Quote Of The Day

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)"

Thursday, August 25, 2011

How's this for passion Samir?...

So "Samir Nasri takes parting shot at Arsenal fans' lack of 'passion'", huh? How's this for passion Samir?

Udinese 1 - 2 Arsenal (agg 1 - 3)...

Thank goodness for that. Arsenal are through to the UEFA Champions League after their second leg game in Italy. It'll be a 14th consecutive season for us to be in that competition.

Udinese scored in the first half, Robin Van Persie got an equaliser in the second half and Theo Walcott sealed the 2-1 win (3-1 on aggregate). The draw takes place later today for the group stages. I'll be watching.

Update: We'll meet Marseille, Olympiakos and Dortmund in the Champions League group stages:



Group F
Arsenal FC (ENG)
Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
Olympiacos FC (GRE)
Borussia Dortmund (GER)

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Do I Do Too Much?...

Some people say I do too much. And they may have a point. It has always been thus though. He's a posting I did almost exactly ten years ago to the day.



Sunday: Good day, bad day... 
Good day: It's a Bank Holiday weekend so no work on Monday. Hurrah!
Bad day: Got a call. Had to work on Sunday instead. Pooh!
Good day: Got paid quite handsomely for my work - cash in hand. Fantastic!
Bad day: It rained all day so cancelled the plans to go to the Vauxhall Tavern after work.
Good day: Sod the rain, Marky and I went to Bar Code to get sloshed anyway.
Bad day: Got too sloshed too early. I must learn to pace myself.
Good day: In my drunken state I decided to enter Soho Pink Weekend Treasue Hunt.
Bad day: Had to sprint all over the West End hunting for clues from gay bar to gay bar and answering health related questions. Three stages of syphillis anyone?
Good day: I won first prize! Dinner/dancing and a cruise for 4 on a restaurant boat on the Thames and a crate of champagne.
Bad day: I was almost paralytic by midnight when I was meant to be on stage at Sound On Sunday collecting my prize.
Good day: Everyone else was paralytic too so that was OK!
Bad day: We got home at 1am and as we walked up to our front door there was a car crash in front of us. Four cars involved.
Good day: Luckily no one was hurt.
Bad day: Finally got in and there was a message on my machine to say I had to work today as well. So here I am.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Bryn About Town...

On Friday Bryn and I took off early and wandered around town. We window-shopped in Soho, walked along the South Bank, visited the Tracey Emin exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, went to see the Diane Arbus photograhs at the Tate Modern and met up with Darren and Mark for early evening drinks. Great day out.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Thursday, August 18, 2011

South Pacific...


Last night Stu and I went to see a production of Rogers and Hammerstein's South Pacific at the Barbican Theatre. It was a transfer of the 2008 Broadway revival at the Lincoln Center.

Samantha Womack plays Nellie, an American nurse, on a U.S. Naval base during World War II. She falls in love with an expatriate French plantation owner with a dark past.

It's a fun show but not without it's serious side. Racial prejudice is addressed in the show directly as Nellie tries to accept her lover's mixed-race children from a former relationship. This theme of prejudice is further explored about another mixed relationship in a surprisingly subtle but powerful song You've Got to Be Carefully Taught.

The comic element is seabee Luther Billis deftly played by EastEnders bad-boy Alex Ferns. Perhaps his American accent wasn't the best but he made up for that in gusto.

The famous songs from the show are of course Bali Ha'i, I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair, Some Enchanted Evening and Happy Talk. These were all delivered with much aplomb.

It was a solid performance. We really enjoyed it. But as it's still very early in it's run there is perhaps some room for settling in.


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

William's 21st...

It was my nephew William's 21st birthday last Friday and to celebrate we went out as a family last night to the Oxo Tower for a meal. Lovely food, lovely company and we all had a great time.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Brighton Pride: The Return...


We had a lovely three days down in Brighton. It was Brighton Pride and we stayed in our usual cubby hole of boutique B&B Square Brighton.

We spent a lot of time with Darren, Chris and Hudd which of course made it all the more special.

The parade seemed shorter than usual although had the requisite number of drag queens, go-go boys and community floats.

It was the first time that the Preston Park event charged to get in. £8 for local residents rising to £17 for people on the gate. Still, a lot of people seemed prepared to pay as the walled field was pretty full. It took us a while to actually get in (incompetent security arrangements) but it added to the sense of fun.

One of the high points for me was actually on the Friday night. We'd gone to a restaurant and Sonia happened to be there. She was due to perform the following day at the festival. She was charming, sat on my knee and posed for pictures.

All in all it was a fun weekend. We drank, chatted to friends old and new and generally messed about.

On way back to London now. My liver could do with the rest.

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Friday, August 12, 2011

Arsenal Stadium & Museum Tour Aug 2011...

Last Saturday my brother Simon treated me to an Arsenal Legends Tour at Emirates Stadium. We got Charlie George. Brilliant. He was very funny with his stories of the old days. Great to see the stadium from the behind closed doors too. (Full slide show of photos here)

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

London's Burning...


As I was watching the rioting spread across London last night with cars and buildings set alight on a third night of unrest I mused a few things to myself:

Just turned on the TV. Blimey tonight's EastEnders has got a bit edgier...

If Tottenham is on fire, do police suspect Arsène?

Oh, if anyone is going looting in Islington tonight we need some pimento and some sun-dried tomatoes...

Sky News have much better coverage than the BBC News. They have adverts for Currys every few minutes so you can pick out what to loot...

If a gang couldn't pull off a robbery or looting tonight of all nights they should should give up their criminal career and get a proper job. Oh wait...



Monday, August 08, 2011

Liverpool...

Last Friday Paul and I went up to Liverpool to go to the Tate Liverpool and see their special exhibition René Magritte: The Pleasure Principle. We stayed the night at the Hope Street Hotel and in the evening popped down to the "Gay Quarter" to try out The Lisbon, The Masquerade and The Cruzon. Always lovely to spend time with my best bud and we had a laugh.

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Friday, August 05, 2011

Friday On My Mind...

Got the day off today. Not that I'll be hanging around. Off to Liverpool to see an exhibition and for the night. Wish me luck!

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Matt's Birthday...

Had a really nice picnic yesterday evening down by the park just next to the Oxo Tower celebrating the lovely Matt's birthday. Will and Aaron were there too and it was food to catch up with them.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Madeliene Bell and the BBC Big Band at Ronnie Scott's...

Last Saturday night Darren arranged for us to go - and treated Stu as a surprise birthday gift - to see the magnificent Madeleine Bell and the BBC Big Band at Ronnie Scott's in London's glitzy Soho. She put on a great show. Sadly not on long enough but a great show.


Monday, August 01, 2011