Arsenal are interested in Belgian defender Mark de Man. Apparently, they are also interested in his compatriots, striker Skor de Gaulle and goalkeeper Bloek de Schott. .
... and so Monday brought the "local derby" 'twixt Mossley and Curzon Ashton ... and true to form, the home team got stuffed by a team of players who:
a) didn't want to play for Mossley so went elsewhere; b) apparently weren't good enough to play for Mossley so were sent elsewhere; c) saw an ex-Mossley manager - and joined him elsewhere; d) the other two players in the squad ...
... naturally (for the time of year) - the weather was pretty "sh*te" - you work a week in the rain - have a day off - and stand out in the rain - such fun !!! (also an excuse for the slightly "blurry" feel to some of the pix - because I was "out there ").
So ... I turn in for work this morning to be told "Isn't this your holiday week ??" Apparently it is (cue "What a Plonker" comments) - hey-ho ... however ... "while you're here do you mind doing 5 hours overtime ??" ... so I did ... One interesting pointer of course is ... if it's a weeks holiday, I've got Saturday off ... so I can (football-wise) go for something different/long journey etc etc ... we'll see what might be tempting ...
.
After a wet (and some !!!) morning at work, I managed to get to Hurst Cross about 10 minutes after kick-off - to find Ashton United already 1-0 up - here's the rest ..
and lost out on Quiz Night at the Britannia on a bloomin tie-breaker ... tomorrow (well today) - a truck-load of stuff to do in the morning - and a local derby in the afternoon ... .
Also .. it would be good to instil the same frame of mind into some of the "older but obviously not wiser" who have crawled out of the woodwork following recent events ...
Really am .. what has this country come to ... the rich and powerful are laughing at us all whilst we the "lower classes" squabble and argue amongst each other and decide whether 4 years for stealing a bottle of water is actually long enough when compared to 6 months for tax evasion/expenses fraud totalling thousands, maybe millions of pounds - something that causes far more permanent damage - or let's sit back and watch the financial gamblers on the Stock Markets screw up our pensions, our futures and and any hopes that our youngsters may have whilst listening to the corrupt at the top saying "We're ALL in this together" - while jobs are lost and wages are frozen and rail fares rise by 8% ...
No ... 4 years years for stealing a bottle of water is FAR too lenient ...
I despair - I truly despair ... going to the pub (which no doubt is also full of self-righteous b*st*rds that have NEVER done anyhting wrong in their entire lives ...)
Starting with the birth of the "High Peak Beer Company" - Stockport Market Hall Tuesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday 0900-1600 - over 100 bottled beers and ciders - also draught cider and perry. This comes to you courtesy of Corin - partner of Laura (who used to work in the Computer Department at "THAT place" - you know 'Simon bloody skint bloody bust bloody Carves') - good luck with this new venture !!! Here's the article from the August 2011 edition of "Opening Times" - the local CAMRA magazine ...
Next a cheap house beer in a local pub in Mossley - viz ..
(apologies for pic - it's off my phone !!) - a touch smoother than the normal "Unicorn Bitter" (and 40p per pint cheaper too !!!!)
Plugs over - unless you count this as a plug for the "Manchester Evening News" - or a plug for the UK/North West economy ... back last year (just before I finally "leapt off the dole") I posted summat on here about the MEN "Jobs Supplement" - in those days it was advertised as "12 Pages of Jobs" - and I "broke it down" somewhat (check out the original post if you can be *rsed). So - 14 months on - and I spot this billboard outside ye locale shoppe ...
hmmmmmmmmm .... especially when you consider the "12 pages" of 14 months ago actually equated to about 6 ... God only knows how the 5 pages break down ...
... and finally - I mentioned some "slightly less than green" tomatoes yesterday - here they are ...
I've now got the bug - look out next year - I'm going for a big of fruit & veg growing "BIG TIME" (our potato sacks arrived just too late this year !!).
... or maybe Toms (why not go for a title that "jumps out" ???)
The magical tomato "adventure" has hit a problem - as in one of the stalks just "snapped off" due to the weight of toms/way it was planted/whatever ...
... which left me with ...
First word I heard was wash 'em, dry 'em, wrap 'em in newspaper and stick 'em somewhere dark ..." - which is what I did - I later found out that I could have tried to rescue the stalk by putting it in water and changing it every day and after a while re-planting - whatever ... there's still three plants 'hanging' in there - and a couple of the toms are heading towards the "red" colour as well.
Football - can't be bothered at the moment ...
Politics - can't be bothered at the moment - although this side of things has really opened my eyes on the views of certain people who I would have put down as friends/drinking/footy buddies ... there's SO much I could say on the whole thing - but I have to be careful as if I said something like "The Government is POO" - or "Let's Wreck Mossley on Friday Night" - I could well end up being A) hung drawn and quartered B) Jailed for Life C) transported to the colonies - 'exceptional circumstances call for exceptional sentencing' (unless you're a corrupt politican/ corrupt TV mogul/ corrupt newspaper hack/corrupt football star - so many role models to respect - HA ! ) an eye for an eye etc ... I've even seen/read well-known(and some not so well-known) racists advocating Sharia Law (as if they've any clue what this actually is !!). It's so sad to see the so-called "lower end" of this country basically kicking sh*t out of each other while the REAL criminals are just sitting in their (very rich) Ivory Towers laughing at us all ... just the way the 'Rich and Powerful' like it.
Amazing to think that back in the early 19th Century, Manchester saw the "Peterloo Massacre" - and these 'rioters' were subsequently lauded ... and did anyone watch "Quadrophenia" on the telly last night ?? .
... in between vistitors last night (with associated barbie), a walk round Curbar and Froggatt Edge today (more pix to come), and cooking more food tonight (mostly barbie left-overs !!!) ... I'm trying (!) to get my head around the intricacies of back-focussing, front-focussing and lens micro-adjustments on the 50D - having "played" with a couple of different lenses today - I'm starting to think that the 70-200 is having "issues" with the 50D (in fact I DID mention it a week or so ago after the Curzon/Barton game, thinking it might have been a "SmiffyTwitch") - many ways to test/solve - including banging it on the 20D for Tuesday night's footy ... as wll as printing off some fancy autofocus test chart ... damn - I've got to go to work in the morning as well !
Ashton United v Matlock Town Curzon Ashton v Radcliffe Borough Eastwood Town v Droylsden Hyde FC v Worcester City Nuneaton Town v Stalybridge Celtic Ossett Town v Mossley
Take your pick ... and kick the over-hyped, over-priced stuff into touch ... .
... and it was nowt to do with "safety reasons" ... tonight's game of choice was to be Oldham Boro v Daisy Hill in the North West Counties League Division One. However the weather put paid to that ... and I got wet during the day as well !! .
... are the state of things to come ... remember (if you're old enough ... otherwise Google) ...
Brixton - - - - Toxteth - - - - Moss Side
30 years ago ...
I DO NOT CONDONE LOOTING ... but I support wholeheartedly any protest against the sh*t we are all suffering now - and the sh*t that we will ALL be suffering as it all gets worse - which it will - witness the financial markets of today - these are the short-term financial "decisions" that are killing people's savings, people's pensions, people's futures. Yes - unemployment will rise, and IS rising (despite the ridiculous figures/lies that the "government" are spewing out) - but the global financial crisis is gonna hit more than the 18-25 year olds in this country - it's gonna screw the 50-60 year olds as well - we're already being told we've failed on our pension contributions (NOT OUR FAULT) - we're being made redundant after giving faithful/loyal service to companies (NOT OUR FAULT) - goalposts are being moved all the bloody time (NOT OUR FAULT) - we've done what everyone told us to do from age 18/21 - now - at age 55+ we're being sh*t on - meanwhile the government is telling peeps to work until they're 90 or something like that - and so the 18-25 years unemployment continues to rise ... the powder keg is there ...
Meanwhile - on message boards/Orange/BBC/comment options we still get the "hang the b*st*rds" vitriol from the "I'm All Right" sector - who are mostly clueless about what's really going on in this country (and 95% of 'em can't even bloody spell - just goes to show who are actually running the asylum) - wait until some of these self-righteous b*st*rds get sh*t on as well - it WILL happen ...
London today ... the rest of the country to come (a shame that a REAL protest WILL be hi-jacked by the low-life who have spent their life screwing benefits out of the country - this is where it all goes wrong). Don't forget though - we do have a government that condones this sort of rioting when it happens in Libya/Syria etc ...
... with the 'big guns' of FC Halifax Town at Ashton United - and FC United of Manchester at Stalybridge Celtic ...... I had to go for the "unusual" of course; I mean how often will you see a team from Bedfordshire "oop north" for a pre-season friendly ?? OK it transpires that they were apparently on a stag do in Manchester on the Saturday night - and looking at the game, it DID seem that a few minds were not quite on the football side of the weekend !!
So - a comfortable win for Curzon in the end, with some pictures at
... still not "quite there" with the new camera - when using "centre-point" focus, some pix seem to be drifting to the right a wee bit - I "think" it might be me twitching slightly as I press the shutter, because it's not a consistent fault with all the piccies - hey-ho ... "the more pictures I take the luckier I'll get" (mantra according to Snapper from Belper Town !!)
and yes it was a fairly "easy to recognize" Curzon Ashton team as well, with about 95% having played at Mossley over the last couple of seasons; and the afternoon stayed dry as well - which was more than can be said for Saturday morning when I copped for it big style - thunder, lightning, typhoons (well not quite - let's just say A LOT of rain !!). Back out "in the countries" for the first three days next week - and I also notice that most of the "local" pre-season friendlies have finished, what with the league games starting next Saturday - I'm sure we'll find something though ... .
I know of this train - 'tis the 'Scarborough Flyer' that runs every Friday during the summer - I was waiting for my bus to work at 0915 this morning - but all I had was my phone ...
.... and don't talk to me about work today - won't go into detail (i.e. about all the stuff that should have been done before I arrived ... but wasn't !) , but the first letter I pushed through a door was at 1150 hrs - as in ten minutes to midday. OK so I got some O/T today ... but from a customer point of view and even from a Smiffy point of view ... it's just wrong ... plus it was once again a "new walk" for me - which also makes it longer. Hey ho ...
Hoping to start on my agreed time and finish at a sensible time tomorrow in or order to get somewhere near 90 minutes of football - wait on ... .
... or "About time you slacker" (picture-wise) - I got there in the end (only 48 hours behind !) - not totally brill but I have been having some problems with lenses ... I think they're OK but ...
In short, Stalybridge Celtic are starting to look useful; much improved from the team that played Man City before my hols !!
Day off today - but I went into work anyway (just had a holiday - need the money - plus subsidising two scroungers at home as well) - and got suitably WET. And yes - Mrs Smiffy and I DID go to see the final part of the "Harry Potter saga" last night - in glorious 2D of course (what's with this £2-10 "uplift" for 3D films - plus 80p for the spex - obviously just another large company - I'm talking Cineworld here - taking the p*ss - and the profits ...) - very good it was too - just a few "deviations" from the book, but all tidied up (well Voldemort was suitably "tidied up" at the end !!!).
Struggling to play catch-up on the main "Six Tame Sides website" - amazing what a week - well nearly 10 days - can do. We'll get there ... Saturday looks like a trip to the Tameside Stadium to watch Curzon Ashton play Barton Rovers of the Zammo League (bit of a bugger really - Mossley have a friendly "down the Butthole" at Shepshed Dynamo - it would have been nice to take a wander down there and see some "old friends" ... but hey that's recession, redundancy and a new working pattern for you - well for me anyway !!).
... in more ways than one - work OK - another "new one" to tick off - strange weather though ... VERY humid - only gripe this week so far is Housing Association Flats - in some of the blocks there's just no-one there, so "NO ACCESS" is this weeks 'endorsement of choice' !!.Other "chunks of "normality" ...- listening to someone on the radio this morning telling me (and all other over-50s) I've NOT been putting enough into my pension scheme/schemes (it wasn't a comedy programme either - just another one of these moneygrabbing short-termist bar stewards from the "financial sector" - you know the sort - thieving scum)- tomatoes - have been doing really well in my absence (although I had sorted out a watering schedule with "homeboys" whilst we were away ) - here's one pic ...
I tried to count the whole thing (4 plants) in total - and I got bored after 70 ... so an 8 seed packet for £2-99 is certainly going to pay for itself ... OK - I went to the Orkneys ... and - like it or not - everyone should (?) go to this small village (more like a hamlet really) just to say "I've been there ...". There are signs pointing you there, but no signs to say "you are there" ... however, here's a small piccie taken in the churchyard of said place ... apologies if it upsets/offends anyone - but you just HAVE to do it (they even sell mugs in Kirkwall, so ...).
Up for some football tonight (Stalybridge Celtic v Chester FC) - just been thinking ... this new camera has yet to do a Saturday afternoon game - plenty of time yet - it's only JUST August !!! .
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