It’s Snowing in Manchester for a Change
Normally, it rains in Manchester, but tonight as I’m watching Manchester City play Fulham, it’s snowing.
Another disappointment for the Arabs, but at least it’s preferable to play in snow, than in forty degree heat, when they play the World Cup in Qatar.
The Correct Term is a Light Engine
When you have just a railway engine travelling by itself, it is called a light engine!
One has caused chaos on the West Coast Main Line by getting itself derailed at Bletchley, as reported here on the BBC. But few reports have called it a light engine, most have called it a freight train, as it is owned by a company called Freightliner, although it is at present leased to Virgin Trains. So at least they can read, even if they don’t know the correct railway term.
The BBC report says this.
A spokesman for Network Rail said the Freightliner locomotive appeared to have approached a set of points at Bletchley south junction too fast.
This caused the tracks to buckle, damaged wooden sleepers and brought down some overhead cables.
There is as yet “no estimate for the completion of repairs and therefore it is not yet known whether services will continue to be affected on Sunday”, according to the National Rail Enquiries website.
As no-one seems to have been seriously hurt, but many have been seriously delayed and inconvenienced, this will turn out to be one of those stories that will run and run all the way to the Supreme Court. After all the engine wasn’t owned by Virgin Trains, but it was being run on their behalf.
So will Virgin Trains be suing themselves for all the compensation, they’ve paid out to passengers?
Incidentally, I usually go to see Ipswich at Coventry, but won’t be going today. I was going to go and get in by buying a ticket on the gate. But because of this light engine crash, I wouldn’t have been able to get to Coventry.
So should I add my case for compensation to the rest?
No! But, if I’d bought a ticket you could be rest ensured, I wouldn’t be a happy bunny, aif I’d been unable to get to Coventry!
What Do Fred Goodwin and Manchester City Have In Common?
They’ve both lost their title in the last couple of weeks.
When Was The Last Time the Met Police Commissioner Patrolled on a Horse?
At Tuesday night’s football at White Hart Lane, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe was part of the mounted force policing the match. It’s here in the Metro.
It’s not the first time though that Hogan-Howe has been at a high-profile event on a horse in uniform. This is an extract from a report in the Guardian.
One of Bernard Hogan-Howe’s greatest pleasures as chief constable of Merseyside police was riding through the crowds on horseback at the Grand National. It gave him the chance to pursue his passion for horse-riding while also soaking up the very particular atmosphere of Aintree.
I’ve always felt that horses are an interesting part of a Police Force’s tools. If of course they are used properly.
But I do wonder who was the previous high-ranking Police Officer who patrolled on horse in London?
The Luckiest Footballer Alive
Former Tottenham midfielder Hossam Ghaly, was lucky not to be involved in the rioting in Port Said, despite playing for one of the teams involved. Apparently, he’d been sent off before the trouble started and was in the dressing room.
Can there have been a better time and place to get a red card?
When Was The Last Time Sussex Had Two Teams in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup?
With Crawley beating Hull at the KC Stadium and Brighton beating Newcastle at home by the same score, it means that Sussex has two teams in the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time. Brighton of course did make the 1983 Cup Final.
I do suspect that the draw might be fixed so that they play each other, as who would fancy a trip to the Deep South.
It’s actually quite a small list of counties that have two League teams outside of the obvious, like Greater London, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne and Wear and a few others, who have two clubs anyway. I can find Bristol, Derbyshire, Devon, Essex and Hampshire. And of course Sussex.
One Of My Least Favourite Stadia Will Get a Station
The Ricoh Arena at Coventry is a reas9onable stadium, unless you want to get there when the buses aren’t running from the centre. That happened on News Years Day in 2011 as I reported here.
But it would now appear that by December 2013, it will have its own station! About time too!
Should Paul Scholes Captain GB in the Olympics?
Rules say that for Olympic football, you must pick an under-23 side, but you are allowed three overage players in your side. This article in the Daily Mail says that Giggs, Scholes and Beckham could be those overage players.
Obviously others will have their view and especially, when it is known, who’s not going to Euro-2012.
Liverpool Supporters Boo Evra
The Suarez affair has not shown Liverpool of their supporters in a good light. Watching the match today between Liverpool and Manchester United, there is a lot more booing of Patrice Evra.
I think, it’s going to need some sort of punishment to bury all of this.
Incidentally, it doesn’t seem that the supporters behaviour is not much better at Loftus Road, where Chelsea and John Terry are playing.
It wwould appear that we might be winning the battle against rscism in football, but now we have another one, where supporters use a racist incident to stir up trouble.
Harry ‘Forgot Secret Monaco Account’
This was the headline on the front of last night’s Evening Standard and it refers to a claim by Harry Redknapp at his trial for tax evasion.
I have a simple question. If he couldn’t remember this, what hope has he got of remembering how one of the players he is interested in buying has played?
So why would anybody bother to employ him?
The Anonymous Widower 