Cheating.

Right now, England are playing a friendly against Hungary. Lampard has just missed a penalty against Hungary, and in spite of being an avid England fan, I'm glad he missed. The penalty was awarded for a foul on an England player that never happened. Yet again, we witnessed a player faking a foul, just to steal an unfair advantage.

How do we expect the kids of today to learn to respect fairness and fair play if their heroes demonstrate none on live TV? Players should be sent off immediately if they fake a foul. We have the benefit of immediate action replays these days, lets give that benefit to the officials, and allow players to be sent off after they have been viewed for faking it. I hate cheats, and today, an England player has just cheated in front of thousands of people. Then one of the commentators of the the game has the audacity to say "Other people get away with it, why shouldn't we?". The reason we should not get away with it is the old adage..."Two Wrongs Do Not Make A Right."

Get the cheats off of the TV and the sports field, then perhaps we will have less of them in real life.

Getting Away With Murder...

Yes, it's official, you can now get away with murder. Pat Finucane was murdered by the UDA in 1989. His killer, was sent down for the murder in 2004, and told he would spend 22 years in jail. Yesterday he was freed. As a prisoner in the UK he did not qualify for early release under the Good Friday Agreement (that wonderful get out of jail free card for terrorists everywhere!).

So, he was moved to Northern Ireland, then he became eligible.

What the fuck is going on with this country??

We spend half our lives hiding under the covers, dodging terrorist attacks from one source, meanwhile, when we do convict one, we set him free as part of some sort of 'peace' initiative. The troubles in Northern Ireland have plagued this country for many years. But we stood solid against the atrocities, committed in one pathetic religious name or other, because the people who committed these acts were wrong. Now it seems, it's time for the British public to fold. Suddenly we want to reconcile with our own old fanatics, in an effort to focus our attentions on the new demon from the east.

How many years will it be before we are releasing Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, when yet another enemy comes to light?

I've Got One Less Thing..

...to moan about. And I'm glad. I've found out recently that one of my pet hates, the fact that servicemen from the Gurkhas were not permitted to settle in the UK unless they retired after 1997. This is now not the case. About bloody time too! For many years, these brave individuals have stood side by side with British troops in virtually ever theatre of war in which we have been involved. Yet our ungrateful government deemed it more important to give resident rights to any Tom Dick or Stanislav from eastern European countries that have recently joined our little European 'club' than ex-members of the Gurkha regiment.

Good luck to any Nepalese who settle in our country following these rules changes, they are a welcome and long overdue addition to our culture.

Is It Just Me?

Or is 'Blair/Labour baiting' some kind of new blood sport that didn't get banned? Now I can see good and bad in the performance of our glorious leader and his troubled term in office, but, did I see our wonderful media today give poor old Tony a hard time because he didn't know how many illegal immigrants there are in this country?

Now forgive me for being naive, but how the bloody hell could he be expected to know?? Do our friends in the media think that your average illegal immigrant is going to go to the bloody post office and register his or her presence once they have settled into a luxurious lifestyle sponging off of the good old British tax payer?

The longer I live, the more I think that the UK mass media is populated by gossipy old twats who really serve no purpose in life other than to prod at anyone they fancy, just as the mood takes them. They don't actually have a political opinion, they simply want to agitate the 'lynching' gene in their readers/viewers.

What do you do if you see a Lawyer drowning? Throw him a journalist to keep him company.

And Today's No1 is...

If like me you like to occasionally steal some poor soul's work by downloading tunes from the internet, you could do worse than digging around today for "Smokebelch II" by "The Sabres Of Paradise" turn it up, select your mind-altering substance of choice, and simply drift away........Lovely....

Glitter, Visitors & Absent Friends..

Three days without an entry, I'll be drummed out of blogger union, but, what are ya gonna do?? I've actually had a (fairly) good excuse. Over the weekend my home spent some time as base of operations for some short people, one: my oh so lovely God-daughter, the other , my oh so funny kiwi crack-on partner of yesteryear. In spite of still being unable to walk anywhere in my flat without finding glitter, bits of craft paper and small pieces of arts & crafts heaven stuck to my feet, my God-daughter's visit was awesome. It's the first time she's stayed over for any length of time, and it's amazing how having a six year old around changes your day. You somehow seem to start earlier, finish later, and have a lot less time free in the middle. Life is generally more challenging, but hugely more rewarding. Note to self: Kids are fun.

Having a mate from the old days to stay is also awesome. Don't you just love those friendships where you can be away for months on end, be typically bloke-like in your complete lack of contact in that time, and from the moment you get back together it's like nothing changed?

There is another mate that I should have been spending this weekend with, but for one reason and another couldn't. Back in the deep and distant beginnings, when Stevie (not Steve) was born, The Mighty B and his soon-to-be other half were there, protecting me from the world, and most importantly, myself. They are still there, and they are still doing the same job. Her Ladyship texted me today, as ever, concerned about my problems, just like the two of them always have been. I can't wait until next month, when I get to stand there oh so proudly as two of the very best people on the planet get to tell everyone in public what I've known for many years,

the fact that they love each other totally and completely.
Life Is Good

Oh Well...

Bugger, 3-3, then we manage to lose on a penalty shoot out. Before any northerners out there start thinking about gloating, remember, you do still have to live in the north, so I win in the end...

Come On You Hammers!!!

Today, for the first time in twenty six years, West Ham United will appear in the FA Cup Final!! I've never been what you'd call an architypal brit football fan, but I've followed the Hammers since 1975, and I'll be glued to the box this afternoon cheering the boys in claret and blue. In the spirit of the modern game, I'd like to offer our opposition, Liverpool, all the very best..... Actually, bollocks, I cant wait to see you get your scouse arses kicked all the way back to the grim north....

Apparently..

Some of my friends out there have too much time on their hands, and dont hear enough 'Stevie ranting' at the weekends and want to see my blogging efforts too, so, after a few days trying out this new toy, tomorrow I'm going to 'go public' (ok, that's kind of on it's head, the public can already actually see it if they stumble across it, but my friends havent been made directly aware of it yet, some sort of reverse marketing stratergy or something...) Basically, I'm actually going to send the link to people who've expressed an interest in seeing my blog, as well as a few that I'm arrogant enough to think will be interested in hearing what I have to say.

Uh Oh, I just fell into the first blogging trap, there I am, starting off by loving the freedom of blogging to rant on, regardless of whether or not anyone is listening, when really, I just want some reassurance that SOMEONE is listening, just like everyone else does. Next step is I start to try and find out how many people are listening, closely followed by the 'how can I get more readers' stage and the 'why isnt anyone making any comments' stage. Before long I'll start to get angsty about it, and have to re-evaluate my whole place in life because of the number (or lack therof) of people reading my blog....

So, a number of things happened today, (I'm sure an inordinate amount of things happened today, but not all of them, thankfully, to me) I discovered a piece of music that I think is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. It's called "Resta con me", by Ludovico Einaudi. I stumbled across it whilst channel hopping and crashed into it on Classic fmtv, somewhere between MTV and VH1.

Seldom in my life have I come across a piece of music and known upon first hearing that I will love it until the day I die. It really is that good, The Love Of My Life has already downloaded the sheet music and is playing it as I write.

I just spent nearly an hour or so writing today's offering and started to rant on about my dislike of religion and all thing Godly. Then I got to the bottom of it, re-read it, and decided it was mind-numbingly boring. Therefore I will not punish you with it, you did nothing to deserve it, and in my young career as a blogger, I think I've just learnt another of it's greatest assets, just because you can write whatsoever you like, doesn't mean you have to.

T.B.F.T.G.O.G...

I'm about to go bankrupt. This somewhat shocking revelation will come as no great news to many of the people who know me. My attitude to other people's money, particularly that of credit card companies, has never been exactly 'careful'.

Now to many people, perhaps more so those of an older generation, being declared a bankrupt is considered quite a big deal. Indeed, I have to say, I'm finding the whole process quite traumatic. It's upsetting, I have feelings of failure, and yes, it does still carry a level of stigma that I found quite surprising.

However, all this came into perspective today (as these things always do if you hang around long enough). I received two pieces of news, the first was an email update about the current condition of a very good friend of mine who suffered a major stroke over the Christmas period. He has been, in the years I've known him, one of the many wildly out-going hugely talented immensely fun, ever so very cool people I've been fortunate enough to spend much of the last few years with. He lived life to the full, didn't take as much care of himself as he should (though no more or less than most of us) and was hit by this major illness before the age of thirty. He's making good progress, I cant even begin to conceive of how difficult his life must be, but he is alive, and all things considered, looks to be ever so gradually returning to normality.

The second piece of news was about the death of a man whom I had never met. He was the partner of one of my partner's work colleagues. They had only recently, in the last eighteen months, had a child. This child will never know his dad, the child's mother has lost the person that she loves. Again situations that carry a level of trauma I simply cannot comprehend.

Today, my financial situation is still my most prominent thought, I, like everyone else cannot help but focus on my own little bit of the world. Nevertheless, just as everyone should now and again, I have spent some part of today thinking....
"There But For The Grace Of God...."
To everyone concerned, my very best wishes and thoughts are with you.

You're History

The more I think about it, the more everything in my life revolves around history. My love of history, my interest in family history, my place in history. We all wander through life, some of us pausing to think about where we are, or where we're going, but all too often, we don't spend enough time looking at where we've been. We all come from somewhere, obviously... Every one of us that walks around is the end result of someone's story, (one's parents) and the generations that came before one's parents.

I spend a lot of time concerned about this little life, am I doing a good job? What do others think of me? Money, love, fear, hopes etc... but it's scary just how insignificant one is when one looks at the bigger picture.

Sidney Williams, Lilly Young, William Crossfield, Nellie Turner, William Hawes, Elizabeth Standing, William Butler, Mabel Malkin. Eight human beings. Eight lives. Eight stories. Eight histories. All of them are dead, I only ever met one of them, and my memories are vague at best, but without my eight great-grand parents, I simply wouldn't exist.

When you do things in your life, make sure you leave a record of some kind, tell someone, take a picture, write it down, keep a journal. Your own little set backs and achievements may be fairly insignificant in the big picture, but when someone looks back on your life, perhaps long after you're gone, the marks you leave behind will bring you back to life in someone else's mind. You are insignificant, but that doesn't stop you being wonderful, awesome and amazing, you will be history one day, so you might as well make it interesting.

Friends

It's occurred to me in the last few hours that, no matter that I am currently going through one of the most emotionally traumatic periods of my entire life so far, my friends are a shield that protects me from everything the world can throw my way. The greatest investment one can ever make is to take the time to nurture a friendship, you will undoubtedly reap the rewards in the future.

And Back To Reality

Blimey! That was one hell of a week. As anticipated, Amsterdam lived up to it's usual high-octane fun capital of the world reputation. All the usual suspects made the trip, the Designated Driver of course did the honours, once again allowing the rest of us to get right into the Trans-Continental Crack On. All main food groups were consumed under the English Channel as before, and our apartment right on Dam Square put us right at the heart of the action for four days. A big thank you to The Angels for their venue and all their help. In spite of one or two 'chemical overloads' a great time was had by all, a special mention has to go out to Designated Driver and Meatball who announced their intention to go permanent and did the traditional ring swap, feel the love....