manchester pride

 

Well as an antidote to the last posting, I can only just say woo hoo to the news that Man U defeated Barcelona 1-0 tonight to reach the final of the Champions League. Bring on Russia FC or the Scousers. It doesn’t matter now, it has to be Man U’s year. I tried to watch the game online but it was hopeless. Spookily the only bit I saw in real time and in glorious uninterrupted unbuffered action was Scholes’ sublime goal. And what a beauty (my dream is for my grandson S to become the next ginger genius in a few years time)  –  just like many of the goals I used to  score at 5 a-side (joke right). Perhaps the goal I dreamt about scoring… Who cares? It’s Moscow in a few weeks time and I promised Mike and Jake two tickets if we got there. Oops

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austrian shame

When I was 12 I went on a school trip to Bad Ischl in Austria; it’s about an hour’s drive from the town of Amstetten where Josef Fritzl lived with his wife and kids. A quiet town by all accounts just like Basd Ischl – like virtually all of Austria; clean, ordered and dull. Except this town housed a monster who sexually assaulted his daughter at 11 and after continued repeated attacks then imprisoned her in a cellar for the next quarter of a centrury whilst repeatedly beating and raping her and producing 7 children by her. Allegedly he incinerated the body of one dead child. Forgive me for feeling sick at the thought of it all. For a nation which has produced the genius of Mozart, Freud, Rothschild, Wittgenstein, Kafka, Klimt, Lang and Strauss it has also produced its share of the most depraved and crazed individuals. This man Fritzl is nothing less than evil. But he lives in a house with a family who weren’t apparently aware of this hidden depravity and with neighbours who heard and suspected nothing – over more than 24 years? Ummm. These are the same people who selected the former SS supremo Kurt Waldheim to their Presidency and who spawned Hitler of course. You’ve got to suspect there’s a deep flaw in the psyche of a nation who can produce such madmen. Sorry to be so pointed but this news feature has got to me. I’m sure it’s not just me.

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ps at the request of a good friend i’ve removed the image of fritzl.

great fried vegetables

Well I’ve had a request (yup!) and a number of suggestions for some cooking for men (wddc) postings. It’s time that I moved on to do some complete meals rather than just elements of one so I’ll give it a bit of a go here. But I do want to focus on the vegetables as well as I’ve started playing around with an interesting way to cook them – a frying/saute combo.

another italian tv horror

I’m not sure what the top Saturday night programmes are in the UK and USA at present – almost certainly they’ll involve Simon Cowell and, at the BBC, something altogether camper. But they’ll all have the search for the next BIG talent at their core. In Italy it’s not dissimilar – they’ve got their version of X factor and all that but the main early evening blockbuster on Rai Uno (the equivalent of BBC1) is a bizarre thing called ‘Ti Lascio Una Canzone?’ which seems to translate as ‘Did I Leave A Song?’ which you’ve got to admit is an odd kinda title.

weeds!

Well I know I promised not to do any more gardening stuff (for a while) but I just wanted to show you one of the bloody weeds I pulled out from our ‘lawn’ yesterday. He put up such a fight that I felt like stringing him up like I’d just landed a tiger shark:-

football latest

Groan…why oh why does Sir Alex (Queiroz?) insist on picking sides to try and play tactically? All they needed today was a draw to effectively seal the Premiership title. So, of course, he makes 6 changes from the last match and picks a side designed not to lose. Always fatal. Fergie and Queiroz just can’t do it. Or at least the team can’t. It’s not in Man U’s DNA to play for draws; their instinct is to attack with thrilling pace and to scare the crap out of lesser teams with the quality of their attacking play.

cannes film festival

Well today’s the final day of the CFF when the panel announces the Palme D’Or. I read too that Quentin Tarrentino will be giving a master class on film-making. Sigh, it all makes me nostalgic for the days when my great mate J and I attended the event with Cellnet and created the greatest 3 day hospitality events in the mobile industry.

football update

A bit late this posting following last night’s strangely muted affair at the Nou Camp. Man U come away with a 0-0 draw which is ok I guess. Ronaldo missed a penalty and had another valid claim (in my view) denied. It could have been 2-0 away and tie over but that would have been more than unfair. Man U were pretty horrible to watch last night. And as for Barca they played some really attractive approach play – Deco was particularly effective – but they only created a few chances themselves. 0-0 seemed fair even if it was less than decent fayre on display.