Jammy...

Playlist
Black Widow – Black Widow III
California Guitar Trio w/ Levin & Mastelloto– CG3+2
The Bad Plus – Give
Various – Shades of Blue Untinted
Marillion – Marbles
David Gilmour – On An Island

The last Bad Plus CD (“Give”) I had on order arrived this morning and we listened to it as we drove into town. It’s probably not the best music to listen to in a car with someone who’s not that keen on jazz – but it’s a hell of a lot better than Radio bloody Scotland, that’s for sure...

I was returning to the dentist re the tooth, half of which I had removed a couple of weeks ago...

To B&Q first though to buy some paint...

The dentist visit only lasted about five minutes as he drilled the remains of the tooth down a bit to take all pressure off it. I’ve to return in October to get the final work done....

Then to the lair of Satan himself, Arnold Clark...

Longer term followers of the everyday life of Mr CBQ may recall my problems with them just over a year ago re trying to get them to fix our car properly...

A week and a half ago, on returning from a trip to Glasgow, I noticed water leaking from the engine and that the underside of the car was very hot...

Next day, I took the car to Arnold Crap and they looked at it and said it needed a new hose. They said they’d need to order the part and it should be in in a couple of days, and so today, we went back, as the part was apparently “in”...

They said we could leave the car for “a couple of hours” and come back and take it away...

We left the car at 11:40 and walked to nearby Portobello, surely one of the most depressing places on earth, and found somewhere reasonable for lunch...



...and walked back along the promenade...



(doesn't look too bad in the picture - in reality though, it wasn't this nice)...

We even entered the “Amusement” arcade....

Anyway, at 1:40, the requisite two hours later we returned to Arnold Crap, only to find they were just about to start work on the car...

We were forced to sit in their waiting room for a further hour and ten minutes while they “carried out the work”...

Here we are reflected in one of their cars...



Back home, Anne jokingly suggested we open the bonnet just to make sure the work had been done - we’d made a couple of stops on the way back (looking for a sofa bed) and thought we’d seen evidence of a small leak under the car...

The overflow reservoir for the cooling system was practically empty...

Needless to say, I called them immediately and was less than complimentary about their abilities to spot anything wrong under a bonnet...

This is what they need to do...

When they've finished a job, the mechanic needs to explain to the customer what they've done, showing the customer the work that's been carried out....

That's all it would take to turn them from crap to not crap. If they'd done this, I could've pointed out the reservoir was almost empty and that another hose in the engine appeared to be damaged....

But no....

The receptionist hands you the key and says, "that's your car for you now sir" and you have to trust that what's been done is correct without knowing what's been done...

And so, it’s back to Arnold Crap again tomorrow morning at 8am for me....

I calmed down long enough to fire up the computer and read my latest e-mails. An offer of another acoustic set, this time during the Fringe Festival...

So three gigs in the offing – not bad for someone who doesn’t play very many full live sets...

In the evening, while Anne painted (I am not allowed to paint as I tend to arse it up), I watched England v Sweden whilst listening to Marillion and David Gilmour. Much better with the sound down...

England started well, though Sweden were well up on the corner count when an ineffectual clearance allowed Joe Cole to score with a hopeful lob which just beat the keeper. I turned the volume up at the half time analysis just long enough to hear this being referred to as the goal of the tournament...

What tournament have these people been watching?

Second half, England were just not really very good, same as against Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago....

At last, Sweden scored with a header from the front post from a corner...

Then they should have had a penalty when Carragher handled in the box, the deflection being touched onto the bar by the goalie...

Then Sweden hit the bar again...

And Gerrard had to clear off the line too...

Inevitably though, he popped up at the other end to score another excellent goal following on from his long-range shot against Trinidad & Tobago, running round the back of the Swedish defence to convert a good cross from Joe Cole, who’d waited and waited on Gerrard getting to exactly the right spot. ...

Now that was a good goal (ok Cole’s first half shot was not bad I suppose)...

Justice was done however when Sweden equalised again right at the death with a deflection from a long throw in, which the entire English defence missed completely...



It really would have been a travesty had England gotten away with winning all three games with such dreadful performances...

So now it’s “Come on Ecuador”. They rested five players today and were thrashed three nil by the Germans...

Highlight of the Day : Another gig offer