Here are some shots of our olive picking efforts a couple of seasons ago at our place in Italy. Our good friends and neighbours, John & Christine, Fred & Barbara, very kindly turned up and helped us enormously that day and we collected a couple of cwt of olives which was turned to beautiful olive oil by the end of the day. Happy memories.
Get in there son! This is the moment that I forgave Wayne Rooney for all his wingeing sins over the summer as he scored the first goal against Poland last night. What a great game it was too; I never thought I’d admit again to watching England and really enjoy the manner in which they played. Terrific stuff. Instead of trying to play slow possession football like Spain and failing miserably, we’ve actually re-discovered how to play like England again. Pace down the wings, lots of passion, strong and skilful forwards, balanced midfield, lots of tempo and yes mistakes too but only because we were pressing hard up the pitch. Credit to the manager too; I also thought Hodgson got his team selections just right in the last two matches. I never thought I’d say this either but well done Roy. All that pre-match nonsense about the insanity of selling 20,000 tickets to the Polish fans and handing them an advantage was just a load of baloney. Wembley for once sounded great with tremendous atmosphere which seemed to inspire the players. And now we can look forward to watching the playoffs without trepidation. I shall enjoy seeing Ronaldo and Benzema playing with fear in their eyes that they might miss out on the greatest venue for a World Cup finals. I hear the FA have already got the hotel booked in Rio. Wey hey. I”m not going to get all giddy about England’s chances but, if this team keeps fit, for once we can enjoy the challenge that lies ahead methinks. I’m not sure anyone will fancy having a resurgent England in their Group, well except Spain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and….argh bugger it, bring them on! If all else fails we’ve always got Rickie Lambert. Remember when he used to lead the England line?
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I’m drawn to listening to Talksport radio. My wife hates it and my daughters too; it must be all that blokeish bickering about whether it was a penalty or not. I know what they mean to me honest; it’s full of inane chat and despite having schedules full of ex-footballers/managers it rarely delivers any insight. You could listen to messrs Quinn, Gould, Cundy and Warnock for a 100 hours apiece and never get beyond the cliche-ridden level of comment. It’s like being trapped in a conversation with Alan Shearer but with some cackling thrown in for good measure. So why do I listen to it? Because I love words and phrasing and there’s something compelling about the way footballers talk, the little expressions they use and have all adopted. The undisputed master of the footie jargon is the man with the most endearing rhotic speech mannerism Ray Parlour, often referred to as the Romford Pele, or as Ray would introduce himself Way Pahwer, the Womfud Pehwy. Continue reading
I seem to be focused on an eyewear thing at the moment, or more precisely what not to eyewear. Two recent posts on my facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1405906809638322&set=a.1390376631191340.1073741827.100006570487269&type=1 and https://www.facebook.com/paulleonard60/posts/1406856676210002?notif_t=like
– yes I’ve joined the social media revolution comrades – are about slightly odd specs choices, a thought which sets up this posting. And what I was thinking is, what is the link between an alleged Eastbourne serial killer and a host of top football managers?
Pasta Paulie 