England Game?

Rather impressive bit of (mis)spelling on display in Dock Street yesterday... ;)

Marlborough Playground Grafitti

Used to walk past this all the time but never really paid much attention to the site itself, wandering round it looks like it's an initiative by Bankside Open Spaces Trust to get all the local kids involved in outdoor activities, the site itself was set aside (all the way back) in 1919 by the Duchess of Marlborough purely for kids to play in (but until recently it was just a large tarmac square)...now, however -

- it's got beach volleyball -

- a very nice 5-a-side football pitch (didn't take pics but) - basketball hoops, a few objects to grind off if you like skateboarding, a very large bag stand (presumably for kickboxing) and this -

- a "Growup box" (complete with "Shutterpatch") -

- looking at the BOST website, it's been *extremely* successful (like 3000 users successful)...the Duchess would be proud... ;)

England Game...

...okay, the deal here is - Work through lunch today and go at 1430hrs (in time to get to the pub for the game) - or - get Friday afternoon off...

Background fact - My (single remaining) colleague is a big football fan...

So I've got half a day off on Friday - aren't I nice... ;)

*finkangel peers around looking for where his +1000 karma reward has fallen*

Wimbledon vs World Cup

...one TV in the Advertising Department (high on the wall), remote control in the hands of the PAs and Wimbledon Tennis on it right now...

I (confidently) predict a riot when all the sales guys get back from the pub... ;)

World Cup Office Watching Policy

I remember back when I was contracting at GE during the World-Cup-before-last (2002 was it?) in order to avoid staff calling in sick during their countries matches (it was a huge, multi-national team) *all* the matches were shown in the office...various groups of people would scuttle excitedly off to one of the TV equipped meeting rooms from where (for 90-odd minutes) there would emerge a string of swearwords and expressions of joy in various languages (terribly educational) followed by either a miserable procession back, scarves trailing behind (followed by lunch at the pub) or whooping, hugging and flag waving (followed by lunch at the pub)...

I'm not *entirely* sure what's going to happen here in my office, but one thing did spring to mind (not being a great fan of football)...if the England matches (at the least) are put onto the TVs that hang off our office walls, doesn't this set some sort of precedent for grounds of discrimination against other world sporting events? Am I not supporting "England" (in a way) by following Jenson Button on the Friday practice in the F1? Okay, bad example...but what about those fans of other international sports that happen to take place during the week? Or those workers that aren't fans of any sport in particular and are completely left out in the cold to answer everyone else's telephone?

There's no easy answer as to exactly what the *right* way to handle this is... <:S

In other news, I drew Brazil in the office sweepstake... ;)

What actually is a "rain check"?

You see, I knew how to use it in conversation, but it dawned on me (after reading Bill Bryson's excellent "Mother Tongue") that I fell into the category of people perfectly content to take the matter no further (i.e. happily not bother to seek an explaination for this odd term) and that has had to change...I don't like being part of a category, especially a common and lazy one... ;)

So, let's explain (embarrassingly it took no time at all to find out, and was completely logical), so in case you are in the same situation that I was in - it's an Americanism (as you had no doubt already guessed), the saying "I'll take a rain check" originated either in the sport of Baseball or Golf (depending on who you want to believe).  When a game was cancelled thanks to bad weather, the disgruntled baseball fan or damp golfer would then stomp back to the corresponding office and collect (literally take) their "rain check" - a free entry ticket to enable them to return when the weather had improved and the game was to be resumed...

So there you go...I have to say I was really quite surprised, the Americans are actually far more civilised in this respect than even the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Association (who one would have expected to be absolute bastions of fair play) - for them, however, if rain stops play all day, tough luck you only actually paid for the right to sit in the seat, not to see any games being played...!

Most other sports popular in the UK obviously play on regardless of the amount of rain (football, rugby etc.) as I miserably discovered in school...only, it seems - cricket - saves us from complete humiliation, offering a full refund or a transfer of dates if it really is too wet to play (and, interestingly, they even refer to it as a "raincheck policy")...

Now why didn't I know all this before, lack of interest in sport?  Perhaps...but thank you, Mr Bryson, for the kick up the arse...while I didn't actually use the term myself prior to this, I can now, at least, do so with confidence (if I so desire) in the future... ;)

Giant Subbuteo - Canary Wharf

Not quite sure what this was all about, although it certainly wouldn't be a trivial matter to flick one of these chaps towards a ball...spotted just by the entrance to the Thames clipper at Canary Wharf this morning... ;)

World Cup Replay - 2007

Driving to Tesco yesterday morning (slow cooking myself in the sizzling summer-boost afforded by black-car ownership) I passed lots of car fulls of people, pit-stopping for fuel/leg stretching/cold drinks at the large petrol station on the roundabout in Horley...the vast majority were obviously on their way to the beach at Brighton and had also fairly obviously mostly done the same as I had - i.e. spotted that the weather was going to be as good as Saturday and pulled all the jumpers and long trousers etc. out of their cupboards/drawers in an attempt to find *something* (towards the bottom) to wear that suited the conditions outside - the result (amusingly), in my neck of the woods anyway, was a total flashback to World Cup fever (it of last summer), those garments being the most recently worn "heatwave" clothes in most peoples wardrobes - almost everyone I passed was wearing either an "England" t-shirt (in one form or other) or St George's cross shorts...time to go shopping for some new clothes perhaps...

Anyway, when I got to the supermarket (arrived at 1015hrs feeling very pleased with myself for getting up so early to miss the crowds) I was most put out to find that the car park was absolutely packed! The majority of people inside (mostly called "Beckham" judging by their stitched name tags) were forming an impatient, tutting throng around the freezer section after realising (as I did shortly thereafter) that the entire BBQ area in the fresh meat row was empty (looks like there will be some explaining to do by whoever is responsible for the stock ordering) meaning each time a woolly-gloved shelf stacker appeared carrying a cardboard box to fill up the "£2-a-bag" frozen ribs/chicken wings/salmon skewers, a mini-football fan food riot ensued...when I actually managed to snatch a bag of Moroccan Lamb it wasn't exactly what I would refer to as frozen (more sort of slushy) but there wasn't a lot of choice...not that it mattered anyway, when I went to look there were zero bags of anything capable of making fire that didn't contain any propellant (don't want to eat petrol-marinated Moroccan Lamb particularly), either at Tesco, or the two other petrol stations I stopped at on the way home, so last night ended up being roast lamb, but that's probably it for roasts (if the weather keeps on like this), time to switch to Mediterranean food in keeping with the conditions...

The ULTIMATE ZZ headbutt collection...

...can be found right here...classic post... ;)

Shit...

...we're out... :(

Update - it's sad, spotting England car flags laying by the side of the road... :(

Kings Cross - Helicopter with huge St George's cross spotted

You'll have to zoom right in as it's not a brilliant photo (the helicopter was miles away) but it was zig zagging over Kings Cross dragging a *huge* St. George's cross behind it during lunchtime with the words "Come on England" in the cross itself... ;) Wonder who paid for that?

FIFA World Cup - England vs Sweden

ARGH! It's all going wrong! 1-1! Looks like we might have to face Germany in the next round and now 2 players off injured! :(

Update - well, not as bad as all that in the end, looks like we came off lightly, a few days off and not facing Germany in the next match after all... ;)

England vs Trinidad & Tobago

Well well well...left it a little late, didn't we... ;)

World Cup Toilet...

...complete with plastic "turf", a tiny little goal and, well, a little "Urineball" I guess.... ;)

Spotted over at BoingBoing... ;)

FIFA World Cup 2006 - It is time...

Think I'm ready...just got to plump up the cushions on the sofa... ;)

update - 1-0 England in the first 3 mins...
update - that ref must *really* hate Paraguay...
update - mmm...beer is nice...
update - eeek, free kick to Paraguay...!
update - Almost at half time, score at 1-0, Paraguay still not looking good...Ooooh! Very close Beckham miss there though...! ;)
update - I wonder how many supporters need to be sacrificed to the spider-god that keeps overwatch on the pitch to stop it eating the players?
update - 2nd half - pace is slower...as hot there as it is here...and nasty ref moaning about players drinking water...bah...
update - Oh dear, England looking rather nervous.... :(
update - Some ofthe England players seem to be wearing pink ladies shoes...
update - last ten minutes!
update - and now the ref hates England!!
update - and the final result - a weak limp home... :(

England Car Flags, the World Cup etc.

It's still 16 days to go, but it's now almost impossible to leave the house without passing at least one car sporting not one England flag (like we saw become popular during Euro 2004), but *two*...I think Tesco are partly to blame for stocking a "Value" range of England supporter accutrement (still not sure that is entirely appropriate) meaning it is possible to bedeck your vehicle with the double St. George for the princely sum of £1.98 *and* throw in a large silk-style England flag, to be worn batman's-cloak-when-you-were-a-kid fashion with an otherwise naked torso (prefarably sporting some nice celtic tattoos) while yelling "IN GA LUND", for only another 99p (I didn't spot red and white face paint, but I'm sure it was there somewhere)...

Anyway, all this means that there really isn't very much excuse not to sport some sort of England supporters kit, especially if begging small children are in any way involved during the trip around the supermarket (as I saw happen the other day)...the tired resignation to the fact that you are going to have to drive around everywhere looking like a bit of a prat just to keep the kids happy, and the quiet hope that we get knocked out early so things can just get back to normal were all evident in the look just before the flags went in the trolley (joining the crates of beer) and the kids started jumping up and down cheering (as dad may have secretly done later)... ;)

I, for one, will be watching as many of the England matches as I can (mais sans drapeau, as I think wishing your contries team well is sufficiently implied by your continued residence) I'm not normally much of a football fan (preferring motorsports) but the World Cup is something a little bit different...I am, however, wondering how the company that I work for at the moment is going to handle it...when I worked for GE (during the last major football occurence) they universally resigned themselves to the fact that a number of people are quite fanatical about their sport and would probably fall mysteriously ill/take lots of holiday/vanish for periods of time during the working day or a combination of the above *regardless* and so basically decided to turn over several of the meeting rooms to be TV rooms and every member of staff was free to go and watch during any match featuring their home team no matter what time it was on...the result? People were coming in *early* to catch the start of their matches, no-one went off sick or vanished or took any time off and the office continued pretty much as normal...clever lot at GE... ;) Certainly in the opening rounds this time though we have got off pretty lightly, there's only one England match that looks like it's going to impact on the working day, and that is at 5pm on Thursday 15th June when we play Trinidad and Tobago...

This is just a hunch...

...but I *think* we might have a number of West Ham supporters in our road... ;)