Today, thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime, I took delivery of a book I had purchased. Murray Walker's 1987 Grand Prix Year.
Recently, I've developed an interest in the early 80's and 90's that shows no sign of abating. These were my formative years (born in '84) and I've found myself increasingly interested in the goings on then. I want to know more about the football during the 80's - hardly surprising as my other team, Everton, had it 'going on' back then - the railways (ok, I've 'outed' myself here, I'm a rail fan, not a spotter, but a fan... more of which in a future post I'm sure) and the world of F1.
With that in mind, the addition of the first edition of this book (I previously had from '89 onwards), was a no brainer. Particularly at £1.89 including postage!
First thoughts; the cars look so heavy I think my Seat Ibiza would beat them in a race! However, I'm looking forward to reading through it.
Sunday, 21 September 2014
Wednesday, 10 September 2014
Music was my first love...
Well, to be honest, Raynor was my first love. I was five. It was Year 1. I thought I'd marry her, but, anyway...
A while ago I blogged about how inspiration is a funny thing. Well, at my child's beginner band last week a child (6 years old and been playing for about 4 weeks) approached me and told me she could play 'Hot Cross Buns... even one a penny, two a penny' and, lo and behold, stood there and belted it out, without music.
Fast forward 7 days (last night) and the same child walks up and says 'I can play Tromp of the Romans now as well.' Cue the demonstration. And she was right. She could play it. Absolutely spot on.
One hour later, at the end of the rehearsal, I mused over what this girl had done. It got the cogs ticking. Every year we enter two competitions. One is a local thing, the other is a national event (last year we were awarded the prestigious 'Band with Most Potential Prize). The national event takes plenty of planning and this year I've been wondering about a focus point for the programme of music. Well, thinking about what this child had done gave me the perfect idea. Twenty minutes later and the idea was fully formed.
Like I say, inspiration really is a funny thing. Walk around with your eyes open - you'd could be missing out on the perfect inspiration for you!
P.S. I actually got to marry Raynor Pearce. I was 7/8. It was our Primary School Christmas play!
A while ago I blogged about how inspiration is a funny thing. Well, at my child's beginner band last week a child (6 years old and been playing for about 4 weeks) approached me and told me she could play 'Hot Cross Buns... even one a penny, two a penny' and, lo and behold, stood there and belted it out, without music.
Fast forward 7 days (last night) and the same child walks up and says 'I can play Tromp of the Romans now as well.' Cue the demonstration. And she was right. She could play it. Absolutely spot on.
One hour later, at the end of the rehearsal, I mused over what this girl had done. It got the cogs ticking. Every year we enter two competitions. One is a local thing, the other is a national event (last year we were awarded the prestigious 'Band with Most Potential Prize). The national event takes plenty of planning and this year I've been wondering about a focus point for the programme of music. Well, thinking about what this child had done gave me the perfect idea. Twenty minutes later and the idea was fully formed.
Like I say, inspiration really is a funny thing. Walk around with your eyes open - you'd could be missing out on the perfect inspiration for you!
P.S. I actually got to marry Raynor Pearce. I was 7/8. It was our Primary School Christmas play!
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Going down?
You'll have picked up on the fact that I'm a Crewe Alexandra fan. I've mentioned it once or twice (or lots). Well, you'll also probably be aware that this season has been something of a car crash so far. Won one (Capital One cup game) and lost the rest. Really not great.
This has led to widespread condemnation. But then, let's be honest. If last season you had a ropey defence (one of the leakiest in the league), release one of your first choice centre halves and 'replace' them with two squad players who weren't good enough to force their way into the aforementioned leaky defence last season, then you're always going to struggle to stop conceding goals.
Throw in the fact that the top scorer (on loan from Arsenal) returns to his parent club, another striker refuses a contract whilst another pushes through a move to Italy, leaving you with one striker. The remaining striker is 21, inexperienced and in his second season of league football, having scored just twice last season. Therefore, you're going to struggle to score goals too.
Let's look a the evidence; a team that can't score lots of goals, and struggles to keep clean sheets. If you're not a rocket scientist, don't worry, as it doesn't take one to work out that isn't a great combo.
So, you might say, why didn't the manager replace the defender? Why didn't he sign more strikers (apart from a guy released by a club relegated from our league last season)? Well, it's simple. He doesn't have the money to. The manager is a guy who, in 2 and a half years in charge, presided over an 18 game club record unbeaten run that culminated in winning promotion at Wembley, and then topped if off with another victory at that famous stadium that saw us win the Johnstones Paint Trophy. He knows what he is doing. In turn, the board know that this is a manger that knows what he is doing. So why won't they back him with money? The sad truth is they probably would if they had it available. If you aren't going to back a manager with a record like that, who are you going to back? This leads me to the conclusion that there is no money to back him with, despite the club raking in deals worth upwards of £5 million over the past three summers. Where has that money gone? Only the board know.
Are Crewe going down? Without doubt. I can't see any other outcome. I can't even see us getting to 40 points, let alone 50. The only benefit this season can have is that, with such a threadbare squad, we get the chance to blood our young pros and help them get the first team experience that will see them blossom next season.
Sometimes, clouds really do have silver linings. Let's hope, for my team's sake, this is one of those times.
This has led to widespread condemnation. But then, let's be honest. If last season you had a ropey defence (one of the leakiest in the league), release one of your first choice centre halves and 'replace' them with two squad players who weren't good enough to force their way into the aforementioned leaky defence last season, then you're always going to struggle to stop conceding goals.
Throw in the fact that the top scorer (on loan from Arsenal) returns to his parent club, another striker refuses a contract whilst another pushes through a move to Italy, leaving you with one striker. The remaining striker is 21, inexperienced and in his second season of league football, having scored just twice last season. Therefore, you're going to struggle to score goals too.
Let's look a the evidence; a team that can't score lots of goals, and struggles to keep clean sheets. If you're not a rocket scientist, don't worry, as it doesn't take one to work out that isn't a great combo.
So, you might say, why didn't the manager replace the defender? Why didn't he sign more strikers (apart from a guy released by a club relegated from our league last season)? Well, it's simple. He doesn't have the money to. The manager is a guy who, in 2 and a half years in charge, presided over an 18 game club record unbeaten run that culminated in winning promotion at Wembley, and then topped if off with another victory at that famous stadium that saw us win the Johnstones Paint Trophy. He knows what he is doing. In turn, the board know that this is a manger that knows what he is doing. So why won't they back him with money? The sad truth is they probably would if they had it available. If you aren't going to back a manager with a record like that, who are you going to back? This leads me to the conclusion that there is no money to back him with, despite the club raking in deals worth upwards of £5 million over the past three summers. Where has that money gone? Only the board know.
Are Crewe going down? Without doubt. I can't see any other outcome. I can't even see us getting to 40 points, let alone 50. The only benefit this season can have is that, with such a threadbare squad, we get the chance to blood our young pros and help them get the first team experience that will see them blossom next season.
Sometimes, clouds really do have silver linings. Let's hope, for my team's sake, this is one of those times.
Monday, 1 September 2014
Back on the hamster wheel...
Well, in seemingly no time at all, the summer holidays are gone.
It's been a good while since my last blog post too. Since then I've been to Menorca for a week with SWMBO (and what a super week that was), followed by two days at home to unpack and repack for a long weekend in Tenby (once again with SWMBO).
Not really anything else to report, so I'll leave you, for now, with this picture, taken exactly a week ago, at around 7.15 on the beautiful beach of Punta Prima, Menorca. Take me back...
It's been a good while since my last blog post too. Since then I've been to Menorca for a week with SWMBO (and what a super week that was), followed by two days at home to unpack and repack for a long weekend in Tenby (once again with SWMBO).
Not really anything else to report, so I'll leave you, for now, with this picture, taken exactly a week ago, at around 7.15 on the beautiful beach of Punta Prima, Menorca. Take me back...
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Writing. Writing, writing, writing.
Let's have another little look at the summer challenges.
1) The website will go live once I've returned from my holiday. So, that's done.
2) The music writing has gone well. Although I haven't written a piece each week, I've written in fits and starts meaning I've got several pieces done at a time. Therefore I've reached my required target of a piece a week. However, with two holidays over the next two weeks, I'll need to get writing a little bit more to keep the ratio of pieces to weeks up.
3) The book writing has gone all to pot! After an initial start it's been pretty rubbish. Writer's block in an epic way. I still don't know what I want to do. I've got a little idea in my head but am unsure how I can go about it. I think I just need to write my way out of it. Let's see what happens as the day progresses.
1) The website will go live once I've returned from my holiday. So, that's done.
2) The music writing has gone well. Although I haven't written a piece each week, I've written in fits and starts meaning I've got several pieces done at a time. Therefore I've reached my required target of a piece a week. However, with two holidays over the next two weeks, I'll need to get writing a little bit more to keep the ratio of pieces to weeks up.
3) The book writing has gone all to pot! After an initial start it's been pretty rubbish. Writer's block in an epic way. I still don't know what I want to do. I've got a little idea in my head but am unsure how I can go about it. I think I just need to write my way out of it. Let's see what happens as the day progresses.
Friday, 8 August 2014
It starts...
Tomorrow is the start of the football league season.
It's a day I eagerly look forward to, it's a day where everyone starts off equal and Crewe Alexandra, thanks to their alphabetical advantage, are near the top of the league!
That said, at times I find it bitter sweet. The start of the football season heralds the beginning of the end of the cricket season, a cricket season in which, this year, I've not made it to a game.
However, back to football. There is something about the beginning of the football season; the freshly cut, painted grass. The seemingly unrelenting sunshine (although weather for tomorrow is not supposed to be great). The new kits, new signings and new managers. The new season holds promise, nothing is tainted or spoilt, a league win, a glorious cup run culminating at Wembley - everything is possible.
The sad thing is, by 5pm tomorrow night, many people will already believe this promise is lying in ruins.
I just hope I'm not one of them!
It's a day I eagerly look forward to, it's a day where everyone starts off equal and Crewe Alexandra, thanks to their alphabetical advantage, are near the top of the league!
That said, at times I find it bitter sweet. The start of the football season heralds the beginning of the end of the cricket season, a cricket season in which, this year, I've not made it to a game.
However, back to football. There is something about the beginning of the football season; the freshly cut, painted grass. The seemingly unrelenting sunshine (although weather for tomorrow is not supposed to be great). The new kits, new signings and new managers. The new season holds promise, nothing is tainted or spoilt, a league win, a glorious cup run culminating at Wembley - everything is possible.
The sad thing is, by 5pm tomorrow night, many people will already believe this promise is lying in ruins.
I just hope I'm not one of them!
Friday, 1 August 2014
Inspiration...
...it's a funny thing.
My summer challenges are, now, not going too badly. Prior to today I'd sorted my website out, it's not online yet, and won't be for a few more weeks yet. However, it's all ready to go.
My writing challenge however, is not doing so well. I still can't focus my ideas, in terms of what to write about. It's driving me scatty!
However, this blog post is about the composition challenge I set myself. Last week I got my first piece completed. However, this weeks music writing was not going so well. I tackled an arrangement I'd been requested to do by the Lions Junior Band, but in terms of original composition, I didn't have a clue. I'd written a few ideas down, but I felt everything was about as good as a Spice Girls song, i.e. pretty rubbish. Then today I had a thought; a collection of short 8 or 16 bar items aimed at total beginners. One hour later, three pieces in my 'Let's Play!' collection are complete; 'Starting Off,' 'Hymn,' and 'Rainy Day.' With ideas already in my head for further items ('Express Train' to name one) the collection is coming together nicely.
Like I say, isn't it funny how inspiration can strike?
My summer challenges are, now, not going too badly. Prior to today I'd sorted my website out, it's not online yet, and won't be for a few more weeks yet. However, it's all ready to go.
My writing challenge however, is not doing so well. I still can't focus my ideas, in terms of what to write about. It's driving me scatty!
However, this blog post is about the composition challenge I set myself. Last week I got my first piece completed. However, this weeks music writing was not going so well. I tackled an arrangement I'd been requested to do by the Lions Junior Band, but in terms of original composition, I didn't have a clue. I'd written a few ideas down, but I felt everything was about as good as a Spice Girls song, i.e. pretty rubbish. Then today I had a thought; a collection of short 8 or 16 bar items aimed at total beginners. One hour later, three pieces in my 'Let's Play!' collection are complete; 'Starting Off,' 'Hymn,' and 'Rainy Day.' With ideas already in my head for further items ('Express Train' to name one) the collection is coming together nicely.
Like I say, isn't it funny how inspiration can strike?
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