The Evening after the Night Before .....

.... people can read amazing things into numbers - especially when you throw in a chunk of media-speak ... I have this problem in that I've always loved numbers ... I may have only got a Grade 4 on "O" Level Maths back in '73 (blame Monday nights at the Top of the World in Stafford !) but as life went on, numbers became my friends .. my degree thesis/dissertation in 1982 was entitled "Unemployment Statistics - Complexity or Complicity ?" (and it was those 20,000 words that bumped up my degree !!!).

Anyway I ramble ...

"Tories hail European Advances" - share of vote up a gigantic 1% to 28.6% ...

BNP gain 2 seats - share of vote up 1.3% ...

Green Party vote up by 2.4% - no gains, same 2 seats ...

13.7% gets you 11 seats (LibDem) 8.6% gets you 2 seats (Green), 6.2% gets you 2 seats (BNP)

132,094 vote one way (get seat) - 127,133 vote another way (get nowt) [BNP v Green in the North West]

You sit (OK stand) there on the 0724 train thinking ... 200 peeps on this (overcrowded/slightly late) bugger ... so 12/13 of them voted BNP - but then you think ... 34% turnout .. so actually there are in fact a maximum of only 8 Fascists on this particular train (bet they've all got seats as well ...) - so it probably equates to the total number of "Sun" readers on the train as well (purely coincidental I'm sure !!!!)

OK Labour lost 6.9% of the vote - equating to - 5 seats - equating to 7% of the available seats ..... but apparently that's a complete disaster ...

But it's probably only me that looks at the numbers - everyone else reads a politically-sympathetic newspaper - and the gullible, and the paranoid, and the xenophobic and the trendy can believe/be duped accordingly

Stick me with guys/gals - read the Metro freebie - more bland than Bobby ...

Duped - I'm sure I am as well ...

...last word on this has to be thinking of UKIP - moaning about the fold in the (huge) voting paper which "hides" the party at the bottom .... Why not call yourselves the "Aardvark Party" (yes I thought about saying something else - tee hee ...) ...

Never mind - football (of sorts !) on Wednesday (and Andorra have NO SEATS in the Euro Parliament) ....
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Flaming June ?? Ha ...!

We spent the morning "mucking out" as they say in stable-speak - but this was house-based ! We are big on recycling at Chez Smiffy - big buckets marked "Glass", "Plastic" and "Cans" - if only Mossley had a cardboard skip as well .....

After a full morning (and part afternoon) tidying up, Mrs Smiffy and our Michelle went out shopping so I naturally felt the urge to do something despite the poo-weather - I went to watch the mighty Ingerland play the 132nd best team in the world ("Railway" in Greenfield - drinking E&S "Beyond the Pale") - and had that early chance gone in, and if the liner had been thinking "advantage to the attacking team"and "level", they'd have been two down in 20 minutes - once they were two up though there was no way back for Borat United .

65th anniversary of D-Day as well today - touched a few nerves for me this one, because five years ago there was a very very big "do" in France - for the 60th anniversary natch. Mrs Smiffy's dad was on one of those landing crafts (LCT 150 if I remember rightly) going into Sword Beach, so we'd arranged all sorts of the stuff for Ted and Win to go over to the commemoration "stuff" - we were going to drive him over, we'd arranged accommodation (it was a fairly complex thing with many official forms to fill) .... sadly Ted died in May 2004, a month before it all went off ... so watching a programme on Five early this afternoon was a little bit upsetting - listening to the survivors and thinking "My Dad-in-Law was there" and "They could have been interviewing Ted" - he never told us much about the whole thing until 2004 - we never asked ..... we understood why - wouldn't you - especially when you listen to those still alive who do talk ...

Politics ?? Not tonight - I await (with dread ?) the Euro-results tomorrow - just to see how much people care about life outside "Little Britain" ........ ironic really when you've got stuff like UKIP and No2EU - truly a strange society in this country these days ...
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Whit Friday ...

....weather has "not permitted" !!

See what the weekend brings .....

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Struggling with Vista/Voting/Lotus Notes ...

...managed somehow to download pix onto Vista laptop from babycam - fiddled with them but not sure how to compress like you could with Windows XP Picture & Thingummy wotsit (PS elements does a bit but ..) ... check out ... tonight's crazy-size voting slip - we turned up at about 2000 (with two hours to go) and the two pathetic-sized ballot boxes were "brimming" - we were told by the "electoral staff" that people had been "folding incorrectly" - what cr*p - obviously Tameside were expecting a p*ss poor turn-out and had left two tiny bins accordingly - and neither of the electoral staff actually asked me "are you Michael Smith of ...... etc" like I was taught to do when I did elections back in the early 80s - seems people can't even do this task properly these days .... here goes ... oops please ignore the X !!!



After the voting experience (and using a bloody teaspoon to squeeze my paper in - I kid you not !) ... a walk down the Stockport Road towards a pub - windy weather decreed the "Church" i.e. first one ... but on the way we got an interesting view of the building works for the "new Mossley Hollins" skool - looks more like a quarry, but then again Mossley is in a valley so you're either up/down one side or down/up t'other (our house on the hill .. two storeys at the front , three at the back - with a secret fourth storey in the loft mind !!) ... I digress .. see the new "Mossley Quarry" ...



.. and on .. they were selling Thwaites "Wainwright" in the "Church" (PRICE CHECK TIME .... £2-57 in the Church .... £2-50 at Saddleworth CC on Saturday !) ....I had a couple !!!

Home - to find out that little James Purnell has decided to call it a day - a clever resignation AFTER the Euros (unlike that twonk Blears) - however little Jimmy, it still doesn't hide the fact that you used to claim - on a REGULAR basis - £400 per month for food - and you're only 4 foot 9 inches ! Actually you end up looking no cleverer than "Motorbike Blears", or "No relation Jacqui" - you have all still cheated us - I'm looking to put together list of essential phrases that we the real people can use - you know what I mean .. "inadvertant administrative error", "accidental claim", "mucky moat" and other such bullsh*t - it seems to work if your name is suffixed by the letters "MP" - wonder what happens for us........

We won't know the Euro-results until Sunday - may give Gordon Brown time to construct a "sensible exit" - may give me time to wangle around in Vista and find a way to compress pix to the 25-50k "web" size ! Got a new toy off EBay as well today.. a usb Compact Flash Card Reader - looks cute and may well assist me in getting pix off "bigcam" onto this 'ere laptop - to be tested later (not tonight tho !)).

Tomorrow is Whit Friday up here ... Whit Walks in Mossley in the morning (everywhere else had their walks last Sunday - Mossley has always had this "special" - cus we're "special" !), and Brass Band Contests throughout the area in the evening. When the kids were small I always had Whit Friday off as a holiday (cus the skools were off so ...) - these days it's just another day .. until the evening. Since the "New Bridge" option died a death - no contest last year or this ....w eather permitting, our option is up the canal to the Friezland venue (they have an outside beer trestle table - with Millstone Brewery stuff on the handpump !) and then probably up to Greenfield - the "Railway" and then through the village - checking out the bands - to the "Clarence", and then bridle path back to Mossley. But it's all WEATHER PERMITTING - it's been great all week - fingers crossed for tomorrow...

Oh and Lotus Notes ?? Today I gave the "Singapore Server" a thorough "tidy" - tomorrow we p*ss about with the "Geordie Server" (OK it's in Wilton/Teesside but hey ....) I'll get this stuff sorted ... eventually !
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On your bike Blears .....

.... slowly but surely, the thieves are falling on their swords - Ms Blears especially picks her moment just before the Euro-elections ... she's obviously made enough "cash" to cope with "life after eccies" and b*ll*x to you all. (Emily Pankhurst must be turning in her grave..) So.. Gordon Brown to go ?? Anyone out there think of an adequate stand-in in the Labour Party ?? Diddy David Cameron as a ready-made Tory replacement ? ... my *rse ... (p.s. the leader of the Liberal Party is .... errr ... Ming .... no he was in Flash Gordon ... errr that bloke out of "Last of the Summer Wine" .. yeah yeah .. Clegg that's him)

What a bunch we've got ... never mind, look on the bright side - over in the good ol' US of A, Barack Obama has finally shed his "vote me in" persona and jumped into Dubya's coat ... at least we know what to expect over here (see the "all p*ssing in the same pot" from last night).

With the Euros upon us I can only offer ...

http://www.labour.org.uk/

http://www.conservatives.com/

http://www.libdems.org.uk/ (if you can get it to work !!)

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/

http://www.ukip.org/

http://no2eu.com/

http://bnp.org.uk/ purely in the interests of democracy (unlike themselves)

I'm fairly certain there are some other parties available to mark your X .... you choose ....
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Late Football Update ... Mossley-based

comes like this - straight off the message board courtesy Dydo...

"Steve Astley has been in contact today and asked if we could have an "informal" shareholders meeting (he being the major shareholder). He wants to clear up all the rumours that are floating around as they are begining to damage Mossley AFC. He is away until Tuesday 9th so I have sugested Weds 10th (venue and time to be confirmed).
He wants me to stipulate that the ins and outs of the money side of things may not be discussed but wants to get across what is going on. He is doing this as a fellow shareholder as he is no longer the Chairman but feels people need to know.
As of yet I dont know if any directors or board members will attend but I'm quite sure once this is posted my phone won't stop lol.
At the end of the day each and every one of us wants Mossley afc to go forward and win games of football"

A step in the right direction ....
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Tuesday Ramblings ......

.... Jacqui Smith is NO RELATION - another thieving bar steward prepares to bite the dust - no doubt after sorting out out suitable pay-offs etc etc. For me the only "slight" worry this week is that the reaction against all these thieving bar stewards in the House of thieving Commons will - for many - be to end up voting for the Fascists on Thursday - well that's a step in the right direction isn't it ?. In days gone by I could never understand how so many people would say "Conservatives are cr*p - I'm voting Labour this time" or vice versa ... let's swing from far left (right) to far right (left) - naturally these days it's not so obvious (viz they're ALL slightly right of centre and all p*ssing in the same pot !) - so a vote for the fascists is going from right to ............................ whoaaaaa !!!

"Six Tames Sides" advises all to vote Green, Independent, or at a pinch LibDem (not too many stories of LibDems with their noses in troughs - yet). UKIP, No2EU ... just watered-down Nationalists really.

But wait .. you didn't come on here for a PPBroadcast - did you ? Football ? A meeting up at Mossley Social Club next Tuesday - sounds ominous purely because of the lack of "official feedback" - the phrase being used is, "They're not sure what's going on" - that wears a bit thin ... THEY SHOULD - THEY RUN THE BLOODY CLUB (the caps lock equates to "angry shareholder" there ... !!!).

What else - a babycam "clear-out" reveals this motley bunch .... A neighbour's washing line - Man United all "washed up" after last Wednesday ...



Last Friday's barbie in back yard ....



Back yard looking cheerful in the good weather ...



Tonight's beautifully presented salad platter(constructed by moi !!!)



Just gone wild on EBay - they offered me a "£4 off" voucher - so I bought a £3-99 (dodgy ?) DVD - Barrow v Stalybridge Celtic Play-Off @ Burton Albion last season - I'll be looking out for me behind the goal !!!

And talking of "behind the goal" ... it's time for a little bit of self-indulgence - piccie courtesy of Martin Keaney - taken "down south" on the 10th May 2009 ....



... come the "moment of doom" at the "Tower of Doom", I'll need stuff like this for the CV !!

(and for the foodies ... we had Tiger bread, dolmades, hummus, spinach falafels, salami, chorizo, hard-boiled egg, olives, cucumber, onions, mature cheddar and feta !!!!!)
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Saddleworth CC v Droylsden CC

... you were expecting Everton v Chelsea perchance ?

No - when Mrs Smiffy and our Michelle announced their intentions to go down to "big Manc" on Saturday p.m., it confirmed my desire to give cricket a chance .. I've still got this dobbing great 170-500mm lens on "long term loan" and it doesn't get out that often. With it being an f5-f6.3 a bright sunny day is perfick for the smallish aperture.

So .. I walked up to Saddleworth Cricket Club (stopping only at the Woodend Tavern for a glass of Shaws "Golden Globe" - when Neil - Shaws brewer - sticks to a tried a tested recipe - it's good !). Arrived at the cricket at about 1505 - straight into the bar to see handpumps offering Thwaites "Original", Thwaites "Wainwright" - ooh and Everton 1-0 up on the telly !! Wainwright in hand, I sloped off outside to give the lens a bit of a chance - there's also a few "scenery shots" taken with the 28-105 ... check out

Saddleworth CC v Droylsden CC

...come out quite well - particularly the "stumping" piccy.... Saddleworth got 271 for not many, and when I left, Droylsden were in trouble at 50-odd for 6 - some further checking shows they ended up 109 all out - for further details see:

Saddleworth League results from yesterday

A quiet (?) evening in - and early barbie/drink today (our friend Luke was - or will be soon - 21) .. and then home to this.

News on Mossley AFC ?? The silence was deafening ......................
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Mossley join the "In the Doo Doo" Club ...

... not to be outdone by Hyde (£200,000 down), Stalybridge (2 sponsors down) and Stafford Rangers (£50k down) and Kings Lynn (going down - today's apeal fell on deaf ears apparently - pathetic really!) ... Mossley announce (or not actually - tis all gossip, hearsay, conjecture,b*ll*x - not unlike work !!!) Chairman resigns and Company Secretary and Commercial Manager resign - last two apparently on the grounds of "ill health" - well that's the "official unofficial statement" anyway..

Just while I think of something else to wobble on about, try this link ....

Attendance Details 2008/09 (courtesy Kings Lynn)

Today's "State of the Nation" meeting at work .... I came out ... still in employment ... not much else to say really - although the phrase "possibly no pay review" touched a nerve - a department of 10 - now down to 4 - computer systems/development/support is still required whether you're an office of 1,00 or 100, and if I'm "theoretically" covering mine and three "redundant" jobs (that aren't redundant !), I WILL be looking for some renumeration benefit - else they may find "zero" people covering four jobs ... we shall see.

Until then I will keep dragging myself in ... I have a big Quality Street tin full of 1p/2p coins with "My Pension" stuck on the top - you may laugh !?!?

Oh yes I did watch most of "that game" last night - and I've not yet met a Red who hasn't said "best team won"/"we were poor" etc etc - a refreshing change - even "Taggart" has left his "list of excuses" firmly in his sporran - I mean how can a Messi "little dwarf" beat highly paid (and 100% fit ???) Rio £erdinand in the air ?? naturally the jokes have poured in via e-mail and txt (open-top bus reversing into the garage - welder to put top on - floods in Liverpool - you know 'em all I'm sure).

Just hope "eco-Stuart" has made it home - he went by train (he'll probably be fine until he gets to Dover when it will all go pear-shaped !)
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Money Money Money ...

... or lack of ... we all know what's occurring locally - Hyde United's winding up order (put off for six weeks - £200,000 apparently), Stalybridge Celtic lose their main sponsor ( Cuticura - I've told Mrs Smiffy to buy other products !) - money is going to be well tight at the Conference level so God help those below (including Mossley - to put it bluntly - and I do NOT wish to offend - we need more deaths locally - if you don't get it , check out Mossley's main sponsor - you'll understand).

The whole money business means that all the promotion/relegation/play-off stuff starts to become totally bloody meaningless. Look at Curzon Ashton - beaten by Newcastle Blue Star who are now in the sh*t and unlikely to start next season. A few years ago, we were enthralled by the North/South divide / "club shuffle" when it came to promotion/relegation (of course with a added soupcon of "ground grading") - now it's a question of going bust/going into administration (oops there goes 10 points) - with still the ridiculous "ground grading" rules - look at Kings Lynn - funding in order via council who decide to wait until close season - not good enough apparently - they'll laugh that one out in court if it gets that far !!!

What's brought this up tonight for me is that - at a meeting tonight - Stafford Rangers have announced that unless they pay a £50k bill before early July, they're in admin - yes there are other (substantial) debts, but that's the killer - £50k .. three days wages for Christiano Ronaldo - two years salary for many of us - a mere 20 "moat cleans" for some MP ...

Why not just forget the football and just play it out as a board game - "Monopoly" with the non-league "add-on" ... or if you're a potential non-league football club sponsor, I'd go for "Risk" instead !

Still cr*p at work by the way - look out for the "State of the Nation" posting late Thursday night ;-)
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Away From it All ??

... well almost ... Friday off work, driving down towards Clun and Church Stretton and mobile goes off ... 'twas "our boys in India", who got short shrift from Mrs Smiffy viz "He's driving" and "He's on holiday/leave". After nightmares on the M6 we got to Clun for a good 9.5 miler before heading over to Church Stretton and the rented cottage. A very relaxing break (Saturday an 8.5 miler over the Long Mynd followed by barbie in the garden, Sunday a 5.25 miler round Caer Caradoc (but not "up it" !) followed by a cracking Bangladeshi meal at the "Jaipur" (hmm ... if you understand the hmm, you obviously did geography as well !!) and today a wander round Hawkstone Park Follies (short but fairly strenuous !) Did someone mention work ?? Checked me work e-mail tonight - nothing stands out as drastic (although everyone WILL think they are the most important thing since sliced bullsh*t !) - we'll see what tomorrow brings ..... can't wait ....

Meanwhile .. a few snapperoonies from the weekend:

FRIDAY - The builders are in at Clun Castle ..



FRIDAY - A chunk of Offa's Dyke no less ...



SATURDAY - wet water (and "longish" exposure !) on the way up Carding Mill Valley ..



SATURDAY - From the Top of the Long Mynd ...



SATURDAY - Near the end - a pint of Woods Parish Bitter @ Green Dragon in Little Stretton



SUNDAY - Nice setting for Church Stretton CC ..



MONDAY - The Monument @ Hawkstone Park Follies ..



MONDAY - some of the caves/tunnels @ Hawkstone Park ...



... got plenty more but .....
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When Football Goes Bad ....

.... OK, a little OTT there - could be watching Werder Bremen vs Shaktar Donetsk (1-1 after 50 minutes BTW) - but we need to look elsewhere for our fun (?!?). Why not start with a railway rant (not had too many of them for a while !). The new timetable kicked in on Saturday 16th - this photograph was taken on Stalybridge Station this very morn ...



"We apologise for the delay ...... etc etc" - marvellous eh what ? Oh and tonight .. signalling problems in the Urmston/Flixton area meant train to Stalybridge severely delayed ...

No doubt regular readers thrilled at the excitement of the "redundancy/sack race" at my place of employ a couple of months ago - I managed to stay in work but even then, many were saying "Who are the lucky ones ?". Now today we've uncovered this on t'internet - no official missive to "us the leftovers", just a few words from a press conference several thousand miles away. You might have noticed that during that period I never once mentioned the "company name" - maybe for fear of retribution - I like to feel a certain amount of "professionalism/discretion" myself - but when stuff like the following appears on the internet you feel "What's the point ?" - so I give you .... our leader, Atul Punj .....

Going down the pan ?

... meanwhile we attempt to furnish his opulent Mayfair office with decent computer kit ... but are told/ordered by other senior PL staff "not to buy new" - he's gonna love it when he turns up on Saturday to see the "Steptoe & Son" gear - our fault naturally (!)

Strange really - the redundancy kerfuffle began just before my "25th Anniversary Week Off" - this little beauty now turns up just before my "Long Weekend in Shropshire", viz I take Friday off and no doubt miss loads of official-type sh*t.

What next ... taking Friday off invariably means working late on Thursday to satisfy the desire of self-important b*st*rds (usually the obscenely-paid agency scum) who use words like "need" and "urgent" - usually to cover for their complete and utter inefficiency earlier in the project ... lack of foresight /proactiveness - and complete ignorance of company procedure (that REALLY p*sses me off) - together with so much other stuff that - being the rookie Lotus Notes "guru" (HA !) - I have started to unearth .............

Like Johnny says ... "It's getting scary" - not scary scary, but totally lunatic crazy scary - and that's even scarier ...

Watch this space - at least there's something to rabbit on about - oh and I bought a new flashgun off EBay last night, as part of my "make it look professional if nowt else" way forward .... now just missing the 85mm f1.8 !!!
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Anderton Boat Lift ...

... on a mostly poo-weather Sunday ...

Anderton Boat Lift

no pictures of the Salt Museum though .... can you cope ....
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Stockport Georgians 3 Pennington 0 - UPDATED ...

... and that's it for now - we have:

a) visitors
b) boy on main pc

will do my best tomorrow....

TOMORROW (i.e. today @ 2115) .. we're getting there ... here's yesterday's footy pix from Cromley Road ...

Stockport Georgians 3 Pennington 0

... and it was good to see Malc Torkington at the game (ex work colleague at the "Tower of Doom") - his lad is the captain of Stockport Georgians...).

Today - amongst the cr*ppy weather - we looked something new - I said "how about a 'quirky museum' ??" - so - one Google later ... we went to Northwich - saw the Anderton Boat Lift (pictures to follow !!) ... and then went to the Salt Museum in the old Northwich Workhouse ... and IT WAS very interesting ...every now and then you've just GOT to get away from the same old boring stuff

Next on the list - Penny Farthing Museum (Knutsford I think), the Umbrella Museum (near Little Moreton Hall ?) and other such stuff ... there's a Bakelite Museum somewhere ... now then ....
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May Weather ....

... and I'm NOT talking about Floyd - or even "Junior" (if you're already lost - Google it ! ) .... last Sunday at Wembley Central it was brilliant (unless you were trying to take photos - the light/shade split at Wembley is a bit of a pain !) ... thence to Monday at Curzon for the Vodkat Final - read all the boards ... I have to agree, it was (with the "wind chill factor") almost sub-zero (and I'd taken gloves/heat pads out of camera bag - it is mid-May for Frith's sake !). Since then the gale force winds have continued - witness tree damage at the bottom of our street ....




... and it's still bloody raining far too much - it's just like Dec/Jan/Feb - when you start to make sure you have the necessary contact phone numbers, just in case. Tomorrow should be Stockport Georgians v Pennington in the Manky League - fortunately with the Stockport train connection, I can check this one out knowing that (same league) there is Chapel Town v Elton Vale (that's Chapel as in Chapel-en-le- Frith) - also possible by train from Stockport ...

Tonight (with Mrs Smiffy being "out"), I'd thought about nipping up to the "Railway" @ Greenfield to watch a bit of the MK Dons v Scunny match .. but the weather said "Naaa" !!! It's 0-0 @ half-time according to "interweb scorecentre stuff" - I'll keep an eye on it whilst watching "Thunderbirds" on SCI FI + 1 !!!

Plus it's time I put together "my day" last Sunday ...
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Music/Politics ... NOT football ...plus rant !!

.. a welcome change (??) after a hectic few weeks of "Strictly Football" !!

Sat in front of the telly watching "Green Day: From the Beginning" on 4Music ...and thoroughly enjoying it. One thing about the satellite music channels - there ISN'T one called "MusicFilms" or equivalent - there are loads of music films out there, and it would be marvellous if they had their own dedicated channel. Films I would tout for would be stuff like "Woodstock", "This is Spinal Tap", "Still Crazy", "Once", "Monterey Pop" - even "Abba - The Movie" is preferable to watching dozens of crap music videos on the "Crap Music Video Channel" or whatever. I'd even be tempted to subscribe to said channel if MoneyManiacMurdoch were to set it up (be much nicer to see "VHMusicFilms" or something similarly cheap/free !).

Anyway we've done the Green Day back catalogue - and I still like the "American Idiot" stuff .. I know many people didn't due to the political stance. They thought GD were jumping on an anti-war bandwagon - so bloody what ?? The music was still good (what's wrong with a concept album/opera style - worked for many bands previously) - and think ... an American band going anti-American - strange that GD seemed to get less flak than others - the Dixie Chicks got some fearful press/hate/boycotts for espousing the same views ... and I'll be honest, the vid for "Wake Me Up when September Ends" still brings tears to my eyes - just sums up the total futility of war - even an illegal war - and the sh*t that death/murder will cause. Many years before Green Day (i.e. "When I were a lad") there were loads of bands/artists on the anti-war stance - don't see it as jumping on a bandwagon ... more as expressing a feeling, a view ... we've all got them ....and it's good that certain people/groups etc with "influence" can use it.

And if any MP comes round to my door during these Euro-elections I will certainly expressing my views - and naturally handing over a bagful of receipts that I have been saving up for whichever of the thieving b*st*rds turns up. It's worth noting that up to now we've only "uncovered" the thieving antics of the 650 crooks down House of Commons way .... I await with interest the figures from the Euro-MPs ... you know as well as I do, that they're all p*ssing in the same pot - and if I meet that Hazel Blears in the flesh I won't be waving a cheque in her face - she - and all the other crooked b*st*rds should be facing jail terms - it's always the rich who get away with it - and yes I count £64,000 (before expenses etc ..) as rich - just don't get me on those (even richer) tw*ts like Ferdinand or Ronaldo who appear incapable/unable to find a legal parking space/pay parking fees in the Manchester area - they're up there with the MP s as far as I'm concerned ...

We seem to have moved away from music ... and football is miles away at the moment (although I believe Millwall have "done" Leeds, looking at the Facebook 'comments' !!!) ... we're now onto the "Green Day @ Abbey Road" playing some old stuff and some more off the new album - that's where our Michelle should be working .. unfortunately, unlike football, "promotion playoffs" don't exist in that biz !!

Quick music update - just seen the Paula Abdul video for "Opposites Attract" - not seen that for many many years - cracking vid and a cute little tune as well !
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I'll pay for this in the morning ... !!!

Sorted out the New Mills/Runcorn pix as well .....

http://mossleysmiffy.jalbum.net/NewMillsRuncornVLFinal/

Now to sleep !!
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FA Vase Final Pix now up ...

... well a goodly selection anyway .. enjoy what you can - in total all day (0645 - 2200) I took just under 300 pix - and some of them were on baby Fuji. The two guys next to me in the "snapper lounge" after the game reckoned they'd done 1200+ between them - of just the game ! I say get a video camera !!

Glossop NE 0 Whitley Bay 2

Should say more now - what a great day out ! Spoke to a number of "Hillmen" (and women) after the game, on the train home etc. and they all concurred .. wrong result but - hey "once in a lifetime" ? Maybe not - greed should kick in now as in "same again next year" ..

Personally, I was treated like a king from arrival at 1300 to depature at about 1700 - possibly for me a "once in a lifetime" trip into media heaven (no way would I get in to an FA Cup Final - I bet it's bedlam in the media area for the big games) - and what a a fantastic stadium as well. My first time at the "new" Wembley - and certainly my first time "legally pitchside" (here I should talk quietly about the 1979 FA Trophy Final when I scaled the fences, kissed the turf in the goalmouth - and got chucked out - but it might affect any future applications - I was very young (22 ?) and stupid then !) - as I said in an earlier post, quite awe-inspiring when you walk out - so respect to the players who actually had to "do a bit" while I sat on my a*se going "click" !!

I've got so much more to say about Sunday - but I STILL haven't really had the time to sit down properly and write it all out (trust me I WILL) - last night being the Vodkat League Cup Final being the reason for the delay - and I'm sure there are some saying "Where's the bl**dy New Mills pix ?? SLACKER !!".

I'm getting there - and for those still looking ... Saturday brings a game - Stockport Georgians v Pennington in the Manchester League (note 1400 kick-off).

Tomorrow - the New Mills/Runcorn pix .....
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New Mills 2 Runcorn Linnets 0 ...

... in the Vodkat League Cup Final tonight / last night. Two opportunistic strikes in the first half ... and some real "rearguard action" in the second half saw the Millers as deserved winners tonight.

And that's all you get for now I'm afraid ... just spent the last 90 minutes selecting pix from Sunday - promise faithfully there'll be some FA Vase stuff up tomorrow/later this evening - and then Wednesday I can do the match tonight / last night .... so much to do and so little time to etc etc ...

(PS Well done Blades tonight / last night !!)
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A Long Day ...

... left this morning at 0645 - home about 2200 - so much I should say about the day - in so many areas - trains OK - weather OK - beer expensive - and so on ... but I don't think I could do it justice at this late hour - y'know silly little things like men in ties with "New Mills FC" on my train - chatting to Rab and Peter in the "Crock of Gold" (and then getting enveloped by Whitley Bay fans !!) - the feeling of total awe/WOW when I came out onto pitch-side (God alone knows how the players felt when they ran out) ... and I met Eric Marsh (now if you know Waynes World ref Alice Cooper ... "We're not worthy..." - THAT'S Eric Marsh . and I believe it was a Nikon F2 Film camera as well ... respect !

I will do a bit more - plus getting some more pictures up (I've put a couple on the GNE message board site) - but tomorrow (OK today) sees a little bit more football @ Curzon Ashton - the Vodkat Cup Final twixt Runcorn Linnets and New Mills.

... maybe those "New Mills ties" will get another outing ....
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Glossop NE 0 Whitley Bay 2

... first impressions - the confident team won - but Glossop gave their all - today just not enough.

They did hit the bar though - here's a "rough and ready" of that ...



S'pose I better go home now - one last complimentary coffee before the "beer hunt" and the "train hunt" - maybe later ......
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Half - past - one .... at WEMBLEY !

.... sat in the photographers lounge !! WOW !!



Today I am "159 PHOTO" ... United have just scored on the screen in front of me ... now I close and go ... pitchside OK toilet first !!!!!!
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Here we go - Here we go - Here we go ...

... Saturday now over - a good day - took the Merc to the tip (!!!!) - noted that the FA Trophy Final appeared to be on Setanta News Channel (viz can watch at home) - OK it was only the first half (had to watch most the second half down the pub) - but clocked the sunshine etc (trying to be professional now - ho ho)

Well done Stevenage - deserved over the 90 minutes - York should not feel disgraced - they got a final - but more importantly they "stayed up" in the BSP this season - now THAT'S the important thing.

Other news from today - "Widowers' Houses" at the Royal Exchange - typical GBS - not enough laughs for me, but the whole landlord/mortgage/ground rent type of stuff was strangely topical - one line that stood out for me - Blanche saying "I hate the poor" - despite living off them ! Other football news - AFC Fylde get the promotion from the North West Counties by beating New Mills 5-0 in front of 1217 peeps ! All they had to do was win - and that would gurantee promotion on goal difference. Feel for New Mills as a "localish" club - but they were a bit rough/cocky when we stuffed 'em in the Manky Cup - and there's a certain jealousy re money !

Anyway - six hours time - on the road/rail to Wembley - come on Glossop ... that's all you can say ...
I'm hoping to have some (rough and ready) pix up on the web very quickly, via the "facilities" available at the Stadium - watch this space ....
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Upcoming Football ....

...yes there's still some knocking about ... Monday we have New Mills v Runcorn Linnets in the Vodkat (alright, North West Counties !) Cup Final @ Curzon Ashton ...

... but first a trip to Wembley on Sunday to see if Glossop can do the business against Whitley Bay in the FA Vase Final ... I asked - the FA said "certainly sir" - so I'm down there on Sunday with an official "photgraphers pass" to my name. Excited - you bet I am !

Saturday sees an evening trip to the Royal Exchange Theatre to see a bit of George Bernard Shaw in "Widowers' Houses" - weather permitting, maybe a walk before ? Naturally we are still awaiting the return of the trusty Astra (I might get another go in the Merc though on Sat !!) - maybe tomorrow (Saturday) maybe not - but it looks like I will be needing a taxi on Sunday morning to get to Stalybridge for the 0719 train to Manchester, thence to London, as daughter is popping home on Saturday which means Mrs Smiffy will probably not be able to give me a lift to Stalybridge on Sunday morn ... something to do with the words "red", "wine" and "sleep" !!!
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Give us a Clue - Number 3

Got a new CF card for the camera today - 2 Gb - a very sensible size ...
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They may have lost a Play-Off Final ....

.... but Belper HAS won the Walkers Crisps "Do us a Flavour" competition .... see

"Builders Breakfast" wins !!!

I've tasted them too (in a pub in Colwyn Bay) - and they're a damn sight better than bloody Doner Kebab Pot Noodles, that's for sure !!
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Give us a Clue - Number 2

... bought my rail ticket today ... and checked out the whereabouts of my passport ...
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Team Lunch @ work Today ...

..Rick brought 'em in ... we had to try ...



I thought they were Godawful (and that was without the chilli sauce sachet - still residing on my desk !!)- Johnny finished mine off - good job I went to Greggs for sausage roll "just in case"... The one spare one will be donated to the panda ! And I think Johnny will be trying the (slightly obscured) chicken tikka masala model tomorrow ...

Me ? Back into "sensible sandwich mode" ....
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Give us a Clue - Number 1

Got two new batteries for the camera - they arrived on Saturday while I was at Belper - took one of them on the Sunday walk - it "died" after two shots..... since re-charged it, left it "fully charged" for 12 hours and tried again - totally bloody drained ... :-( have e-mailed the Ebay seller ref getting a replacement.
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Bank Holiday "Retro Rail Special" ...

... came through Mossley this morning at about 0720 on its way to Bristol and Bath - and ever the saddo OCD non-sleeper, I wandered down to take a few .... here they are:

http://mossleysmiffy.jalbum.net/RetroRail04May09/

Rest of the day ... not much ... weather not brill ... looks like a "housey" sort of day ... zzzzz ...
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"It's Good to Walk" ....

... especially after a lousy football result 24 hours earlier ... so today we did a local 13 miler - after waiting in until 1235 for Mr DriveAssist to come up with a car (a Merc no less !!!!).

Walk - out of front door - 12.9 miles and back in through front door. Some pix below ..

Greenfield Cricket Club - with "Pots and Pans" in the background:


A group of "Killer Sheep" near Dove Stone Reservoir



A "green wall" ...



Two "nervous ones" hiding in the dip (this pic 'enlarges' when clicked on) ...



No football this midweek - so I'll have to find something else to wobble on about .....
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Home and .....

... sulking ...pix from today now up at

It works now - Belper 0 SPS 1

I can only reiterate - a lacklustre performance - no bite up front and a strange lack of confidence - bordering on panic at times - at the back. SPS were first to everything - strange really as the last Belper game I saw was the home win against SPS when Belper were "in their faces" for 90 minutes - today it just wasn't there. It's one of those things I guess - I watched Mossley lose on Wednesday to a team two leagues above ... but they gave their all. Today I feel that the true Belper fans could not say the same about their team .... don't want to get too controversial - I am an outsider after all .. but I've seen many better performances than that this season.

Let's just hope that it's another piece in the DAndy Mansgement "jigsaw" - viz last season the Derbyshire Senior Cup ... this season the Unibond Play-Offs ... next season world domination and a trip to the FA Cup 4th Round ?? When you look at it that way, you can/should feel good. Hopefully the nucleus of the side will stay at the Meadows (word I got from Friday night's presentation "bash" was that ... they will) - and next season will be "Step 3" in the "DAndy Five Year Plan".

What I HAVE forgotten are all the other results today ... a "bridge too far" for Curzon Ashton as they went down 4-1 away at Newky Brown Star (atendance of 0 according to that pile of cr*p called the "Unibond Leage Match Console"), but Ilkeston have made it to the Blue Square (at this moment I daren't say North or South - you know what it's like in football "AdministrativeLand" !) with a 2-1 win over Nantwich after extra-time with 10 men (yep I was getting regular txt updates courtesy Nosmo !) Should come North really .. which opens up Stalybridge, Droylsden and (maybe) Hyde (see my earlier mention of "AdministrativeLand" - see what occurs re Kings Lynn)..

Is that my last game of the season ... well actually no ... I leave it at that for now !!

And one final rant - you've (hopefully) read the missive below ref the "bump" and the car insurance "kerfuffle" - well I get home and Mrs Smiffy tells me that the "courtesy car" people have rung up to say "We haven't got any cars left to give you one ..." - what the f**k is that all about - some people are going to get some serious sh*t over this ... our "long trip to Yorkshire" is naturally "off" (no car) ... and then it's Bank Holiday Monday (there would have been a motorway queue somewhere that we would have wanted to join - !!) and then Mrs Smiffy needs car for work on Tuesday ... and you thought car insurance was a comfort - don't know yet whether to blame Direct Line - I reckon it's down to the incompetent courtesy car "suppliers" - they're called "DriveAssist" - and they don't ......
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On my way home ......

.... from the Belper game - they lost 1-0 to Stocksbridge Park Steels, but more of that later ... I'm in an "internet cafe" in Buxton (Grove Movie Centre) with some time to kill before the train back to Manchester, so I thought I'd have a rant at the "Trans Peak" bus service. I got to Buxton this morning - by train - and when the TP bus arrived - it was full !!! The driver blamed the "free pass syndrome" and could only offer "There's another one in an hour" .... GREAT !!!! I got to Belper in the end by various outlandish means (been all over !!). Tonight coming back I knew that the bus would arrive in Buxton just too late to catch the Manchester train leaving me with approx 57 minutes ..... GREAT !!!

So Trans Peak - I suggest that if you're an "express bus service" you:

a) ban the free passes
b) stick to the main road instead of veering off into Taddington, Ashford etc etc.
c) time your (late)buses to arrive at Buxton to connect with the bloody trains !!!

Rant over - I'm now off to the station to catch the 2029-ish train back to Manc - which will see me back in Mossley ..... late ... I'l try to get something up tonight ... but tomorrow we're on a "big walk" which Mrs Smiffy has been sorting out today ....

Hang on - it's only 1952 - so how about another "rant" - this time to do with car insurance. Mrs Smiffy had a bit of a prang in the car this midweek - some dolt reversed into the car and gave our bumper a bit of a clout - there is a hole and a dent about 5 inches square. T'other "admitted" so our insurance kicked in - and what a bloody kerfuffle that is !!! The insurance company, the company that picks up the car, the company that supplies the courtesy car - God they're all taking a "rake off" - letters coming first class, txts coming onto mobile phones - money money money .... Mrs Smiffy said that if it had been her fault we'd have lived with it (a bit of duck tape etc etc) but once the others admit the vultures are in there big style ! They came to pick our car up at 0700 this morning after a false start yesterday - they're meant to fit in with us, but it's so bloody awkward - I don't even know if the "courtesy car" has arrived yet (hope so - the big walk is supposed to be up Yorkshire Dales way ....). Fingers crossed ....

Anyway - enough of this hi-tec internet cafe stuff (I'll be honest - I've never used one before !!!). Off for a pint before the train ... poss the Kings Head just across the road from where I'm sat !

As Aleksandr would say if he didn't say "Simples" ............................ "laters" ........

One line on the football - the team I saw today was NOT the Belper Town I've been watching this season - a very lacklustre effort indeed. More later - must go (God know how much this costs !!)
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Play-Off Preview

Yes football still exists at our level - we're not reduced to watching Middlesbrough v Man U "on the telly" just yet.

Yes it's 0126 but my match is already decided - I'm off to watch Belper take on Stocksbridge Park Steels in the Unibond 1 South Play-off Final. Naturally it's family reasons for my choice - otherwise I WOULD have travelled up to "oop north" to shout for Curzon (away at Newky Brown Star - Curzon WILL win - I'm sure of that). Other thoughts are naturally with Ilkeston - at home to Nantwich - Nosmo I promise to keep you up to date @ Belper if you can do same at Ilson !!

All I need to do is catch the 0827 out of Mossley ... and I'm ON THE WAY..

C'mon Nailers;
C'mon Curzon;
C'mon Ilson........
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Here We Go ...

...I could say "better late than never" -or "work/life/beer balance" (heavily skewed !!) - or that they were sooo bad I had to call in Professor Photoshop .... you choose ....

Manchester Premier Cup Final 2009

not that bad really - shame about the result ..
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No Disgrace !!

... tonight at Boundary Park in the Manchester Premier Cup Final against (two leagues higher) Droylsden, Mossley gave their all.

They lost 2-1 ...

The pictures are uploading on t'other machine as we speak - time being time (I've been at the "post mortem" in the pub since we got back at 2230 - tis now 0020 !) means I won't get them "up" until this evening - be assured there's some good'uns ! Knowing Carl (Droylsden snapper) like I do, he'll probably do it tonight (!) - check out

The Droylsden View

We played soooo well - the thread title says it all - I leave now to return to t'other machine ...
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Missed Opportunity @ Bookies ....

.... after last night's predictions - I should have gone for a "treble", cus they all came up trumps tonight - a Ryan Hindley goal was enough to ease Belper through, a late Phil Edghill goal saw Curzon "surprise" Skem - but the most exciting game was at the NMG where Ilkeston edged out Kendal Town 4-3 after extra-time.

Tonight I had pc, laptop and mobile phone all to hand in order to keep up - and it's thanks to a large number of people that I probably had a damn sight more enjoyment (I think) than those who went for the Barca/Chelsea option - cus the reactions/info I received came from "honest" fans rather than the corporate bullsh*t you get for "the big boys"....

Let's just see who chooses United v Arsenal over Mossley v Droylsden tomorrow night - sadly it may be rather a lot ...
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This Week ...

.... a lot of important football going on (and no I'm not talking about the UEFA Moneybags League) - OK my attendance this week will be at Boundary Park on Wednesday night for the Manchester Premier Cup Final between Mossley and Droylsden - let's see if the Lilywhites can cause an upset against their Conf North opponents - but 24 hours before that one, there are three other games where I have more than a passing interest - yes the Unibond play-offs begin tomorrow - we have Curzon Ashton @ Skelmersdale (c'mon Curzon), Ilkeston Town at home to Kendal Town (sorry 'Chels', but c'mon Ilson) - but most of all, Belper Town at home to Rushall Olympic (c'mon Rushall ... yeah honest ... !) - fingers and toes - and all sorts of other things will be dutifully crossed for a Nailers win ... this may well affect my Bank Holiday Weekend activities ...

First day at work doing 15 jobs instead of the usual 12 - so far so good (viz no real crisis - that happened last Friday where instead of getting the "last minute tips" from our departing Lotus Notes guru, we had an "Oracle database down" situation which took all bloody morning to solve - God I hate "enthusastic amateurs" .. ) ... tomorrow is naturally the first day of the rest of my working life (!) - let's hang in there ... just don't know what to do with all these "one-third chunks" of Mars Bars - now there's a conundrum for you !!!
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Rossendale United v Mossley

Last night was a "leavers do" at work involving beer in Cheadle Hulme and some beers in Manchester ... followed by a trip to Longsight for some "food with friends". Stayed over before coming back this morning .... it was the last Saturday of the season - with much "still on" in certain areas ... today's job - at the "SmiffyMatch" - was for Rossendale was to match the Salford result (away at Garforth) - however ... within 8 minutes Rossy were 3-0 down - and at half-time Salford were 1-0 down ... how it all changed after four o'clock ... the score at Dark Lane remained 0-3 while Salford saw fit to score 5 goals (OK Garforth got one back on 89th min but ....) So ..... to put it bluntly ....... Salford appear to have managed to "purchase their existence" in Unibond 1 North - that's the long and short of it - so many of us today were really really sorry to see Rossy go down - nice place, nice club (today's beer was Moorhouse's "Pride of Pendle" - Salford's "portakabin" can offer only keg Boddies - you can understand the pain ...). We have to be brutal up to a point - a Mossley sequence of LLDLL needed sorting ... I have to freely admit we appeared to get a season's worth of luck/decisions in a little over 65 minutes - 3 up - Mossley keeper should get a straight red (didn't - so then he saves the penalty !!) - second half - Rossy score, but it was disallowed ... everything went Mossley's way today - and at 1645 Rossendale were down ...... gotta feel for them - honestly.

Some pictures from today at

Rossendale United 0 Mossley 3

Back to Mossley to watch a little bit of the "United Get out of Jail Show" before home to this stuff ......
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25 up .....

On April 23d 1984 .....Stafford Rangers beat Oswestry Town, Belper drew with Ossett, I'll be honest, I haven't a clue how Mossley got on (!) - Lionel Ritchie was at Number One with "Hello" ......

.... and me and Mrs Smiffy got married in that church right next to Belper's ground.

We had "the bash" back in February - the week in the posh Elizabethan manor house ...




..... tonight was a little more restrained - train to Greenfield, pint in the "Railway" and then walk into Uppermill for a meal at "Dinnerstone"

http://www.dinnerstone.co.uk/

Lovely place, excellent food (impressive tapanade)... with a couple of little niggles - in the style of Chaopraya a few weeks ago the gap between finishing starter and main course arriving was ... well non-existent - this despite no apparent "second sitting" ! Extremely reasonable cost for two .. £45-70 inc beer/wine ... put £50 on the plate and the change came back ............................................... one pound short - now I was going to leave all the change anyway - may have been an honest error - but didn't look clever ...... however I will still recommend for the quality of the food mind ...

Tomorrow sees our Lotus Notes guru @ work leave for "more secure surroundings" - which leaves me in the slot - it's gonna be very very interesting over the next few weeks/months/(hopefully)years ...

Lotus Notes/E-Mail Administration
Lotus Notes various databases- Admin/Development
Smart Plant(MARIAN) Administration
Oracle Admin/SQL "guru" - yep I once opened a book !!
UNIX/Sun Box - Admin/Development for legacy Business Management System
Forest & Trees (reporting tool) Admin/Development
Microsoft Access Database Admin/Development

Plenty of hours in a day to cover that lot - but tomorrow after work we drink beer ....nothing changes in some areas of life then !!
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Curzon Ashton v Clitheroe

Afraid I "picked a wrong'un" this midweek - the first half was hard work ... for the speccies that is ... and the second half only really burst into life with a goal for Clitheroe (who were looking to put a 0-5 home reverse on Saturday behind them - which they certainly did !) and a red card for Ogoo (who I'm afraid made a bit of a prat of himself after the card was brandished).

There was much shouting (from the Curzon side) at the performance of the officials - they weren't that bad - felt it was a smokescreen to hide a rather poor performance from the home side on the night. Play-off status is assured (albeit with an away trip to .. somewhere) - they were without two important midfielders (and it showed with the amount of by-passing and "over the top" stuff ... so if you're going to have a duff one - do it now before the really important games start

Here's a few pix from the evening ...

Curzon Ashton 0 Clitheroe 1

Maybe I should have picked Glossop's 2-2 draw against Squires Gate last night ... or Stalybridge v Droylsden tonight (Match Centre says 2-1 to Celtic at the moment - 78 minutes) - whatever ! Still this Saturday to sort out yet ....

Just got the "txt of doom" - Durham City 6 Mossley 1 ................ and Rory Patterson (who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo in his time at Mossley) has scored a last minute equaliser for Droylsden at Stalybridge ... this is "real-time blogging" at its best !!!!!!
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Belper Town vs Stocksbridge PS

Early start on Saturday, leaving Mossley at 0730 to get an early start on Mother-in-Law's garden - all done before midday (fetching a ton of gravel and doing "stuff" with it - I now (Sunday 2130) have a bloody painful back !). All done allowed a couple in the "George" before onto the game between 2nd and 3rd in the Unibond South. Lovely weather and a very very healthy crowd !

Unfortunately Stocksbridge 'keeper Ben Scott contributed to his sides downfall with a couple of costly slips - although with the first Belper goal he certainly got a kick in the head from Wilson ! The ball then bobbed out to be returned by Ingall for 1-0. The second goal saw Scott horribly out of position - and lobbed accordingly by Rushbury. The start of the second half saw Stocksbridge show why they are "there or thereabouts" when Riley pulled it back to 2-1. However Stevenson put a sliderule shot between post and 'keeper to restore the two goal cushion for .... all of 5 minutes when Ward's cracking free-kick brought in back to 3-2. However the last minute saw total "comms breakdown" twixt keeper and defence allowing sub Barraclough to round the keeper for 4-2. Oh yes piccies - I had a few problems with the light and positions today - in fact at half-time I said something rude to the 70-200 and "went short" - you get a different view on the last two goals however from snapper Tim's pictures ...

Belper 4 SPS 2 - The Master

Belper 4 SPS 2 - Smiffy

One in club - one in George and one in Rifleman's to see Chelsea sneak past Arsenal .. back to M-I-Ls and ended up watching "True Lies" (again !) until God knows what time - a brisk walk "down the meadows" this morning - a bit more shuffling of plants, pots etc in garden before home and a jolly fish dish (made-up naturally - involved sherry and cheese and eggs and cornflour mixed in John Smiths bitter - I kid you not - and fish and pasta ..). A bath (which failed to improve back one little bit - d'oh !) - sort pix and now this ....

Tomorrow ... Glossop v Squires Gate ... or Curzon Ashton v Clitheroe ?? Reckon I should continue with watching "games important for play-off places" - just hope my back improves !
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WORLD FAMOUS - in Ilkeston !

... a bit of a follow-up from the Unibond Cup Final the other week - I "did my duty" and mailed the good pix to the Ilkeston Advertiser man - and today I receive my "complimentary copy" of the Ilkeston Adveriser - star date April 9th - one pic on the back page and two inside - all accompanied by the magical phrase "Photo by Mike Smith" - one for the CV !!! Oh and for those unable to get hold of a copy of said paper ... check out the Ilkeston Advertiser web site - here's a link ...

Smiffy gets pic on newspaper website as well !!

yep that's me .. shame about the result !!
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Football Last Night ...

... yep did the "glory hunting" down at Glossop (!!) - comfy 3-1 winners in the end although we had to sit/stand through a pretty turgid second half, which only livened up in the last 7 or 8 minutes with three goals (if there's any Abbey Hey fans out there - there were a couple at the game - I'm afraid I missed your goal as I was "closing down" for the night !!). Some pix at

Glossop NE 3 Abbey Hey 1

Not a bad crowd either - just one under 200 - considering "they" were on the box ... good to know that the FA Vase IS helping to increase interest at all games, not just the "big ones" - I had a couple of beers in the "Star" (Copper Dragon "Golden Pippin") before the game (yep that's after my couple in the Stalybridge Buffet Bar - Phoenix "White Tornado" - while waiting for the 237 bus !) - and there's certainly a "buzz" in there vis-a-vis Glossop North End - OK and West Ham too !! People will talk about "hangers on" and "glory hunters" - so what - if a few "stick" after the great Wembley party, it's a success - so the ground grading @ Glossop has I believe not made it to Unibond standard, but crowds of 200+ every game next season means money in the bank towards ground improvements - fingers crossed that the players stay loyal - 12 months on - who knows.

The "Six Tame Sides" team wish Glossop well - it would be nice to see them at Seel Park again - this time for a Unibond League game ....
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Football Tonight ...

.. well it is twenty to one - or 0040 for you young metric-type peeps...

Glossop it is ....


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(although it could have been Hyde - same road ....!)

As Threatened .....

... not a ball in site !!!

The Football-Free Gallery !

Some stuff from Sat/Sun/Mon - that "zoo photography" is not that simple ... I guess going on the busiest day of the year doesn't help either !

Believe Mossley have put an "L" where there should have been a "W" - my spies tell me - awful. Belper have been stuffed 5-1 and Celtic have won with an oggie. Ashton United turn a 1-5 defeat on Saturday into a 5-1 win today. Hyde keep a lifeline open (BSN bottom)with a 1-0 win at Gainsborough and Droylsden keep a lifeline open (BSN top) with a 5-1 stuffing of 'ucknall. Finally Curzon Ashton have gone a long way towards getting that play-off place after going to Halifax Town today ... and winning.

Hoping that normal football service will be resumed this very midweek - meanwhile compare the meerkat - or rhea - or monkey - or whatever !!
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Football-Free Zone ....

... and will be tomorrow as well. After Good (?) Friday's rain-soaked efforts, it's been "time off" (lad's 21st on Saturday - otherwise it might have been Hyde v Droylsden) - also managed a "bit of a walk yesterday and today. Tomorrow sees "family stuff" involving Chester Zoo, so Radcliffe v Mossley is another "miss" .. midweek sees a couple of options - on Wednesday go to Hyde v Southport (and be accused of being a "ghoul" - could be relegated on Wednesday dependent on tomorrow's result) - or Glossop NE v Abbey Hey (and be accused of being a "hanger-on" ?!?!?). To round of a somewhat unusual week - Saturday sees a trip to Belper involving shifting a ton of gravel at M-I-L's garden - natch hoping to get it done before 1500 - yep, Belper Town v Stocksbridge PS - another "must win" for the Nailers in their quest for auto-promotion (and another "hanger-on" accusation for me ?!?).

Meanwhile - following three days of "Learn Lotus Notes dead quick" last week - another three days of same next week, before one day in work on Friday (crazy, but first day in work for 11 days - God only knows what's piling up .....).

Stick some pix on tomorrow night - gotta few from Sat/Sun - probably get a load of reptiles tomorrow !!!
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Mossley v Colwyn Bay

... we got stuffed 6-1 "up their end" - and we got stuffed 3-1 "oop our end" ... not a lot more to say apart from ... we won the last 70 minutes 1-0 ... we need to start playing at 1500/1945 rather than 20 minutes in (Durham revisited dare I say ??) ... some pictures at

http://mossleysmiffy.jalbum.net/MossleyBaeColwyn/

Can't really say much more - as SJNR has pointed out, Mossley's last six games have been .. LWLWLW - naturally today's "L" fits in perfectly .... hmmm ...
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IlsonGuiseley Update

.. as in the pix from last night ...

http://mossleysmiffy.jalbum.net/IlkestonGuiseleyULCCF/

I have to say that ... over the 120 minutes ... the better team won ... but it's a bugger when they leave it untill 119 and 120 (minutes) to prove this premise .... !
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"Mugged at the Death" ..

... or Guiseley 3 Ilkeston Town 2 - after extra time - in the Unibond League Challenge Cup on a chilly, breezy evening on Curzon Beach (you had to see it !) Throwing the usual "it's very late" ticket into the ring tonight - not only extra-time but I've had to sort sort a few pix out for the "Ilkeston Advertiser" - who have a deadline of 0930 this very morn - eek - fortunately my training course doesn't start until ... 0930 ... in Ashton ! Here's a couple from tonight - I'll try to put a set together tomorrow night ...



A lo-res monochrome version of possibly the pic of the night (the hi-res colour version now on its way to Ilkeston !).



A question of "what might have been" - when Ilson hit the post in the second half ....

Until later today then, I remain your ......etc etc etc !
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Football this Midweek - Where ?

Well we've "ummed" and we've "ahhed" - and touted for business (camera prostitute me !!!) - and so for me it's down to the Tameside Stadium (viz Curzon Ashton) tomorrow night to do the Unibond League Cup Final 'twixt Ilkeston Town and Guiseley - pix WILL be on later tomorrow night/Wednesday morining - but if there's anything any good, I suggest purchasing a copy of the "Ilkeston Advertiser" - cus I'm actually "doing for them" !!!! (usual rates apply i.e. "a credit" - assuming of course I get something printable ....).

So tonight we are charging up all three camera batteries - and also some AAs for the flash gun - wonder if Hyde have beaten Blyth ?

EDIT @ 2330 - yes they have !
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Football this Weekend - Where ?

Not for me ... weekend in Stafford (who incidentally beat Gateshead 4-1 - maybe I should .... !!) Father 80 years young- jolly good evening meal at Panache- Panache Indian Restaurant (thoroughly recommended- excellent food and nice place - "when I were a lad", it was the "Crispin" pub right opposite 'big school') - and we were up till 0200 !

Today a wander round Shugborough Hall (home of the Anson family - remember Patrick Litchfield - "snapper to royalty" ?) - some pix at Shugborough Hall, Stafford

Home this afternoon to check on football - had already been informed that Mossley - after blowing hot at Wakefield on Tuesday night - had blown cold in a 1-3 reverse @ Garforth Town. The big news was naturally Staybridge Celtic's 1-0 win over Farsley Celtic ............................. no actually it was Glossop North End's "Get out of Jail" performance against Chalfont St Wotsit to earn themselves a trip to Wembley in the FA Vase Final - on May 10th I believe - really pleased for all the hard workers down at Surrey Street - you've earned this day out and hopefully it will be something to remember for a lifetime. I might go meself - need to check "stuff" as it's on a Sunday which makes life tricky in a public transport sort of way... keeping the option open, that's for sure ...

This week - Mossley v Woodley Sports or Stalybridge Celtic v Alfreton Town ?
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Did England Win ??

OK, I've peeped on't'net and believe they grabbed a slutchy offside winner with 5 to go ... yep honestly did not watch it - although I have since watched the "Queens of British Pop" - excellent prog, proving that Marianne Faithfull should have jacked it in after "Broken English" - her voice had cracked nicely at end end of the 70s - now it's just embarassing .. unlike Siouxsie Sioux, Kate Bush and Suzi Quatro ... think it was Quatro who said "still gigging, never taken drugs .. still normal" - these three got there on their own qualities unlike Ms Faithfull who elevated herself to falsehood via the Rolling Stones and Mars Bars ...

Still - enough of that controversy - in the real world of football FC Utd came from 2-0 to win 3-2 agin Ossett Town to keep their play-off hopes alive - over 1600 @ Gigg Lane which ain't bad considering that "Ingerlund thing" was on Terry Steel Channel. Newky Brown Star lose their second midweek game this week 1-2 at home to Lancaster - still in play-off zone but ....

This weekend may well be footy-free for me - 'tis my father's 80th birthday, hence down in Stafford on Saturday - yes I know they're at home against Gateshead but ..... I'd be pushing it somewhat (vis-a-vis Mrs Smiffy rather than Dad Smiffy I think) !!! We'll see ..........
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Efficient or Stupidly Late ??

Wakefield 0 Mossley 2 - we got there with 10 men playing uphill in the second half - and damned well deserved it - train night out for me - straight from work - pint of Durham White Lion in the Kings Head (Huddersfield Station) was tonight's "pick" - placcy glasses @ Wakefield and (I kid you not) only time to purchase four cans of Carling @ Leeds (10 mins change time and a fanny with the ticket barriers !!)

Anyway it's faaaaaarrrr too late to talk - pix at

http://mossleysmiffy.jalbum.net/WakefieldMossley/

(Belper have won too - and go second with Stocksbridge & Glapwell both losing ...)
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