Thoughts on This and That

After sitting back and watching Australia and New Zealand battle it out over the last couple of weeks Great Britain finally entered the Rugby League Tri-Nations competition today playing, and losing 18-14 to, New Zealand in Christchurch.

As I’ll be away for the latter stages of the tournament, and won’t be able to follow it, I’ve tried not to get too interested in the competition this year but despite that I still couldn’t help myself and, not having SKY Sports, had to put myself out more than I wanted to to make sure I had somewhere to watch the game that kicked-off at 8am our time. As someone who considers sleep his favourite hobby that is a bit thing.

I always find myself suprised at just how much I get into the international competition at the end of this season, despite being a football fan for 20 years I’ve never really taken more than a passing interest in the, much more developed, international game whereas in RL I’d say it’s my number one priority - I’d happilly put Great Britain ahead of the Bulls any day of the week.

Maybe it’s because of the limited scope of the club game, or the fact that I strongly believe the international game needs to develop before the sport can really fulfil it’s potential but, whatever it is, it has me screaming at the television in a way nothing else really does. If only a few more people had my attitude and weren’t just interested in whatever serves their own end on a lower, localised level then the game wouldn’t be as geographically confined as it still is, although some genuine progress is now being made.

Today’s defeat wasn’t unexpected, my own opinion is that GB are pretty much on a par with New Zealand but they are battle hardened from two games in the last two weeks, whereas we came into the match cold, with only a warm-up against an Australian district side, we have to now play for three more weeks consecutively while the Kiwis and the Kangaroos get the benefit of a bit of rest and recuperation after they play us. That is a situation that needs addressing but, it would require people putting the overall good ahead of their own, which as I’ve already mentioned, isn’t something too prevalent in the sport.

So, it’s Australia next week, with a slightly more friendly kick-off time of 9am, there were some positive things to build on from today and, though we are not in their class, hopefully we’ll give them a good game and you never know what could happen.

Thankfully the clocks go back tonight, and it’s national sleep-in day tommorow, so hopefully I’ll be able to compensate.

I have now worked for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, or it’s forerunner, for just under five years.

Now, after suffering from sub-standard snacking options for all that time and with just 42 hours and 29 working minutes left of my time there, the vending machines are being stocked with various flavours of Seabrook Crisps, the Bradford produced best snack in the world. It’s almost as if they are taunting me.

It’s almost enough to make me rip up my resignation letter.*

* (ok thats probably the biggest lie I’ve ever told)

Two defeats at the hands of Scunthorpe in the space of 4 days.

Maybe they should put in a complaint about the weak teams we are obviously fielding?

Bradford City were beaten 2-1 at Valley Parade on Tuesday by Scunthorpe, in the Johnstone’s Paints Trophy.

For those that don’t know, this trophy is played for by teams in the third and fourth tier of English football, and it’s such a big draw that, out of a district population of almost half a million, less than 2,000 people bothered to turn up to watch it so, quite frankly, who cares? I certainly don’t.

It appears, however, that useless City manager Colin Todd does, because he is reporting Scunthorpe to the FA for fielding an understrength team. Of course the fact that the understrength team picked actually beat what Todd decreed a reasonable strength Bradford City side should be quite worrying to him and surely, in view of that, Todd shouldn’t be doing anything that might bring that fact to wider attention.

Then again, with his level of incompetence, it’s no suprise that he is oblivious to the fact that he is only making himself look stupid.

With the Bulls not making the Grand Final for the first time in six years I expected yesterday’s trip to Old Trafford for the game to be a relaxing, enjoyable, stress-free occassion.

How wrong could I be?

From the stench of the abbatoir in Bradford, through the ridiculous train delays, the “company” of the worlds most miserable girl on said train to being surrounded by obnoxious, racist, moronic St Helens fans it was pretty much a day to forget, and therefore an experience I am not too fond of repeating.

At least the company of the friends I travelled and attended the game with, and the familiar faces I bumped into during the day, made things a bit more bearable. The curry once we got home was as good as usual too but, if the Bulls aren’t there next year, I’ll probably just watch things on the telly.

Now, I’m quite a helpful soul - so I thought I’d share a few tips with the female members of the population who might be reading this…

1 - Just because it’s October doesn’t mean you HAVE to get out your big winter coats and your woolies. It’s an idea to actually check what the weather has in store before you take such action, however much you might want to show off the new clothes you’ve shelled out for and accessorise with your new hats/bags/scarves.

I’m only thinking of you here, after all you don’t give the best impression of yourself to other people when you are sitting next to them on trains, dripping with sweat and constantly fidgeting and knocking into them because you’ve got too many layers on.

2 - Use cash machines, they can be found pretty much everywhere nowadays and they give you money which is very useful for small purchases. Following this advice means you don’t have to hold up everyone else in the morning when you whip out a debit card to pay for a newspaper and packet of chewing gum totalling a whopping 97p.

3 - When you are suffering from coldsores do not kiss other people on the lips. Especially when you haven’t seen them for a long time and they could therefore have no idea about how vigorous your goodbye was likely to be. I find that they might hold it against you when they themselve then subsequently suffer from a coldsore a couple of days later.

I can think of many more hints and tips, but I’ll save them for some other time, I don’t want to overburden your brains. In fact, maybe this is the subject for that book I’ve got in me……

I thought I was over getting pissed off by bad sporting results but, after the Bulls defeat against Hull, and City’s abysmal showing against the TB’s. I’m a little hacked off.

The manner of the performances was totally different, in the circumstances the Bulls display was almost heroic while what I saw at Valley Parade was the typical sh*te Colin Todd’s teams have been serving up for the last three seasons - although as a positive I certainly won’t be shelling out £20 to go watch them do it again.

I’m not sure why I am so disappointed about the Bulls exit, we’ve done very well to get as far in the competition as we had and, though I know we can’t win it every season (and frankly, how boring would it be if we did?) there was still a part of me that thought “maybe”.

At least I’ll be able to soak up the Grand Final experience without being too worried about the score, though I am going to be sitting with the Saints fans, which should be, erm fun…

You may, or may not, want to hum the theme tune, or play it in your head when reading this, I’ll leave it entirely up to you :-).

I handed my notice in today, which was probably the most therapeutic experience of my life, I’d say it was also the happiest moment of my life, but then you’d quite rightly question what I’ve been doing for the last 26 and a half years, so I won’t quite go that far. The assasination of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom (Inland Revenue as was) will have to wait until I have actually left the building as well. Still, thats in only 23 working days time, on Friday November 3rd.

So what next? Well it may not suprise most to hear that I’m heading to Madrid. Back in the heady days of July on here I mentioned the Pueblo Inglés programme that I am taking part in, and I’m giving myself six weeks to do that, a little travelling in Northern Spain and then trying to source some English teaching work in Madrid itself, while taking in a few Atlético matches. I have a basic TEFL certificate and I’ve made a few contacts in my past trips and over the internet that should help me do that. Firstly, I need to get a few lessons on a casual basis, so I can find out if I am cut out for a career doing it or not - only time will tell.

After those six weeks I’ll head back home for Xmas and take stock of the situation, if teaching is looking promising and work seems forthcoming I’ll head back to Madrid and do some more in-depth teacher training. If not, who knows, I have enough money saved/borrowed to get me through a few months and the world is my oyster, I’ve got many alternatives in mind, but I’m yet to formulate an official plan B, and probably won’t until the day before it has to kick into operation.

Having left just about as solid a job as you are likely to get (even in the current climate of civil service cuts) and one which now, by virtue of 5 years service, pays a reasonable salary for what I do I won’t deny I am a little worried about what sort of future I have in store for myself when I get back to Blighty, whether that be in 3 weeks, months or years after my departure. Still, I’m young enough and have few commitments so getting myself back on my feet long term shouldn’t pose too many problems, and if it does, so what? I’m only going to live once.

All I have to do is try and keep my sanity for those last 23 days now……

Finally, it seems that I am starting to get some of the recognition that I have long deserved. I noted that the new Guiness Book of World Records had been released recently, so went to check it out in Waterstones this lunchtime, a quick scan of the index, then a turn to page 87, and there it was - confirmation of my status as a world record holder.

Ok, me and 406 other people, but it means I’m a world record holder nonetheless, the world record? Being part of the worlds biggest maraca shaking ensemble on March 15th 2006. The very maracas I shook are pictured on the left!

As one of only 407 world record holding maraca shakers I feel it only right that I attempt to use my talent to spread happiness and skill and am willing to offer lessons in this fine art. Obviously tuition from a world record holder comes at a premium, but it will be well worth the investment and, depending on who you are, various payment methods can be investigated. Just get in touch and we can get cracking, I’ll even provide the maracas for you to shake!!

So City and the Bulls both won, meaning it was down to Atlético to cap another good sporting weekend for me in the Madrid Derby.

We should have got the points, but we didn’t - at the start of proceedings I’d have been happy with a point in the Bernabeu but, given the way the game went, we really should have had all three.

I watched the game in a pub in Bradford, I got more than a few funny looks when I jumped up shouting “YES” when Mista gave us the lead after six minutes (everyone else in the place was watching the Premiership game on the screens, I was confined to a corner and a small TV without sound) and again in the last minute when Aguero missed a sitter which would have given us the win.

I went to the bar for a pint midway through the second half and was delighted when someone recognised my shirt (”That’s an Atlético Madrid shirt isn’t it?”), the reason for my delight was that since I’ve had it I’ve been accused of being a Paraguay and then Sunderland fan, so I was happy for the recognition.

Of course it probably had something to do with the fact that, by the time this took place, the game was on most of the screens in the pub and Atlético were running around in the very shirt I had on!!

Hopefully I’ll still be in Madrid for the return game in February, obviously I’m not a local, but I really got into the game this afternoon, though I’m sure City v Town next week will be a much more passionate affair!!