Rewinding The Spring

After that spate of interviews a while back things have gone a bit quiet on the job chase front so I was actually quite glad to be heading off to Prospects today for an improve-your-job-hunt seminar. Whilst the agenda - application letters, CVs, etc - might not sound too much like rocket science only a half-wit fails to learn *something* of use at this sort of event, IMHO. As it turns out, it was indeed very well worthwhile. The galling thing was that there should have been 27 attendees at this free event, on the day only four of us turned up. 23 people managed to find work in the week since this was arranged? Somehow I rather doubt it. It's people like that that get us unemployed types a bad name, I tell you. It does make you seethe a bit...

Another welcome win in last night's CL clash. Momentum is, as it is wont so to do, slowly building and with any luck we can add to it with a win at home to Blackburn in Sunday's early kick-off.

Right, on with the search...

Gi's A Job

Tuesday's here and Monday's enthusiasm has given way to the weekly slog to the weekend. More job applications, more rejections, more ****ing leaflets. Still, I'm not complaining, there are way way too many people who are far worse off.

It looks like the US are serious about finally dealing with the wretched Roman Polanski, even if they so far haven't formally requested extradition. "We have an agreement with the US to apprehend those wanted for offences," says Switzerland's Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, "when we knew Mr Polanski was here and the US asked us to act, it was our duty to do so." Good.

Tonight sees us in action in the Champions League again, this time at home to Olympiakos. We'll be missing NB52 who somehow managed to drive his Aston Martin off the road in an incident where "no other vehicle was involved". Twat. SuperVito continues in goal as MA1's still suffering with his chest infection, TW14 is back and D15 is out for a couple of months with a fracture in his back. The match is on Sky Sports Extra, so I won't be watching it. A touch of Radio 5 Live may be in order, with a tinny or two.

Off to Lidl's shortly as the Boss requires a giant wurst thing.

DoubleStandardTastic!

Apparently the Film World is up in arms about Roman Polanski's arrest in Switzerland and the possibility that he might be extradited to the US to face justice for his admitted statutory rape of a 13-year old girl back in 1977. That this odious man should have continued in the intervening decades to be feted by his fellow luvvies says nothing good about them at all, IMHO.

If you're not familiar with the case you'll find details at The Smoking Gun. Some people will find the victim's testimony a tad harrowing, I suspect.

It's Another New Week!

Another new week is here, let's all try to make it a very fine one indeed! Arsenal's win at the weekend set us up for a good start, of course, and doing the tourist bit round Bristol (including a very welcome visit to the fabulous Myrtle Tree) did no harm at all, either.


A proper touch of Brizzle: multi-coloured terraced houses overlooking the floating harbour.

Bristol on a sunny Sunday can be a really nice place for a day's sightseeing, provided of course that you don't mind hills and traffic jams. To be fair, the bus service is great but using it isn't hugely groovy fun if one of your number is in a wheelchair. We opted for the car/"what a great traffic jam" option. And as luck would have it, the Myrtle Tree has a disabled parking space right outside.


Obligatory postcard view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Build something properly and it's likely to last. Mr Brown, please take note.

I'm shortly off to the Yellow Box Company to buy some cardboard for a bit of EBay action and then will be spending the rest of the day tending to the Boss who is still a tad Tom and Dick.

Update: Well it's just taken me more than three-quarters of an hour to fabricate a box to mail a guitar in. I've used a whole giant packing box, most of Saturday's Telegraph and an entire roll of packing tape. And people have the gall to moan about EBay packing costs!

Sunday Morning

Well it ended 1-0 to us, and it wasn't particularly pretty. But it does mean that, after our much touted "disastrous start", we're six points off the top with a game in hand. I can live with that at this stage in the season. Right, it's Sunday and therefore beer is on the menu.

Pictures may follow...

Let's Make It Interesting

I've never understood this "betting makes it better" thing. If you need to bet on sport to make it worth watching, perhaps you should be watching or doing something else? Nonetheless, I've offered some predictions on other games this season so I'll continue with today's away trip to Fulham.

This is never, well certainly not in recent years, going to be an easy game and we wouldn't be the first to come unstuck there. It's also a 17.30 kick-off, which I don't think seems to help us much. We've got AA23 and TW14 back though, which can only help. MA1 is still out. Come on you Vito! My reckoning? 2-1 to us, but it won't be pretty. Interestingly (or not, you may not be as sad about this sort of thing as me) this is also Lawro's prediction. I have no idea whether this is a good or a bad thing, but he's been getting quite a few of the results right of late (if not the actual scores).

The Kilburn Krew are up this weekend for a few beers, a bit of sightseeing and no doubt some more beers. A visit to the Myrtle Tree might well be in order, Andrew being a real ale man. Hangover prediction? Moderate to darkened room, I think.

Enjoy your weekend!

Update: We've got Liverpool in the next round of the Carling Cup. Bring it on!

Full draw:

Blackburn v Peterborough
Manchester City v Scunthorpe
Tottenham v Everton
Barnsley v Manchester United
Chelsea v Bolton
Sunderland v Aston Villa
Arsenal v Liverpool
Portsmouth v Stoke

Crikey, there aren't too many games in there you'd pay to see!

Watch That Man

That MouseMan will have your cactus before you've even turned your back, trust me on this.

Friday. At long last!

What started as a nice bright autumn day has gone grey and rather sad. A bit like my mood at the end of what seems to have been a very very long week. Something to do with the leaflets, maybe? More likely to do with the fact that "Funemployment" is as much a myth as the economic recovery Gordon has promised will prove to be. Maybe some toast will provide a lift. Dare I eat a slice of toast?

I'll give it a shot.

'Twas On The Thursday Morning...

That Virgin came to call and install TV/Broadband/Phone. Fine job they did too, all done in an hour including our old BT number transferred over. Brilliant stuff. I'd recommend 'em, guv'nor, that I would.

No surprises in last night's football, so the usual suspects will all be in the draw for the last 16. No news of any substance ahead of the weekend's games yet, the only news of any real football sort is that the Government has lamblasted the FA over its failure to implement promised reforms - a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black if ever there was one.

Beautiful weather here in Brizzle today - the sun is out and there's just the odd decorative whisp of cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky. A gorgeous autumn day, there to be enjoyed. And enjoy it I shall, despite the leaflets. Try to enjoy your day, too.

Mad Dave's Online!

You lucky people! You can now read Mad Dave's daily rantings on his new blog Gordon's Gang Of Despair. Drop on by and give it a look.

More tea vicar?

Unemployed Man Confesses Leaflet Hell

I think they must be breeding. Everytime I come downstairs the mountain of boxes by the front door appears to have grown. It doesn't seem to matter how many of the things I deliver, the pile continues to grow. It's like trying to bail out a sinking ship with a teaspoon. But I must prevail. I *will* prevail.

With the Internationals banished for the moment there are at last things going on in the real World Of Football. A very young and pretty inexperienced Arsenal side overcame Championship high-fliers West Brom 2-0 at the Grove, helped in no small part by the early dismissal of the Baggies' former Gunner Jerome Thomas. Any win is good good good, this one particularly so as I (as I suspect do most Gooners) really enjoy watching the kids' outings in the Carling Cup.

Elsewhere, Sol Cambell has quit Notts County after one game. Will we see him playing again, at any level? I rather think perhaps not. Good luck to the fellow in whatever he does choose to do, he was truly a giant of the game at his peak.

Tea next, I think. And then leaflets...

The Rain Is Back

It's only drizzling atm, but it looks ominously like there'll be some heavy stuff before long. That will really make the leafleting fun. Well, that and learning another exciting new part of the BS5 postcode area.

Tonight sees the return of the Carling Cup, with us in a home third-round tie with West Brom. That'll be the West Brom that won 5-0 at the weekend, so no pressure on the youngersters who'll feature tonight. Come on you Gunners!

Right, I need to get some leaflets delivered as having had an interview this morning I've not got any of the little lovelies through letterboxes so far today. There are many, many of them. Many, many.

And Around It Comes

Another Monday. Good stuff. This cyclicality manifests itself in the football world, too. Last week saw the re-emergence of "lucky Arsenal".This weekend has brought us the return of Old Trafford's famed "keep playing 'til the home team win" time-keeping, Michael Owen downing the upstart Citeh Mancs with a winner in the 6th minute of added time. Splendid stuff. I really expect the start of a Citeh slide now, and if Given were to be injured or lose form then that slide could take them a very long way down indeed.

Yesterday we moved and set up a pig arc. How very rural. A lot of fun, too, as it happens. Today it's back to the streets with the leaflets. I am starting to develop a bit of a dislike for the leaflets. There's something accusing about that stack of boxes.

Tea. Post Office. Ebay. Such a whirl!

I Always *Knew* Tesco's Were From The Dark Side

So there we have it. Evidence that no one can ignore: Tesco have banned a Jedi knight from one of their stores for wearing the hood his religion requires him to wear in public. And they *laughed* at him when he explained about it, and then they threw him out. Give Morrison's a shot.

Pleasingly the sun has once again put in a glorious appearance as there are a few hours leafleting in store for me today. I'm actually rather enjoying it: obviously I needed to get out more! After that it'll be putting (what I sincerely hope are) the finishing touches to the MouseMan's website and then it'll officially be THE WEEKEND!

Well, except for the leafleting, that is. I've got an awful lot of the things still.

Update: West Ham's Callum Davenport - seriously injured in a stabbing last month - is being released from hospital. He's unlikely to play again, though at least he won't be losing his leg, which had been a real risk. Good luck to you, young man.

Err, Yup, A Win

Well we won 3-2 in the end, having been 2-0 down in 5 minutes. There is considerable suspicion over the validity of our second goal, too, so the "lucky Arsenal" jibes will be back with a vengeance. Who cares? A win is a win, and, whilst we should never have put ourselves in a postion where we needed to score three away, we did score the three we needed. If this is the beginning of a run of fluky wins that'll be more than fine by me.

A win for Liverpool too, so Les will be similing. Mind you, to be fair he usually is.

The MouseMan is coming up today for some help with his website, so no doubt the beer will be flowing. This does mean I've had to fit everything else I need to do today into the morning, so it's an early start and a whole load of pre-lunch leaflet action. Looks like it's going to be a nice day so the walking should be quite pleasant.

Tea is needed. And then more tea.

Update: He's here. Work for me. Beer for him.


The MouseMan drinketh

A Street-Walking Day

As I survey the mountain of heavy cardboard boxes leaning against the wall in the hallway I reflect on the wisdom of taking Mr Fisher's advice. "Try leafleting", he said, "it pays quite well". Actually, it pays minimum wage which few people would describe as "well" but that's the way it is under Big Decision Gordon so it's got to be worth a crack. It'd be kind of nice if it can avoid raining for a few days though!

1-0 wins for both Chelsea and United last night. We start our CL campaign proper tonight with an away game at Belgium's Standard Liege. We do this with a *lot* of players missing, most notably both Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski meaning we'll have either Vito Mannone or Wojciech Szczesny in goal. I suspect it'll be the former of the two, who's looked OKish when I've seen him play, but I have to say that's not really often enough to have a good picture of the chap. Good luck to whichever of them gets to wear the gloves tonight.

Other players out: RVP11, D15, SN8, AA23, JD20, CV12, TW14. Just as well Eduardo's now able to make the game, then.

Stupid amounts to do today, so let's get the tea flowing and stuff done!

PS: Loads of new stuff on the West Country Pubs site, so take a look. You'll shortly (quite possibly now, if Mr Fisher's got his magic code doing its thing) be able to upload your own reviews!

As You Were, Then

Eduardo's two-match ban has been overturned in a largely-expected U-turn in the direction of common sense. He'll now be available for tomorrow's CL game away at Standard Liege, which is excellent news for us. That game could seriously do with being the start of a winning roll.

Elsewhere the Adebayor bitch-fest continues, with Kolo Toure now claiming Adebayor was pushed out of the Emirates to bring in some cash. "I know it because I was present" he says. Perhaps he's Adebayor's financial advisor or something. My once-considerable respect for Mr Toure is diminishing at a rate of knots, I have to say.

Tonight's champions league matches involving English teams both look like they might be worth taking a peek at: Chelsea are at home to Porto and the Manchester Red Devils travel to Besiktas. Oh, and there are a quite extraordinary number of replays on in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.

It's a tad muggy today and I'm finding it an effort to get motivated. More tea is probably the answer, so I'll give it a go.

The Week Starts With An Ouch...

Today started with an osteopathy session so I'm feeling a tad twanged as I try to get into the new week. It's positively autumnal here today with that lovely clarity to the air that the first of those chilly September days brings.

In football news it would appear the TogoTosser is going to be charged for his assault on CF4 in addition to the charge for the one on RVP11 and that run down the pitch. A ban of more than five games is being mooted. And then he'll be off to the ACN so Citeh types might be starting to wonder just how good an investment he actually was.

Lots to do today. Busy busy busy.

New Harleys Revealed!

We're back from the Thornbury run. Very nice it was too, great weather, a really nice road and some fantastic scenery. We came back via Yate and Iron Acton, so got to explore some quaint countryside and all. Very fine.

Off, then, to Riders for the lauch of this year's (or is it next year's?) new Harley models. Decent rock band, burgers, tea and acres of shiny metal. Lots of hairy types gazing quizically at the various shapes of Harleys trying to figure out which are the new ones. You've guessed it: they look extraordinarily like the old ones...


Pigirontastic!
Now I think it's time for a beer. Weather's still really good, so I guess it'll be in the concrete beer garden. Fair play.

Good Morning All

Here we are at Sunday morning. Eggs and bacon eaten, second cup of tea brewing, I'm ready for the day. Predictable stuff in the footy pages this morning: calls from "angry fans" for AW to go, Rooney the greatest thing since toast and so on. It's still way too early in a badly interupted season to form sensible opinions about anything other than John Terry being a complele ****, IMHO.

Off up to Thornbury today, I understand: not far but very fine scenery. If I remember to take the camera I'll post piccies later.