Google - helping the little guy

I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about a little company called Google. A few of you may have heard of it, don’t worry if you haven’t, that’s probably not your fault. Google is a marvellous company that dos so many great things. They have a motto, ‘Do no evil’. The last person to have this motto was Hitler, but what are the chances of lightening striking twice, virtually impossible.

Google provide invaluable community services. If you want to know the name of the movie starring 'whatsiname', you know that guy that was in that other thing with Julia Roberts, Google will tell you. If you want to find someone in the world with exactly the same name as you, Google will help you their too. If you want to trace your own online footprint, you'd start where? That's right, Google. Why Google will even help you find your way around where ever you want to go. If you've forgotten what your house looks like, Google will show you. Need some obscure, out of print, no longer covered by copyright book, Google will have it. Need to translate from or to English, Google will help you with 34 languages, from Arabic to Vietnamese. You didn't even know they were languages, did you. You do now thanks to Google. Even this humble blog is powered by Google.

But now I say, ask not what Google can do for you, ask what you can do for Google. They have already improved your life in so many ways. So to share your new found enthusiasm for this little company called Google who dares to dream big, if you see the word Google on this page please click as many times as you feel you can. Dare you dream big as well?

Fulham done at home

So I'm going to ignore the booing, jeering and name calling (who knew my wife could be so cruel) to once again write about football. Saturday the 27th of September saw a visit by cross town rivals West Ham, ironically the side that is closer to us in East London then Fulham.

Players are led out onto the pitch

Some of the players look very short!!

Fulham started with their strongest side looking for points after a 1-0 loss away to Blackburn the previous weekend. This had been followed by the same score mid week against Burnley which saw Fulham dumped out of the Carling Cup. But after two strong performances at home hopes were high for a form reversal. And for 42 minutes Fulham dominated possession and seemed easily the better side. Then in less than 5 minutes West Ham had scored twice and Fulham reduced to 10 men when Andy Johnson was sent off, and a good result seemed beyond them.

Doom and gloom hung over the ground as the second half began, but Fulham continued to dominate despite the numerical disadvantage, and within 15 minutes a Lucas Neill handball allowed Danny Murphy the chance to reduce the margin to one goal. This he duly did and Fulham were back in the game. The West Ham fans went silent as the Fulham fans exploded, rapturously chanting 'You're not singing anymore' taunting the opposing fans.

For the next half an hour West Ham were not without their chances, but Fulham seemed the more likely to score an equaliser. Chance after chance was created, by none were converted, to the eternal frustration of the 'Tourettes' afflicted fan seated next to me who colourfully shouted at every near miss. Some people are quite intense about their football.

The final whistle blew just as Fulham stalwart Jimmy Bullard thundered a free kick, the final play of the game, into the wall, disappointingly consigning the home side to defeat. 2-1 was the disappointing final result, but the game saw a side reduced to 10 men continue to play ith a passion and flair that still bodes well for a season beyond survival tactics.

Some Sad News...

Well this week has not been a great one. Poor little Merv failed his MOT test, which is essentially a road worthiness test, and it seems he has fallen into a depressive state about life at the moment. Thing were made even worse when the mechanic who took him to the MOT returned exclaiming "Why, why, why would you drive this thing?!". To which the only suitable response was "SSHHHHH!! He can hear you!". I suspect Merv being demoted to a meer roadside parking space may also be playing havoc with his sense of self worth. We've had British Gas tearing up most of the footpaths and digging holes all down the road, and unfortunately Merv has temporarily lost his driveway space, and he's taken it as a personal attack despite my trying to convice him the world is not against him. I fear that an open-air screening of "Herbie Goes Bananas" may be the only thing to bring the little car back to his former self...

Not much else has happened this week. We went to work. Went to the pub on Friday. Went to another pub on Saturday for a 30th, and Mike went to the football which I know you'll all be looking forward to hearing about. Tesco officially has a Christmas aisle, the days are getting shorter and inevitably colder. Hope everyone at home is well.

A General Update

In the interest of ensuring this does not turn into a blog primarily devoted to football updates, I thought I'd better write a bit of an update. We recently reached the end of our first year in the UK and with the new year we found a new place to live, I found a new job and we've recently acquired some new housemates. I think Mike has already mentioned about the new flat, but we're living in a much nicer area and are very happy. Our council actually spends money on community events (like markets and art festivals), so there's always something happening within walking distance. For those who are familiar with Newcastle, where we're living reminds me of Derby St in Newcastle, lots of cafes, bars, pubs etc.

As for the new job, I started work a little over a week ago as a Nanny to 2 school age girls. Basically I'm working mornings and afternoons/evenings getting the kids ready for school, collecting them from school, entertaining them for the afternoon and cooking some dinner. So far it's all going well, but there's certainly some challenging behaviour to contend with.

Threeish weeks ago our new housemates, Katie and Jeremy arrived from America. We all get along well and so far it's a happy household. We're locked in to a 12 month lease so we're hoping things continue to go well. They're both going to be studying as of next week, and like us, hoping to fit as much travel in as possible.

We're often asked what the weather's doing over here, and there's not a whole to report other than we're still waiting for Summer, and the odds of getting a last minute heatwave are getting slimmer and slimmer each day. We have had to turn the central heating on this week so it looks like it's full steam ahead to another miserable English winter. With each cold day we console ourselve with thoughts of an Aussie Christmas...

I'm assuming most people are aware of this, but for those who haven't heard my little sister Alison, along with her partner Pete are expecting a baby in 6 weeks. Very exciting for my family. Other than that, nothing much else has happened in the world of Mike and Krystle. We've very much fallen into a routine of going to work, coming home to sleep and then drinking too much on the weekends and wishing we hadn't and vowing never to go out drinking with the Kiwi's anymore... but such is life, we'll never learn.

Fulham go back to back at home

So the Premier League season has, as you well know, kicked off strongly. You no doubt have been on the edge of your seat following the latest comings and goings, will he or won't he , regarding player transfers. Ronaldo to Real, Ronaldinho to Man City, everybody to Chelsea, the rumours never stop.

In the meantime Fulham, my new almost favourite club, have being quietly going about business rebuilding the team after the disastrous managership of Lawrie Sanchez almost saw them relegated. Current Boss Roy Hodgson is a well travelled and experienced manager who has bought well and from the last game seems to have got the balance of a good side. But in order to avoid fighting for relagation again this season, they don't need to beat the Arsenal's of the league, they need to regularly beat sides like Saturday's opponent Bolton, another who also just avoided been sent down last season. Fulham had recieved bouyant news when star midfielder Jimmy Bullard got a call up to Fabio Capello's England Squad for the World Cup qualifiers that had so rudely delayed my return to the Cottage.

You'll notice, of course, that I'm not patronising you by explaining all rudimentary details, because I know you all will have felt the passion and excitement of the win against Arsenal and thought, talked and dreamed of nothing but football since. Oh, you haven't . . . . my mistake then. Ah, I guess you probably don't care that Fulham best Bolton 2-1 then. And played them off the park in doing so. You couldn't care less about their fluid passing that was wonderous to behold. Don't need to be told that Jimmy run the midfield like a seasoned international to the strains of a chant that declared he was 'better than Steve Gerrard/Frank Lampard (what are the odds that so many great midfielders have rhyming names, not interested?) and come to our corner of the ground to take a free kick and humbly acknowledged the standing ovation his very presence demanded. Not too interested in hearing how Bobby Zamora, a golden child of the Championship Manager series circa 2000, is showing the sort of form that made him a stand out when playing the ultimate Football management simulation at the turn of the century. Non-plussed that new signing Andy Johnson, in his first start for the whites, is looking a complete bargain at 11 million pounds in only his first game since his summer move from Everton, or that Danny Murphy, clearly enjoying the new personal at the club, laid on some exquisite passes that completely opened up the Bolton defense, or Aussie Mark Schwarzer solid and reliable in goal. Ok then, sorry, won't be mentioning any of that. Shame, was a good game, maybe if you were there, no . . . . . . . right, no problem, I'll just go then. But before I do, let me just say

C'mon You Whites!!!!

Paul and Robbie's Big Adventure ........ starring us

In May we had our first international (and possibly only, it is such a long way) visitors when Robbie and Paul arrived. Some reference was made to their visit in a blog a few back which has been accused of damning them with faint praise. So let me just say from the outset that it was great to see them, share some of our experiences over here and have some lovely meals out. They landed early in the morning, but managed to summon the energy to come and visit us that afternoon for a meal, a short 3 hr drive across London, what a welcome. We took them to the White Horse in Chadwell Heath, one of our favourite pubs, good food and if you’re lucky a little Asian guy will come and sell you DVDs that seem possibly pirated, but I’d err on the side of supporting local business and giving the little guy a fair go. Robbie and Paul got the chance to see where we have been living, my school from the outside at least, and Paul got a driving experience of a lifetime when he took the mini for a spin, under my watchful eye of course. ‘But what cannot be denied, at least not by anyone who's actually had the privilege of driving one, is the towering engineering achievement that it represents ‘ and “doesn't leave you disappointed, even a little bit. If you don't want one, you're probably dead’ are some of the superlatives offered to describe other less notable cars and Paul was clearly no less impressed, even offering to swap the rented Merc for the duration of their stay. Krystle however, and to a lesser extent Robbie, was having none of this and in view of the fact Paul bounced the Merc off a gutter driving back through sheer exhaustion we were glad we didn’t take him up on his offer, and extra appreciative of the effort they had made.

Somebody looks a little jealous

They made another trip out to visit us later in the week and we took them to an Indian restaurant that Krystle and I had visited for her Birthday. The food is excellent, but strangely whenever we had gone past the place at maybe one or two people in it. We later discovered that he gets busy around 10pm, so why they sit open the rest of the day, including lunch, I don’t know.

Over their first weekend in London we visited Paul and Robbie and stayed with them at the apartment in Kensington at which they were staying. We went to a show with them, Monty Python’s Spamalot, which if you like Monty Python’s movie The Holy Grail you would enjoy the show. We went to Robbie and Paul’s favourite pizza restaurant that they always visit, several times, when they come to London, called Da Mario which was delicious. Robbie and Krystle made a trip to Notting Hill Markets, while Paul and I sat out at the cricket at Lords for many hours hoping the rain would stop. It didn’t, but Paul was still able feel for almost the first time the wonderment and exhilaration of a London Underground experience. Having hired a car each time they have been in London, Paul and Robbie have missed the mode of transport that defines London and its inhabitants.

The famous Lords pavilion

and the famous Lords UFO (actually the media centre)

And the covers stayed on

Despite the rain the day was not a complete washout (ha, ha) as we saw 8 overs of play, visited the museum and walked back to the tube station via the setting of the cover for Beatles last album, Abbey Rd, which is just around the corner from the cricket ground in St John’s Wood. It was fun to watch the tourists re-enacting that famous walk across the road, particularly as it is quite a busy road.

I don't think the guy in green realises that he is about to be hit by a car

The famous Abbey Road studio (so many famous things in one day)

The wall outside Abbey Road. People write messages on the wall, generally addressed to the Beatles or more specifically John Lennon. Every so often the wall is painted and the messages start again.

On the Sunday Paul and Robbie headed off to Hertfordshire for lunch with friends and Krystle and I decided we would stay around London for the day and then met up for dinner. After being dropped in Oxford Street, we jumped on the tube heading for the Natural History Museum but ended up at the Victoria and Albert Museum instead, so close! Anyway, it was quite interesting, though vast and some parts were a little strange, the metalwork collection being possible a little too much. You would really need to love iron being put into shapes to spend a long time in this area of the museum.