Dec 18, 2009 1
…both metaphorically and very literally.
2pm local time yesterday I sat sweating in the relative cool of the hotel reception, the thermometer on the wall proudly boasting 34 degrees C in said relatively cool area (it must have been another 5 degrees warmer outside. It was – and at the risk of dumbfounding you with meteorological jargon - stinking fucking hot). Read the rest of this entry »
Nov 5, 2009 1
The thing I love about playing sport is that we all play for ‘the moment.’ Whatever sport it is — football, netball, snooker, cricket, golf (technically a hobby as opposed to a sport, but still) — we usually know we’re not brilliant, but we still play, hoping and aiming for ‘the moment.’
The moment: the thirty-yard screamer, the three-pointer, the diving catch, the hole-in-one, the double on the black to win. We play because we all know we have it in ourselves to have a moment of glory. Every dog has his day, and all that. This is the only explanation I can think of for people who spend hundreds and thousands of pounds on golf equipment and green fees when they can’t even hit the ball straight. They hope for the moment. The applause, the cheers, the high-fives, the celebratory beer afterwards. It’s why shit people play sport, I’m convinced. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov 2, 2009 5
Note To Self: I am not nineteen anymore.
Quite how I didn’t get my head kicked in on Saturday night is something of a mystery to me. And I really can’t blame anyone or anything other than me and my insatiable appetite for strong beer. Another Note To Self: I am a cock when I’m drunk. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 15, 2009 0
Is twenty-eight too early to consign yourself to the scrap-heap?
I once went on a Management Bullshit Course in which the speaker said that as we get older we find it harder to change our personality traits. The point that stuck in my mind was the cut-off point he specified: twenty-eight. Up until the age of twenty-eight, he said, we can still change who we are. We can change those things about ourselves that annoy us. After that, we’re screwed. We’re stuck as we are. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 14, 2009 17
Today I received the news I had been expecting but very much not wanting. The lovely gentleman who drove his motorbike into the side of my car has denied all responsibility for the accident and my insurers informed me that it is very likely I will be deemed to have been wholly at fault.
Not my accident
Now in many ways this is irrelevant. If I were 100% at fault, 50% at fault or a tiny bit at fault, it still goes down as an accident on my record, I kiss goodbye to my no claims bonus and my premium goes up. The point is that I object to being told I’m the only one in the wrong when a motorbike rides between two lanes of moving traffic. Yes, it was careless on my part, but it really fucks me off that motorcyclists gets all high and mighty (“THINK BIKE!” FFS) about road safety, while seemingly being a law unto themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
