Tag Archives: Welsh Football

Sunday 8th April 2018 – WHAT KIND OF …

… time is 06:35 on a Sunday morning to be waking up?

That’s almost as depressing as falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon, isn’t it? You would think that with me being so tired these days and with the one day per week when I have no alarm and can sleep for 24 hours without the slightest pang of guilt, that I would make the most of it.

Mind you, I’d been on my travels during the night. Back to an apartment that I owned (which I didn’t but don’t let that worry anyone) in Brussels which was tenanted by the girl who was my tenant at Reyers. We were talking about something or other that involved food and when it came to storing it, the guy who was with her said “but that’s alright if you have a fridge that works”. I was surprised, and said to the girl “what about the fridge here?” to which she commented that “it doesn’t work any more”. I asked her why she hadn’t told me and she replied that she hadn’t wanted to bother me. “It’s not a case of that” I replied and went off into the kitchen to measure the unit where the fridge was fitted. It was so complicated that I was convinced that I was doing it incorrectly but just then Terry turned up, so I left it all to him.

07:47 was when I finally stirred, and I needn’t have bothered because one look out of the window told me everything. We really ARE back in winter. Cold, wet, grey and miserable.

But that’s enough about me – let’s talk about the weather too.

We had the usual morning performances and then, seeing as it was Sunday, I did nothing at all for the rest of the morning except some stuff on the laptop for my own amusement. It’s good to have that one day per week when you can do nothing and not feel guilty about it.

This afternoon, I had a choice of entertainment. US Granville’s 3rd XI were at home at the Cité des Sports whereas at the same time Aberystwyth Town were playing Newtown in the other Welsh Cup semi-final. I looked out of the window, made my butties and settled down on the sofa in front of the television.

This was a much better match than last night. Aberystwyth Town were the better team and won 2-1 against a Newtown team that battled away competitively without much success. And Aberystwyth’s opening goal was a peach. A breakaway down the wing, a pinpoint cross into the penalty area and a bullet header from the centre-forward right into the corner of the net. A proper 1970s striker’s goal that will be viewed time and time again on the internet media.

Once the match was over I did go for a walk despite the weather. It’s the Ideal Home Exhibition in town and I wanted to see what was going on. But as I expected, it was a complete and utter waste of time. Full of these airy-fairy luxury items and nothing whatever that would fit my budget.

Even worse, there was nothing – nothing whatever that inspired me or gave me any ideas. And that in itself is a tragedy from my point of view. Most things that I see usually get me thinking about how I can either use it or improve on it, but not here.

There wasn’t even any hospitality coffee on offer. Not a thing. And so I gave it up as a bad job and came home.

And, ashamed as I am to admit it, I crashed out for an hour too. Things aren’t going too well for me right now, are they?

Tonight’s pizza was another excellent one, and then I braved the rain for yet another walk this evening – this time, around the headland. Cold wet and miserable, and the weather was even worse.

Now I’m trying to warm up before going to bed. I’m really fed up of this weather.

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Saturday 7th April 2018 – SO THAT WAS …

… Summer then.

This morning we were back with the grey, miserable, depressing overcast weather that was threatening rain again.

I leapt from my bed with a spring in my step at the sound of the first alarm … "QUITE" – ed … and then went through the usual morning ritual followed by a shower and a turn of the washing machine. I need to have everything up-to-date here before I go.

The shops were pretty boring and I didn’t buy all that much – hardly surprising when I’m not going to be here for 10 days. LIDL was quite boring, except for the enormous queue at the one till that was open, but there were a couple of DVDs in NOZ that attracted my attention. Les Grandes Vacances starring Louis de Funès who, as regular readers of this rubbish will recall, is my favourite French comedian, and also “Le Brigand Bien-Aimé”, or to give it its English title, The True Story of Jesse James – but unfortunately the 1950s remake, not the original, classic 1939 version.

There was also a nice imitation-copper tray too. Very heavy. Just the job for putting on the table to keep the condiments and so on handy whenever I carry out the additions to the kitchen.

It was exciting at LeClerc though. Some woman was insisting that they weighed her fruit and vegetables BEFORE she put them in the bag, despite the fact that the scales there are set to minus 0.5 grammes to take into account the weight of the bag. Just how petty can anyone be?

Back here, I had a coffee and a tidy up (just a little one) before lunch and then, seeing as I can now pick up 5-Live with the new hi-fi (with which I am almost as impressed as I was with my galvanised steel dustbin) I listened to the football on the radio.

As that finished, it was time for me to set off to the Stade Louis Dior and this evening’s football. US Granville’s 1st XI were playing Stade Briochin, the team from down the coast at St Brieuc.

And true to form, as the teams lined up for the kick-off, we had the downpour. 535 brave spectators witnessed a rather depressing football match.

Stade Briochin are second in the table and are challenging for promotion to the National League. And it was easy to see why. I’ve mentioned in the past that US Granville’s attack can be pretty aimless at times, especially when their centre-forward doesn’t feel much like it, and that was the case today. I’ve never seen then so ineffectual up front.

As for Stade Briochin, they were much more focused and dynamic, and played with a system, a shape and a plan. They scored two goals with some very good play and could have had even more had the Granville ‘keeper not been on top form.

Granville improved in the final quarter of an hour after a couple of substitutions but still didn’t seriously threaten the Stade Briochin goal and they are probably still out there now trying to launch an attack on the empty net.

And surprise, surprise. As soon as the referee blew for full-time the rain stopped and my trudge home was rather damp but dry.

Tea was out of a tin as is usual on a Saturday when I’m late home. Rice and veg with a tin of those champignons à la grecque. Not my favourite meal but at least it’s different and adds some variety to my diet.

It was very kind of the FAW to hold up the kick-off of tonight’s Welsh Cup semi-final until I was back home. And so thanks to the internet and my new television I was able to watch Connah’s Quay Nomads totally demolish some clueless rabble in blue that pretended to be Bangor City.

With Lord Lucan and Martin Bormann in central defence and a debut appearance for The Invisible Man at left-back, who had to be just about the worst defender that I have ever seen at this level of football, the Nomads rattled in 6 quick-fire goals and could have had half a dozen more except for a brave display by Matthew Hall in the Bangor goal.

Bangor’s reply – a penalty – was nothing more than some soft consideration or consolation for what had been the worst performance that I had ever seen.

I’ve mentioned in the past that Bangor’s inconsistency is costing them dear. Last week they took on TNS, who had just been crowned League Champions, and beat them 1-0. And earlier in the season they had beaten TNS 5-2. And then they go and turn out an embarrassing, humiliating performance like this?

So on that note, I’m storming off to bed. It’s been a bad day for the football.

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Thursday 9th July 2015 – EVEN THOUGH …

… it was something of a late night last night, I was still up and about long before the alarm went off. Well, in theory anyway, because I wasn’t in a rush to leave my cosy bed.

Mind you, I forget how many times I had had to leave it during the night. It certainly wasn’t just once or twice, that’s for sure. But that’s a sign of old age.

And here’s another thing too – after breakfast I sat down and sorted out the images and text for no less than 24 days of my voyage across Canada’s Maritime Provinces – without even stopping for breath. Out of 40, with a few previously done, it doesn’t leave too many to do now.

But that’s only just the start of it. I have to retype all of the notes from the dictaphone (and it’s a good job that I saved the dictations to a memory stick on my way around last year) and merge them in, and then research and expand them. So that’s not something that is likely to be finished in a short while.

After lunch, and a big pot of coffee (which I richly deserved), first job was to empty the beichstuhl. And it needed it too. But I’ve gone back to the bigger tub, because the liners are a much tighter fit and that works much better. The smaller one is a better fit in the container, but with the liners being too large, they are just pulled into the tub.

For the rest of the day, I’ve been carving out the cable trunking in the lower shelf of the flying shelf unit that I’m building. That needs to be done precisely and it takes ages, with measuring, drilling, chiselling and filing. But it’s done now and had the first coat of varnish at 19:15 and the second at – would you believe – 23:15. Yes, me working at that time is unheard-of. It’ll have the third and final coat tomorrow early morning too.

But there’s also been a subtle change in the design. While I was lying in bed this morning, I thought of another way by which I could improve the design, and so some of what I had done yesterday ended up in the woodpile. But it’s always like that around here. Design evolves continually, especially during the actual work, and I’ve lost count of the number of amendments that I’ve made to the original plan.

And in other news, a big “well-done” to the three Welsh clubs in Europe tonight. Airbus drew 2-2 in Croatia to lose 5-3 on aggregate to much superior opposition. Bala beat Differdange 2-1, but that wasn’t enough to overturn the away score last week – a match that they should have won at a canter, never mind lost. But pride of place must go to Newtown, who beat Valletta 2-1 away from home to progress through to the next round against FC Copenhagen. So with TNS going through to meet Videoton of Hungary after demolishing Torshavn on Tuesday, that’s a 50% success rate for Welsh clubs in Europe – a percentage that matches what Scottish football could manage in Europe this week.

A few heavy defeats tonight in Europe, including an 8-0, but no Welsh team lost this week. What with 10th place in the National rankings, things are looking up for Welsh football.

And not before time. Maybe people will start taking it seriously now.

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Wednesday 14th August 2013 – YET ANOTHER MORNING …

… when I was up long before the alarm clock went off. I dunno what’s been happening to me just recently – it’s not as if I’ve wet the bed or anything.

So for an hour or two at least it was “full steam ahead” with adding these tags to my web pages and I really didn’t realise exacly how many pages there are. All this time and I’ve hardly scratched the surface.

What’s even more frightening is that I’ve realised just how many web pages are in the pipeline and how much I still have to write. I hope that my stay in Greece will be productive.

Once Cécile’s mum had woken up we sorted out all of the boxes here – Cécile has had a good look at all of the stuff that was in them. THen we attacked the kitchen, and the least said about that the better. I never realised just how much stuff there is in here – it’s amazing just how much useless rubbish one can accumulate.

The big wardrobe went today, that means that tomorrow we can all go shopping and buy some food. We might even be able to eat too.

And later on this evening we went for a long walk around the University grounds and somehow ended up at the Abbaye de la Bois de La Cambre, the abbey that is just down the road from here, sitting quietly in the sunset watching the fish and the ducks and the herons in the old fish pond.

Cécile’s mother, who has never been to Brussels before, is quite pleased with what she saw today. She might not be so pleased with what she might see tomorrow, because Cécile and I are going to empty the cellar.

And in other news, the much-maligned (and quite rightly so) FAW, the Football Association of Wales, has made a complete and utter U-turn and inviting not only Barry Town but also Llanelli FC to rejoin the Welsh Football League. I suppose that “it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all”, as Sherlock Holmes said in “The Man With The Twisted Lip”, but this sordid issue could have been resolved in the same fashion with just 5 seconds of goodwill and earned the FAW all kinds of applause, instead of having disputes, arguments, lies and Court Cases and even more vilification heaped upon the Football Association of Wales.

As long as the FAW continues to shoot itself in the foot, there is really no hope for Welsh football. It’s high time the FAW councillors got a grip or else that’s going to be another group of people stood up against the embankment in the Tir National up the road.

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Friday 9th August 2013 – WELL …

… this apartment might be sold (again).

Someone who visited it yesterday has made a written offer via a promesse ferme d’achat and, being fed up of things dragging on (and on and on and on) I’ve accepted it.

Of course, I’m not vending the peau of the ours before I’ve tue’d it. I’ve enough promesse ferme d’achats to wallpaper the living room, as you know, but it’s something at least positive. I just hope that it comes off.

But it wasn’t all roses today. I was just about to step into the shower this morning when the doorbell rang.

One of the people from yesterday wanted to take a couple of measurements. And then he offered what in th common parlance would be described as an offre bidon in cash underneath the counter, take it or leave it.

Of course he went out of the door with my boot up his nether regions. I hate people who totally waste my time like that.

And what with the fracas I forgot about my shower. Mind you it does remind me of that famous cross-examination in a British court in the 1960s during a trial on a charge of affray
Barrister “and you were kicked in the fracas?”
Witness “oh no – I was kneed in the bÛllÛcks”.

And so the amateur came round to make the offer and what should have been a 15-minute task turned into 90 minutes and more and in the end I had to shout at the agent immobilier to run off her battery of mobile phones so that we could flaming well do the flaming task that we had flaming well come here to flaming well do without a flaming interruption every 30 flaming seconds.

Rude, impolite, unprofessional, pig-ignorant, call it what you will, but it wasted everyone’s time and both the purchaser and I have better things to do than to listen to her on the telephone.

I’ll be glad when the apartment is finally sold and she p155es off.

But she didn’t go yet because she came back with 4 or 5 clients at 16:30 and was here until gone 19:00 and my day was totally ruined. I didn’t even have time to do any cleaning up and that annoyed me greatly.

Mind you, it wasn’t all bad.

I finished my magnum opus, all 41kb and 7700 words of it – enough there to keep us going for a lifetime I reckon – the second longest script I’ve ever written (apart from the Christmas Specials of course).

But there’s a lot to be said on the subject I’m discussing and there are some surprising issues that will have a few British people gripping the edges of their seats once we get well into the issue.

Apart from that, the Football Association of Wales, which features regularly in these pages, has shot itself in the foot yet again and has been humiliated in the courts.

Basically, the FAW expelled Barry Town from the league because the secretary tendered the resignation of the club.

However, the secretary doesn’t have the authority to do so – it’s only the owners or the Board of Directors who can do that and the secretary (who was formerly the owner) had relinquished control to the supporters earlier.

Nevertheless, the FAW accepted the resignation.

And despite all of the FAW’s pleading in court today, the judge ruled that “the FAW council had acted unlawfully in refusing the club full FAW membership and entry into the Welsh League in June this year” and that the FAW’s decision was “flawed and irrational”.

Yes, a right bunch of miserable pleaders, the FAW. Never mind anything else, it’s the members of the FAW Council who are bringing the game into disrepute if you want my opinion, and it’s high time that someone charged them with misconduct.

And so, in honour of the FAW’s achievements today in dragging Welsh Football through the mire and into the gutter, here’s Oliver Cromwell’s speech to the Rump Parliament, and as an address to the FAW, I couldn’t have put it any better myself –

“It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.

Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government.

Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess?

Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go!”

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