La Femme

100 Happy Days - Day 93: Good to see a top female coach in football following the recent Scudamore sexist emails!

In a Lifetime

Never thought I'd see this in my lifetime to be honest but yes, a British man finally won the Men's Singles title at Wimbledon - well done Andy Murray, who beat Novak Djokovic in an epic 3 setter.

This gives me some hope that I will see at least one other sporting win:

England winning the World Cup
England winning the European Cup
Liverpool winning the Premier League

Hmm...all pretty much impossible I think!

A scorching weekend, spent most of it in my bikini in the garden.

Need to do a couple of updates, am so behind here.

Time Flying...

...by when you're having fun!

Actually, it's not all be fun but days and weeks have been a blur and now we're close to the end of yet another year and I've barely been on here.

Today, I met an Olympian, namely Helen Jenkins, the British Triathlete, a world champion who came 5th in the London 2012.  She was very nice, shorter and smaller than expected. I was sat next to her and all I could think of was that my thighs were bigger than hers and I'm a size 8! Tiiiiiiny!

Anyway, no time to update properly, I will soon (for my sake while I still remember stuff....)

That Time Again

Been pretty much obsessed with the Olympics the past couple of weeks - how could I not be?

London put on a great great show and hopefully showed the world (and resident Brits) how great Great Britain can be. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend some events (3 football and 1 tennis) - the atmosphere and organisation at all of them were excellent.

29 golds, a total haul of 65 - an epic achievement. Hard to pick which performances I enjoyed most - loved Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah, Bradley Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy, countless others.

The one gold performance and award that I kept Googling however was the taekwondo gold won by Jade Jones as she hails from the small town in North Wales where I grew up, which has in recent years fallen on hard times. She put Flint on the map, the locals had helped her on the way to become an international standard martial artist and she will now have the leisure centre that me and my sisters used to frequent named after her - sweet!

It wasn't just Team GB - I loved watching all the other athletes from other worlds, Usain Bolt among them - what a character!

Am rather sad that it's all over, although I'll no doubt be tuning in (though not so obsessively) to the Paralympics.

Which brings me to 'that time again' - yes, the start of the football season.

Our football Team GB succumbed to the usual penalty shoot out but I hope some good has rubbed off on the footballers from being amongst other fellow Olympians.

Anyway, for my part - come on Liverpool and in non-league, come on you Fleet!

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The Queen being escorted by James Bond and then both parachuting out of a helicopter, Mr Bean in Chariots of Fire, the Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, Mary Poppins, real grass and big smoking chimneys.

It could only be the opening ceremony for the London Olympics and I loved it! The quirkiness, the Britishness, the humour and the music.

My parents sat through the whole thing and their commentary as the athletes from the participating countries appeared would have rivalled Wogan's Eurovision commentary at his best!

I attended my first Olympic event to cheer on the Team GB football team at Old Trafford (after first witnessing Uruguay winning against UAE despite the booing at Liverpool's Louis Suarez).

It was not like a football match at all - lots more women and children attending, lots of Mexican waves (yes, even during play when the kids/women got bored), lots of Union Jacks (flags and clothing), no singing (you can't sing the England songs after all) and lots of people chatting (during play).

Had a bit of a lump in my throat as I sang the National Anthem - as shame we didn't win the game but it was a deserved 1-1 in the end.

Thought the whole thing was pretty well organised and when I got home, got suckered into buying some Olympic merchandise (queues were too big at the ground).

I'm now in Olympic heaven for the next two and a half weeks.  Already had an early fix of archery, swimming, judo and women's football on tv.

Got another match at Old Trafford tomorrow and then a trip down to Wimbledon for some tennis on Monday!

Come on Team GB!

Tickets!

My Olympic tickets have arrived!

2012 is a time to be a little more patriotic than usual - the Queen's 60th Jubilee (Gawd bless her and thanks for the extra day off work!), England in the Euro 2012 (underdogs and hopefully not the underachievers everyone is expecting) and then Team GB in the Olympics!

Looking forward to it all!

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Continuing with the Olympic theme from my last post, I've finally gotten round to applying for some tickets.

If I'm successful with all my applications, I will be stumping up over £400.

I know, not a small sum at all but  it's not very often you get to attend Olympic events.

Not that I've applied for the typical Olympic-like events (tennis and football) and not that all the events will be taking place in London (some football will be at Old Trafford...aargh!).

And yes, I know tennis and football players are professionals, against the Olympic ethos of amateurs but I didn't make the rules up, I'm just applying for tickets!

And I shall be watching the rest on tv, supporting Team GB and crying if we win gold!


The Latin words in the title mean "Swifter, Higher, Stronger", essentially the Olympic motto.

Games On!

The London Olympic tickets are up for sale, or rather, the ballot is now up and running. Wisely, there is a large window of time during which you can request allocation of tickets which has meant that there has been no meltdown of the website as hordes of people log in to try to buy.

If Big Sis was still living in Surrey, I’d have probably applied for loads of tickets and taken a week off work and stayed down there for an ‘Olympic week’. Since she no longer lives there, I have to be selective with what I go for – need to check dates and prices.

I know some people are a bit ‘meh’ about it all but I grew up watching the Olympics and this is probably a once in a lifetime thing really for me - it’s got to be done, I must be able to say that I’ve attended at least one Olympic event!

Athletics has always been my favourite but I find that I can happily watch any event, even the really obscure ones.  

Not been up to much really recently – Boom’s 40^th birthday the other day but he didn’t want to go out to celebrate/commiserate. I bought him a Hugo Boss wallet which he thought was mega! Been working hard in my aerobics classes since I seem to be eating loads at weekends – not sure I can fit into my size 6 jeans anymore! Think I’ll just cut down on my carbs for a while, which means no pasta or potatoes. I'd rather not cut down on my alcohol so something else needs to go!

They're Going Home

Goal-line technology must be introduced - nuff said.

England on their way home, beaten 4-1 by the Germans.

Would people have preferred that we lost by penalties?

The score suggests that we were thrashed, our defence was just exposed but we had our chances, just didn't put them away and of course, had Lampard's goal been allowed, it would have been all square at 2-2, maybe a different game, maybe not.

Best player was David James, who stopped the Germans from scoring double figures. Rooney was a shadow of his former self as he has been all tournament, the others were shockingly below par.

Oh well, who to win? I've got Chile in the sweep at work but any of the underdogs really.

Another 4 year wait....

May Blank Hols...

Yep, it's the first bank holiday weekend of May - I know I should update my blog but I know I probably won't so I'll just quickly jot some things down that are on my mind:

WWWWWL

No, not some new world war website but an acronym I learnt yesterday at work (the company is very fond of acronyms). What does it stand for (you may or may not be wondering)? "Why We Win Why We Lose". Ahem.

Football

With Liverpool's disastrous season and them being knocked out of the both Champions League and Europa Cup (last night), plus Ebbsfleet United being relegated from the Blue Square Premier League and the future unknown for MyFootballClub, I would like to say that I hope England provide at least a smidgen of football enjoyment for me this summer...

Flab

I noticed an extra layer round my waist due to overeating and no exercise these past few weeks - this must go.

Clothes

I seem to have a lot of clothes but am reluctant to throw any away - I shall make an effort this weekend to see if any items can go in the ever present charity bag.

Have a nice long weekend all!

Leagues Apart

Last Saturday, I made the train journey up to the Northeast to watch Ebbsfleet United play fellow Conference strugglers Gateshead FC. Never been up to Newcastle before, not sure what I was expecting but well, I saw the river Tyne and the Angel of the North so I'm happy!

Was happy with the result too, the Fleet winning 3-1 in the end. Not been to a match where the fans weren't segregated so it was a little weird to be sitting so close to the Geordie accents shouting "Howay the Heed!" Was a long day, home late after an entertaining evening in the pub with three Scottish lads who didn't make it to the game as they'd stayed in the pub!

On Sunday, me and CK went to the Man City v Liverpool match. Premier League? The non-league match between Gateshead and Ebbsfleet was far superior! The only highlights of the match were that we had good seats so I was able to take a good pic (left) of Stevie G, and Torres came on as a sub after prolonged absence due to injury.

Probably the most dire and uninspiring game I've ever been to, neither side appeared to want to play or win, ending in a bore draw which suited City more. Perhaps the game should have been snowed off.

In a week when Portsmouth becomes the first Premier League side to goe into administration with debts rumoured to be over £70 million and Chester FC gets booted out of the Football Conference for not playing their fixtures, who would want to own a football club? Ahem.

In Off The Post

Time for an obligatory post about football, hasn't really been mentioned the latter part of last year as there wasn't anything good to talk about.

Liverpool in freefall, out of all cup competitions, calls for Rafa's head, etc. Me, I want him to stay - how will getting rid of the manager right this minute make us suddenly win the league? It won't and I cannot forget the success he has brought to the club since he's been manager. Not Premier League success but that will come... Believe!

On the back of a few wins (albeit rather unconvincing) we're sitting in 4th place and I hope we stay there, it's the most we can expect really - such a disastrous season compared to last year's.

My non-league side Ebbsfleet United have finally climbed out of the relegation zone and I witnessed them beating Chester City at the weekend. Our top striker Magno Vieira (from Brazil no less!) was Conference player of the month in January (scored 6 in the last 3 games) and we saw him knock in two cracking goals to seal the win. The club are financially in the straits, membership of Myfootballclub is at an all time low but at least we're not (yet) suffering Chester City's plight, whereby the club was put up for sale for £1 - no takers as there's an 'unknown' amount of debts.

The team Ebbsfleet played against on Saturday were made up with many young lads, since many of the senior Chester players haven't been paid….

A few weeks ago, me and CK went to the Man City v Man U Carling cup match - we avoided getting caught up in the nasty 'fan' trouble afterwards. Shame City couldn't repeat their performance at Old Trafford a week later.

Got tickets for the Man City v Liverpool game - obviously shan't be supporting City that day but nor will I be jumping up and down when the Reds score as I'll be amongst all the blue fans!

Knotty

"You were very knotty!"

This from the lady who had just given me a 6 minute head and shoulders massage - work is promoting a healthy wellbeing thing, so we've had people in to give advice on healthy eating, exercise, discount cycling initiatives and some relaxing massages provided by a local beauty/massage bar. Someone even brought in a Wii so they could have Wii fit competitions!

I'm knew I was knotty as I've been working hard in the gym recently (punchbag), don't move around much at home and things have been pretty busy at work.

We also heard some good news - my gym membership will be subsidised again soon, which is a good thing as I'd been trying to justify my £60+ per month membership I've been paying since the beginning of the year when we lost our 'perk'. Sure, it's my biggest regular leisure expense and as long as I go regularly, then it's cool. But the odd months when I can't make my aerobics classes or to the gym, £60 doing nothing is a lot and the fees go up next year.

It was revealed by 'accident' recently (at some work conference) that the bods in our corporate HQ in London have been enjoying a big £50 per month subsidy towards their gym membership whilst we have been getting a big fat zero. Since they didn't want to piss off the bigwigs, they decided to give all other members the same benefit (less the London weighting of course). The where, when and how hasn't been sorted yet but I'm well happy about this - about time something positive happened at work. Anyway, this whole heathy thing has been great to just lift the mood and spirits around this place - something done right for once and I've signed up for a couple of pilates lessons which should help keep my tum flat.

And on another positive note, I watched Liverpool beat Man United 2-0 on Sunday, all on my little ownsome, surrounded by around 30 United fans in the gym restaurant area. Whilst I didn't cheer loudly at Torres' brilliant goal to take the lead, I couldn't help jumping up with my hands in the air as Ngog knocked in the second goal. I could feel eyes all silently burning all around me and I'm sure had I been a bloke, it could have gotten a bit physical as well as verbal! I'm just so glad that Michael Owen didn't score - if he had scored the winning goal, I think I would have cried!

I was easy on Boom as things haven't been great for him recently - his car was keyed by mindless scrotes and his mum's still poorly. Had it been the other way round though, he wouldn't have been so sympathetic regardless of my predicaments!

Spot The Ball...

On Saturday, 5 mins into the match, the white ball hit the red one and went into the back of the net.

No, this wasn't playground football, it was Premier League and resulted in Liverpool losing 1-0 to Sunderland.

Ok, you can argue that they should have scored and beaten a side such as Sunderland but the sad fact is, the current team is extremely poor when Stevie G and Nando Torres aren't playing.

The goal shouldn't have been allowed but apparently neither the ref nor the linesmen knew the rules and thought that a beachball thrown onto the pitch by a silly little 16 year old Liverpool fan was not a 'foreign object' but part of the playing field…

Seems like it's all over already and I feel so bad that I can't bring myself to watch tonight's Champion's League game, will only depress me as no Torres! :-(

Saturday was a really bad day for football - I had also travelled up to Barrow in Furness to watch Ebbsfleet United get beaten 2-0, so still in relegation, only one win so far this season, with no training ground and rapidly dwindling funds.

Anyway, on Thursday, finally spent some time with the glamorous C and gave her a belated birthday present. She's spent the last couple of months around Europe completing the project she's on and we've barely been in touch. It was really good to catch up, we went to the gym, had a good natter in the sauna.

I think she's finally got that sugar daddy out of her system as she is now seeing the Parrot as I predicted back in May.

They'd been on a few dates, I think she was wanting more but now it looks like they've reached a satisfactory medium of sorts. I hope she's happy, she's playing it cool and this isn't like her but she was smiling anyway!

Anyway, I'll miss her not being around on email and sametime at work but hopefully, will see more of her at the gym etc now that she is a lady of leisure again!

Still spending far too much time on WoW but sometimes, it's what keeps me going at work, that it'll be hometime soon and I can log in! And this won't mean anything to most but yay me!

Bit of This, Bit of That

Well here's a desperate update, need to get back into the routine of logging in and posting but it's been so mad at work that I don't get time and when I'm at home, I'm doing other stuff.

Anyway, yeah, I had a fab holiday in Skiathos in July - I shall post about that at some point but it's really more as a momento for me, rather than anything of any interest.

So some brief bits of what's been going on with me...

Work - last month or so has seen the company's latest cull on employees. We're now sub skeleton staff, if you can have that! After the two culls last year, this latest one has meant really the best and most experienced people up against each other. The result has left the entire business shellshocked…I know no one person can be too valuable to a business and that everyone is dispensible, but really, I feel stressed just thinking about when JT, a competent lady who's been at the heart of the business for over 20 years leaves at the end of the month. She even had people in the same consultation pool vouching for her, but no, the irresponsible and the ignorant who make the decisions and who don't understand our business effectively said she didn't conform to their vision of our future managers and had to go. In two months time, it will have all gone spectacularly pearshaped and they'll be wanting her to come back but likely, she'll be away on a cruise. It's been a distressing few weeks though. Me, well sure, I'm safe for now as are my immediate colleagues but we're among the few left behind to clean up the mess…

Movies - quite a few visits to the cinema these past couple of months, including Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Travolta was manically brilliant!) and Inglourious Basterds (Pitt was funny but the guy who played the SS officer really stole the show).

Football - well not the greatest of starts for Liverpool, I do think they peaked last year, had the title in their grasp but blew it. This year will probably be Chelski's season.

And Michael Owen in a Man U shirt…just so wrong! :-(

Non league-wise, I attended my first Ebbsfleet United match of the season, against Altrincham, which ended in a draw. The Fleet are not doing well, having only had one win so far and are languishing in relegation zone.

Have been pretty active doing MyFootballClub stuff, which could soon (if it wanted to!) change its logo to 'Own The Club, Own The Ground' - yeah, the current owners of Stonebridge Road are putting it up for sale and people are being invited to buy shares in an attempt to bid £500k for the ground. I've put in money to buy a few and it would be nice for a club like Ebbsfleet not to have to worry about extortionate rent or possibly being without a ground to play on in the future.

Gigs - Boom's mum was very poorly and had to go into hospital, so we ended up not going to the V Festival and I had to sell our tickets at short notice on ebay… :-( We were gutted about not going to see such a great line up but such is life, least his mum is recovering. We did enjoy the U2 gig and I have some others in the pipeline.

Teeth - Been suffering from toothache, so bad that I had to go to the dentist who recommended me to see a consultant. Bad news - I need a wisdom tooth out, after all these years, it's growing again!!? Good news - it's covered by my company medical insurance! Not looking forward to it but this tooth has been giving me gyp on and off for the last 20 years so it'll be good to throw it at the tooth fairy!

WoW - still playing most nights, still spend too much time on it but hey, it's a hobby and I enjoy it although sometimes, my laptop is on the verge of being launched out of the window!

Exercise - still been going to the gym but not been doing both aerobics class in a week (the routine is really hard on the calves!), so I think I seem to have acquired some excess flab - gym workout is good for tone but not for fat burn it seems. The weather's getting even colder, encouraging me to eat…must stop!

Reading - the only other thing I've been able to do aside from WoW is read, it does mean late nights but I'm on book 23/24 this year so not doing too badly, especially as there are Robert Jordan tomes in there.

Family - Good news - little sis has announced a date for her wedding next year, so deffo another trip out to the Far East! Bad news - how on earth am I going to afford it…? Had a Skype call with my little niece the other day - she's so comical!

Phew - that's all off my chest now, hopefully I'll get round to catching up on some blog reading!

08/09 Bets

Here's how I did:

- Liverpool to beat Spurs at Home(Red Squirrel) - WON!
- Liverpool to beat Spurs Away (Red Squirrel) - LOST!
- Liverpool to beat Spurs in Carling Cup(Red Squirrel) - LOST!
- To finish above Red Squirrel in Fantasy Football - WON!
- Liverpool to beat Newcastle Away (PS) - WON!
- Liverpool to beat Newcastle at Home (PS) - Void - Chicken!
- Ebbsfleet United FC to get promoted - LOST

Obviously none of those Newcastle v Liverpool ones this season!

Bits and Bobs

Yes, I've been rubbish at blogging, both updating and reading.

For starters, aside from spending far too much time on WoW these days (and nights), I've been involved in the forum shenanigans of MyFootballClub - we vote today on whether we give the manager of our club Ebbsfleet United another contract - I shall vote 'Yes'. Recently, we voted to ratify the prudent budget (playing budget now lowest in the Conference) and I've been involved in an ideas committee for fundraising for the club and MyFC.

Also, the weekend of glorious sunshine meant that I swapped laptop for bikini and I spent a fair few hours in the garden soaking up rays.

Anyway, in the weeks I haven't been posting, I watched Star Trek (I got gold class seats for Boom) - I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would, the casting was perfect as the old characters previously made iconic by Shatner and Nimoy were brought to life with new, younger actors in a cracking movie with great effects, action and storyline - Kirk, I thought was excellent, loved his arrogance and swagger!

So the football season is finally over with Man U crowned champions again - I'm gutted as Liverpool had the title within their grasp but blew it. It was our best season in a long time but still not good enough so I can only say "Maybe next year!"

Also caught Angels & Demons - a good film (aside from Ewan McGregor's dodgy Ulster accent but somehow, I did wish that I hadn't read Dan Brown's book as I knew how it was going to end! , the wonderful setting in Rome just made me want to visit the place (properly this time!).

Work's been really busy, so not really had a lot of time to do my blogging. Time seems to be whizzing by so quickly, a blur of work, gym, WoW and Boom.

It's my birthday soon and I'm not really looking forward to it for various reasons...

Need a holiday and hopefully Boom will get the time off so I can book something to get away.

Who Watches The Watchmen?

I actually owned a smiley badge with the splodge of blood on it during my student days but didn't realise its significance until I got myself a copy of Watchmen to see what all the fuss was about. Recently reread the book again in anticipation of the film, which me and Boom went to see at the weekend.

Visually, the film was excellent, the comic characters literally come to life, although I did think that the character of Adrian Veidt was a little too young. My favourite character in the book (Rorschach) was just how I imagined so I was really pleased with his depiction.

The gore was comic book gore - however, although I was expecting it, the attempted rape scene was pretty brutal.

Did I enjoy the film? Yes and no. In parts it dragged, although I guess the wordiness was necessary just to provide the background story/information, it just meant that the film didn't flow as it should have. Perhaps it would have been better as a tv mini series, I dunno.

It's not bad, it's worth seeing and I think I'd watch it again.

Anyway, a good and bad weekend for sport - on the good news front, Man U lost to Fulham and Liverpool annihilated Aston Villa 5-0, bringing them a point behind the leaders, who still have a game in hand. On the bad news front, non-league side Ebbsfleet United were unfortunately knocked out of the FA Trophy - no trip to Wembley this year for me!

Sweet

A glorious sunny day saw a glorious (and somewhat unexpected) victory for Liverpool against Man United.

From 1-0 down (courtesy of a Ronaldo penalty), the Scousers went on to win 4-1 (goals from Torres, Gerrard (p), Aurelio and a cheeky lob from Dossena), keeping their slim title hopes still alive.

United did not play well - Stevie G and Nando Torres on the other hand were absolutely awesome for Liverpool - the whole team were magnificent, plus this makes it two victories against Man U this season!

I watched the match at the David Lloyd club, sitting with a small pocket of Liverpool fans in a room full of United fans - cheered loudly each time we scored!

I was really happy with the win but in a way, not quite as ecstatic as I should be. How come? Cos Boom was at Old Trafford watching his team get battered - on his birthday weekend! So I felt sorry for him, he sent me a 'well done' text and I saved all the gloating texts for other United fans I know!

Still, we did celebrate his birthday by going out for a nice Mexican meal last night and had a pleasant evening - tonight, he'll be out getting horribly drunk with his mates, drowning his sorrows instead of savouring victory.

Too little too late for the title? Who knows - one can still hope and dream.

I Got Soul

Wow, what a night!

The arena was packed to the rafters, we had great seats and the Killers were fabulous! Brandon Flowers' was on brilliant form, he totally owned the stage and sang my favourites "Human", "Somebody Told Me" and "All These Things That I've Done".

Definitely one of the best gigs I've ever been to and Boom agreed it was in his top five.

My cold had subsided but not totally gone away but that didn't spoil my enjoyment one bit - I was buzzing! Am looking forward to catching them again at the V Festival.


Before we went to the gig, we caught the first half of Liverpool vs Real Madrid in Champions League action. Boom of course wanted the Scousers to lose but we decimated the Spanish giants, the final score being 4-0 (5-0 agg).

Not confident about the weekend clash against Man U but hey, who knows? (I just hope we don't get thrashed...)

Top gig, top result, top night! :-)