Fulham win, Liverpool stay top, does life get better than this?

v Wigan(29.10.08): The weather may have taken a turn decidedly towards winter, but a game is a game and a mid-week fixture to watch the whites take on Wigan is not the worst way to spend an evening. Despite one member of the team being absent to spend some time with his girlfriend, really some people's priorities need some serious checking, a late minute sub ensured we would not be left short in the heart of the Fulham main offensive weapon, the supporters. With Hamish absent, another New Zealander (they are everywhere over here) Chartie was drafted in. Despite not knowing the player's names or the team songs he clapped in all the right places and showed promise and enthusiasm combined with a desire to learn, enough to suggest a potential career as a Fulham die-hard.

Fulham were coming off the back of another draw away to Portsmouth, but this was a must win game if they were to avoid a season mired in a relegation battle. The Fulham lull had been softened by Liverpool's good start to the season that culminated in a 1-0 victory at Chelsea last Sunday, the first team to win there since February 04, a streak of 86 games. This has left Liverpool alone at the top of the league and optimism is high. Meanwhile, Fulham sit fourth from bottom and only one point out of the zone, undeserved as we are all aware, but the table does not lie. A late equaliser at Portsmouth gave the lads optimism coming into a game against a Wigan side beaten 4-0 at the weekend by Aston Villa.

Right, I'll stop there. This seriously in danger of turning into a pseudo newspaper report and you can find that anywhere. The important stuff is that Fulham won 2-0 last night, Andy Johnson, the smallest man in football, scored both goals, included a second-half effort that one of our four Little Andy, the smallest man in football supporters, failed to see over the height of the crowd. I can sympathise with him I suppose, but at least I saw the goal!

Speaking of short, we have an interesting mix of people around us, some of whom of thought may be worthy of introduction, including the little 'fella' folk who sits at the end of the row in front of us. He comes to every game complete in his Fulham jersey and despite the fact I not sure how he sees the whole game from his viewpoint, seems to enjoy himself. Another short guy, probably because he is about six or seven, sits behind us with his dad. He's not shy about offering his opinion, shouting out 'diver' to any opposing player who goes down in a tackle. And he had demonstrated a developing footballing tactical brain, example: Andy Johnson overtouches the ball running into goal. Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland comes out and collects the ball, only to be collected by Johnson's chase to correct his error. Kirkland stays down surrounded by players and physios concerned for his well-being. The mini-manager however has his brain whirring, then breaks into a smile, as he cheerfully announcing to anyone listening that Wigan had used all their substitutes. We all waited to see whether Kirkland would recover, or be taken off leaving Fulham a man up and facing a non-goalie in goal, but unfortunately he was ok. But the quickness and cunning of the mini-manager cannot be underestimated.

Fulham legend/traitor (edited 2.2.09) Jimmy Bullard warming up

Match action. I know all these shots look the same, but I sit

in the same place every match so its hard to get much variety

New photos to see, courtesy of fulhamfc.co.uk

Bone crunching tackle on the Pantsman

AJ scores his first of two goals

And celebrates his 100th league goal, Bullard (the traitor) is not interested

Snow Watch Report (edited accounts)

Day 357 - Still no snow sighted, Krystle is sure it will snow tomorrow.

_
_
_
Day 2258 - Slight chill in air recorded, no icy precipitation though. Krystle is shouting at the sky 'Why won't you snow, damn it all, damn it all to hell'.
_
_
_
Day 4692 - Clear blue skies, will this nightmare ever end. Krystle has begun praying (overheard promising God to become a nun if he would only make it snow today).
_
_
_
Day 5790 - Precipitation is falling, but only in the non-icebonded liquefied form. Krystle refuses to emerge from the darkened room she has ensconced herself in for the previous fortnight.
_
_
_
Day 8954 - Though it is cloudy and cold, Krystle seems resigned that it is not going to snow today. This assignment has proven to require resilience and determination beyond any normal human's capacity and we are preparing to pack up and leave.
_
_
_
Day 8954 (additional tranmission) We are leaving now, glad to be had of this place. Wait, what's that, it can't be surely. I think it is, the prophecies were true.

STOP THE PRESS!!!!

As I type this it is snowing. Yes, unbelievable I know, but true. I'm not sure what's the earliest date for snow in London but I'm guessing this is pretty early. Though summer was pretty bad, so snow in July would not have been a surprise. Now, for those who think I am making this up, I will provide some photographic evidence, keeping in mind it is night, but I think the evidence will show that it is indeed snowing.

Just like when the Germans got stuck in Russia in '43.

Snow when you look up the street . . . .

. . . . and when you look back down it too.

Krystle, looking very excited, Katie and Jeremy less so!

Merv thinkng 'Oh no, not again!'

As a comparison check out this BBC News link.

And our Spanish cousins get snow too.

Though apparently we aren't the only ones getting 'unseasonal' weather.

Paul et Robbie de la grande aventure, avec nous

So la deuxième partie ('cuse the french) of Paul and Robbie's visit to our little part of the world involved them heading off to France. They had some time in Paris, before heading down to the Burgundy region of France. But of course this blog is not about them, it is about us!

We had a half-term break, so took some time to revisit France. We arrived in Paris late on a Monday night and stayed at a hotel near the Gare du Nord, the main international rail station in Paris. It was a typical French Hotel, quaint and small but nicely set out. We took a little walk around the area, tried to order a coke from MacDonald's which was a struggle then headed back to our hotel.

We had all day in Paris the next day, so jumped on the metro at La Chapelle station. Having seen the major sights in February we picked the Opera station to get off. The weather had turned ugly though so we found a nice looking cafe and ordered ourselves an early lunch. Lunch was really good, though we were seated next to three 50+ aged Australian women who spent their entire meal complaining about everything. I gathered they were travelling together having left their husbands behind in Australia, to their husbands relief I'm sure. After wining and dining we found a little theatre place that had a presentation called 'The Paris Story' that included a minature model city (see here) and a movie presentation experience. The movie was suitably dramatic and told the story of Paris in a poetic manner that was completely different to how it would be done here or at home where the facts would certainly be presented in a much drier manner.

After the show we looked through the brochures on offer as we decided what we would do next. We saw one for the Moulin Rouge and decided to jump on the train and take a look. We got off at Pigalle station which is situated on Boulevard de Clichy, and discovered the sleaziest street in Paris. The pictures will give you and idea of the type of area it was.

What a pretty street, I wonder what these shops sell??

We walked along the street a little surprised at what we had found. We saw the Moulin Rouge but decided the prices they charged for dinner and a show were in excess of what we wanted to pay. We also visited Musee de l'Erotisme which was an education both culturally and otherwise.

The World famous Moulin Rouge, couldn't find Nicole anywhere

We found across fom the Moulin Rouge the Australian Bar, but it was shut so we got a cold drink from an Irish Bar instead and were served by a real Irishmen. It had been raining on and off through the day so we again found ourselves waiting for the rain to stop. As we come back up the street we saw the Australian Bar was open and thought it would be un-Australian not to have at least one drink. Fortunately it was happy hour, which actually ran for 3 hours, so the 5 euro cocktails needed to be sampled. I settle on the King Brown, but Krystle needed to try a few different ones to decide on her favourite. Added to this was a generous barman who took to giving us shots of something unidentified but pink and quite sweet, we rounded out happy hour very happy. We grabbed some dinner then walked back to our hotel in the coolest thunderstorm. Paris with the flashing thunder was quite a sight to behold.

Thought Nicole might be hanging out at the Australian Bar, but no luck

Below are the stores either side which show what a wholsome family
orientated area we were in

Can't read French so not really sure what they're selling

People shouldn't dance on tables, that will cause them to scuff

Blog retraction

Um, we the editors would like to make a retraction and apologise to all those who have been adversely affected by the previous blog. Ah, the mini is fine, but clearly mistakes have been made. Its not uncommon for obituaries for famous people, and cars I guess, to be written in advance so when a death is sudden the presses are ready to roll. Occasionally guns are jumped and premature declarations of demises are accidently released, as in this occasion. The mini is definitely alive and tearing up the streets of London as I write. Rest ashore the person responsible has been reprimanded, sacked and crucified and will never write another obituary again. So to recap, mini ok, person sacked.

A picture of the mini doing some heavy lifting work showing how well recovered he is from his recent adverse medically experience

RIP Merv the Mini

It is a sad day when a mini has to be laid to rest. For some mini's that day comes sooner than for others, but regardless when that day occurs you cannot help but be left with the feeling their is no God. The life of Merv the Mini, so tragedically cut short by the cruel hand of fate, was one of fun and excitment and he will be sadly missed.

Replace I with Q for a good time

The cryptic title, is there anything more challenging to the mind. A good cryptic title, makes you think, causes that furrowing of the brow, then, as the puzzle is broken, that broad smile that breaks across your face as that feeling of superiority rolls across your soul and for a moment you feel as if you belong to a special club that is only for those of the correct level of cleverness and wit. Unfortunately, this is not one of those occasions. This title is not that clever.

Instead, the title serves as a shorthand way of introducing how we went to London for the London Eye and instead ended up at the risqué puppet musical 'Avenue Q'. The London Eye is over-rated anyway, though depending on who you speak to, not really rated at all. Unable to access our tickets for the eye and finding the staff who don't speak English in England completely unhelpful, we jumped on a bus heading towards Picadilly Circus to consider our options.

By the time we arrived in Central London, we had decided to take the short walk to Leicester Square to see what theatre tickets may be available for an afternoon show. With Grease sold out we decided on a five o'clock show for Avenue Q. With four hours to kill, Krystle guided us to a cafe and bar that she and Robbie had visited the day Dad and I had been at the cricket. It was a good choice and we had a lovely lunch at a reasonable price for the area we were in. Having eaten and with the sun shining we found a pub near the theatre where we could sit, drinking a bottle of wine.

The show was entertaining . If you've never heard of it, the show is basically an adult version of Sesame Street and includes songs such as "It Sucks to be Me", "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" and "If you were Gay" and includes a gay character and another called Lucy the Sl*t. It is quite funny, but no where near as offensive as we thought it might be. Certainly a Nun would walk out, but I think the Priest would stay till the end. Still it was a good evening out anyway and our first show since 'Spam-a-lot'. As Krystle was promised a show a month, we are way down after our first year, unfortunately the 'Credit Crunch' has conspired against us.

The Fulham Chronicles Part IV: Despair, Luck and Cold Weather

I know, I know not really a catchy title, but the fourth attempt of any franchise is grasping around for any fresh ideas to keep the drones entertained. Not that I'm calling anyone a drone, but, well I'm sure you know what I mean. Notable examples include Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol and American Pie 4: Band Camp and it is usually hard enough to attract original cast members back. Usually characters are invented who have tenuous links to familiar favourites, but are actually pale imitations in comparison.

At least this fourth blog in the continuing tales of Fulham includes all original cast members and welcomes back from suspension perennial crowd pleaser Andrew 'AJ' Johnson, the hardest working shortman in show business (show business being Premier League football). Further, after a two week go slow in footballing terms due to international week, the average football fan has been left comatosed by the repetitive banalities of what is wrong with the Englan team. Except nothing has been wrong as new manager 'Don' Fabio Capello has led his side to four consecutive world cup qualifying victories. This interupption to normal programming has seen the most boring fortnight in football news, with the media forced to focus on news such as the spiralling debt of Premier Leauge clubs, estimated to be in excess of 3 billion pounds, news clearly of no interest to anybody.

So it was against this international backdrop that the return of the Premier League was highly anticipated by all . . . . . . . well all but my wife of course, who still refuses to acknowledge the greatness of all things football. Despite two weeks off, Fulham contrived to play like . . . . um, a stale movie franchise whose run out of ideas, ok enough with the comparisons, let's just say they weren't great. Having not won a game for a month, Fulham were in need of a result against Sunderland who boast former Manchester United great Roy Keane as their manager and a host of Tottenham cast-offs as players. Fulham had been on a 3 game losing streak and had lost in a scrappy game at West Bromich Albion with a late goal, this after a similar result in a away game at Blackburn. This game was again scrappy, but there would be no late goal, in fact there were no goals at all, in a manner of speaking.

Despite several bright periods of play, Fulham struggled to create meaningful chances and were lucky not to concede to Sunderland on at least two occasions. The first, a Kieron Richardson free kick managed to bounce off the right post, ricochet off to the left post, bounce back across the goal and rebound off the goalie, hit the post again before landing in the grateful arms of Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer. A second half free kick went even better from Richardson, slamming into the top left hand corner. Fortunately the referee saw some interference from Sunderland players in the wall and disallowed the goal. From then on the game was destined for a draw and did not disappoint in this regard finishing 0-0.

The players warm up on the pitch before the game . . .

. . . . . . while the crowd waits patiently. They say a picture tells a thousand words and these pictures certainly do that, mainly reminding you to replace your batteries before going out or you'll end up with fairly pointless pictures!