Glad to see justice done

Just a quick post to say how glad I am that they punished both Zidane and the other guy for provoking him. Full time!

Later.

Visit to The Yorkshire Dales

My mum came for the weekend last weekend and we went to visit Herriot land and York. James Herriot wrote some really good books - humorous ones - about his experiences as a vet in Thirsk, Yorkshire between the 1930s and the 1960s. The books were also made into a successful television series that aired in the 1970s - I grew up watching it and have loved the books for years so it was lovely to visit the house that he lived and worked in.

The house has been restored to its 1940s state and it is lovely to see all of the old furniture, pictures and utensils. The kitchen in particular was fantastic. There was also a vintage car in the back which you were encouraged to get in and have a picture taken.

Upstairs, there was an exhibition of vet instruments and a long room where there were interactive games. Downstairs in what used to be the barns, there was a display of information and a 20 minute film explaining the history of Herriot. There was also a section which was arranged as the set for the TV show, where you could look through cameras and even take a phone call as though you were in the show.

It was lovely to see first hand what I had read about and it was amazingly only £5 per adult! I've been to other so-called interactive museums take for example the Viking museum in York which costs a lot more and was useless!

The next day we took mum to York which she hadn't seen since her schooldays ( a looong time ago people!) and it was lovely. It was about 32 degrees celcius! When we got to York Minster (after visiting the National Railway museum) there was a set of travelling Shakespeare players - done in the ancient style. They did a play, packed up the stage and rolled it to their next destination in the town and did another play.

We finished off with a lovely lunch at O'Neil's pub- for £2.95 for a full meal each- great value for money.

We went through the old cobbled strets and enjoyed the scenerey and indulged our sweet tooth. I took mum to my favourite fudge shope where you get to see them making it.

All in all a lovely weekend. If you ever find yourself in this part of the world, I do reccomend you check out the Yorkshire Dales - in the summer of course!

Sympathy for Zidane

It is time for a more honest approach to dealing with violence and provocation in football. Too many times the only thing that is punished is a footballer’s reaction when the provoker is allowed to walk free. I know, (and so does he) that what Zidane did in the World Cup final was wrong but the fact of the matter is he would not have done it if he hadn’t been provoked. Surely that is the more terrible action, provoking a man to violence and not the reaction to the provocation? A lot of footballers put up with terrible comments thrown at them from the often racist public and from other footballers on opposing teams. Punishing footballers for reacting violently to provocation will not stop the incidents – they aren’t saints for God’s sake. But if footballers and fans know that they will be punished until it hurts for hurling racist abuse (on the part of fans usually) and for provoking other footballers by abusing their family members then there would be a severe drop in the incidents.

I’ve long believed that when you have a whole stadium of arseholes yelling racist abuse at some players, the punishment should be that the match is immediately ended, with a forfeit to the other team. If a team knows it will lose matches and points because it’s supporters are racist, they will work even harder to get rid of that type of following.

Just a quick Hi for now

Sorry for the long silence. been busy being lazy - it's amazing how unmotivated you can be to do anything useful when you are out of work!

Anyway, I've vowed to discipline myself so you shouldbe hearing me rant some more in thte future.

As part of my idleness, I watched the first 2 episodes of Buck Rogers in the 25th century yesterday and today - hilarious!

Later.

Incredible Heat

It has been amazingly hot here in the UK the past few weeks - up to 32C most days. His Royal Highness and I have been falling asleep in the middle of the day in spite of being pretty inactive - it's the heat that does it. We can't remember how we managed on the rock. What a thing eeh, aclimatisation!

Well the football is down to the last few teams. Most of the matches have been mind numbingly boring, but Italy vs Germany was pretty exciting, for the last 2 minutes of extra time that is. We wait to see what happens with France and Portugal.

In the meantime the job hunt continues - I'm still to get even some temp work - quite depressing.