Alcohol Limits

I don’t usually get up early at the weekends, however, we got up early on a Saturday to go on a coach trip. Being first on we were asked to sit right at the front, behind the driver. We were on  one of the modern coaches with a huge window at the front easily 6 feet by 10 feet, so we had a good view of the road ahead.
After picking up some more trippers and going down the equivalent of an A road, ahead we noticed some police cars slowing traffic down and stopping at random some cars. As we approached we slowed down and so a sign in Spanish which translated said “Alcohol Check”.
The police we breathalysing the stopped motorists. I had only seen this done in Australia. Now its starting in Spain. The Spanish coach driver told us that its been this way for years but the police were using it more and more especially after holidays and football matches!

It’s my Birthday

Today is my Birthday. So Happy Birthday to me.
For the first time in many a year I have my brothers with me. Because of the World Cup we are all together in Spain. My sisters are in the UK. Here is my horoscope:

• A transitional year is forecast--one in which little changes foretell new directions to come. Most of the year, Jupiter blesses you with the ability to take things in stride as it harmonizes with your own sign from fellow Water sign, Pisces.
• You are more intellectually curious this year, and you may have opportunities to travel, study, go abroad, expand your horizons, and meet people who are of diverse backgrounds.
• Business dealings, particularly long-distance ones and those involving publicity and promotion, are likely to be profitable in 2010. Work might be readily found through these avenues. September can bring a surprising opportunity for an adventure.
• Career matters, while they might begin rather sluggishly in the first few months of the year, are approaching a very pleasant peak. Building your skills and expanding your reach are very advisable now, as they will benefit you greatly as you move towards an especially successful period in your life.
• There are likely to be some pressures on the home front, but also opportunities to really get our domestic life into order. Organizing or reorganizing your home, downsizing and streamlining where necessary, and establishing better and more efficient routines will be helpful.
• There is a sense of "old versus new" again this year, as you weight the pros and cons of sticking to tried and true patterns and moving forward to unexplored territory. Some of you will be struggling with a strong desire to reach new levels of achievement and success, and the simultaneous desire for security by keeping the status quo.
• Big decisions shouldn't be made on the spur of the moment, but do keep your eyes open for ways to break out of any rut you might have gotten yourself into.
• Relationships are intense, serious, and changeful, but also extremely rewarding. Depth in your connections is what you seek.
• Finances are also going through some changes, starting off on the sluggish side, but improving as the year moves forward. Great opportunities for increasing income from your job arrive this year, as well as sponsorships, loans, refunds related to health, and other such forms of support. May 20-June 14 brings special opportunities for love and romance.

England v Germany Match Report

            1                                4
Beaten by a better side, even taking into account the ‘goal that never was’.
The best team moves on and we get the millionaires, who play football for a living, but can't produce a decent footballing performance in 4 games, back to England.
Lucky to be second in our group, a group we should have won, never producing a worthwhile performance in this world cup. All the players but especially Gerrard, Lampard, Terry and Rooney should be ashamed that they did not do better. No excuses, apologise to the supporters.
The bar I was in was rocking and at the end very disappointed, if this was mirrored around the world, there are lots of dejected Brits this morning. Aplogise please!

Weather in Spain 21st June – 27th June 2010

Monday: Warm and sunny but a brisk wind. Daily temp of 23C. Warm overnight with a temp of 19C.
Tuesday: Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 26C. Warm overnight with a temp of 20C
Wednesday: Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 28C. Warm overnight with a temp of 20C
Thursday: Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 29C. Warm overnight with a temp of 19C
Friday: Hot and sunny. Day temp of 30C. Warm overnight with a temp of 22C
Saturday: Hot and sunny. Day temp of 30C. Warm overnight with a temp of 19C
Sunday: Hot and sunny. Day temp of 29C. Warm overnight with a temp of 18C

England v Germany Match Preview

This world Cup is like World War II. The French and the Italians surrendered early, the USA are coming in late and England are fighting the Germans.
I can see this going either way (fence sitting is my new sport!), but please not penalties.
I expect a 4-4-2 formation with the team that started against Slovenia. However, I would go for 4-2-3-1 with Rooney up front, Gerrard behind him and Joe Cole and Milner playing in Midfield. No changes in defence. But then I am not Capello.
I want England playing like its a Premier League game. Press this young German side, give them no time and hopefully show no mercy. We owe them big time. So now lets do it!

Diane Abbot

Poor Diane Abbott. Just because she is a woman and black, she has been forced by her own party into being on the ballot for Leader of the Labour Party.
Although she herself was able to get only a handful of supporters for the Labour leadership contest and so could not on her own merits make it to the ballot list, she has been pushed and shoved into the race at the 11th hour by other Labour MPs who wouldn’t otherwise support her and all, supposedly, in the name of diversity.
As late as a few hours before the ballot list deadline last week, Abbott had the backing of just 10 MPs out of a required 33. So, because it looked as if the leadership contestants would be embarrassingly all-male, all-Oxbridge and all-white, the parliamentary Labour party machine cranked into action: Harriet Harman, the acting Labour leader, encouraged enough other MPs to nominate Abbott, after they had been persuaded that a privileged all-white male line-up would not go down at all well with the public or the unions.
The name for this is not diversity. Its name is tokenism, aggravated by PR manipulation and the deepest of undemocratic cynicism. It is positive discrimination at its most depressing.
Yet Abbott seems quite oblivious of her humiliation. Abbott seems to feel thoroughly entitled to run, even though several people who in the end nominated her have no intention of voting for her and even though Harman has made it entirely clear that her reason for nominating her was to ensure that a woman was on the ballot paper.
To ensure no humiliation she must get 33 votes in the first round, in September, otherwise her nomination has been a fix. 

Correos – Registered Letter for Speeding

I have stated in this blog that the Spanish Correos deliver to post boxes outside of the urbanisation. However, I have now discovered that they call to the home with registered letters.
Having signed for the letter, I opened it, low and behold, it was a fine for speeding. A nice picture of the Rover 75 doing 124kph in a 100kph zone. The wording translated we found that we were being fined 100 Euros for excessive speeding. But who was the culprit.
After discovering the date and time the defaulter owned up, it was the Lady of the Villa (smug smile on while I type this). She had taken the youngest daughter out shopping when she was over in May and in their haste to shop, or return with the goods had ignored the speedometer and the road signs.
1-0 I think!

World Cup Week 2

Best Player of the week: Messi

Best Team of the week: Portugal

Best Howler of the week: France not qualifying

Most annoying thing: The noise from the Vuvuzelas

Best Coverage overall: BBC

Best Anchorman: Colin Murray

Best Match to Watch: Portugal v N. Korea (closely followed by S. Africa v France. Lol)

Worst Match to Watch: England v Algeria

England v Slovenia match report

 0                              1

So they did it. And now its Germany on Sunday, I was on a flight back to Spain when the match was on (dont ask!), so I have only seen the highlights. They looked better than in the previous two games, which isn't difficult, but now the real test begins.

I am sure they would rather play Ghana than Germany in the last 16, but hey, I was carking it after Algeria so lets hope this new confidence and spirit prevails. 

 

Greece first then Spain

Spain’s Caja’s  are still trying to merge in the hope of beating the June 30 deadline to tap a €99 billion (£84 billion) government bank rescue fund. The Spanish government wants the 45 regional caja banks to shrink to 15. It is part of a desperate government effort to restore confidence in the faltering economy, which threatens to drag down the rest of the eurozone.
The currency faces further pressure from Greece, which is studying plans to restructure its debt despite a multi-billion-euro bailout from Germany, France and the IMF.  The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a London economics consultancy that is advising the Athens government, said Greece would be unable to escape its debt trap unless it devalued its currency to boost exports.
The only way for this to happen is for Greece to leave the euro. Until now, this has been played down as it would set in motion the break-up of the single currency.
Spain has the highest unemployment in Europe at 20% and a budget deficit that is 9.3% of GDP, and similar to Greece the unions are fighting anything that increases unemployment, by striking. The Spanish government has recently passed by just one vote 15 billion euros of cuts, including a 5% across-the-board pay reduction for civil servants.
All this is pain, just like Greece, is causing disruption to the economy. If Greece leaves the euro and devalues giving it breathing space, Spain will follow quickly. It is the easy way out. Back to the peseta.

England v Slovenia match preview

The qualification should have been assured by now by but it's not. I am sitting here this morning thinking "what am I gong to write? what do I think will happen? who will play? what formation?"

Here a the bare facts.

If England beat Slovenia they qualify.
If England win and USA win, England must win by a bigger margin to get top spot.
A draw, proberbly means elimination, unless its a high scoring draw and the USA/Algerian game is a low scoring draw. However, if Englands draw is two goals higher than that involving the USA lots are drawn.
Dont mess about lads just win it...............please. Gulp.

Weather in Spain week 14th June 2010 – 20th June 2010

Monday: Overnight rain gave way to overcast morning. Temp of 22C. Cloudy afternoon with bouts of rain, temp of 25C. Overnight heavy rain with a temp of 19C.
Tuesday: Overcast start. Later hot and sunny with thunderstorms and rain showers. Temp of 22C. Warm overnight with a temp of 17C
Wednesday: Thunderstorms all day. Temp of 19C. Warm overnight with a temp of 16C
Thursday: Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 24C. Warm overnight with a temp of 18C
Friday: Hot and sunny but with a high wind. Temp of 19C. Warm overnight with a temp of 17C
Saturday: Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 25C. Warm overnight with a temp of 20C
Sunday: Very Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 30C. Warm overnight with a temp of 21C
For an advanced forecast in the area I live in see http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/europe_forecast_7days.asp?locationID=3222 which is Mercia Airport, our nearest point on this site.

Soldiers deaths in Afghanistan

Soldiers deaths in Afghanistan are getting less and less attention in the press. Is the press, and there for us, getting used to it? Just over 100 words (“Two die in Helmand”, in the Sunday Times) is the norm these days.
British commanders say that patrols are vital “to reassure the local population following insurgent intimidation”.  I am convinced that this approach has never worked in the past, is not working now nor will it in the future. I believe that the people of Afghanistan see our troops as occupiers.
After the lat summit on Afghanistan, Cameron said: “Our national security is best served by an Afghanistan that has a measure of stability and that is free of terrorists,” and that in the past “We have been too hazy in defining success.”  I personally find this hard to believe. I think the Afghan government is a corrupt organisation feeding on US/UK funds and are best served (as are their Swiss bank accounts) by a prolonged war.
We have always been too hazy about what we want to achieve in Afghanistan. We still are.
Time to leave… asap.

World Cup Week 1

Best Player of the week: Lionel Messi (Argentina)

Best Team of the week: Germany

Best Howler of the week: Robert Green (England)

Most annoying thing: The noise from the Vuvuzelas

Best Coverage overall: BBC

Best Anchorman: Adrian Childs

Best Match to Watch: Germany v Australia

Worst Match to Watch: Algeria v Slovenia (close contender Japan v Cameroon)

England v Algeria match report

 

   
         0                                  0
WHAT THE ******* HELL WAS THAT!
The England players get paid over £1,000,000 A WEEK, and all they could dish up was a messy, mish mash of kick about football.
It was pathetic. The fans quite correctly booed them off. If the players dont like it tough, it was what that performance deserved. I have never seen a more abject England performance. Words fail me.......  

Peter C funeral

Back in the UK for a funeral. An uncle, who was a little bit older than me, and was more like an older brother, had died of Cancer.
Weeks before he died he wanted to put his affairs ‘in order’. He knew that I had done this for my mother a couple of years ago when she died and wanted me to act as his executor, but with a twist. He wanted to liquidate his assets and the before he dies give gifts to his family with some of the remainder to pay for his funeral and the residue passed on to his ex-wife.
Most of his assets were in ISA’s and savings with the Halifax. After what seemed an awful lot of form filling, identification checks, to-ing and fro-ing and I must say help from the staff in the Halifax I managed in a week to get the job done.
We then had a surreal moment when he wrote the cheques out to his grandchildren ready to pass them on ‘when the time comes’.
That time came and now as executer I must close all his accounts, pay the funeral bill and pass the remainder on to his ex-wife.

R.I.P Peter C.

England v Algeria match preview

                  
This on paper should be the easiest game of the group but many a slip between ……

Again a strong team to steam roll the Algerians with them fading in the second half. If we dominate as expected and get a few (three) early goals he may rest some of his first team players and give others a chance. But please more than 5 minutes!

The defence just need to concentrate and not let the Algerians get a view of the goal never mind a shot on target. I am expecting a clean sheet and a good result 3-0.

BP and Union Carbide

BP has been coming under some extraordinary pressure from the USA recently. To some it is well deserved, after all they have created the greatest ecological disaster the US has ever experienced. The US president has put the blame on BP and in particular Tony Haywood BP’s chief executive and Obama will ensure that they pay for the clean up and any compensation, which experts say will run into Billions and may bankrupt one of Britain's biggest companies.
Seems on the face of it quite fair.
However, if you consider the fate of Union Carbide the US company that caused the deaths of over 3,000 people in India in 1984 (with some estimates putting the death toll at 25,000.
The then Union Carbide boss Warren Anderson was indicted but skipped his bail and resides in the USA. India have been refused permission to extradite him. The company itself paid £313 million in “full and final” settlement for this disaster. On average each victim received only £350 each.
Seems on the face of it unfair.

One rule for the rich debtors one for the poor

Reading an article in this weeks Sunday Times provoked a thought. The article says that Sameer Al Ansari has resigned from Dubai International Capital (DIC). Not in itself remarkable as DIC owe £1.7 billion to banks and want to have a three month extension to a loan of £0.8 billion due this month.

Now forgive me, but, is this the same Dubai that puts people in jail if they owe money to a bank or cant pay back a loan?
One rule for the rich debtors one rule for the poor.

Rob Green - Apology: your having a laugh

I was sitting there after the Germany/Australia game when ITV did a quick post mortem on the England/USA game.
In it Rob Green came on and said things like: “I know I will get abuse over this but I am big enough to take it on the chin. just bring it on, let it come I can take it.”
What I expected was something along the lines of “Sorry, big mistake, I hope all the fans can forgive me, I will never let this happen again.”
Arrogant bugger. I hope you never get selected again!