A Good View from The Away Seats
This isn’t always the case. But yesterday, at the KC Stadium, this was my view.
A Good View from The Away Seats
It’s just a pity that Ipswich threw away a one-nil lead for the fourth time in succession.
Putting It Straight
I liked this sign at the KC Stadium in Hull.
Putting It Straight
No-one was smoking, so the message must be getting through.
Hull’s Hybrid Buses
Hull has ten Alexander Dennis Enviro400 hybrid buses.
Note that the transmission is by BAe Systems. See the Hybridrive web site.
The big beasts are showing interest in the field of efficient transport. That can only improve the introduction of more and better solutions.
Is Frankel The Greatest Ever?
Judging horses across the generations is a lot easier than judging footballers or even athletes, as everything is timed and analysed meticulously and available to everybody through Timeform.
I have not seen Frankel in the flesh and I only saw a recording of his win yesterday, as I was at the football. But he’s on the front page of many news websites today and I suspect his image will dominate the printed press.
BBC Radio 5 devoted a whole evening to the horse, which says something for his prowess, but is he the greatest racehorse ever?
I used to feel Brigadier Gerard was the greatest horse I’d ever seen, but he was a racehorse, who although great on the track didn’t really produce the progeny expected. He was also in a generation, where he raced against another great horse in Mill Reef.
Joe Mercer who rode Brigadier Gerard in all his races and has told the story, when after being in a plane crash, he wasn’t feeling the best, but still lined up on the horse. Normally, the horse pulled hard going to the start, but this day he didn’t. He came back gingerly looking after Joe and just pulled clear to win the race. He was one of those horses that liked to win. Some do!
In an article in The Times yesterday, this ability to run his own race and win was attributed to Frankel and not for the first time.
Will I see another horse better than Frankel? I doubt it!
My father might have disagreed, as he saw racing before the Second World War. He remembered Hyperion and felt he was the best he’d seen. The horse’s presence is still seen in equine pedigrees, fifty years after he died. His statue also has pride of place on Newmarket High Street.
But whatever you say about Frankel, spare a thought for Sir Henry Cecil, his trainer. Almost down and completely out a few years ago and battling cancer, he’s turned things around to give racing fans three years of pleasure. I’ll leave him the last word on Frankel.
“There has never been a better horse,” … “I love everything about him. He’s the best horse I have ever had. I’d be very surprised if there will be anything better.”
I just wish I’d been at Ascot yesterday, but tickets had been unavailable for months.
Greek Football Team Turns To Brothels For Sponsorship
I spotted this in one of the small articles in The Times yesterday. But the only place I can find it on the web is here on a New Zealand web site.
Here’s a couple of paragraphs.
Players on a cash-strapped Greek football team now wear pink practice jerseys with the logos “Villa Erotica” and “Soula’s House of History,” two bordellos it recruited as sponsors after drastic government spending cuts left the country’s sports clubs facing ruin.
Other teams have also turned to unconventional financing. One has a deal with a local funeral home and others have wooed kebab shops, a jam factory and producers of Greece’s trademark feta cheese.
But the amateur Voukefalas club – whose players include pizza delivery guys, students, waiters and a bartender – has raised eyebrows with its flamboyant sponsorship choice.
Times are obviously hard in Greece.
The Detective Who Broke The Rules
The conviction of Christopher Halliwell for the murder of Sian O’Callaghan is of course to be welcomed. But reports, like this one on the BBC, show that the detective who solved the murder broke a few rules. I would appear too, that Halliwell knew something about the murder of Becky Godden, as he led the p0lice to her body.
It is always said that difficult cases make bad law and this case would appear to have shown up a few faults in the rules by which the Police work.
But does it?
In this case, no-one died or was physically hurt because of what the detective did, so many will be calling for a change in the law. On the other hand, I don’t remember a similar case.
So perhaps it shows we’ve got it about right.
The Attacks In Cardiff
The attacks yesterday in Cardiff are very worrying.
The perpetrator has caused one death and a lot of serious injuries and all he used was a weapon available to many; a Transit-sized van.
How To Make A Mountain Out Of A Molehill!
George Osborne didn’t have a First Class ticket, but as he got on the train at Wilmslow, he sent an aide to find the conductor to rectify the problem. The BBC report it here.
According to Virgin, the fare upgrade was paid and there was no abuse to staff. As one would hope!
But according to some statements, you’d think Osborne had refused to pay and more! After all, if there hadn’t been an ITV journalist on the train, no-one would have known about this non-story.
The real problem here are the very strict terms and conditions of the rail companies. We’ve all had a ticket for a train with a seat reservation and have missed our selected train. In many cases it doesn’t matter as our ticket is not a train specific one, so getting the next one is not a problem.
When I buy tickets to say go to Liverpool for the day, I will often buy a First Class Off Peak for the return, as there are always lots of free seats in the afternoon and evening. I won’t have a specific seat, but I’ll have a comfortable one.
Osborn’s problem was that he was returning to London on a Friday afternoon, which is not Off Peak and I suspect trains were pretty full, with all those footballers wives going to London for a weekend’s shopping.
The terms and conditions don’t need to be rewritten to disadvantage the train companies, but there needs to be a more flexible return part of a ticket. After all on many routes like Liverpool, you already have it within the current structures.
If he wasn’t sure about when he was returning to London, he should ave bought an Anytime First Ticket. I’ve just looked at next Friday and it would appear that there are few deals available from Wilmslow to London. It could be one of those routes where if you don’t book weeks earlier, the only ticket is the £189.50 Anytime First.
The question has to be asked, as to whether we expect important members of the government to organise their lives around cheap train tickets.
Surely though, his aides should have known of the problem. They certainly do now!
This problem will continue on this line until HS2 runs to Manchester.
A Gap Too Far!
This is the gap between platform and train at East Croydon station.
A Gap Too Far!
It’s just too much. Especially for one couple with a baby in a pushchair and a large case.
What do you do in a wheel-chair?
What A Load Of Old Boulders!
My trip south of the Big Sewer today was to see Croydon’s latest attempt at art, parking control or bad taste at New Addington.
They are certainly not my idea of good design.
The Anonymous Widower 