King Crimson – The Dream and the Illusion (Song Disc)
David Bowie – All Saints
Various - Holiday Hits Vol 4
Various - Holiday Hits Vol 10
Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
After already sending out two missives to my “mighty CBQ fanbase” re my upcoming gig this Friday (which I now realise will be my first full set since last July), a phone call this morning advises that the gig is once again postponed, this time to an as yet to be confirmed date...
It seems the room has been double-booked by a less than well informed member of staff. The occasion is Funeral Wake....
With my reputation for funereal music, perhaps they could have combined the two...
And so I must bother my “followers” yet again to advise the thousands who were due to attend on Friday, not to bother, or at least, if they do go along, to wear black...
Today we were visiting Lex and Moira, friends of my mum and dad since meeting on holiday in 1964. Due to roadworks, my mum took over an hour to make the normally 20 minute journey to our house..
In the meantime, Anne was out at Tynecastle spend, spend, spending on tickets for the Jam Tarts upcoming “Champions’ League Adventure” (© the Scottish Meedja)....
We finally left Crispycat Towers around 12:30 and made it to Bearsden (a posh part of Glasgow), about an hour later – an act by which my Mum was most impressed...
Lex and Moira are around 70 going on 30 and we have an excellent time chatting away and setting the world to rights...
After lunch, Lex, Anne and I retire to the TV room to watch England v Portugal...
Whilst I felt sorry for England going out on penalties and that they perhaps performed better today than in previous matches (but only because they had to defend continuously for almost an hour including extra time due to half man, half potato Wayne Rooney being sent off for stamping on an opponents nether regions)....
...I was more than happy to see them go. Frankly, they were crap in every game they played...
Paraguay : reasonable first half, more than lucky to hang on in the second
Trinidad & Tobago : showed nothing of any import for 80 minutes until Crouch scored an illegal goal, holding the defender down by the hair. Gerrard’s second was a stormer though.
Sweden : Woeful defending and clinging on to a 2-2 draw to avoid the Germans. Scene of Dancing Joe Cole’s “lucky lob” (ok it was quite a good goal but a bit hit and hope)
Ecuador : Oh dear – if Ecuador’s shot which Ashley Cole valiantly deflected on to the bar, had gone in, a third rate side would have put England out of their misery. Very poor. Beckham’s free kick was the only highlight for England
Portugal : England were flattered by Portugal’s lack of killer instinct, pussyfooting around the box for almost the entire last hour of the game. Dreadful misses from Rooney, Cole and co were compounded by a quite astonishingly amateurish attempt at a penalty shoot out. Lampard’s miss summed up England. Much promised, nothing delivered.
And so they were found out immediately they came up against tough opposition – which they should have known having struggled so badly against Sweden...
Frankly, for the press and management and even (hang your heads in shame) the players to opine that England could win the tournament was a joke...
Surely getting to the Quarter Finals was a major achievement considering how the team was playing. Scholari admitted that Portugal's last eight appearance was all he could have hoped for and from here on in it will be a bonus. But why do England believe they ought to have won the cup?
And as for Sven’s frankly laughable assertion that they are amongst the top eight teams in the world, does he honestly believe England’s performances rank them higher than the Ivory Coast, Holland, Mexico, Ghana, Australia, Spain or even Sweden, the Ukraine or Switzerland?
On that logic, Scotland were indeed World Champions in 1967 when they beat England 3-2 at Wembley...
So let’s make that top twenty will we? And even that’s stretching it...
Anyway, thank goodness the illusion’s over for another two years. They will, of course, continue to enjoy preferential seeding as they go forward to the finals of the European Championships in 2008. C'est la vie...
After the England shoot out, we watched Andy Murray knock out the third seed at Wimbledon in straight sets. Unbelievable, but more power to the boy’s elbow...
We sat down to a relaxed evening meal around 8:30 and spent the rest of the night chatting around the table. Moira’s cooking was a delight to be savoured....
We left for home just before eleven and arrived just in time to catch the highlights of Brazil v France - and of course France shocked Brazil but, frankly, outplayed them. A wonder goal from Thiery Henry and a fiery display from Zidane being the difference....
Despite the post midnight scenario, Anne logged on to the net and confirmed a visit to Italy in the early Autumn which is something for us to look forward to....
An excellent day..
Highlight of the Day : England – justice done at last
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