've yet to see anything in pre-season that convinces me Dario had found the answer to the striker problems, although admittedly, I've only seen two games and I'm afraid I was verrry, verrry drunk at Southport so don't recall too much of the actual match. Perhaps I'll be able to be a bit more positive after Saturday's friendly against Liverpool.... (I did think about a comprehensive review of the end of the season here, but to be honest, I don't want to re-open old wounds.)

Despite all the footy-related nonsense in my life, I haven't been neglecting those occasional forays into the world of rock'n'roll. I've knocked off a few gigs so far this year, although admittedly not as many as I would have liked. In no particular order, they were:

• Morrissey - live in Grimsby, surely a miserablist's dream? Especially as his new album didn't seem that much cop. But no, the weather was nice, I bumped into a couple of old mates, the music was great - the new stuff definitely sounding better live - and even my mate Kev was impressed.
• George Thorogood - in a sneaky bit of role reversal Kev dragged me along to see one of his favourite bands, rather than me dragging Kev out (REM, Morrissey). Sadly, George turned out to be no better than some of the blues bands you can see playing in your local pub for three quid or less. I'll admit I had a few beers too many and nodded off for a bit, but I couldn't see what the attraction was. To be fair, Kev wasn't that impressed either.
• Disarm supporting Robin Black - first up I dragged my sister and her boyfriend up to the limelight in Crewe to see my old mates on a tour supporting Canadian "superstar" Robin Black. Despite the fact there was only about twenty other people in there both bands put o a top show. The second time I went to see the two bands was down in London at the Camden Underworld. I made a bit of a rookie mistake in not checking what time the event started so when my brother and I rolled into the venue at about 8.30 everyone except Robin Black had been on. What sort of rock'n'roll Saturday nght is that? Turns out the venue chuck everyone out early and have an indie disco on from 11pm till late on a Saturday. There's obviously more money in that. We went to the after-show party, but even that was a bit pants.
• lastfriday - I finally bit the bullet and made it back for the 13th May gig to see FONY, Left Side Brain, Datyura and A Future Regret. Sterling efforts by all concerned I seem to recall althought I think I enjoyed Left Side Brain most of all. I was slightly biased against FONY as they pulled out of a Sheffield gig Disarm were playing at a couple of years ago.
• Travelling Blues Band - as part of the Nantwich Jazz and Blues festival at Easter, the redoutable Charlie Thomas (who I work with) and his mates (who I don't) played a set at the Shakespeare pub on Sunday afternoon. As the following day was a Bank Holiday this was a perfect excuse for getting down to some rock'n'roll sounds and then spending the rest of the day getting horribly pissed. Which is what I did.

I have, of course, acquired more CDs than can possibly be healthy and, suprisingly for me, a rather large number of DVDs. I won't go to the tedious length of listing them all here otherwise I'll have no material for the next update. That should be this forthcoming Thursday unless anything happens to put me off. Oh yeah, there should also be some pictures and next time I'll try to include a few more hyperlinks to interesting stuff for those of you that like that sort of thing. And I'll correct all my spelling mistakes. For now though, I think you've got more than enough to be going on with.

Go on, stick your oar in:

Saturday 27th May

Yeah, I know

Apologies for the lack of update in the middle of May. If you feel it has affected your enjoyment of this site in any way please feel free to claim compensation from BT, who can't seem to reconnect a telephone line to save their lives. I especially love their joined-up customer care policy in which one call centre guy will constantly reassure me that their engineer will call me (on my mobile) to confirm his provisional appointment, and then another call centre guy will emphatically deny that that's the policy when I miss said appointment because, without the expected confirmation, I go to work instead of waiting in on the off-chance. Gah! It's no wonder they have trouble retaining their customers - they can't even handle new ones! Anyway, you'll be delighted to learn that it'll be another ten days before the BT engineer returns so if you're lucky you might get a proper update just before the World Cup kicks off....

Go on, stick your oar in:

Thursday 4th May 2006

Promises, promises

The merest smidgin of an update to apologise for not having more frequent updates. I have been rather busy over the past few weekends and so haven't been able to get back to my parents gaff to do my updates. I've been following both Crewe and Nantwich's footballing exploits, bought a couple of rubbish CDs (Morrissey and Placebo, I'm looking at you), worked on a couple of projects and been to a couple of gigs. By the time I do my next update, I'll have seen some more football (including a trip to the FA Vase final with Nantwich Town), been to some more gigs and have moved house. Yes, two years after I came to stay with my sister "just till I get myself sorted", I've finally got myself sorted. Pop back mid-May to get all the news.

Go on, stick your oar in:

Sunday 5th March 2006

A quick splash and dash

Hey lookee here, I've not quite fallen off the Internet yet. Plenty of time for that to happen. Anyway, circumstances allow for an update slightly earlier than anticipated. I would have got round to it sooner, honest, but my weekends have been largely occupied with better things to do. No, really.

It's been a quiet start to the year on the gig front - I've only managed two so far. Mind you, both of them were crackers. First up was a trip up to Manchester to take in the psychedelic soft-rock of Robyn Hitchcock, backed by Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin. Comedy capers with trains from Crewe to Manchester (I had to go via Stoke!) meant that I got there a little later than planned and luckily missed the nu-folk sounds of support act 18th Day of May. I had a bit of fannying about to find the venue - the Academy 3 is located upstairs in the Manchester Unversity Students Union building and not the most accessible venue I've ever been to. Still, all the faffing about was swiftly forgotten once Robyn and the "boys" hit the stage. They were fantastic. True, I didn't recognise a lot of the early songs but then it is nearly twenty years since I last saw Hitchcock play live. It was a joy to hear a couple of Soft Boys numbers in there, especially as he was joined by former bandmate Morris Windsor who, despite his uncanny resemblance to John Sessions, does have a marvellous voice. I was slightly surprised they didn't throw in an REM cover but I didn't feel the set lacked anything anyway. After about an hour and a half and a blistering encore it was all over and I was left regretting not having booked to see him elswhere on his brief tour. I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for future appearances.

The second gig I went to was Nazareth at The Limelight in Crewe. I'll admit the hoary old Scottish rockers wouldn't normally be on top of my list of people to see but my sister's boyfriend is a bit of a fan so he got tickets. Having said that, I do know a couple of their songs and am especially fond of 'Broken Down Angel'. Well, we suffered a bit of the support band and then piled down the front for Nazareth. The Limelight itself isn't that big so we were quite close to the front. And yet, still quite close to the bar. Anyway, Nazareth were excellent. Like most bands their age there's only a couple of original members left - the singer and the bass player - but that doesn't really matter when the band are as tight as this. They played all the familiar songs (more than you'd expect), chucked in a couple of more recent ones, had a "comedy" moment when singer Dan McCafferty pretended to play the bagpipes and bought the house down with a rousing singalong of aforementioned 'Broken Down Angel' at the end of the encore. And, continuing the lookey-likey thing - the bass player (Pete Agnew) looks like comic actor Lionel Jeffries and singer Dan McCafferty looks a lot like Freddie Starr's dad. Still, if you get the chance to see these guys, don't miss out - top rocking entertainment.

Still things look like picking up on the gig front in the next couple of months - both Disarm (supporting Robin Black) and Hayseed Dixie are coming to the Limelight, as well as a Kraftwerk tribute band, the Nantwich Jazz and Blues Festival takes place over Easter, and I'm seeing Morrissey in Grimsby on Star Wars day (May the Fourth be with you). And in the summer there's UB40 in Delamere Forest and George Thorogood in Manchester to look forward to. And I might even get the time to make a few Civic gigs.

The other thing that has been taking up my time is football of various flavours. Mostly, of course, it's been the frustrations of watching perennial strugglers Crewe Alex. Following the depressing defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, I forewent the pleasure of seeing us dumped out of the FA Cup at Preston but decided to take my nephew, William, to his first ever away game at Derby. The journey there wasn't great but we did meet up with a couple of other Crewe fans (father and son, Paul and Luke (I think?)) so at least we both had someone to talk to. Which was just as well as Crewe managed as inept performance as I've seen for while and were thoroughly beaten 5-1. Mark Rivers had all the mobility of a rock and the rest of the team weren't much better. Still Vaughany did score an excellent consolation goal from about thirty yards out. Then there was the home game against Plymouth. The Alex were up against it virtually from the start when the referee awarded Plymouth a penalty in the second minute, for a foul only he saw. The ref, Mr D. Drysdale, was absolutely useless and it was no surprise to find later that Dean Windass of Bradford got a five game ban for abusing him after one game, or that Mike Newell of Luton made some particularly pointed criticism of the same ref after one game (Preston v Luton, I think). Anyway, Crewe battled but conceded a second just before half-time and left themselves with a mountain they couldn't climb. I skipped the Watford away match as the Battle of Nantwich re-enactment was on, and my old mate Davey Dole was in town for a few birthday beers. It was a routine 4-1 defeat for the Alex anyway. February started with an encouraging 4-3 defeat at home to Reading To be honest, Reading always looked to have another gear but becoming the first side to put three past the Championship leaders this season was no mean achivement. The side built on that with a solid performance away at Wolves, coming away with a point. I went to that but didn't take William, who was disappointed to miss out. On reflection I wish I'd taken him, but I was expecting another regulation thumping. Sadly, the momentum seemd to be lost against Ipswich on Valentines Day night. Despite taking the lead, the confidence seemed to evaporate once Ipswich equalised and then vanish completely when they took the lead. Another disappointing defeat, although a better performance than some, and we were rapidly going adrift at the foot of the table. Still, a home win against Brighton and solid point away at Sheffield United have narrowed the gap between us and Brighton to just two points. And we're now just seven points behind Sheffield Wednesday who are just above the relegation zone. It looks increasing likely that it'll be three of the bottom four that go down and as Crewe still have to play Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall at home, we've got every chance of pulling off a great escape. I still think we need to win all the remaining home games (Southampton, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff, Millwall), win at Hull and get some points at QPR, Preston, Crystal Palace and Leeds to do it, but it's not impossible. I'm taking it one game at a time though. If we don't beat The Saints next weekend, I think it'll start looking very difficult. Not that it looks like a stroll in the park right now, but the introduction of Madjid Bougherra seems to have strengthened up the defence and there's some decent competition for places in the midfield and up front. So maybe, we're going to have a decent run, for a change, and pull off another great escape. Just maybe...

With Preston managing to progress to the 5th round of the FA Cup, Crewe's game away at Preston was re-arranged leaving me and, indeed, every other Crewe fan with a blank Saturday. So what better way to spend that day than by actually supporting my true local team, Nantwich Town? Last time I went to see Nantwich play it cost me a quid to get in and a former schoolmate, Peter Prince, was turning out for them. That was about twenty years ago, maybe a bit less. Anyway, Nantwich were at home to Buxton in the 4th Round of the FA Vase. The kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes as an unexpectedly large (in terms of numbers not size) crowd turned up - mostly Crewe fans with nowt better to do (I certainly recognised a lot of the people there), although Buxton bought a large following. The attendance was considerably larger than the usual 90 or so who turn up week in, week out - 971, the official figure. There was a great atmosphere and the game had everything - good counter-attacking from Nantwich including a well-taken goal somewhat against the run of play, plenty of opportunities for Buxton including a missed penalty, and a host of rash challenges and late tackles as frustration crept in to the Buxton side. The tension finally boiled over about five minutes from time when the Nantwich chairman held on to the ball by the dugout, prompting a lot of pushing and shoving and a mass brawl as one of the Buxton players punched the chairman in the face. The guilty player was sent off, along with the Nantwich captain and chairman. Buxton threw everything forward but were denied by a last-minute goal-line clearance and Nantwich were through to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history. And to make the day complete - I won a bottle of whisky in the half-time raffle! I'll definitely go again. In fact, I would have gone to the quarter-final game, against Pickering Town, yesterday but it was called off due to a frozen pitch, which is why I'm here. The tie is due to be played next weekend now and I suspect that with Crewe being at home on the Saturday, Nantwich will be pushing to get it played on the Sunday instead. I hope so, because I'll be able to make it, if that's the case.

The other football flava that's been occupying my time is my nephew's Under-9s team, The Knights. They play at the Crewe Alex Soccer Centre in Shavington on a Sunday afternoon. I've been to most games this season and have been impressed with the way that they've improved. Admittedly they've recently been playing teams a lot closer to their level, but they've only been playing together for about 18 months or so. Instead of losing on a regular basis they've now started winning on a regular basis, which is good. In fact, they were in with a chance of going top of their division this week depending on how other results went - the Knights won, but there are a couple of other teams on about the same points. I'll let you know when I find out.

And on a final football note - I took my sister, Liz, her boyfriend Roger and my nephew William up to Anfield on Wednesday night to watch England play Uruguay. Well, I met them there actually, but I paid for the tickets. Not being too familiar with Anfield I booked seats in the top tier of the Centenary stand. (Hey, last time I was there you could stand on the Kop!). I won't being doing that again, apart from the number of stairs we had to climb to get to the top tier, we had to climb loads more to our seats - we were five rows from the back. I nearly got a nosebleed, we were so high! And then William became afraid the stadium would collapse (he is only 8), so he wasn't enjoying the game that much. And was enjoying it even less when Uruguay scored. Fortunately, as you all know, Crouch and Cole (J) popped up with a couple of late goals to steal a win and send us home happy. Which was just as well because it took us ages to get home. Arriving at the car, we found the traffic all round was gridlocked and going nowhere fast. So we went to the chippy and then sat in the car eating our suppers and waiting for the roads to clear. Whilst we were waiting it started hailing, and then snowing, and within about ten minutes the ground was covered. We finally started out journey home at about 11pm (the match having finished around 10pm and it taking a while to get back to the car). It took more than an hour to get to the M62 and it was almost 1am when we got home. Can't say I felt like going to work when my alarm went off at 6.30 the following morning. I knew I should have booked that Thursday off...

And that's about it. Just time to let you know that I have since been in touch with my old mate Ben from Bushbaby (see entry below). He's confirmed that they've split up. He's now busy running his landscape gardening firm and setting up home but still finding time to play in a band. More on that when it transpires.

Once again, I'm sure I've forgotten something and I still haven't had chance to complete the two projects I was working on at Xmas - at this rate they'll be out of date - but you'll have to wait. I'm no closer to moving house and that now has to take priority. Once I've got a pad of my own and Internet access I can concentrate on the trivial stuff. That's enough for me - I'm off to get my tea and watch Antiques Roadshow... Oh yeah, I was going to say something about work but decided against it. Mainly because it's not that interesting.

Tip of the Day - If you're driving home later, don't forget to take your car.

Go on, stick your oar in: