Bee in the Bush

New Year, New Misery!

2012-01-13T13:31:00.000Z

Happy New year everyone (hello, hellooooo, anyone?!?). For the first time in 6 years I go into a New Year single.

Yep, me and Sarah broke up! I know, for some of you this will be the first you’ve heard of it but it's just been easier for me to sometimes not say anything. I was hoping the news would get round to most people via word of mouth but as I found out at work last week, in fact even just yesterday, some people still didn't know. Well, I guess you do now!

Back in May, Sarah said that she wasn't sure how she felt anymore and our relationship gradually fell apart from there! I knew things were past the point of no return on the day of one of my oldest friends' wedding. Right from the start of the drive up to Newmarket, with another of the primary school bffs (best friends forever, yes, I can't believe I actually used that either!) and his missus in the back, Sarah was jus, well, angry! The drive was an absolute nightmare. Those two hours behind wheel (thanks A406 roadworks!) really were two of the worst of my whole life. I couldn’t do anything right but I wasn’t even doing anything wrong!

We just about arrived in one piece and for the most part had a really good day. Sarah got smashed at the dinner/reception so after the meal I tried to keep out of her way! Come Sunday she was very apologetic and we travelled back down the M11 on a beautifully sunny Sunday in relative harmony. Paul and Jo, no doubt fearing another repeat of the journey up, wisely opted to travel home with someone else!

Until she moved out in mid-July Sarah more or less opted out of life in the flat and for the most part we led separate lives. They were a pretty horrible couple of months and it’s still not very nice thinking to back then really.

We have a bit of contact from time to time, mainly to do with the car. It’s like we’ve got joint custody! The running costs are cut in half and we do seem to be able to deal with things in a civilised way so at the moment it’s probably OK.

Over the next couple of months things started to get a bit easier. At first it was quite lonely in the flat but at the same time it was nice coming home knowing that there wasn’t going to be any drama. I gradually started to tell people that me and Sarah had broken up. It was really hard to know how to approach things, especially with people at work because that’s where we met.

Moving on…a few of us from the #bushw12 crowd had been meeting up pretty regularly to do the Crown & Sceptre pub quiz on a Monday night and I think that’s where a few of them had the idea to put on an old skool D&B night. Roll on to October and I suppose life was gradually returning to normal. Football season in full swing, etc., etc. and mid-month the Urban Jungle night took place in the Raving Buddha.

I turned up after a few beers post Bees v Scunthorpe (I needed them after the tame 0-0 against a team with ten men for the last twenty!!) and had a good night. After pub kicking out time a few of us went back Askew Road way to have a couple more beers. I ended up crashing on the sofa because I couldn’t be arsed to walk back to my end of the W12. The full English from Louche on the Sunday made up for being subjected to late night and morning repeats of X Factor!

I can’t exactly remember when it was but a week or two later we had another #bushw12 tweetup. During the night I was told that I had made a bit of an ‘impression’ on one of the girls at the Urban Jungle night. I had thought that she was nice even though for most of the night she was head down asleep on a table. I guess that’s what getting bottles of Moet for £16 does to you! Anyway the little birdie told me that aforementioned girl was coming back to London mid-November so I thought that I’d meet them up for a couple of beers.

Typically it turned out that it was the same day as the Bees away game at Rochdale. A few of us had already arranged to make the trip up in Meg (the silly name I gave joint custody car when me and Sarah bought it from her brother!) so I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get back in time.

As it turned out the trip up and back down were almost perfect journeys. It was plain sailing on the M40 and M6 both ways and with a 2-1 win in the bag I was home at 21:00. I headed down to Chiswick to meet the girls and we had a good evening in the George IV even though there were a few too middle aged married couples dancing to the one man and his guitar doing his thing!

I spent the next few weeks trying to work out whether I was over Sarah and therefore ready to go out on a date. Having been with Sarah for over five years it was hard to come round to the idea that it really was over but I came to the conclusion that I was ready to take that first step so I asked for said her number and sent her a message. I was chuffed when I got a reply and we arranged to meet up on the Friday before New Year’s, New Year’s Eve eve I suppose!

She was coming to London for New Year’s at the O2 and was staying at a friend’s in Hackney so we met in Old Street. The night went really well and over the next week or so we texted each other a fair bit. Thinking about it, maybe this was the problem. Anyway we arranged to meet again Monday this week and I that’s where it seems to have gone pear shaped!

After all the going out over Christmas and New Year’s I was typically lumbered with a lovely (!!) cold sore on my top lip. I do get them from time to time, usually after a few consecutive nights out. The body is tired and a bit run down (so I’ve read in the past about the possible causes) so is more susceptible. Anyway my top lip is still recovering a week and a half later so I did feel a bit self-conscious on Monday. Coupled with us being in a quiet pub in Victoria, although it did have really good music, I don’t think I did myself justice.

A busy pub on a pre-New year’s Friday night in Old Street is a lot more atmospheric than a start of the week Monday in early January so maybe that helped create the spark that clearly wasn’t there this week. Perhaps London to Kent really is too far for a relationship to work in the long term. Whatever the reason I’m sad :(

I’m sure plenty of people wouldn’t really care after just a couple of dates but after the slow build-up and me having decided to explore life after Sarah I feel even more vulnerable than I did back in the Angelsea Arms when Sarah dropped her bombshell. Truth be told things had been pretty shit for while so I had expected things to come to a head sooner rather than later!

In contrast the text on Tuesday was a total shock and I still feel like the rug has been pulled from underneath me. Still, at least she was honest I guess. Finding out now makes it less painful in the long run I but it would still have been nice to have gone out again on a less crap night.

Not much I can do about it now though :(

Bush Gardener: Three Months Down the Line and Everything's Fine

2011-05-31T22:48:00.016+01:00

Well it's been a while hasn't it!

Easter has long been and gone, Wills and Kate tied the knot and Wimbledon fever is a mere three weeks away!!

The 2010/11 football season ended yesterday afternoon with Swansea completing their remarkable rise from bottom of the basement division to the Premiership. Another team that we used to regularly lock horns with has long since passed us by!

Brentford's season ended almost a month ago with us safely nestled in mid-table. The improved from under Nicky Forster continued and us Bees fans can look forward to another League One campaign come August.

All I'm going to say about the JPT final is that it featured another classic Brentford choke. That's five finals, five defeats for me now!

Away from Griffin Park, the allotment has really started to take shape. At the start of March it looked as you'd expect a plot that had been untouched for six months to look and there was plenty for me to do to get it into a decent state.

A trip to Hanger Lane Wickes left me a hundred quid lighter but I returned home with all the garden tools any wannabe gardener could ever need!

Less than forty eight hours later, while Brentford were getting spanked 3-0 up at Hartlepool on 5th March, I was digging, hacking and raking my way to a much neater and tidier looking plot. I met Alexis, my left-hand neighbour, and we had a good chat. I've only seen him once since then!

The soundtrack to the afternoon was the QPR v Leicester match and a massive cheer at around 16:45 told me that those pesky Hoops had scored a late winner. I didn't really expect to be able to hear the crowd so clearly, must have been an easterly wind I suppose, so much for a Saturday refuge!

With the plot cleared it was now just a case of waiting for the weeks to pass until I could start to plant and sow.

During the wait I ordered a small storage shed. Certainly not an essential purchase but I knew it would save having to cart the tools in the car every time I wanted to head down to the allotment. Mum gave me a small food waste box for home so that I could start to fill up the composter.

Sarah wasn't too keen on having this in the flat but I've been pretty good at emptying it at least once a week so the fly infestation she insisted would occur hasn't materialised. In fact she seems to have got into the habit of putting in the fruit and veg peelings. What a good girl ;)

Mid-April arrived and the plating and seed sowing began. With Sarah going ooop north for Easter we decided to get everything in the weekend before. We filled two thirds of the totally empty plot with potatoes and here is a little map of the plot that already had the raspberries and two artichoke plants.

The shed had been delivered a couple of weeks before but I waited until the Easter weekend to put it up. Mum, dad and little sis came across on Easter Sunday and we built it during the course of the afternoon. As is the way, it took a bit longer than expected to construct but we got it done and rewarded ourselves with an Easter Sunday BBQ.

Since then there have been a few more additions to the plot. Sarah brought back a courgette seedling from Bury and my cousin bought me a rhubarb crown. Earlier in the year I potted up some seeds from a bell pepper and a butternut squash. These have gone in and so far they are doing OK.

I weatherproofed the shed with wood preserver over the royal wedding/May Day weekend. The tin says the recommended three coats I gave it should last five years. I'm not convinced!

In the the past month there has been an amazing amount of growth. The potatoes have really shot up and the onions and peas are also doing well. In fact the dry weather has meant that everything has had a really good start. The only down side is of course that it also means the weeds, especially the dreaded bind weed, grow at a ridiculously fast pace. The recent cooler and wetter weather has been a welcome arrival although I'm not sure anyone wanted last Thursday's hail storm!

Last weekend we went down and I planted a second courgette seedling, it's a TW7 v BL8 courgette-off ;), while Sarah built a cane frame for the peas to grow up. Three tomato seedlings also went in so that might be the end of the planting for now.

We brought home our first harvest, around 150g of raspberries and the first crop of radishes. They might not have been Class 1 supermarket quality radishes but they certainly tasted like a radish should.

So that's a potted three month history of plot E4. I won't leave it three months before my next update. If only because it's taken bloody ages to write this one!!

Bush Gardener: There's a lot of Work Ahead at the Allotment!

2011-03-03T18:30:00.004Z

Well over four years ago I joined the waiting list for an allotment in LBHF. An article on the BBC (it might even have been this one) talking about a surge in allotment popularity sparked my interest and I began looking into where I might find one around Shepherd's Bush.

Being sat in front of a computer all day at work, it didn't take long for me to find out about the W12 based Emlyn Leisure Gardens Association. One of only two allotment sites in Hammersmith and Fulham.

Based on the site of an old railway line (there'll be another post about that at some point) just west of Askew Road on the Ealing, LBHF and Hounslow borders they were perfectly located for a keen local.

After an initial inquiry, I realised that I wasn't going to be growing my own fruit and veg. anytime soon. With only 86 plots, the waiting list was pretty long with residents without access to a private outdoor space being given priority. Still, I qualified, so I sent back my application form and waited, and waited, and waited!

Every so often I wondered whether my name was making its way up the waiting list and then out of the blue last Friday I got a call from Catherine, the plot coordinator of the Association, asking me if I was still interested in having one.

It didn't take me long to deliver a resounding 'yes' and we arranged to meet last Saturday at 11:00. I was chuffed.

Typically the weather was pretty miserable as I made my way west along Uxbridge Road. Something I'm going to get rather used to over the next few months, years, etc. I expect! I arrived just after 11:00, Catherine was easy to spot in her bright yellow coat, and after the standard introductions I had an induction of sorts.

I was shown how to lock/unlock the gate and had to demonstrate that I was up to the task. Having safely negotiated this first hurdle I was briefed about some general rules and regulations (always lock the gate, wheel barrow storage, blah, blah, blah) and then I was taken to the first available plot.

I was quite surprised at how big it was but then Catherine said it was about a quarter of a standard allotment plot! I started to wonder how Carolyn, the girl who sits behind me at work, copes with three full sized plots at Duke's Meadow. It's no wonder her courgettes turn into marrows with all the work she must have to put in! I was also shown a smaller plot but thought I might as well plump for the larger one.

Having made my choice I was taken to the lovely little pavilion where I filled in the necessary forms, received a 17 page (A5 thankfully) rule book and was handed a brand new key for the front gate padlock.

We had a nice chat about the history of the allotments and I was able to unleash my inner geek to talk about the old railway line (called the North & South Western Junction Railway if you're interested!) that used to occupy the site and also the subterranean Stamford Brook which was culverted many years ago and runs underneath the allotments. Esther (the chairwoman, eeek!) mentioned that there is a blowhole on one of the plots that sometimes erupts when the amount of water entering the old Brook gets too much for it to handle. It's a very rare occurrence but I so want to see that happen! The sight of some an unsuspecting chap or chapess getting an absolute soaking would be priceless.

There are BBQ facilities which Sarah was very happy about and various events that are open to friends and family so hopefully I'll be able to entice a few people down to help me with the growing and, fingers crossed, harvesting of whatever I decide to grow.

With Brentford being away at Hartlepool this weekend I'm going to make a start on clearing the ground and measuring up for the raised beds I'm hoping to put in. I can already see that there is going to be a lot of work ahead.

For now I'll leave you with a few more photos of the little haven that will be keeping me busy over the long summer nights...I'm so excited!!

Looking south from my plot:

Looking north from the pavilion:

Looking south from the pavilion

Blue Monday, Grey Brentford

2011-01-18T16:56:00.001Z

I really didn't feel like going to watch Brentford last night but I still hopped on the 237 for the 25 minute journey from W12 to TW8. I could have taken the car but naively I though we might have a decent crowd and didn't fancy hunting out a parking space in the tight back streets around Griffin Park.

As it turns out just over 3,000 were in the ground to witness the second 1-1 draw against Exeter City in 72 hours. Monday night, a wet wet night and game on Sky, three contributing factors to a pitiful attendance but I think it also shows that at the moment there is real apathy between fans and the club. Ok it's 'only' the JPT but we are in the area final, a two legged affair that sees the winners play at Wembley so surely we can do better than a crowd of 3,093!!

The GPG is always a good barometer to how Bees fans are feeling and there are plenty of people on there calling for a change in manager.e I'm not one of them but I can se why people are frustrated and believe the only way we can move forward is with a new man at the helm.

Performances, especially at GP haven't been very good. We lost just two league games at home last season whereas we've already lost four this time round. We haven't got going on our own patch this season and, truth be told, if it wasn'tfor the remarkable run of five straight away wins across October/November/December we'd still be in trouble around the foot of the table.

Personally my appetite for football has been on the wane for a while but this season I'm even even more disaffected than usual. Some of it stems from the World Cup and England's dismal showing but I'm a club before country man anyway so that really can't have had much on an impact.

As I'm sure Sarah will atest I do get upset, frustrated, pissed-off (often all three at the same time) when Brentford loose but what I am able to do is shrug it off a lot quicker than in years gone by. Nobody wants their team to loose but with age comes maturity (apparently!) and a realisation that a Brentford defeat isn't as big an event as it once was. There's always another game around the corner so the boys are back out on the pitch a few days later which brings with it opportunity to get back on track. In any case we loose so many games that if I did let each defeat get to me I'd be in a state of constant despair!!

Of course as you get older priorities change but I've still got a season ticket so am as committed to watching Brentford as ever but over the years going to games has become less about the football and more about catching up with mates over a few beers.

In recent years the lads who used to be regulars with me at GP have got married and had kids so we don't get to see each other as often as before. This means that a typical Brentford matchday involves turning up at five to three for 90 minutes of often uninspiring football and then heading straight home. Still, it not as depressing as 2007/08 when I really was the last man standing of my lot for most of the season.

I want going to Griffin Park to be a an exciting and uplifting experience like it was a five or six years ago. Maybe it will take a change of manager to make this happen, maybe it won't but I'll be a regular on the 237 for a long time to come.

Perhaps I'm suffering from a hangover of Blue Monday but whatever it is I hope it doesn't last too long. A win at Oldham on Saturday would be the perfect tonic.

Happy Christmas Everyone

2010-12-24T17:08:00.001Z

Bury is still in firmly in the grip of the Artic weather that has been the norm across the country as of late but the Lancashire hospitality I've become accustomed to is keeping me warm.

The sub-zero temperatures are being accompanied by clear blue skies and bright sunshine so it's lovely and crisp outside and there hasn't even been a hint of rain, very unusual indeed ;)

I heard my first siren today! A sound that is so familiar in Shepherd's Bush is a rare occurrence in these more rural parts. I do miss the hustle and bustle but it's nice to be in more peaceful surroundings every so often. At some point Sarah and I will no doubt have to find some sort of compromise but we'll save that for another time!

We ran the final few errands in town earlier and all the presents have been wrapped ready to assume their place under the tree. Not sure what the plan is for tonight but I'm sure it'll involve a few beers and a good feed :)

Brentford's Boxing Day game at Yeovil has been postponed so the later season fixture pile-up is well on track! I'm driving back on Tuesday for the Tranmere game but I may get an extra couple of days in Lancashire if that too falls foul of the weather.

Bury are away at Shrewsbury on Saturday so I can't even make the short trip to Gigg Lane for a football fix. The little corner of west London I found in Tesco will have to keep me going!

Wishing everyone a very merry and happy Christmas .

Ring Ring. Ring Ring. Rings Around the World

2010-12-20T15:12:00.003Z

My weekday lunchtimes are usually spent either strolling around the environs of West Kensington or the in the free gym we have on-site.

There's way too much ice on the W14 pavements to make it worth going for a walk today and I'll go to the gym after work tonight so I've been messing around with my new phone.

My 18th month O2 contract ran out last Monday so I upgraded on Tuesday from my rather tired looking Nokia 5800 to the highly regarded HTC Desire. It's my first non-Nokia phone since joining the mobile age in July 2000 and all I can say is WOW!! It's an amazing bit of kit with so many features and I've been taken aback by the sheer number of applications that can be downloaded to increase functionality.

Of course there are social media apps, mapping apps, alternative web browsers and music clients that are well publicised but I've also downloaded emulators and games that make my phone think it's a Gameboy, Megadrive and SNES! I've had emulators on my PC for years but didn't think that I'd get them for a phone. I've also added the quintessential smartphone game, Angry Birds. It was one of the first things I downloaded and is totally addictive. There are just so many levels!!

The only downside with the upgrade is the change in contract. Out went unlimited data, the ability use my inclusive text allowance to send both texts while abroad and photo messages and in came having to pay a fiver a month for 500MB of data and text charges for things that were previously free.

My line rental is £25 so it's £30 a month in total with the additional fiver for data. I previously had a £35 a month contract with a 30% discount through an offer at Sarah's work but sadly they have changed their mobile provider to Vodaphone so I couldn't get a discount this time round.

I'm quite lucky that I can claim my phone line rental back from work as long as it's below £25 so up to now it's been covered entirely. I have heard that I may be able to claim up to £30 now so I'll give it a go and see what happens.

The loss of unlimited data is a real negative though. Especially as the HTC Desire (like all decent smartphones) has so many apps and widgets that need a constant web connection to make best use of them. The unlimited data I had was wasted on my 5800. It was the phone Nokia brought out in response to the iPhone but didn’t have anything like the functionality to make use of the luxury of unlimited data. I mainly used it to check football scores, not exactly data intensive!

When I’m at home I hook the Desire up to my wireless network (to be fair the 5800 could do this as well) so I think the 500MB a month limit will be OK for when I'm out and about. I can also use BTOpenzone and The Cloud wireless hotspots, although there seem to be some issues, so I should be pretty well connected wherever I go. If we had a wireless network in the office it would be perfect but there's no news of one being setup anytime soon.

One thing the 5800 did excel at was being a SatNav. Nokia snapped up Navteq a few years ago and rolled out OVI Maps to all users with a compatible phone. I have installed Google’s Navigation app so only time will tell how well it compares. I’ll test it out on the drive up North later this week.

Just as long as the battery life holds up, these smartphone really do use up a lot of juice!

Snow Stopping this Cold Snap!!

2010-12-19T21:13:00.009Z

Sarah's intent on watching Sports Personality so it seems like a good time to hop on the laptop.

I love sport but have absolutely no interest in Gary Lineker, Sue Barker et al. harping on for two hours. I can barely watch a full 90 minutes of football on the TV without getting bored so this would be unbearable! Sarah's already taken down the number for Jessica Ennis and is chomping at the bit to vote. Who knows what she'd do if there wasn't an Athletics representative on the shortlist!!

I hope AP McCoy wins it. He is without doubt the greatest jump jockey of all time and this year won the Grand National for the first time in his career. It was the only major race he hadn't won and coupled with him winning the Champion Jockey title for the 15th straight season it's about time he got the popular recognition his achievements deserve.

What with all the snow it's been a pretty quiet weekend. The Brentford game was called of on Friday which turned out to be a wise decision. We had a short, sharp dumping of snow in west London on Friday afternoon and I thought the ref (good old Andy D'Urso!) might have been a bit hasty but yesterday there was a deluge of snow all over the country with all but 8 League and two Premiership games being postponed.

We've not had a home league game since 13th November and unless I can persuade Sarah that it is worth coming back from Bury on the morning of 28th, in time for the Tranmere game at GP, that'll be it for me and Brentford in 2010. We're away at Yeovil on Boxing Day which, weather permitting, gives us a decent chance of continuing out fine away form. We won 2-0 at Southampton last weekend to push the continuous away victory run up to five. Andy Scott rather cheekily called it our most comfortable away win of the season. Nothing like rubbing salt into a defeated opponents wounds!!

We did play at home against Charlton on Tuesday in the Southern Area Semi-Final of the Johnson's Paint Trophy and sneaked through 3-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw. Thankfully Extra Time there is no extra time and we should really have won the match in the 90 minutes. Richard Lee saved the first three Charlton penalties, the second and third saves were world class. Watch the highlights if you don't believe me ;) Exeter await in the two-legged Area Final and hopefully we'll get through to our first game at the new Wembley.

This year will be the first time I've spent Christmas with Sarah in Bury. I've been up for New Year before but never for the big festive event. It'll be a marked change from the quiet Malcolm Christmas' I'm used to with aunties, uncles, grandparents and cousins turning up to the Bell household throughout the day. Looking at the forecast it looks like we'll be buzzing up in Meg a day earlier than I expected, maybe there is hope of a morning of 28th return after all!

Oh here we go. Fat boy Corden is rolling out on to the stage to do his Smithy routine again! Surely it's been done to death now!! It can only mean there is a World Cup review on the way, great!

Living deep in QPR territory the snow has given the locals ample opportunity to add their ever so special tag to stationary street furniture. With them sitting pretty (although not quite as pretty as 10 days ago having lost their first two league of the season against Watford and Leeds) sightings of the blue and white hoops are becoming ever more frequent. Fair play to them though, and it'll be a real achievement for them to make it back into the top tier having been out of it for almost 15 years.

If QPR do go up all three LBHF teams will be in the Premiership and we'll be the only west London team not feasting on the millions of pounds available at the top table of English football.

Faced with all that I thought it was only fair that me and Sarah had the opportunity to put our own little footballing messages across.

Not quite as bold as the scribblings on a few of the cars down the road but they made me smile earlier today when I saw them again and will no doubt do so again tomorrow while I walk the mile and a half to work in W14.

It's the simple things that keep us football fans happy eh!?!

It's almost time for The Apprentice final so I'd best wrap this up.

Tony McCoy has just won Sports Personality of the Year. Hopefully Stella will make it two out of two for me tonight :)

Is the Smart(odds) Money on Brentford?

2010-12-09T20:43:00.002Z

The annual report and statement of accounts for Brentford FC were released yesterday.

I'm not one to take too much interest in the off-field goings on at TW8, it is a subject that tends to divide fans, but it's always interesting to read about how the club is fairing financially.

Here are the highlights:

- After tax BFC lost £1,264,664 in 2009/10. In 2008/09 the loss was £495,263.
- Our net debt on 31st May 2010 was £8,512,915. Up from £8,303,278 in 2009.
- Average attendances rose from 5,707 in 2008/09 to 5,985 last season.
- Turnover increased by £197,191.
- We made £501,893 net profit from transfer fees. We made a loss of £8,774 the previous season!

It's pretty worrying to see that losses increased by over £750k and the debt is around £8.5m. However unlike a lot of other clubs we are in a very privileged position.

Since January 2006 Bees United (BU), the supporters trust I'd encourage all Bees fans to join, have held the majority (around 60%) shareholding in BFC and currently have three representatives on the BFC board.

Having already given BFC an interest-free loan of £4.5m, last summer Matthew Benham (MB), a Brentford fan, and owner of the Smartodds company agreed to buy the BFC shares held by minority shareholders and also invest £1m a season for five seasons. The deal also gives MB operational control of the club for the five years.

At the end of the five years BU has the opportunity to pay back the £4.5m loan and buy his shares to give them around a 95% shareholding. If BU do not take up this option MB has the opportunity to buy the BU shareholding which will give him a 75% share.

The plan is for BFC to become a Championship club and this deal has given us a real chance of achieving this. The partnership between BU and MB means that BFC can incur operating losses without a threat to its future. A future that was seriously at risk before BU took control of BFC from Ron Noades at the start of 2006.

Andy Scott has been backed by the board with the largest budget of any Brentford manager and after a disappointing start to the season Scott has steadied the ship. In the league games since the start of October we've won six, drawn one and lost two. Scott was named Manager of the Month for October (yes, as it the norm we did loose our next league game!) and we're on a run of four straight away wins and sit 13th in the table. Our home form has been hit and miss with good wins against Charlton, Wednesday and Peterborough tempered by miserable performances against Rochdale, Oldham, Bournemouth, and MK Dons.

We've not had a game for a couple of weeks having been 'giant killed' by Aldershot in the first road of the FA Cup and the Notts County game postponed last weekend so the team should be rested and raring to go at Southampton on Saturday. I just hope the lay-off hasn't seen the team go off the boil. Five straight away wins really would be a great achievement.

So why these musings about the finances of BFC? Well Greg Dyke's Chairman's statement at the start of the accounts paid tribute to us Brentford fans and it made me proud to be a Bee. The club was at in trouble before BU took over an MB made the £4.5m loan. Perhaps not as at risk as in 1967 when news broke that then Brentford chairman Jack Dunnett had been in secret talks with his QPR counterpart Jim Gregory about moving them into Griffin Park and flogging Loftus Road, but things were seemingly pretty dicey.

There isn't much glamour supporting a lower league team and every now and then it's good to hear that your efforts are noticed and appreciated. I hope BFC don't mind me reproducing the comment here:

Before a brief note on Lionel Road I wish to thank all Brentford fans for their continued support. These are very difficult economic times and there are many demands on supporter's time and pockets. Your enthusiasm for a Club which has languished in the bottom two divisions for nearly sixty years (bar one season) is remarkable and your board is working hard to ensure that we have the best possible opportunity of delivering on what we all want and that is a financially viable, self-supporting Club playing in a modern stadium and consolidated in the Championship.

The line about us languishing in the lower divisions for almost sixty years really brought into focus how small we are compared to the other three west London clubs. OUCH, typing that hurts, but it's true no matter what we think as partisan Brentford fans.

After a dismal relegation from League One in 2006/07 and first season in League Two, (be honest Bees fans, we all expected to get up at the first attempt!), we got our act together won the division the following season and had a great season last term to finish 9th. OK performances at home this season haven't been great but we are well positioned on and off the field to have a decent tilt at promotion over the next 3 seasons.

Keep the faith Bees fans I'm certain we'll get there in the end, erm, maybe!!

She Drives Me Crazy!

2010-10-27T23:20:00.000+01:00

A month in to the Malcolm-Bell driving experiment and I've come to at least one conclusion, the Bell element is highly volatile. She's one hell of a backseat driver!

Sarah's already very protective of the kitchen, actually that's not entirely correct. She's very protective of the hob but couldn't care less about the dirty plates + the sink = washing up equation. So it shouldn't have been such a surprise to me that when I'm driving, like when I'm cooking, she still wants to be in control of the action.

She fixes an almost constant gaze on the speedometer when we're on the motorway. If I dare to stray over 70mph I'm berated for going to fast and if I happen to get what she deems to be too close to the car in front, well, the language is enough to make a grown man blush!

As soon as Sarah realised that last Sunday was going to be bright and sunny she started on at me to go for a drive. For some reason she thinks that all I want to do on a Sunday is loaf on the sofa and watch sport!

After suggesting we go to Blenheim Palace only to be instantly rebuffed she started going on about a 'mystery drive'.

I took this to mean the New Forest because she's always gipping on about going there. How right I was because as soon as we set of I was told to point the car in the direction of the M3.

Of course she knew the best route but I took her on a little west London tour. We headed off through Chiswick, Brentford and Isleworth (free commentary of local landmarks included at no extra cost) which as it turned out (Sarah looked it up on Monday) was the best route.

Ninety miles, two hours and bleeding ears later we were in Beaulieu. Actually, truth be told, apart from traffic on the way in to Lyndhurst, it was a smooth and stress free drive.

Shhhh, don't tell Sarah but I'm actually starting to enjoy the freedom of driving.

It's very convenient being able to hop into the car and head off straight away. No waiting for buses, Tubes or trains although a tenner for the coach up to Brum for the Carling Cup match last night was too good an offer to turn down. That latest awayday is a for a whole other post...for that read once I'm over the result!

We got to Beaulieu, parked up in the Motor Museum (thankfully we'd both been there and done that as kids), and map reader Bell took us on a tour of the area. We took in the Beaulieu River, parish church, cricket green, and then headed into the woods (oh do behave!) for a roam amongst the trees, pheasants and deer.

We watched a helicopter whiz off from a field but the find of the day was a restored number 11 London bus taking day trippers around the sights. Looking at the destination board made this sad W12er smile, Shepherd's Bush is everywhere. In fact today more than ever with the Bush trending on Twitter because of a Hitler lookalike on a W12 bus.

After a couple of hours roaming we headed to Monty's Brasserie but they had stopped serving food so it was just a Guinness for me and a Coke for Sarah because she was driving the return leg. The co-joined Montagu Arms Hotel certainly caught our eye, especially the Michelin Star restaurant. Something tells me that we'll be having dinner there sooner rather than later!

My next cross country car jaunt is to Market Harborough in a couple of weekends time for a bit of a Uni meet-up. Sadly for you readers (are there any?!?) I'll be making the trip alone so there won't be any gipping to tell of. Don't worry though the weekend after Sarah and I are back on the road together and there is bound to be something to tell!

For now it's cheerio. There's a pile of post-dinner washing up that needs to be done before I'm allowed a brew. I think I need a union!

Wormwood Scrubs Up Well

2010-10-19T13:12:00.003+01:00

Last week was a week of firsts. On Wednesday I went for a run around Wormwood Scrubs for the first time, on Friday I drove to a clients for the first time and on Saturday the Bees finally won their first away game of the season! WOO HOO!

Located in the north of LBHF past the BBC on Wood Lane and A40 the Scrubs regularly features in the Minder episodes Sarah and I routinely watch while we're sat at the living room table having dinner. I guess you could say it's become 'our thing', one of many no doubt!

HMP Wormwood Scrubs (Grade 2 listed don't you know!), Hammersmith Hospital and the Linford Christie Stadium line it's southern perimeter while to the north and east it's bounded by railway tracks. The Old Oak estate lies on its western boundary with one of its roads, Braybrook Street, being famous as the site of the Braybrook Street murders.

Three Met Policemen were murdered on 12th August 1966 and there is a memorial headstone close to where the incident took place. The most famous of the three men who played a part in the murders is Harry Roberts. He's still in prison 44 years later while the other two are dead. Football fans are most likely to be aware of the song, used to taunt the police, which features his name.

Jake Arnott's second novel called 'he Kills Coppers' is based on the murders and in 2008 ITV produced a three part drama of the same name. It's avaliable on DVD for £3 if anyone is interested.

After jogging up from the flat I completed three laps in 55 minutes. I took in all the 'sights' following the perimeter of the grass as best I could and have mapped my route here. The lap is fairly flat and at 2.25 miles it's a decent length.

As I expected there were people walking dogs, kids having a post-school kick about and other runners doing their usual Scrubs lap/s. What I didn't expect to see were people flying kites and model aircraft enthusiasts recreating their own Battle for the Skies.

Turns out there is an area dedicated to the flying of model aircraft with signs warning of their presence and a large notice that sets of a code of conduct. There is also a pony centre for fans of all things equine. Isn't it amazing what is unknown but available on the proverbial doorstep.

I roped Sarah into doing a lap on Sunday afternoon and hopefully we'll run up there, weather permitting, most Sundays now. We also did a couple of laps of the stadium track (Sarah just couldn't resist) and judging by the wide-open gates anyone can get in there. Just outside the stadium gates there is also small collection of outdoor gym equipment although it could do with a spruce-up! In fact calling it equipment is being pretty generous. There are a couple of pull-up bars, benches and random dark green thingies. Yes, that is a technical term!

As we walked back to Scrubs Lane I started thinking about how people seem to bemoan the lack of facilities in their local area, especially those that are easily accessible for kids. There certainly isn't a lack of facilities in W12.

Wormwood Scrubs has marked football pitches with goals, an athletics arena, all weather pitches for five-a-side football, hockey and netball. There's an all weather tennis court that also has basketball rims, chuck in a couple of kids playgrounds and there are plenty of facilities for the local community to use.

I also think the Scrubs would be a prime candidate for a new Parkrun event. The events in Richmond Park (there I am again!), Old Deer Park and Wimbledon Common aren't exactly local and there are seem to be plenty of local pavement pounders on the streets of W12. Something for me to think about setting up perhaps, any other budding volunteers out there?

I was a both nervous and excited about driving to see Oxfam on Friday. I woke up at about half five and then just drifted in and out of light sleep. For me that’s a tell tale sign that I’m about to embark on something new, an adventure.

Since we brought the car down from Bury, Sarah has taunted me about my driving. She reckons I can't drive or at best I’m useless so it was good put an end to that chat by driving up to Oxford. For my first ever solo drive of any note it was a piss easy start. A jaunt up the A40/M40/A40 to Oxford and then a short hop across to the business park where the Oxfam HQ is located.

On the way home I took a detour to Griffin Park via the M25/M4/A4 to pickup tickets for the Carling Cup game at St. Andrews next Tuesday but typically the offices were shut. No biggie though because I cycled back later in the afternoon and got them.

I'm looking forward to using the car more although I'm not one for just hopping in a car a going for a drive. It’s great to have a choice of decent size supermarkets within easy reach and it'll be good not having to rely on the train and lifts.

Sarah, the 'burden' days are over!

Get Settled, Get Curtains Drawn

2010-10-17T22:18:00.001+01:00

Another weekend is coming to an end. Dinner's been eaten and the night is drawing in. The clocks go back in two weeks as we say goodbye to BST and welcome back GMT for the winter. The central heating has been on in the flat for the past couple nights, autumn is here and winter is on its way.

I actually don't mind winter. Cold, crisp and sunny mornings are a joy to wake up to and help make up for the grey wet days we get more and more used to at this time of year.

Saying that it really doesn't rain that much in London not compared to Sarah's beloved North West anyway. In the four and a half years that we've been going out it's only not rained in Bury once when I've been up there. It was even raining the first time I went to Bury, Easter Monday 2002. That really was a miserable day!

It was 1st April and the joke certainly was on Adam, Gabs, Paul and me. Traipsing up to the relegation threatened Shakers expecting a nice Bees win to help us on our way to promotion. Nothing ever goes to plan as we were well beaten on surface that was almost totally bereft of grass. End of season came around, Bury did indeed go down while we finished third, made it to the play-off final and lost without even mustering a whimper to Stoke. MIS-ER-Y!!

Eight and a half years later I'm going out with a Bury lass and looking out for the Bury scores. They had a nice 4-3 win away at Torquay yesterday having been 2-0 down in 20 minutes. Hopefully they can join the Bees and near neighbours Rochdale in League One next season. We're up to fourth bottom after the 3-0 win at Tranmere yesterday, still in the relegation zone but at least we're showing signs of life with two wins in three October games.

Yesterday I did my third straight Parkrun, something I've only managed once before. I went round in 21:14, my best time since July, and finished 36th out of 197. I finished 36th last week as well and 35th the week before. If I'd have finished 35th this week I would have won a prize, damn the bloke who managed to keep me at bay in the final 100m ;)

As my number of Parkuns increase I'm becoming more and more interested in how and why my times change from week to week. I was 57 seconds quicker this week than last, a pretty dramatic increase.

At Richmond there is quite frequently a noticeable headwind as the course climbs and then flattens just after halfway. Last week however there was a pretty strong headwind over the first half of the course as we undulated our way down Sawyers Hill to Sheen Roundabout. As soon as I felt it my time was done for. My mind was confused, annoyed and resigned to defeat after about 750m. I wanted to stop but you just can't, can you?!? No, especially not having got my arse out of bed earlier than on a weekday and cycled to Richmond.

The number of runners varies from week to week so I'm also interested in my finishing positions and times. As I mentioned earlier I've finished 35th, 36th and 36th in the past three runs. In the Summer I did three runs in a month and had times of 21:06 (32nd), my PB of 21:05 (33rd) and 21:06 (22nd). I don't wear a watch so three consecutive runs within a second of each other was pretty cool. Now I have three consecutive runs within a place of each other, also pretty cool.

Not All Great In TW8

2010-10-03T19:08:00.002+01:00

It's been a grim grim 36 hours in and around W12 (and in Britain in general judging by the coverage of Man City v Newcastle on ESPN) so having blogged about my close encounter with Uxbridge Road last week I thought I'd take the time to have a ramble.

Following on from little sister's birthday on 1st September mine wasn't far behind on 7th. As usual I didn't arrange to do anything! I'm never really fussed about celebrating my own birthday and turning 33 really wasn't anything to get excited about! The previous weekend me and Sarah went for a a few beers around Westbourne Grove and then had dinner at Rodizio Rico. I suppose that could count as a birthday meal ;)

Whenever we've been to Ricos before we've been able to sit at street level, so I was a bit disappointed that we had to sit downstairs. It's a bit too bright down there with the white walls and it seems a lot more cramped. There isn't as much atmosphere either because the kitchen is on the open-planned ground floor and you get to see all the cooking action. I have to admit my mood wasn't helped having seen Brentford get soundly turned over 3-1 at GP by Rochdale in the afternoon so perhaps I'm not being totally fair.

September was a mixed bag for the Bees. Mostly next to useless in the League, we ended the month bottom, but through to the fourth round of the League Cup (for only the second time in our history) having seen off Everton on penalties after the game finished 1-1. There were great scenes at GP when we equalised and pitch invasion aside, it was another special Brentford moment when Phil Jagielka missed his spot kick to give us the win.

Thankfully yesterday we began October with a 2-1 derby win over Charlton, but September had all Bees fans starting to fear the worst.

To be fair the month started off OK. We deservedly beat the then leaders Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 in a game televised by Sky and got the usual 0-0 draw at Bristol Rovers. Then came the Everton game and we all thought the season had finally got out of first gear. Sadly it wasn't to be as we drew 0-0 at home against Hartlepool, meekly surrendered 1-0 to Leyton Orient on a chilly Friday night in east London and then lost late on 1-0 at Brighton. Five games, five points and one League goal later we found ourselves bottom of League One with fans starting to wonder if it was going to be another season of shattered dreams in TW8.

Anyway, September is over and after yesterday's win were up to (haha!!) second bottom.

Dan and Jenny came down to stay in the Bush last weekend and while Jen went off to indulge herself in the shoe-fest that is the new Selfridges Shoes Galleries me and Dan went to the Emirates to watch Arsenal loose 3-2 to West Brom. He's finally got himself a red membership so should be down for a few more games over the coming seasons.

For the most part Arsenal were terrible, wonder where I've heard that before! It was 0-0 at half-time with everyone's favourite 'keeper Manuel Almunia saving a Chris Brunt penalty but 3-0 to West Brom after 73 minutes. Arsenal did manage to get it back to 3-2 by the end of the game but the sixty or so thousand Gooners leaving the ground at full time were a frustrated bunch. It certainly makes you realise that us football fans are a fragile lot no matter what level of football we watch.

Right, enough of the football chat.

I've started the on the Spanish trail again. There are a lot of familiar faces in the class and a few new people. It's good to be back in the classroom ready to crack on the summer break.

However, the biggest thing to happen this month will be a shock to most of my mates, Sarah and I bought a car. I know, a CAR!! We are the proud owners of a 2006 (56 plate) Renault Megane.

Sarah's brother wanted to get himself a new car so we gave him the £5k he had left to pay off on his car loan. A pretty good deal I reckon.

I've hardly driven since I passed my test waaaay back in 1995 so it's going to be a bit of a rapid re-education. I've driven a few times since then, mostly on holiday, but I'm going to have to get back up to speed pretty quickly. Besides, it's about time I got driving because 15 years is a long old time between passing your test and getting your first car!

Ooooooh Just think of all those Bees away games I can go to ;)

He's Taken A Dive Ref!

2010-10-03T13:16:00.000+01:00

Thursday morning started out like any normal working weekday.

Alarm went off, I got out of bed later than I should have, and I got my trusty bike out of the dimly lit, slightly damp and heavily cobwebbed old coal bunker where it lives.

I set off on my usual jaunt to work but before I knew it I was sprawled on the road outside Shepherd's Bush Market tube station! Luckily I was in the bus lane and perhaps even luckier I wasn't being trailed by one of the big red beasts that roam London!!

It's pretty amazing how quickly your natural instinct for survival kicks in because I was up off the tarmac in a flash collecting bike parts that had dotted themselves over Uxbridge Road. A few people came to make sure I was all right but I was in a bit of a daze really so I can't really remember what they said to me. I could see that I had a few cuts and scrapes but I was just intent on trying to work out why I had took a dive!

My initial thought was that my seatpost had snapped but it was still in one piece and securely attached to the frame. It was sans saddle though so the blame had to lie somewhere pretty close.

So, I had the saddle, the brackets that secured it to the post and I also had short bolt that looked like it had sheared in two. That's exactly what had happened because one of the securing brackets still had a the the other half of the bolt screwed into it!

I'm still not sure how a heavy duty bolt can just snap but I needed to get it fixed so headed across the green to the new-ish W12 branch of Cycle Surgery.

Having unsuccessfully tried to secure the saddle with a new bolt (to the surprise of the staff it turns out that there isn't a standard thread on saddle brackets or bolts!) I had to get a new seatpost. More bike expense but it was up and running again and I was finally on my way to work.

As you can see the cuts and scrapes aren't too bad and I always wear a helmet so that saved my head from any bumps. A few bruises are still a bit sore but compared to what I could have ended up with, broken collarbone, broken wrist etc. I'm all OK. The solid Malcolm frame did a good job :)

One thing coming off the bike has made me think about is how wise it is for the Boris Bike scheme to run without providing helmets. I've not heard of any major incidents and the majority of hires seem to be for short hops in the rush-hour or at lunchtime so perhaps it's not worth adding another factor that will limit use of the scheme.

I had a little smile to myself on Friday morning as I rode past the spot of my downfall, hopefully I won't be re-acquainting myself with the tarmac any time soon!

1st September 1980. A Day to Remember

2010-09-02T23:33:00.000+01:00

Thirty years ago something happened that changed the life of a little boy who was a week away from his 3rd birthday...his sister was born.

Carla Ruth Malcolm was born at West Middlesex Hospital on Monday 1st September. She was late, although just a week compared to my two, and she brought with her a book and a lollipop as a welcome gift for her new older brother. The book is still on a bookshelf at mum and dad's, the lolly didn't last very long ;)

Mum and dad had a new daughter, I had a new sister and nan had a new granddaughter. A whole world of fun was about to begin.

I can't really remember life without my sister, but it can't have been half as much fun as it has been since. She was an instant playmate as well as someone to look after and care for. Like any siblings we've had our moments but nothing has ever come between us and we're still great friends.

Family holidays in England, Ireland and as we got older abroad were exciting and action packed. Be it charging around, playing games or splashing in the pool, the pair of us kept each other company doing all the things that brothers and sisters do.

We're very different and at the same time very similar. If she reads this she'll most likely think I'm a soft prat. To be fair if she wrote something like this I'd think the same!

It's no great surprise that we went to the same the same primary and secondary schools or that we both did geography at Uni. There are differences though most of which have become apparent as we've grown older.

She's had an annual cinema pass for a number of years whereas I've had a Brentford season ticket! Geeks in different ways!

A better example is the fact that I can't stand going to the cinema and much prefer going to gigs. I'd much rather be stood in amongst a buzzing crowd with a beer than sat quietly in a cinema watching the latest blockbuster. Carla can't stand the jostling, I love it.

She still lives at home but I flew the nest less than six months after finishing Uni and coming back to London.

I've worked for the same company since graduating in 2000 but Carla has never wanted to join the Monday to Friday rat race. She spent a year in Canada in 2002/03 and a year Down Under in 2005/06. I've only had a couple of three or four week holidays!

She has just completed a masters in Countryside Management at Capel Manor and spends a lot of her time volunteering. Puts me to shame really as I'm your typical office bod who turns up late, most likely doesn't work as hard as he should and spends too much time on the pop!

Still, we're family and that's all that really matters. Carla, I'll have a few Guinness for you after work on Friday surely you can't begrudge a little celebration on your behalf ;)

Happy Birthday little sis. Here's to 30 great years and all things being equal, 30 more.

You are my Brentford, my only Brentford...

2010-08-26T23:20:00.017+01:00

Considering the 2010/11 season is almost three weeks old I haven't blogged much about Brentford. Truth be told there hasn't been much to shout about. An opening day defeat at Carlisle was followed a week later by Walsall at GP and yep, another defeat.

In between those two games we did manage edge past Cheltenham in the League, OK, Carling Cup. We'd not beaten them in five previous attempts so it was good to finally beat the relative newcomers to the Football League.

Last weekend we took a good point away from Swindon Town's County Ground. We lost 3-1 home and away to them last season so it was a decent point and our League campaign is up and running.

We drew Hull City in the second round of the Carling Cup, and as you can tell, I was really looking forward to them coming down to Griffin Park! The reason for my total lack of enthusiasm for a game against a team newly relegated from the Premiership was (and still is) because for the 1990's and first half of the 20th century, Brentford were a better team than them and it's hard to get away from that way of thinking.

I still find it hard, as do most Bees fans I reckon, to think of Fulham, Stoke and particularly Wigan as established Premiership teams. Recent Brentford history shows we've been better than all of them but have never grabbed the opportunities when they've presented themselves. A terrible play-off record, including Wembley (loads of quality in that 1997 Crewe team) and Millennium Stadium (shit that Brentford team was good) defeats, have poured cold water over promotion hopes at regular intervals and led to the dismantling of many a team well equipped to play in the second tier. Relegation to the basement in May 2007 (although it was on the cards months before the dreaded final day of the season) hit the club hard but there is renewed optimism around the club since bouncing back from our two season stint in League Two in May 2009.

A great ninth place finish in League One last season has led to major investment in the playing squad over the summer and we appear to be in a position to have a real go at promotion over the next two or three seasons. Of course, with investment comes expectation and the GPG was awash with negativity following our two defeats. The point at Swindon has helped to ally some fears and this is where (eventually) Hull City come in.

On Tuesday we had a great result. A 2-1 win (Bees view, Hull view) and a place in the third round for the first time since 1991. All of a sudden the negativity has been replaced with a renewed confidence that we have what it takes to push on into (at least) the top six. Oh the fragile and fickle mind of a football fan, what a world we inhabit!

Fingers crossed we get a decent draw, a winnable home or top Prem team away will do. Most fans will echo this list of teams that we want to draw and those we want to avoid. Any takers for Wigan away? It's bound to be them now isn't it!?!

Saturday sees Rochdale, bloody hell even they've got executive boxes, in TW8. They are in the third tier for the first time since the 1973/74 season, 36 long long years ago, having finished last season in the final automatic promotion spot from League Two. So far they've drawn two and lost one in the league so they've had a better start than us! They've also won on their last two trips to GP so I'll be heading to GP a little nervous but expecting a win.

Three points on Saturday and we'll be cooking on gas. YOU REDS!

Two in 24 Hours!

2010-08-19T00:48:00.006+01:00

You wait a week for a blog update and then two come along in 24 hours!

The foxes are at it again and Sarah's just piped up to say that they are quicker than me, charming! She's gone downstairs now to flood the bathroom again!

We've just watched another episode of Minder! I've got the V+ box set to record the series so we have a seemingly never ending supply of episodes to watch.

Today's episode, Back in Good Old England, was the twelfth from the third series (not season!) according to the great minder.org. More often than not Minder episodes are a who's who of British TV. Today's episode featured Norman Beaton who is better known as Desmond from the classic late '80s early '90s comedy Desmond's, check out on-demand episodes on SeeSaw, and Pete Postlethwaite the great stalwart of British film and television.

My Spanish classes finished at the end of the school term so I'm loving having Wednesday nights free. Finishing work at half five and getting home before six is a rare luxury and one I could get used to :) It's just gone 22:00 and it feels like I've been at home for ages.

Talking (well, writing if we're splitting hairs) of Wednesdays, Sarah's brother is a helicopter engineer in the RAF and last Wednesday we went down to RAF Odiham for their annual family day. I've not got much interest in things military but it was a really good day. Sarah's parents came down from Bury so we all had a good look around the base, watched planes and helicopters buzzing around and then watched a gig put on by men and women stationed at the base. Sarah's brother was in the second band and having been taught to play by their dad, the old boy was chuffed ;)

Oooh, just seen that Nick Clegg was in the the Bush today to launch the coalition's vision for social mobility. Shame he chose Shepherd's Bush Village hall as the venue because the Tory council want to close and flog the building! It's always good to see MPs getting some stick and by the sounds of it this was a pretty feisty photo call for the deputy Prime Minister. More details here.

Sorry, where was I. Oh yeah, last Wednesday. After the gig we all went for a meal in a local country pub which always gets me thinking. As much as I love London, there is something special about going to a country pub for a few (too many) beers and some top notch grub. This place didn't disappoint but did leave me and Sarah with a dash for the last train from Hook and a ride on the 295 from Clapham Junction back to W12.

A night on the beers certainly wasn't the best way to prepare for the 2010 edition of the Superstars Decathlon!

Last Thursday and Friday saw 16, erm, 'athletes' compete in the third decathlon at Battersea Park Arena. I was pretty confident of a decent showing after somehow landing second place last year but this time round I was well below par. My day two performance wasn't helped by the evil mozzie bites I received on the first day, my left leg took on an elephant-like appearance, but it was my disastrous showing in a couple of less the less traditional events that helped seal my mediocrity.

The final event for the previous two years was a dance off in Clapham Junctions so called 'Premier Nightspot' Wessex House, don't be fooled, it's shit!

This year however we had karaoke to add one final insult to the injury! It wasn't a case of just getting on the mike and singing a song of choice, oh no, that would be too easy! We were each given an artist and song with strict instructions that appearance was just as important as vocal performance.

I drew Pink and her song Get the Party Started which as it turned out was an OK draw although not as cushy as Sarah who was given Franz Ferdinand.

We all got changed at the arena and then headed to find some taxis, not an easy task for 16 people dressed in various levels of drag and in the end we hopped on the bus! Sorry to all the poor commuters on the number 44, still, we must have livened up an otherwise dull journey.

Now for the moment I know you've all been waiting for...me as Pink.

Not a great resemblance but nature didn't really offer me much of a chance this time round! For more of the same have a look at this Picasa album.

Right, I reckon it's time to say goodbye after that photo!

Time to watch game two of the Giants' three game road trip in Philadelphia.

Lifelong Learning

2010-08-17T23:07:00.007+01:00

Thought I'd get in a quick post tonight while I wait for Sarah to get in from work.

She's busy writing the critical analysis component of her final APC submission and is entering the final furlong of the graduate scheme she's been on since September 2008.

It's been so far so good because she's already passed the Postgraduate Diploma in Real Estate that she went to South bank Uni once a week to study and received welcome pay rise. Fingers crossed there will be more to come come the end of October.

I've often thought that I'd like to get back into education. I'm going to keep on with the Spanish and sign up again for another year in September, but sometimes I wonder if I should jack in the job and do a GIS masters. Birkbeck Uni offer a part-time course which is an option but I don't know if I'd be able to handle working and then having to study in the evening. It's hard enough trying to motivate myself to do a few pages Spanish homework and I've got a verb drill book that I haven't opened in 18 months!!

Then there is the cost. Sarah's course has been paid for by her work as part of the graduate scheme she's on, are there employers out there that would pay for a 32 year old to go back to Uni for two years? Maybe there are and I've just not been looking hard enough, it's tough to find the motivation after 10 years at the same company!

Anyway, enough of all that. We've started to look for somewhere head off to for our winter long weekend away. At the moment Prague looks to be the favourite and we might even be able to drag my best mate Dan and his wife along with us.

Last year we went to Montreal and we've been to Iceland and Cologne in previous years. Sarah did have an eye on New York but I seem to have been able to fend off that idea ;)

I like to make it to one new country a year and I've not been to the Czech Republic before so Prague will tick off another country. Saying that we did fly into and out of Geneva when we went skiing but I don't think I can really count a couple of hours in an airport as 'doing' Switzerland!

If we do book the trip with Dan and Jen Prague it's bound to be a great weekend away. When they come down to London or we head up their way we always have decent weekends. Beers, wine and good food are always top of the agenda and now that there's a Jamie's Italian in Westfield we can even have a rivalry with their nearest branch in Oxford!

On the subject of Westfield I've just seen an item on BBC London about the possibility of courts opening up in empty premises in said shopping centre and others around the country. Is it a coincidence that this has been proposed the day Brentford's #1 blogger rocks up there with his accomplice, Robin Hood, in tow? Rob from the rich and give to the poor wasn't it?!?

Only joking lads ;)

It's All Kicking Off Again

2010-08-11T01:21:00.002+01:00

For the 72 teams of the Football League, the football season kicked-off last Saturday. The tarts in the Premiership start their season this weekend.

For the second season in a row Brentford started with an away game at Brunton Park. Sadly there was no repeat of last season's 3-1 win with the Bees going down 2-0 in a dismal performance.

Tonight attention has turned to the League Cup and we're playing at GP against Cheltenham Town. It's 2-1 at the moment and I'm listening to the Bees World commentary. It's been pretty crap since half time with the Robins having got a goal back and seemingly bossing the play. After such a dominant first half performance it's looks like were going to be holding on for the last quarter of an hour!

After England's piss-poor showing at the World Cup (there's even a crap friendly tomorrow night!) and the inevitable slating of the apparent 'cream' of English football it's great to have the Bees back playing week in week out. Last season we finished 9th, a great showing in our first season back in League One after a couple in the basement, and this season we look well equipped to make a decent push for the play-offs. Not that Bees fans will be looking forward to that, we've got a dismal record in the end of season lottery!

It's Walsall at GP on Saturday and I can't wait to get back amongst the usual faces. There's even a new Bees fan, Paul and Lynda had a baby boy just over a month ago and he's already looking good in his Brentford romper suit :)

My last blog post was about the Brits at the European Athletics in Barcelona. Turned out to be a very good championships with plenty of great British performances :) Mo Farah did the 5,000m 10,000m double, super Jess won her heptathlon gold (although it was closer than a lot of people expected), Andy Turner took gold in the 110m high hurdles and Phillips Idowu won long jump gold. We even managed to dominate a couple of events with two British 1-2's. Chris Thompson took silver behind Mo in the 10,000m with Dai Greene and Rhys Williams taking the top two podium places in the 400m hurdles.

To many people's surprise, Sarah said he didn't even deserve to be in the final, Mark Lewis-Francis took silver in the 100m and there were plenty of other good performances which the BBC have done a good job of summing up here and in Tom Fordyce's blog here. The two 4x100m relay disasters didn't happen, right ;)

Last week myself and Sarah were in Rhodes for leisurely weeks holiday so she missed the final two days of competition. The V+ box came to the rescue again and she was straight into the living room to watch the recorded coverage as soon as we got back to the flat on Sunday at 06:45! If this isn't the behaviour of a total athletics geek I don't know what is! I had a few hours kip like any normal person would!

The temperature was around 40°C for the whole week so we didn't do much during the day. We had a self catering apartment in the chilled out and very well run Cosmos Maris complex close to Lardos Beach so stayed around there during the day and then headed out for dinner in the evening.

Lardos was the nearest town, about a 25 minute walk away, so we went there most nights. We did have a night in Pefkos and also one in Lindos but Lardos was much more convenient and a lot better value.

We finally ventured out last Friday (ooooh, just realised this Friday is Friday 13th!!), to the large waterpark near Faliraki ;) I'd not been to one since a school trip to the Ardèche in my second year at St. Mark's and I wasn't all that keen to go. To tell the truth I was a bit nervous.

After a gentle introduction on a few of the tamest slides we started to move on to the more daunting attractions. I actually think we went on the worst ride quite early in the day.

The 'Sting Ray' has a really steep drop-in which only becomes apparent once you've sat down on the ring and given yourself the heave-ho on the railings and by that time it's way too late anyway. I've found this on YouTube:

It probably doesn't do the drop-in justice but it is pretty scary the first time.

I'd also never been on the steep slides before but after a bit of persuasion from Sarah I took the plunge.

From left to right are the Turbo Slide, Kamikaze and Free-fall. Your brain tells you that Free-fall is the worst because it is a steep, straight drop but I thought the Turbo Slide was the worst.

After going over two humps in quick succession you end up airborne for a split second before going into a tight curve.

The Kamikaze has just one hump which again sends you airborne for a short while but you're soon down the steep part of the slide and heading horizontally to the plunge pool at the bottom.

Although it doesn't look it, the Free-fall slide is the easiest ride. Like the Sring-Ray it's the view from the top that is daunting and after that it's just straight down to the horizontal final few metres.

My advice, don't look down...

If you've made it this far you'll no doubt be glad to hear that Brentford held on to their 2-1 lead to book their first appearance in the second round of the League Cup for three seasons.

Here's hoping for a decent draw when it's made.

Going For Gold

2010-07-28T00:21:00.001+01:00

No, not the classic pan-Europe general knowledge quiz show that ran on the BBC for many a year, but the GB (and NI) athletics team at the European Championships that began today in Barcelona.

In fact we've already had a great start to the championships with a 1-2 in the 10,000m. Mo Farah claimed the gold, four years after collecting a silver in the 5,000m at a rain-soaked championships in Gothenburg, and Chris Thompson (I can see his Wikipedia page expanding a bit over the next few weeks!) took second place and with it the silver.

Sarah is a total athletics geek and spends many an hour watching YouTube videos while looking up historical reults on Wikepedia so I've had to set the V+ box to record almost six hours off BBC coverage each day this week. She's catching up on this mornings action (Sarah, it's only bloody qualifying heats!!) while I write this and won't appreciate my Sarah is a geek chat! Ahhh well.

Team GB should have a decent chance in a number of events. For the men, Phillips Idowu should claim gold in the triple jump and naughty drugs cheat Dwain Chambers should be first over the line in the 100m. Hopefully Martyn Rooney won't disappoint in the 400m and Dai Greene has a decent chance in the 400m hurdles.

The scrummy Jessica Ennis is a shoe-in for Heptathlon gold and other women with a decent chance of gold are Jenny Meadows in the 800m and Lisa Dobriskey in the 1500m.

If all those come in Charles Van Commenee will be in line for a fat bonus!

The Olympic Stadium has had a lick of paint since I saw it at the end of January. The track has been relayed and is now blue and the grass on the field looks in a much better state.

This is how it looked six months ago:

And this is how it looks now:

Quite a difference!!

Away from the action in Barcelona, some wise old owl has decided to hold the championships every two years going forward. This means that the next championships will finish just 26 days before the start of the 2012 Olympics. Seems a bit of a silly idea to me and one that will surely lead to the devaluing of future championships, especially the ones that fall in Olympic years.

In London today there was an Olympic countdown event because the games will begin two years today. The 2012 Olympic Stadium seems destined to become a football ground which for me is a real shame.

There is a lot of hot air being spouted about the legacy of the 2012 Games. As far as I'm concerned one of the major legacies of London 2012 should be a world class athletics stadium in the capital of England. I don't want West Ham or Spurs to get a new ground on the cheap and I don't want London to be left with another multi-use stadium that has constant pitch problems! Saying that, the Stade de France seems to be able to cope with football, rugby and athletics so perhaps all would not be lost if the stadium did host multiple sports.

On a more positive note, looking at the photos of the countdown event we are going to have two cracking 2012 legacies. The aquatics centre and velodrome are going to be world class venues for many years to come.

The velodrome looks quality with a year of work still to go.

Buckle Up for the Finish of La Grande Boucle

2010-07-21T21:58:00.004+01:00

Ever since it's 1986 debut on Channel 4 I've been obsessed with the Tour de France.

Robert Millar, Shaun Kelly and Stephen Roche were taking the fight to the European cycling elite while Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen provided the commentary and insight into 190 riders on a 3,000km journey around France.

The original opening theme to the C4 highlights programme is a classic and instantly takes me back to July evenings lying on the sofa watching the best cyclists in the world battle each other across vast and varied French landscapes.

My favourite stages are those that take the peloton over the Alps and Pyrenees. Tough mountain stages often prove cruicial and basically it's simple, if you can't climb, you can't win the Tour!

Today is the second rest day of the 2010 edition. Alberto Contador is 8 seconds ahead of Andy Schleck with tomorrow likely to be the defining day of this years race.

As usual we've been treated to a compelling three weeks and thankfully nobody has been thrown out for doping...yet! There was controversy on Monday when Schleck, who at that time was wearing the yellow jersey, sufferered a 'mechanical' on the final climb of the day. Contador took advantage of this to ride away and turn a 31 second deficit into the eight second advantage he currently holds.

Like in football when an opposition player is injured you kick the ball out, in cycling there is an etiquette that says you don't attack the yellow jersey if they have a problem. Opinion is split as to whether 'Bert did anything wrong but he's apologised to Schleck and has even posted this video on YouTube:

For what it's worth I can't see anything wrong with what happend on the Port de Bales. The Tour is a race and there are plenty of instances of riders taking advantage of a rivals misfortune. In fact earlier in the race, on Stage 3, Schleck gained time on Contador when his brother, Fränk, crashed and held up the Peloton.

Whatever people's opinion of what happened on Monday, one thing is agreed, Stage 17 is going to be one hell of a Pyrenean battle to the 2,115 metre mountain-top finish of the Col du Tourmalet.

Birthdays, Beers and Brentford Beaten...

2010-07-16T01:24:00.005+01:00

...actually, make that thrashed!

A 5-0 defeat is never good and it's even worse when it comes against (at one point at least) one of our major rivals.

Last night was the first friendly of the season and Fulham came down to GP. To be honest the result, although dissapointing, didn't really matter. Having been postponed last pre-season, the match was Kevin O'Connor's testimonial and a celebration of his 11 years as a Bee.

A very decent crowd of 4,136 came down to GP and gave Kev a night, erm, to remember! I met Gabs inside the ground and we took up our usual sport on the Ealing Road terrace. There were plenty of familiar faces in the crowd and

It was my first friendly for a fair few seasons and I won't be going to another one in a hurry. The main reason for going was to show support for one of my favourite ever Brentford players, and after 11 'interesting' years in the red and white stripes I thought my £12 contribution to his testimonial fund was money well spent.

As frequently happens, Gabs and I spent most of the 70 minutes (yes we left early, when the fifth went in!) we were in the ground catching up. One of the worst things about growing up, actually I've not down that yet, lets say growing older and having responsibilities, is that you don't get to see your mates as much. Brentford games are the main occasions we Bees supporting buddies get to chew the fat. I'm looking forward to seeing Londra at GP when the season kicks-off. He's just had his first kid, a boy, no name yet. CONGRATULATIONS PAUL AND LYNDA :)

Fingers crossed the Bees' pre-season will get better. Next up are Tonbridge Angels away on Saturday and then Wycombe (and their gaggle of ex-Bees) at GP next Tuesday. I'll be at GP on 14th August for our first home League game of the 2010/11 season. I'm on holiday for the first game, Carlisle away. OK, OK, I wasn't going to schlep up to Brunton Park anyway! We won 3-1 up there on the first day of last season, here's hoping for more of the same.

Away from football, although I do need to blog about the World Cup and my bloody post about video technology at some point, Sarah turned 27 on Tuesday.

Over the weekend I baked her traditional birthday cake. Nothing too flash, a Victoria Sponge, but I think I've got it nailed on now :) I have to give some credit to mum, Ruth, Mrs Malcolm because I used her homemade raspberry jam in the filling which as expected lived up to her Delia Smith-esque cookery reputation, amongst us Malcolms anyway!

Being creatures of habit we went for a meal at Maggie Jones's. I first went there with work many years ago and it's one of my favourite restaurants in London. The food is amazing and the house red comes in a magnum and you pay for what you drink which is usually the whole bottle for us two greedy gits. We go there most birthdays so we'll most likely be back there in September :)

Last Thursday work put on the annual 'Profits Party', in fact I was nicely oiled this time last week! It's basically a celebration of the previous financial year which with the parent company being American, ends on 30th June.

For the previous couple of years we've had the party in the atrium at work. Redundancies, and the general downturn didn't warrant a big celebration but with things picking up in CACI-world this year the venue was Aqua Nueva.

Inside it's a typical, large West End bar with a few different rooms but what sets this place apart, especially for a geeky west Londoner, is the roof terrace. It's always exciting for me, probably a bit too much so, when I get to see London from a new viewpoint and I was more than happy to geek it up with my camera...before too many colleagues arrived anyway ;)

The party was winding down by 01:00 so I took myself off home. I walked it back which took about an hour. The journey was uneventful for the most part but I did walk past a couple going at it over one of the street cabinets just after Queensway tube station. They must have heard my footsteps because by the time I reached them the bloke was hurriedly pulling up his jeans and the knickers of his lucky lady friend.

Just another ordinary night in London!

Propaganda Press

2010-06-26T13:37:00.002+01:00

For the first time in a while I've not received a copy of the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle. Their campaign against the council tax funded H&F News seems to have died down recently but there could be good news ahead.

The government are looking to tighten the rules on council publications. Hopefully 'by the end of the summer' we'll have some positive news.

In the meantime fingers crossed for the delivery of a Chronicle next week. I've got a big soft spot for the Chronicle series. The Hounslow Borough (or Middlesex if you prefer) edition kept me up to date (give or take a few days for delivery!) with Bees news at Uni before the Internet was awash with official and unofficial websites.

Drip, Drip, Drip

2010-06-24T11:12:00.003+01:00

Did anyone else in W12 have no water yesterday? Got home from work at around 18:00 looking forward to a shower before going to spanish but the taps weren't playing ball.

On BBC London last night they said the powercut in the TW Postcode Area (although the rest of the family live in TW7 and they still had electricity) had an impact on the Hampton treatment water works.

Still, when I got home from from spanish, and after a bit of pipe rattling and water spluttering, normal service was resumed.

Sarah was none the wiser. She rolled in at 23:15 and passed out on the bed! Hiccc, hiccc, hicccccup!

I Love Bush

2010-06-20T18:12:00.002+01:00

I've just stumbled across this YouTube video, nice :)

Elephant Stone

2010-06-10T17:03:00.006+01:00

As expected Sarah’s day at the races turned out to be a boozy affair so she was in no fit state to join me for the Parkrun. I decided to take my camera with me because during the week I’d talked myself into going elephant spotting after the run.

Having just missed out on a PB last week by 10 seconds (is 10 seconds just missing out?!?) I made an effort to try and beat it this week. The start was a bit of a disaster. Plenty of us we still strolling across the grass to the start when suddenly everyone else was pegging from the line!

I don’t wear a watch so the only way I can tell if I’ve done a decent run is how I feel at the end. I felt pretty much similar to last week in that I was pretty knackered so I thought I’d done OK in my quest for a PB.

I don’t wait around so once I’d had my barcode scanned I headed off to unlock my bike for the ride to work so that I could print out a map showing where to find the elephants.

When the weather in nice the ride to and from Richmond Park is a really nice one. OK it’s mostly on busy west London roads but there are some decent views along the way. One of these is from Chiswick Bridge so I decided to stop there and take a couple of photos. OK, OK, I really wanted a photo of the Griffin Park floodlights!

As I was slowing down I noticed that tell tale hissing sound from my back tyre. Yep, a puncture! I don’t carry a pump and repair kit because the cycle to and from work is only ten minutes each way so if I get a puncture I just walk it home.

So there I am, hot, sweaty and well annoyed with the prospect of a 45-minute walk back to W12. All I could think was that even in the close season being a Brentford fan causes misery! I was too pissed off to even bother to take any photos.

I made it home at about half ten and repaired the puncture. As it turned out it was the day for punctures because the new couple in Flat C were outside mending theirs as well. Sarah was still wallowing in bed so I had some cereal, a shower and then got ready to head out on the bike to find those elephants.

After a quick pit-stop at work to get the map I was on my way. First stop was Kensington Gore and from there I went down to the Natural History and V&A museums.

Then on to (bear with me here!) Sloane Square, Kings Road, Royal Hospital Chelsea, Orange Square, Fulham Road, Harrods, Knightsbridge Green, Hyde Park Corner, a couple of sites in Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Old Quebec Street, Park Lane, The Dorchester, The Hilton Park Lane, High Street Kensington, Notting Hill Gate and finally Holland Park.

I was a bit apprehensive taking the first few photos but I soon got past that and had a really enjoyable afternoon cycling around west London. I hadn’t taken much notice of the parade until last week but I met loads of people making their way round London trying to collect the full set. A bit like Panini stickers I suppose. I need to pop into Westfield and bag another four. Be a bit silly not to seeing as it’s only a three minute walk away!

The parade is only on for another couple of weeks so it’ll be good going for to get even half the collection. Still, they are all in one place the weekend of 26th June so that’ll make it a bit easier :)

I’ve uploaded all the photos to Flickr and as it turns out so have a hell of a lot of other people!

A few beers in Chiswick with Chris in the evening capped a pretty decent day. On Monday I checked my time and WOO HOO I'd managed a PB. This time it was a case of 'only just'...one glorious second...turns out my 13th run wasn't an unlucky one :)

Dispersal of Fortune!

2010-06-08T16:14:00.004+01:00

There's a new dispersal zone in the Bush and lucky old Lime Grove gets to be included!

Groups of two of more people can be removed from the zone with an esclation in the punishmetns should they fail to do so. Full story here.

It's good to see LBHF taking some action and I wonder what affect this will have on the groups of wasted men and women I regularly see roaming the streets of W12.

The Limegrove Hostel is pretty much opposite the flat and Lime Grove residents see a marked increase in activity around there during the summer months. This dispersal zone will hopefully reduce the disruption.

There is a Lime Grove Neighbourhood Watch meeting next Wednesday at the College. I'm sure this will be a hot topic of conversation.

16th June Neighbourhood Watch Meeting

The agenda is:

- Burglaries
- Fly-tipping
- Anti social behaviour
- Limegrive Hostel update
- A.O.B

Video! Video! VIDEO!

2010-06-04T16:14:00.007+01:00

Across the pond there is a big debate raging about the use of video replay in sport.

On Wednesday the Detroit Tigers were playing the Cleveland Indians and a controversial call by first base umpire Jim Joyce cost the Detroit pitcher, Armando Galarraga, the pitcher Holy Grail, a perfect game.

Put simply, a perfect game is one where during the course of nine innings (or more if it goes into extra innings!) no opposition player makes it to first base. Three outs make an innings so in a nine inning game twenty seven batsmen are retired without making it to base.

Does that make sense, maybe, maybe not! A detailed explanation here.

Only twenty perfect games have been thrown in Major League history so it's a big deal when it happens. Strangely there have been two perfect games so far in the 2010 season, which has prompted quite a lot of debate about why, when in the past they have been so rare, perfect games are occurring more frequently.

Some commentators are saying that with the steroid scandals and subsequent drug controls, pitchers are now facing batters who aren't, for want of a better phrase, drugged up to the eyeballs.

Others are saying that it is still a random event as opposed to evidence of a changing game. Whatever the reason, it certainly makes for interesting viewing on ESPN :)

Anyway, back to video evidence. If baseball used it Armando Galarraga would be the third pitcher in 2010 to achieve a perfect game. They don’t so he has to make do with a little red Corvette!

In the NHL video evidence is regularly used to review tight goal/no goal calls. Funnily enough in game three of the Stanley Cup finals, also on Wednesday, goal-line technology was used twice and not so strangely the correct decision was made both times, one good goal given and one no goal not!

There is also a lot of debate about the use of goal-line technology in football and with the start of the World Cup only a week away (WOO HOO!!) the events in America again bring into focus how important it is for sport to embrace the ability to make non-questionable, clear-cut decisions.

There are plenty of recent examples in English football where goal-line technology would have made a difference in games, good goal not given, no goal given. But the door has been closed by FIFA.

I just hope that FIFA don't rue their decision to categorically rule out its use. Hopefully there won't be an incident like this…

…even if it does work in England's favour.

There has been quite an end to Wednesday’s events in Detroit. At the time Jim Joyce was the man who made the worst call in baseball history but on Thursday the often-overlooked sportsmanship of fans and players meant that Jim has quite a moving afternoon at Tiger Field.

He'd already apologised for the blown call and it has been reported that there were quite emotional scenes during the pre-game formalities with Jim and Armando Galarraga shaking hands during the line-up handover.

Humans make mistakes and they often add to the allure of sport. Jim Joyce made a really bad call but has stood up, taken the criticism and apologised for his mistakes. If referees in England did the same us fans would have a lot more respect for them.

Stuart Attwell take note!

Middle Middle Middle Sex Sex Sex

2010-06-03T22:10:00.108+01:00

It's a glorious evening in west London and I'm geeking it up listening to Middlesex take on Sussex at Lords on the BBC London commentary. It's not looking great at the moment for the Panthers they are 88 for 5 after 15 of their 20 over.

I came home from work expecting to go out for a few beers with Sarah but she's in the kitchen preparing cakes for her team day out at Epsom. It's the Derby on Saturday so there will be a big crowd tomorrow for the first day of the meeting. It's also Ladies Day with will make for great viewing with the forecast predicting 26° ;)

Cricket update - Hmmm, 54 runs from 24 balls needed now!

I was looking at a random blog earlier which linked to this blog template site. I like the simple black theme I picked when I set the blog up but I do sometimes think that it's a bit boring. There are a few styles I've seen that would look OK I think. Perhaps I'll experiment with a couple over the next few weeks...

Prolet
Black Grass
Panorama

Maybe I could even create my own. What I do know is that I'm most likely to stick with what I've got at the moment!

Fruitless Cricket update - 35 from 6 balls to win, lol. Still, 15 Twenty20 games still to play in the South Group. Eight wins should see the Panthers through to the quarter finals.

The domestic football season is over at it's countdown to the World Cup now. I've added a countdown widget to the blog, just for fun!

The three teams I wanted to go up via the play-offs duly obliged. I should have put a bet on! Blackpool will be gracing the Premiership, Millwall the Championship and Dagenham and Redbridge join the Bees in League One. Meanwhile Oxford are back in the Football League having won the Blue Square play-off.

As a Bees fan it gives me hope that we can emulate Blackpool's success (although I'm totally sure I ever want to see GP full of the prawn sarnie brigade) but I'm a bit gutted that four seasons ago we were in the same division and did the double over them! Still, they had the last laugh that season as we went down and they won the second of their three play-off victories on the way to the top division.

The worst thing about the World Cup is that almost every advert on the TV is jumping on the bandwagon. There are footballers and footballs everywhere. Surly top of most peoples hit list has to be this little ditty:

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

The England team arrived in Rustenburg today at what looks like a pretty sweet resort. Hopefully there won't be the WAG circus like in Baden-Baden four years ago. England have a decent chance and a bit of luck along the way could see us make it past the quarter finals for the first time since Italia '90. I just can't see past Spain as winners.

I'm off on a lads weekend next Friday. Six of us are off to Marbella, the retirement home of the aging British gangster. Hopefully the place will be buzzing next Saturday when England take on the Yanks. Surely this can't happen again, can it?!?!

Oooh I'm getting excited. The World Cup with a lads holiday thrown in for the first weekend :) If anyone is looking for a good World Cup schedlue here is a great Excel version.

As Rakim and DJ Premier Once Said, It's Been A Long Time!

2010-05-19T16:50:00.026+01:00

Well it’s been a while, so long in fact that we’ve had a change of government and the domestic football season is in it’s final throes.

Looking out of the window here is looks as though summer may finally be on its way arriving. At home the woolly sheep has been taken off the bed, washed and put away until…next week probably!

So, apart from the election, I’ll only get depressed if I talk about that, what been happening since the last update?

The Bees’ season ended on 8th May with draw number 20. This time Hartlepool came to TW8 and took home the point that kept them up and sent Gillingham down. What rotten luck for the Gills! Did I mention they went down on goal difference, no, well they did.

There is still plenty of football being played however. The Football League Play-Offs are in full swing and are providing their usual end of season excitement.

In the Championship Cardiff City and Blackpool have made it to Wembley while last night Millwall comfortably beat Huddersfield Town 2-0 in the their second leg and will face Swindon Town who beat Charlton Athletic 5-4, <> on penalties on Monday.

The League Two finalists will be decided tonight and tomorrow. Rotherham United take a 1-0 lead into their second leg at home to Aldershot Town while tomorrow Dagenham and Redbridge play Morecambe having smashed them 6-0 in the first leg. Sadly the antics of union boss Bob Crow made more headlines. Shame we can’t send him cockle picking tomorrow night!

Away from football Sarah and I went to Ireland for a long weekend on 22nd April. We got really lucky because that Thursday was the first day of resumed UK flights, great timing :)

It was my first trip to Ireland since 1989 and considering I have a fair amount of family there it’s pretty shameful that I’d not been over before. Sarah hadn’t been over for around 15 years so we were both well overdue.

We had hired a car at Dublin Airport and buzzed up to County Louth via the relatively new M1 motorway. We stayed in a dodgy B&B and spent most of the time with her family in and around Castlebellingham and Blackrock.

Sarah’s grandma was born in Castlebellingham so there was a lot of catching up with cousins and extended family. We did a bit of touring around in the car but I’m not one for enjoying a drive just for the sake of it so we never ventured too far!

We headed back to Dublin on the Saturday evening, handed back the car and took the bus into the city centre. The hotel was right on O’Connell Street, handy (to say the least) for getting around the city.

After dumping our bags we went out for a couple of pints, here and here and then went to find the place Sarah had in mind for dinner. After a stroll around which took us past Trinity College and up to St. Stephen’s Green we got to the restaurant only to find they had stopped serving. Sarah wasn’t too pleased but a little further down the road we came across the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill, which, of course was very much to her liking! I have to say, it was a cracking dinner.

On Sunday we both had a superb Irish breakfast (with a brownie and vanilla ice cream for afters!) at Gruel and did the tourist thing After having our end of tour pint of Guinness we met up with my cousin Bríd and her youngest Edward. They live in Blanchardstown and took us to a lovely restaurant for a bite to eat. Edward recommended the steak, music to our ears. It came served on a hot slab of slate so you can cook the meat to your preference. DE-LIC-IOUS.

On the way back to the hotel Ed drove us past the pub where notorious Dublin gangster Eamon Dunne had been shot two nights before. Even the Lonely Planet couldn’t detail this new stop on the tourist trail!

It would have been rude not to go out for a couple of evening pints so we duly obliged. As it turned out our couple of days/nights in Dublin coincided with the NFL and NHL finals (no not more US sports!) meaning that there were a lot of people sporting various county colours and states of intoxication. It was good to see that people who are well past needing one last drink get served as easily in Ireland as they do in the UK. Shame on the US and Australia for being sensible ;)

On the Monday we went back to Gruel (once Sarah finds somewhere she likes nowhere else gets a look in!) for the same breakfast and brownie combo before heading to the airport for the flight to Heathrow.

No delays on the way home and we even flew over GP on the way in which never fails to excite. We got pretty lucky with our flights judging by the on-going travel disruption that the Eyjafjallajökull volcano is causing.

SE16 Knees Up and Prawn Sandwiches

2010-04-09T17:35:00.003+01:00

Usually four-day working weeks follow a simple rule, that they fly by. It hasn't been the case this time round though. The week seems to have dragged, dragged and, yep you've guessed it, dragged!

I was shattered on Tuesday. I went to the gym in the Village for the regular Tuesday evening boxing class and usually I hang around for a bit afterwards. This week I headed straight for the exit and headed home ready to hit the sack!

Looking back, the Bank Holiday weekend was pretty hectic. On Friday I watched the Bees secure a much-deserved point in the 1-1 at Millwall and when I got home Sarah's mum and dad had arrived from Bury. That makes it sound like they arrived unexpectedly, they didn't.

It's often tricky trying to entertain people but this weekend there was a lot to do...

On Saturday we went and watched the boat race. I'd never been tempted to watch the race 'live', even though it's been on my doorstep since forever, but it was nice to be able to have something within easy reach to go to with Sarah's parents.

We took up a position on the south side of Hammersmith Bridge watched the Isis v Goldie boats go by and then main race. It seemed like a lot of fuss for a fleeting glance of the crews. In fact the most interesting part for me was seeing the unexpectedly large waves that the supporting boats create soak the Pims drinking Rahs sat on the river bank.

In the evening we went to The Real Greek in Marylebone. Sarah had been to one before and bemoaned the small portion sizes but I thought it was a pretty good spread. Sarah's mum had exchanged Clubcard vouchers for reward tokens. Every £10 worth of Clubcard vouchers can be exchanged for £40 worth of reward tokens so it's a pretty, make that very, good deal.

The main event of the weekend was my parents meeting Sarah's for the first time. We've been going out for 4 years so it was about time they met. It's got people wondering if this means there is a proposal on the way, no need to worry just yet Sarah!! The meeting of worlds went well with no major or even minor dramas. My sister didn't show me up too much which was a bonus!!

On Monday we all got suited and booted and headed for tea at the Ritz. Sarah bought her mum and dad tea for two a while back so we decided to jump on the bandwagon and go with them. Very nice it was too but it should be at 38 quid a pop!!

After we got back from the Ritz I was quickly back in the real world. I headed off to GP for the snooze fest that was Brentford 0 Exeter City 0. Zzzzzzzz!

A Dove In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

2010-03-30T17:45:00.006+01:00

Many moons ago a few of us from work went to watch Mock the Week being filmed at Television Centre. I'd been on another all day InSite mission so by the time I turned up they were all inside waiting to be called.

I took my audience number, found the others and had to hope that I'd be called in to join the audience, my number was a lot higher than most of theirs. Sadly I didn't get called but neither did Andy so we decided to go for a couple of beers in Vesbar.

As we were leaving we walked past a queue of people who wanted to be added to the BBC/SRO audiences database with first option to a later series. Neither Andy or I were bothered about this so we headed straight past them. As we got to the door the rather camp bloke who had been ushering people here, there and everywhere asked why we were leaving. We told him we didn't want to be added to the list but he obviously took a shine to me! He was adamant that he wanted to take my E-mail and promised NOT to send me photos of his willy! The queue of people, but especially, Andy loved that!

The upshot of this was that last week the I received an E-mail about joining the audience for a new series of Channel 4's Evo Music Rooms, and it turns out that that doves will be playing live.

I'm pretty sure you didn't need the whole back story but it's written now so it's staying!

SB (and most other people) will testify that I'm an unashamed doves geek so I'm pretty excited about Thursday night. It'll tide me over nicely until I drag SB to another doves gig at the old Commercial Road Troxy cinema in May.

Surely they have to play Andalucía. It's the only new track on disc one of their soon to be released greatest hits album The Places Between and will any b-sides get an airing? Jimi, Jez, Andy (and Martin), Darker, just for me, pleeeease!

Let Them Eat Cake

2010-03-29T17:35:00.004+01:00

I bought SB a cake tin for Christmas (really pushed the boat out didn't I!) and she finally got round to using it yesterday!

She'd seen it on an episode of Nigella's Christmas Kitchen and it seemed to strike a chord. So much so that even I couldn't miss this open goal! It was a bugger to find until I cracked the name, bundt pan, not cake tin!

SB will do anyting to put off the Uni work she has to complete over the next few weeks so after moaning about the clocks going forward, having breakfast and watching a bit of TV she decided to make a cake. She'd not made one since this little beauty a couple of months ago:

MMMMM, yum :)

So down came the tin, pan, whatever, and soon after (don't worry everyone, I did help) it was full of lemon and orange cake mix:

Then 45 minutes later it was done:

One peak lemon, one peak orange, and so on, and a few minutes later we settled down with a cup of tea and helped ourselves to half a peak of each.

Gourmet ou Gourmand?

2010-03-28T13:06:00.001+01:00

After a couple of beers in the Village after work on Friday I met up with SB on Threadneedle Street at 19:20.

I was twenty minutes late but considering I didn't leave the bar inside the 'gated community' until 18:40, I made it from Earl's Court to Bank via Holborn in pretty good time.

We headed straight into the restaurant and were shown to a nice table for two. There were four or five tables already occupied but over the course of the meal the place filled up and by the end of the meal it was pretty much full.

The restaurant is on the ground floor of the old London Stock Exchange with the entrance on the passage way between the redesigned LSE building and DTZ's 125 Old Broad Street office. Handy for lunches when you're in the City eh SB!

Rather than describe the interior, here is a photo from the website:

On the walls there is a poem by Jean de la Fontaine called Le Corbeau et le Renard, the Crow and the Fox. The crow has a cheese in its beak which the fox wants so the fox flatters the crow who goes to speak, well crow I suppose, and drops the cheese. SB was quite impressed when I said it's like someone saying that your phone is nice, you letting them have a look at it and then them running off with it! (Over-)proud iPhone owners beware!

Whenever we go to France we HAVE to bring back some Rillettes de Mans, shredded pork that is made into a paste, similar to pâté. It was on the menu so it was no surprise when SB chose this for her starter. I had a sausage salad from the specials board.

For the main we both had a 10oz steak, (gourmand?!?) with SB having a dark chocolate slice and me a rhubarb and custard cup for desert. Pretty good value for £52 I think :)

We didn't go to Abacus. Instead we headed back to the Bush and had a pint in The Green. Not one of the most salubrious boozers in W12 but it serves a decent pint of Kronenbourg and doesn't have twats on the door (or inside) like the 'tarted up boozer' across the road.

Grubs Up!

2010-03-26T16:56:00.003Z

I'd not been to the City for well over a year and like buses two, in this instance visits, have come at once.

Yesterday morning I was at a client site by Southwark Bridge installing an update to the GIS system they take from us here at CACI Towers and tonight I'm off to the new Brasserire Blanc that is opening up on Threadneedle Street.

SB works for DTZ who have an office on Old Broad Street, next to latest addition to the Raymond Blanc empire, and a couple of weeks ago she received an E-mail giving staff the opportunity to have a sneak peak of the new place and get 50% off the total bill. RESULT :)

Might see if SB wants to pop into Abacus after the meal to see what the City's most celebrated meat market is up to. It made for pretty interesting viewing last time I was in there with Gabs and Londra ;)

Failing that I might be able to taunt a few of the eastenders who will surely be heading down to TW8 tomorrow afternoon watch Leyton Orient pit their wits against the Bees.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

2010-03-25T16:05:00.002Z

The loan transfer window closes today we've added two players to the team.

Lewis Grabban has signed from Millwall but the big news is that Pim has signed until the end of the season AND we have agreed a fee with Ipswich for a permanent transfer.

Lets hope that personal terms can be agreed once the curtain is drawn on the 2009/10 season.

The Joy Of Six

2010-03-24T12:11:00.003Z

So then, Colchester!

Before last night we'd only scored ten goals away from home so we go and score three! Not only that but we went two up in 17 minutes before managing to surrender the lead before half time!

After the break we went 3-2 up but were again pegged back and the match finished 3-3.

Bees blogger David Hunt had an eventful night. He scored the opener from the edge of the penalty box and then scored an own goal.

We would have taken a point before the game but having had a two-goal lead there is a twinge of disappointment. Still, we’re up to 13th and have two games in hand on most of the teams around us. Poor Carlisle and Yeovil, we’ve got three games in hand on them ;)

Bees Edge It At Edgeley

2010-03-23T17:30:00.006Z

The Bees are in action again tonight. Their third away game in 8 days takes them to Colchester to face a team battling to secure a play-off place.

At the weekend the lads got back to winning ways at Stockport County. The pitch was nothing like what can be seen on the left as a brief look though these pictures will show. Harsh winter + rugby union on a football pitch equals the perfect argument for a plastic pitch!

Since beating Gillingham on 6th February we've only managed three draws in five games so it was good to get another three points tucked away. Four more wins and we should be safe I reckon.

Can't see us getting one tonight though! Colchester have won 13 and drawn two of ther 17 home games so getting a point there tonight will be a decent result. Still, here's hoping.

Back for Good?

2010-03-19T18:16:00.004Z

After a couple of weeks off it's good to see the Chronicle back through my letter box.

No idea why the paper went AWOL for couple of weeks, and seeing as the same thing happend last month, I wonder whether April will fair any better.

Here's hoping!

Pims O'Clock?

2010-03-19T12:44:00.002Z

The word on the street, well, here, here and here is that the Bees are going to re-sign Ipwsich defender Pim Balkestein on loan with a view to a permanent move when the transfer window opens again at the end of the season.
Before he was recalled to Ipswich at the end of December Pim played 8 games for us and played a big part in the upturn in results.

It has also been reported that Toumani Diagouraga will be released by Peterborough in the summer. He's been quality in midfiled since joining us on loan, another one close to the top of Andy Scott's chopping list I hope.

I Heart US Sports!

2010-03-19T00:20:00.001Z

When Setanta went under last June I was worried that that could be it for sports on Virgin Media. I've had NTL/Virgin, cable, in the flat since October 2005 and when Setanta Sports was added to the XL TV package I was, as a sport loving bloke, more than a little happy.

Although I never really watched that much of the Premiership coverage; I was either at GP or some far flung northern outpost for the Saturday tea-time games and the Monday night games weren't usually up to much, it was nice to have the option to flick the cable box to 538 or 539.

So last June when Setanta went into administration I thought that was it for sport on cable bar Eurosport. What I hadn't accounted for was that ESPN, the huge American sports broadcaster, would step in and bring with it so much more that the occasional decent game of footie.

OK, having had a grandmother from County Clare, an extended family dotted all over Ireland and mates who are big fans of the other Munster Counties, the loss of live Hurling and Gaelic Football was a blow but this has more than softened by what ESPN has brought into my living room.

I'm still not watching much of what I often hear is the most exciting league in football but there is so much more on offer. At the moment I've got 'College Hoops' on. It's the second day of the 2010 NCAA Basketball Championship, which is known across the pond as March Madness. For some reason I've always liked Villanova, hopefully they'll reach the Final Four for the season straight year.

When ESPN started broadcasting last August the MLB baseball season was heading towards the play-offs. Sadly 'my' San Francisco Giants missed out on the play-offs that each Autumn; or Fall, if you're that way inclined, lead to rather the grandly named World Series. It was however a real treat to be able to watch the conclusion to the regular season and then the postseason in W12.

The NHL ice hockey season has picked up where the MLB left off and has brought the world of checking, fighting and power-plays into my living room. Team wise it's better news this time round because the San Jose Sharks are well on course to reach the Stanley Cup play-offs.

The NBA season is also in full swing. Unfortunately the Seattle Supersonics franchise morphed into the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008 and I just can't get on the bandwagon. However continuing my Bay Area theme to picking teams I've taken the Golden State Warriors under my wing, lucky them!

Sky have the rights to the NFL but I still keep an eye out for San Francisco 49er games on Channel 5. The memories of three Super Bowl wins in the 80s and with one more in 1994 are fading but an 8-8 season last time round is at least a sign that the team are heading in the right direction.

The down side to supporting west coast teams is that when they are on ESPN, they are on late. The good news though is that there are numerous magazine shows that give me the chance to catch-up. Thanks goodness for my V+ box and series links for SportsCenter, NHL on the Fly, NBA Fastbreak and Baseball Tonight.

GO ESPN!!

Les Gets West London Buzzing

2010-03-07T00:00:00.011Z

Today Brentford played away at Elland Road. Did I go? Of course I did, always good to get another ground ticked off. Got back to the Bush at just after 21:00.

Travelled up with two of the usual Griffin Park crowd. I was meant to meet the lads in Northfields but I didn't account for the Piccadilly Line being shut this weekend between Hammersmith and Northfields!

In the end Paul picked me up from here at around 11:00 and we were in Leeds for 14:00. Three hours there, three hours back, not bad going at all. The things people do for 90 minutes of football!

The match ended 1-1, a result surely all Bees fans would have taken before the game. I reckon we deserved the point and having taken the lead there is even a tinge of disappointment that we didn't take one of the chances we had to go two up. Let's not get too greedy though eh!

Well over 2,200 Bees fans made the trip and for many, me included, it was a first trip to Elland Road. Not suprising as we last played a league match there in 1953/54 season!! Chant of the day was 'is there a fire drill' to the Leeds fans streaming out of the ground early ;)

Changing the subject, I'm sure you're all wondering where I've been seeing as my last post was a couple of weeks ago. Say that again SB, what do you mean nobody reads this shit?!?

SB and I (ooooooh, get me!) were in France riding ski lifts up mountains and then sliding down them on, no not our bottoms, thin strips of plastic! We went with five others to Les Gets which is a small town in the Haute-Savoie department.

We stayed in a chalet called Ysopes which we shared with two married couples. They had been to Les Gets many times, at least 15 they told us. In fact they used to own a chalet between them, nice!! The week passed without incident and we were even treated to a homecoming party for Déborah Anthonioz who hails from Les Gets and won a silver medal in the snowboard cross.

BRAVO DEBO!

Hola, me llamo James

2010-02-18T13:15:00.001Z

I've been studying Spanish for over a year now and last night I went to an 'intercambio', or language exchange, night for the first time.

Half-term week meant that there was no class this week so a girl from the class persuaded me to go with her to the London Spanish Meetup. I also managed to get SB to come along. She's a linguist of the highest order so I knew she'd be unable to resist an opportunity to speak one of the languages she speaks.

I bought a beer, wrote out my name badge and once the formalities were over made my way around the room chatting to people in speed-date style 3-minute segments. There were people from the UK, Spain, South America, all over, all chatting away in whatever languae they wanted to practice.

The evening was a lot of fun and it's a shame I'll only be able to go to meetups when I don't have a Spanish class but I'm definitely going to go again. There is another event on Thursday nights at Club Espeng that I'm going to try as well.

Local News for Local People

2010-02-12T12:44:00.004Z

Most local councils publish a council tax funded newspaper or magazine that they use for shameless self-promotion.

Living in LBHF I receive my weekly copy of the council paper H&F News. Lovingly dubbed Pravda by locals, the paper has been designed to look like a publication totally independent from the council and has even been criticised by Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley.

For as long as I can remember no free and independent alternative has been available to LBHF residents. However this all changed in January when the Hammersmith and Fulham Chronicle became a freesheet.

I was genuinely pleased that residents were, at last, going to be able to read a publication that reported local news instead of articles written by an organisation patting itself firmly on the back!

The first freesheet edition of the Chronicle was published on 15th January and was an enjoyable and informative read. Friday 22nd January soon came round and the next edition duly arrived. That sadly was the last edition to make it way through my letterbox because the last two editions haven't turned up.

Hopefully that isn't it for independent news in the borough and this week it'll be third time lucky...

UPDATE - After the short walk from work in W14 to the Bush what did I find waiting for me, yep, this week's paper. Joy ;)

El Lunes

2010-02-08T13:29:00.004Z

Weekend over :(

I clocked 23:12 in the parkrun on Saturday, my slowest time yet. Oh well! I'll put it down to having to weave my way through the swelled ranks of participants for the first coulpe of kilometres!

Down at GP the Bees won 4-0. After a bright start, our on loan Polish wonder keeper got a hand on a Simeon Jackson shot and pushed it onto the post after a couple of minutes, Gillingahm showed why they are yet to win away from home in any competition this season.

A brace apiece from Charlie MacDonald and Miles Weston secured the Bees' biggest win of the season. Conceeding two penalties and attempting suicidal back passes are never a good idea when you've only managed 3 away draws! Wycombe up next at GP on Saturday, I'm sure Bees fans everywhere are already wishing away the working week :)

Away from football, I finally upgraded to a pro flickr account last night. Not wanting to waste any time, I set a rather hefty upload going and it was still working away this morning! I've given my internet connection a rest while I'm at work so I'll resume when I get home later tonight. I've had three positive comments so far which is nice.

My on-line presence is growing! Absolute geek!

Run Rabbit Run

2010-02-06T12:15:00.001Z

Phew, run over!

There are loads of free timed runs dotted around the country. They start at 9am every Saturday morning. Sadly there aren't any in Northern Ireland just yet but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

The Richmond Park event is the nearest to me but it's still around five and a half miles away! I always cycle there which takes about half an hour. It's not too bad a journey and by the time I arrive at the park I'm awake and nicely warmed up.

It was my first parkrun of the year, my last was on 5th December, and there were well over 200 people lined up at the start, the biggest field I've seen. People of all ages and abilities take part and it's good to see the numbers increasing As always a big shout out must go out to the volunteers who give up their Saturday morning lie-ins week in week out.

At the finish the timer beeps you through and you get given a token, I was 72 this week. I don't time myself so I'll have to wait for the website to update with the results. My time will most likely be somewhere between 22:30 and 23 minutes I imagine, I run at a pretty steady pace.

SB did the run this week too, her fourth in total but first since October. Hopefully she'll be joining me on the two wheeled schlep from W12 more regularly!

To give her credit, she found out about Parkrun. Her first run was last Setptember, in Richmond's 100th event and I was roped in to joining her the week after. We're both slowly making our way towards the 50 run club!

Bees v Gillingham

2010-02-05T17:48:00.001Z

Brentford will try to secure their second League double of the season at GP tomorrow.

Gillingham are in town in what is bound to be another feisty affair following on from the 1-0 Bees win at The Priestfield on Boxing Day where once again both teams finished with 10 men.

Last season the game at Gillingham finished 1-1 and ten a side and in the post-match fall-out, Andy Scott was accused by Gills manager Mark Stimpson of telling tales to the FA in order to get Garry Richards retrospectively banned. Since then AS has offered his hand to Stimpson after the final whistle but has been rebuffed.

Anyway, it all adds a bit of spice to the game and with the away allocation being sold-out, there should be a decent atmosphere inside Griffin Park tomorrow.

The loan signings we've madel over the past couple of weeks have created a realy positive feeling amongst the fans and three more points tomorrow will have people starting to believe that a push for the play-offs isn't beyond us.

After a difficult start to life back in League One I'm happy to see us sitting 10th in the table, and three points tomorrow will edge us closer to the magic 52 points touted as the total we need for survival.

Should I Flickr The Switch?

2010-02-04T18:00:00.006Z

I bought a Canon SLR back in August 2008 and since then I've taken a shed load of photos!

For fear of losing them I bought a 1TB external hard drive but all that happens now is I go away, take loads of photos, and then file them away! I never get to look at them and neither does anyone else.

This is where flickr comes in.

I've had a free flickr account for a little while but all I've uploaded are a few photos of Battersea Power Station that I took on an open day back in 2008. For the past couple of weeks I've been toying with the idea of upgrading to a pro account. There are a lot of benefits, not least that with a free account you can only see your latest 200 uploads in your photostream.

I suppose what I'm really asking is whether the $24.95, around sixteen quid, annual fee is worth it. A question that I can only answer myself!

flickr list the main benifits of a pro account as being:

- Unlimited photo uploads (20MB per photo)
- Unlimited video uploads (90 seconds max, 500MB per video)
- Unlimited storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Archiving of high-resolution original images
- The ability to replace a photo
- Post any of your photos or videos in up to 60 group pools
- Ad-free browsing and sharing
- View count and referrer statistics

The items in bold are the ones that I think I'll benefit from, so four out of nine. Looking at the four, they do hold a lot more value than say the ad-free browsing or view counts so it looks like I'm a prime update candate.

Time to stop the jibber jabber and just get a pro account I say.

Crap In A Bag!

2010-02-01T16:23:00.006Z

Why do dog owners, who are considerate enough to clean up after their dog has had a poo on the pavement, think that it is OK to leave the bag by the curb or a wall?

I was walking back to the Bush at lunchtime to make my sarnies because, unsurprisingly I didn’t feel like making them when I got back from Spain this morning, and yet again I saw this flawed logic in action.

These bags of crap are all over the Borough and I just don’t get it!

Reus, Paris, Londres

2010-02-01T12:05:00.011Z

El fin de las semana pasada fui a Catalunya con (or maybe that should be 'amb') mi novia.

An early flight (7am!!) on Friday from Gatwick meant we were on the N148 to Victoria at 3.20am to catch the 4am train to one of the many airports that have attached themselves to London!

SB met a girl from Reus while she was at Uni and I get to reap the benefits with a lovely trip to the Autonomous Community of Catalunya :)

We buzzed around Barcelona using our finely tuned city-break whistle stop tour on Friday morning and afternoon before catching the RENFE along the coast to our base for the weekend, Mireia's flat :)

We had a couple of Cañas before a lovely meal in a restaurant called Vinatxo. In Catalan an 'x' makes a 'sh' sound. Just in case you were wondering!

We were pretty bushwhacked after the early start, actually Thursday jut didn't end, so we strolled home and went to bed at about 1am. No crazy fiesta for us.

On Saturday we were chauffeured along the cost to the Ebro Delta, or if you're feeling brave, Delta del Ebro. We took a boat trip out to the mouth of the river, passing by the fields that provide Spain with the essential paella ingredient, rice. We made our way back to Reus via one of the Deltadelebre transbordadors (not my video!!!) and the seaside town of Cambrils, before going for a lovely meal at Mireia's parents' house.

On Sunday we followed the Ruta Modernista around Reus city centre before heading to Tarragona. After a stroll around this old Roman city and some lunch we were dropped of at Tarragona station to start the journey home :(

The hectic weekend came to a close after a final journey on the 295 at 2am this morning took us from Clapham Junction back to W12. Head hit the pillow at 3am. Zzzzzzzzz.

Saint Legge!

2010-01-28T12:13:00.007Z

Perhaps it's a bit to early to request the canonisation of Leon Legge but he secured a deserved point for the Bees on Tuesday night.

The big defender signed from non-League Tonbridge Angels in the summer headed the equaliser in the 83rd minute sparing Kevin O'Connor's blushes after he missed a 70th minute penalty.

At nearly 25 he's a bit of a late comer to the Football League but after, and not unexpectedly considering the jump in level, looking a little raw in his first two or three appearances, I have a feeling he's already well on the way to becoming a cult hero at Griffin Park much like one of his predecessors, Sam Sodje.

I can't speak for other Bees fans but since becoming a regular (and somewhat surprising) starter in November he's been one of the most consistent members of the first team. In fact he's already been rewarded with a contract extension untill June 2011. Keep up the good work Leon!

St. Mary's...

2010-01-26T16:49:00.007Z

...the name of my Primary School in Isleworth and the home ground of Southampton who we play at Griffin Park tonight.

We grabbed a 1-1 draw at St. Mary's back in August and with our decent home record and current form we should be able to at least match that result tonight.

I didn't make it to Norwich on Saturday. I rang Carrow Road to buy a couple of tickets for the away end but they said it was cash at the ground only. Not making the match means I can still hold on to the memory of my only trip to Norwich, a 2-1 win in the 1995-96 FA Cup Third Round. CHASE OUT! Happy memories.

It was a shame we couldn't hold on for the 0-0 but I'm not too disapointed. Listening to the game on Bees World, it sounded like we gave a decent account of ourselves and seem strong enough for a mid-table finish this season.

EDIT: Just hearing news that Crystal Palace have gone into administration, another sad day for English football.

Keen As Mustard

2010-01-22T18:50:00.011Z

The Bees take on Norwich City tomorrow at Carrow Road and it looks like there has been a bit of a cock-up with the number of tickets available to Brentford fans.

Should we have been allocated 2,000? We thought we had 1,400 tickets but it turns out we've only been given 900. Who knows!!

Anyway, we've sold the 400 tickets we were sent by Norwich and they have around 300 tickets left for sale on the day.

Need to ring them in the morning to get a couple of tickets put aside for the W12 and W5 Bees making the trip :)

Oh, and I do hope Delia keeps off the vino. Hiccup!

Carlisle Game On

2010-01-15T16:18:00.008Z

Pretty impressive work by the club and fans to get the Griffin Park pitch cleared of all the snow from the past 10 days.

From this on Wednesday:

To this earlier this afternoon:

Roll on 15:00 tomorrow afternoon :)

Photos referenced from http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/page/LatestNews/0,,10421~1933866,00.html

At Last

2010-01-15T11:08:00.004Z

Soooo I've finally got round to sorting out the blog I started to setup way back in the summer of 2005!

Not too sure what I'm going put on here. Most likely ramblings about me, Brentford and W12! The missus might pop up from time to time. She seemed quite keen yesterday:

"I could blog with my recipes and cooking tips!

I was thinking of compiling a cookery book with all my recipes and ideas for lunches and cheap eats. And then I could get a TV series"

You go girl!

Time to dust off the season ticket because it's looking good for the Brentford v Carlisle game tomorrow. First game of the year on 16th Jan!!

On the west London football front another manager has left QPR. The ninth to leave since Flavio Briatore became Chairman in 2007. So long Paul Hart!

Intro

2005-06-27T22:38:00.000+01:00

Here goes nothing!