What a joke!!!!! Even Golden Balls, the Prime Minister, and Prince William couldn't get the 2018 World Cup to England. It has gone to a nation supposedly riddled with corruption, a nation where a cold snap means -30, and a nation where everyone eats cabbage soup! Not that I am bias, or generalising in the slightest, but how can we fail to win a bid ahead of the 'ruskies'. Apart from Vodka there is absolutely nothing to entice you in, unless you are a fan of dolls or strange dancing (not that sort!). Of course you have St Petersburg which is beautiful and full of history, but sitting in a cafe and having someone whisper red fox in your ear, and ten minutes later being driven away in a blacked out Mercedes by four lads talking about the cold war is not my cup of tea - See you there.
We are in a Christmas frenzy! Some prices have obviously been hiked up because of the weather (i.e kids gloves from MOUNTAIN WAREHOUSE), and some prices have inevitably been dropped (i.e sunglasses from anywhere) but shopping for Christmas has broken me today. Too many people, too many sales, too much on the lists, and too cold. In short, a horrible experience. I'm thinking horse chestnuts, real hot chocolate, a Christmas market, an ice rink, a bit of snow, a Father Christmas with a real beard, no crowds, and some sexy female elves (the last one is unacceptable and will be deleted). Any ideas?
CH
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Friday, 26 November 2010
Bearing up
Christmas shopping, school projects, and cooking dinner, it's enough for man to take, I am heading for the beer fridge and will join you again tomorrow.
CH
CH
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Burst Bubble
Before anything else, I have to talk about Tuesday nights football fixtures. I completely forgot to do it yesterday, but there were so many good performance and fight backs that they definitely warrant a mention
Torquay battering Wycombe for 90 minutes, Plymouth coming back from a goal down to win a vital game, Exeter coming back from the dead to level at 3-3, Northampton coming back from 2-0 down to draw, and Oxford coming back from 1-0 down to win away. Unbelievable stuff.
I can really see my old mates at T.U.F.C kicking on now and getting promoted, I know it's a bit of a statement, but why not, why shouldn't they be the team to do it. I'm delighted for Wroey to be back in the goals again after what must have been a very strange month for him!
Of my other previous clubs I'm not sure, I think Plymouth have a lot to deal with off the field at the moment, but as the play-offs are pretty much always reachable with a good string of results, you never know. At Northampton, 'Sammo' must be feeling the heat a little bit, hovering just above the bottom two, and for Oxford I still think they have the capacity to kick on and go up again.
When you step out of the football bubble for a while, as I have, you can take a much more philosophical viewpoint on the game, on results, and on league positions. Admittedly there is zero pressure, and that may the the reason why the rest of it now seems like a circus to me, but one thing is for sure though, I will back in the bubble at some point!
CH
Torquay battering Wycombe for 90 minutes, Plymouth coming back from a goal down to win a vital game, Exeter coming back from the dead to level at 3-3, Northampton coming back from 2-0 down to draw, and Oxford coming back from 1-0 down to win away. Unbelievable stuff.
I can really see my old mates at T.U.F.C kicking on now and getting promoted, I know it's a bit of a statement, but why not, why shouldn't they be the team to do it. I'm delighted for Wroey to be back in the goals again after what must have been a very strange month for him!
Of my other previous clubs I'm not sure, I think Plymouth have a lot to deal with off the field at the moment, but as the play-offs are pretty much always reachable with a good string of results, you never know. At Northampton, 'Sammo' must be feeling the heat a little bit, hovering just above the bottom two, and for Oxford I still think they have the capacity to kick on and go up again.
When you step out of the football bubble for a while, as I have, you can take a much more philosophical viewpoint on the game, on results, and on league positions. Admittedly there is zero pressure, and that may the the reason why the rest of it now seems like a circus to me, but one thing is for sure though, I will back in the bubble at some point!
CH
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Star quality
It's not often that I would write about a bit of good quality radio chat, but yesterday afternoons offering was an exception. Richard Bacon's interview with Bette Midler was brilliant - for our younger readers, Bette is a very famous singer and actress - she went on to talk about her rise to fame and her disbelief at today's microwave stars 'done in no time but soon burnt to a crisp', that's my analogy so I hope you like it!
An appearance on the Johnny Carson show catapulted her into the public eye, incredibly she was also the last person to perform on that very show - for our younger readers Johnny Carson was, at his height, one of the most famous faces in America, interviewing hundreds of A-list stars - Mrs Midler was generally amazed at the world of celebrity now and how reality shows have shaped the stars of today.
Today's 'stars' don't really have careers any more, they just burn brightly for a while, burn out, and are then forgotten. I wonder how many faces we will remember from this years X-factor, come to think of it how many can you remember from last year?
It was just a nice piece of old school wisdom and I thought I would share it with you!
I feel I have to talk about 'I'm a celebrity, get me a mini frozen Yorkshire pudding with beef, cos aaaarrrreee Mums go to Iceland' because it is just absolutely horrific. In no particular order, the jail thing is an utter joke, Gillian is on the wrong show and if we are supposed to take nutritional advice from someone like her then we really are all doomed, I still have no idea who Aggro is, and Limpit truly is a total weasel. Well done Nigel for walking and Shaun to win.
CH
An appearance on the Johnny Carson show catapulted her into the public eye, incredibly she was also the last person to perform on that very show - for our younger readers Johnny Carson was, at his height, one of the most famous faces in America, interviewing hundreds of A-list stars - Mrs Midler was generally amazed at the world of celebrity now and how reality shows have shaped the stars of today.
Today's 'stars' don't really have careers any more, they just burn brightly for a while, burn out, and are then forgotten. I wonder how many faces we will remember from this years X-factor, come to think of it how many can you remember from last year?
It was just a nice piece of old school wisdom and I thought I would share it with you!
I feel I have to talk about 'I'm a celebrity, get me a mini frozen Yorkshire pudding with beef, cos aaaarrrreee Mums go to Iceland' because it is just absolutely horrific. In no particular order, the jail thing is an utter joke, Gillian is on the wrong show and if we are supposed to take nutritional advice from someone like her then we really are all doomed, I still have no idea who Aggro is, and Limpit truly is a total weasel. Well done Nigel for walking and Shaun to win.
CH
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Memories
I met up with a few old team mates yesterday. With Brentford playing away at Plymouth it was good to see a few of my old muckers - well all two them who remain at the club, Kayleigh Osborne and Kevin O'Connor.
As much as it was a bad result for Argyle I was really pleased for Kev who is currently the Bees longest serving player and their captain. Although they have been struggling a bit recently, the South West has been a happy hunting ground for Brentford, with them having beaten Exeter 4-1 a few weeks ago. I was also at that game and Andy Scott now wants me to go to all Brentfords games!- sorry 'Scotty' no can do mate, but all the best to him and the boys. It is a great club and the one season I was there was incredible. Tipped for relegation, we narrowly missed on automatic promotion to the Championship, and eventually lost to Sheff Wednesday in the play-offs. A trip to Abu Dhabi, a double hernia, a bad case of septicemia, thirteen yellow cards, and a Tag watch are just some of the memories from that season, and that's without mentioning having Martin Allen as your manager!
As much as Plymouth's turbulent season continues, my ex employers T.U.F.C are still right in the mix, and up the road at Exeter the play-offs could be back in sight after a great win at Huddersfield. I can't run through all of my old teams results because I need to get the roast chicken on, but walking down the tunnel to see some of the lads yesterday did me no favours at all in trying to dampen the desire to put the boots back on. Stop it, just stop it.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
CH
As much as it was a bad result for Argyle I was really pleased for Kev who is currently the Bees longest serving player and their captain. Although they have been struggling a bit recently, the South West has been a happy hunting ground for Brentford, with them having beaten Exeter 4-1 a few weeks ago. I was also at that game and Andy Scott now wants me to go to all Brentfords games!- sorry 'Scotty' no can do mate, but all the best to him and the boys. It is a great club and the one season I was there was incredible. Tipped for relegation, we narrowly missed on automatic promotion to the Championship, and eventually lost to Sheff Wednesday in the play-offs. A trip to Abu Dhabi, a double hernia, a bad case of septicemia, thirteen yellow cards, and a Tag watch are just some of the memories from that season, and that's without mentioning having Martin Allen as your manager!
As much as Plymouth's turbulent season continues, my ex employers T.U.F.C are still right in the mix, and up the road at Exeter the play-offs could be back in sight after a great win at Huddersfield. I can't run through all of my old teams results because I need to get the roast chicken on, but walking down the tunnel to see some of the lads yesterday did me no favours at all in trying to dampen the desire to put the boots back on. Stop it, just stop it.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
CH
Friday, 19 November 2010
70's
The Hargreaves clan were very proud last night as CH junior picked up an award at Exeter Cathedral. It wasn't for him tidying his bedroom well, or even going to bed at the right time, it was for being a good lad at school and doing well in sport. Along with his fellow award winners he was pleased as punch to be given a certificate for excellence, it didn't last long though, we arrived home at 10 p.m and he still had his maths homework to do, Chin up!
I really hope that a few people managed to catch one of the best things on TV this week, and I don't mean 'Celebrity muppets sponsored by frozen prawns'. 'When playboys ruled the world' showed an insight into the lives of James Hunt and Barry Sheene, two racing icons of the seventies. It's funny really because over the years when people have asked me who my hero was, I always gave the same answer, and it wasn't a footballer. I would always say Barry Sheene and my dad. I wanted to race bikes when I was younger as my dad had, but falling off a few times quite badly pushed my dad into giving me a football.
I still loved bikes though and anyone who knows about bikes will have heard of Barry Sheene. Together with James Hunt they were the first celebrities of their day, both winning the World championships in their respective sports in 1976, and along with George Best they would change the image of a sportsman forever.
Barry Sheene and James Hunt got up to more back then than all of todays stars put together, but they admitted it and they celebrated it. Without a posse of advisers in tow they had a fag on the start line, they swigged champagne after a race and they partied like there was only a week to live, and in those days that was often the case. In the bike world alone it would not be uncommon to lose thirty riders in a season such was the danger at the circuits,but these lads just got on with it.
It was an incredible documentary of an incredible time in British Sport.Please try to watch it on iplayer, imac, big mac, or whatever other source you can find, because it is well and truly worth it.
Tomorrow I am going to watch two of my old teams play, in Plymouth and Brentford, so listen out for Sparksy and Greavsie arguing on the radio, and on Monday I shall be snuggling up to Nat on the sofa,looking at the goals from the weekend, and hopefully talking through a few West Country wins.
Other than that, in true seventies style, it will be a weekend of beer, fags, women, and BRUT, just don't tell my wife!
CH
I really hope that a few people managed to catch one of the best things on TV this week, and I don't mean 'Celebrity muppets sponsored by frozen prawns'. 'When playboys ruled the world' showed an insight into the lives of James Hunt and Barry Sheene, two racing icons of the seventies. It's funny really because over the years when people have asked me who my hero was, I always gave the same answer, and it wasn't a footballer. I would always say Barry Sheene and my dad. I wanted to race bikes when I was younger as my dad had, but falling off a few times quite badly pushed my dad into giving me a football.
I still loved bikes though and anyone who knows about bikes will have heard of Barry Sheene. Together with James Hunt they were the first celebrities of their day, both winning the World championships in their respective sports in 1976, and along with George Best they would change the image of a sportsman forever.
Barry Sheene and James Hunt got up to more back then than all of todays stars put together, but they admitted it and they celebrated it. Without a posse of advisers in tow they had a fag on the start line, they swigged champagne after a race and they partied like there was only a week to live, and in those days that was often the case. In the bike world alone it would not be uncommon to lose thirty riders in a season such was the danger at the circuits,but these lads just got on with it.
It was an incredible documentary of an incredible time in British Sport.Please try to watch it on iplayer, imac, big mac, or whatever other source you can find, because it is well and truly worth it.
Tomorrow I am going to watch two of my old teams play, in Plymouth and Brentford, so listen out for Sparksy and Greavsie arguing on the radio, and on Monday I shall be snuggling up to Nat on the sofa,looking at the goals from the weekend, and hopefully talking through a few West Country wins.
Other than that, in true seventies style, it will be a weekend of beer, fags, women, and BRUT, just don't tell my wife!
CH
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