Eclair

Just had a very nice eclair. Frozen but half the cost of a fresh one and better than half as good.

Currant Bun

Haven't seen them in Canada, which is a real shame.

A Buttered Bun with a coffee is delicious. Toasted and buttered is delicious too.

Raisin Bread is an acceptable alternative, but it's a wee bit expensive. So I stock up when it's around two-thirds it's normal price.

After all this time, I'm still amazed at the regular mark downs available in Canada. I'm also amazed at those who don't take advantage; it requires so little effort.

comfy win

Decent win for Liverpool. Hopefully a new beginning.

Moron

Nice blog on the Guardian today on Benefits again.

Sadly not very active and that's a pity as some twit said the targeting of claimants was begun by Labour.

So where was (s)he in the 1980s when the Tories (spit) introduced the Specialist Claims Control teams that toured the nation pressuring people to withdraw their claims and then followed this up with the "all work test" to try to end their various 'sickness' benefit claims?

Wasps

I think we may have a wasps nest under the deck. Hard to actually see under but the activity there suggests the top may be visible in the gap.

I might only be able to spray the the top, but it might be enough.

Different pricing

Brits have often commented how, in France, you'd pay different prices for coffee depending on whether seated at the counter or a table.

I've just been reminded that a pint of beer could have two different prices according to whether you drank in the lounge or the bar.

So, not so unusual after all.

Hurricanes

Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins has just died.

The next Hurricane threatening has, coincidenatlly, been named Alex.

lucky lucky

Two bits of good fortune came the way of England under 19s.

A very late goal in another game opened the door and their own late, late goal sent them through.

Mind you, they were sort of robbed a couple of days ago with a good goal wrongly disallowed.

But to have two things going for you so late in two games.....just a fraction of that once would have made an enormous difference to the senior team in the past.

Funny spell

Felt funny this afternoon. Cycled back from shopping...no further than usual, hot but not the hottest it's been.

Sat down while shopping unpacked. I couldn't focus on what was said, felt weak and a little numbness developed in my right arm. That passed quickly.

Speaking wasn't easy but I was aware of everything.

Blood sugar was low but not too low, although maybe it was overestimated. Blood pressure was near perfect.

Recovered fine after about 30 minutes. I'll have to be more careful in future.

Recipe of the day after

Cham Clowder leftovers on baked spud for lunch. lol

Recipe of the day

Alfredo Cham Clowder.

Save some Alfredo sauce from an Alfredo meal made up.

In a pan, sweat some more sliced onions and whatever fish you want. When almost cooked add the remaining sauce and a tin of Clam Chowder.

Serve on rice.

It's different enough from the Alfredo & Pasta to be a different meal.

Interesting charge

An Israeli woman met a man who claimed to be Israeli also. They had sex - seemingly just after meeting and later she discovered he was an Arab. She'd not have had sex had she known and he was charged and convicted of Rape by deception.

I wonder if this will be extended to:

• Of course I'll still respect you
• I love you
• I drive a Rolls
• I own a company
• etc
  

Moncton, Canada

The IAAF junior games kick off in Moncton today.

The local paper has observed that Moncton, NB has become Moncton, Canada.

It is a big event.

I'd have expected many employment opportunities - security, stewards, information points etc but it all seems to be volunteers.

The culture of volunteerism does seem to be big here.

Not to say I told you so but...

I've just been reading about cuts to a vital service for youth in Bristol. Unbelievable.

I was just thinking of all the other agencies that could be cut with no real loss of service and I looked up the name of one I always thought of as "dodgy" to see if I could find the others.

The first search result I found was a news item about a scam they had been pulling.

I feel vindicated.

But I'm still shocked at such stupidity.

Anniversary

Today.

Went for a Chinese 'all you can eat' Buffet tonight.

Not that good. I'd rather have paid a third and been restricted to one plate.

Brilliant hospital...again

8.30 appointment at the hospital for some monitor thingy that my wife has to 'wear' for 24 hours.

Left home 8.15, registered presence at the desk at 8.25. Sticky bits attached for wires for a general reading and then off to another room for more sticky bits and wires for the small device to be attached. Operating and Diary instructions also given then on our way.

Back home 9.15.

Cold calling

I hate cold calling.

We are on the "don't call" list or whatever it is called in Canada and it works quite well.

We still get irritating calls from the phone company and the credit card people about various promotions.

One guy called wanting me to take the insurance coverage on card balances; something I've rejected on the original application as well as since. When I refused he asked why and I told him that was none of his business. He tried to tell me I had to give a reason. Bloody cheek.

I told him that was nonsense and, further, to stop making these calls.

The phone company calls occasionally saying it's a "courtesy call." That's a strange way to describe something that disturbs home life and simply offers a service rejected several times.

A womand died, in a state of excitement, while watching a porn movie. The name of the movie was never revealed.

Could a guy have died watching Die Hard?

Heat

The aircon has been on almost a week now.

My mouse hand is getting almost as cold as it does in winter.

All your eggs in one basket

Great joke from the footie. Three Spanish players from the Basque region were attempting to leave their hotel but they all crammed through the door at the same time, getting stuck.

It just shows you shouldn't have all your Basques in one exit.

Lesser of two 'evils'

Well, Spain won and I suppose that was better than Holland winning. Quite surprising so many people are shocked at Holland committing so many fouls.

It's not like they hadn't been doing that already.

Play off game

Uruguay and Germany play an exciting game, end to end, lots of passing and movement. All done at pace too, proving it needn't be slow and dull like Spain or fast and crap like England. There is middle ground.

I rest my case

More on the Spain thing. Not a single impressive result for a supposedly magnificent team. Someone asks me who are these other great teams with better results sarcastically suggesting some teams - presumably some he didn't rate highly.

Every single one of them had better results in their championship winning campaigns against better teams than Spain has played; one of them even beating the second best team 3-0 in the final. He really should have known that one. It was rather fun pointintg that out...especially as none of them were considered as good as Spain now.

Dullsville

Looks like I'm not the only person who finds Spain's play and tactics somewhat dull.

They were "that close" from failing to qualify from their group due to their inability to step up a gear or take a bit of a risk during a match. People seem to have forgotten that.

They're in the final after a series of games that could not have been closer. I really hope Holland can win it.

Penalty goal

I'm still thinking it's an idea worth looking at but there will always be times when someone screams "penalty goal" when it's not clear cut. But is this any different to know when someone demands a player must have dived if the ref doesn't give a foul?

Why can't players just be more honest?

Sigh.

If I wake up tomorrow with a winners medal and I remember I cheated, I'd take no pleasure in the win.

Although I might try to rationalize it.

The debate rages on

Four days have passed and there is still discussion about the Uruguayan player - Suarez - stopping a certain goal with his hand while the opposition denied the goal had to make do with a penalty; a mere opportunity to recover the goal denied through cheating.

The penalty was missed. There was no time for a restart. The game went to penalty shoot out and Uruguay won.

A penalty goal has been suggested for where it's certain that a goal was prevented.

In Rugby, the officials can award a penalty try (rather than a penalty kick) and this action immediately restores the value of the points lost to the illegal stopping of the try.

Some say Rugby only does that because a penalty would be of less value than a try. But with three different values of points already, depending on the type of score, they could have declared a penalty kick in such situations to have an equal value to the type of score denied by illegal means.

Clearly, by awarding a penalty try, the rule-making authorities ensured the team wronged still received the points they were cheated out of, whereas a penalty kick offered no such guarantee; the kick could have missed.

Someone I was arguing with said

In no other instance of foul play in football is the victim guaranteed full redress - why make an exception for this?

Well, how about because in no other instance of foul play in football is the victim denied a certain goal - so make an exception for it.

Hot and humid

Been a warm couple of days, hitting 35 today. We even kept the aircon on last night for the first time this year. It was very nice under the quilt but it was cool on getting up.

Nearly missed it

No footie today. Semis on Tuesday.

Made it with 10 mins to spare.

Argentina - Ta-ta

Well that's cheered me up a lot.

All that crowing in the media about how well the South American teams had done and how only 6 European teams made it to the round of 16, where three all European ties meant a maximum of 3 in the quarter finals.

The QFs have now been played and all three South American teams playing the Europeans lost to them. The only South American team to have made it to the semis did so against an African team and then only by illegally stoppng a goal with a hand right at the end.

So three Europeans in the last four.

Germany absolutely stuffed Argentina.

Hup Holland

Goodbye Brazil. I won't miss you.

Fireworks tonight

I might get down there one day. See how they look. The Niagara Falls ones were good in 2007 but my favourites remain those in Paris for Bastille Day.