Good luck tonight…

“Take that historic inferiority complex! Take that Spanish victimism! Take that Buffon and Cassano! Take that 22 June curse! Take that 88-year jinx against the unbeatable Italians! Take that pessimists! Take that disbelievers! Take that Tassotti! Take that Pagliuca! And long live King Juan Carlos of Spain!”

AS columnist Tomás Roncero

Almost as good as:

“Vi er best i verden! Vi er best i verden! Vi har slått England 2-1 i fotball!! Det er aldeles utrolig! Vi har slått England! England, kjempers fødeland. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana–vi har slått dem alle sammen. Vi har slått dem alle sammen. Maggie Thatcher can you hear me?

“Maggie Thatcher, jeg har et budskap til deg midt under valgkampen. Jeg har et budskap til deg: Vi har slått England ut av Verdensmesterskapet i fotball. Maggie Thatcher, som de sier på ditt språk i boksebarene rundt Madison Square Garden i New York: Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!”

“We are the best in the world! We are best in the world! We have beaten England 2-1 in football!! It is completely unbelievable! We have beaten England! England, birthplace of giants. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana–we have beaten them all. We have beaten them all. Maggie Thatcher can you hear me?“

“Maggie Thatcher, I have a message to you in the middle of the election campaign. I have a message to you: We have knocked England out of the World Cup of football. Maggie Thatcher, as they say in your language in boxing bars around Madison Square Garden in New York: Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!“

Bjørge Lillelien

Schmootball

was disappointing on the whole. 5 Tibetans, then off to bed for me.

The romance of the cup

is not an action-adventure starring Michael Douglas, Danny De Vito and Kathleen Turner. It is FA Cup 4th round weekend here in the UK, and mighty Havant & Waterlooville (currently 12th in the Blue Square South League) are playing some bunch of no-hopers from Merseyside. There are six divisions between the two teams. Let’s hope the Hawks do well…

It’s not a matter of life and death…

It’s more important than that. EPL starts again today. In 1 hour and 35 minutes. And I am so excited I could burst. Almost a year of unbroken football with the European Championship next summer. In the meantime, though, an ugly man who played his entire career for  the most unmentionable team scores a raft of delightful goals:

Another Diego

For Werder Bremen against Alemania Aachen…

Mr Messi

Scored a rather delightful goal last night against Getafe - this clip, running it in parallel with Maradona’s non-hand-related-and-entirely-wonderful goal against Ingerland in 1986 is bliss.

The Renegade Master

Back once again from Ashby de la Zouch and a visit to the National Forest - didn’t know we had one, but it is a far better way of reclaiming former collieries and other disused industrial sites than simply filling them with household waste…

So a couple of other quick things before I put the washing on and disappear out for the day to Southall to top up my sunburn and try to buy a shower curtain. March’s CD is done - post if you want a copy…. This month’s coffee is Yemeni, brought back by my dear nephews from the plantation itself near Sana’a following their recent sojourn there - I may be travelling there later in the year…

Oh yeah, Portsmouth beat Manchester United to throw the Premiership race wide open, and Tiger blew the US Masters. And I saw the last 30 minutes of Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of Christ’ - visually stunning, but far too Catholic altogether for my tastes. Although I would like to watch the whole film to see just how outrageous his portrayal of the other religious and racial groups is. I also had issues distinguishing it from ‘The Life of Brian’ at time, and frequently expected this kind of silliness to erupt:

Babe,

I’m back again… As Take That sang in one of their unforgettable mid-90’s classics. No blogging proper today - masses of work to do, and then exciting football of the highest order tonight. So in the meantime, an list of things to help me remember what to write about in the next few days:

1. Barcelona
2. Sevilla beating Barcelona
3. Bar signs
4. Cars with their roofs (or should that be rooves?) removed
5. British weather
6. Pork products
7. Irish placelore
8. Good urban design