Smoggy Blog

Number 46

2009-06-16T02:59:00.002+02:00

I'm not that a big fan of Moto GP but after watching this race I am thinking about going to Assen next month. He doesn't ever give up that Rossi.

D.I.S.C.O

2009-04-18T20:05:00.002+02:00

I took a facebook quiz this afternoon. "Singers from the past - how they look now."
The one I got wrong was Donna Summer which annoyed me slightly as it was the most played 7" in my childhood collection of vinyl. Mainly from visits from my cousin who always insisted put the "groovy record on".

I was not surprised to see that this 7" has it's own wikipedia page. Also the 7" was pressed by NY's Casablanca Records. Cowley died of HIV in 1982 and has always been cited as an influence by bands as New Order and Pet Shop Boys.

This version was a double sided 7". The first 3'45" on "A" side and the second 4'10" on the "B" side. There was a 15'45" version also produced on 12" which is a highly collectable item.

Newts and mating frogs

2009-04-05T01:53:00.005+02:00

I was very pleased to find two common newts yesterday whilst cleaning out the pond. Not long ago they were on the endangered species list.

They were sharing their living space with 12 mating frogs all attached (6 pairs) and refusing to let go even during their temporary trip to the bucket whilst the pond was cleaned.

Now the pond water is clear and with the night spotlight installed the next few months should be interesting. Forg spawn galore and hopefully some newt spawn aswell.

Parking Jobsworth

2009-03-09T00:04:00.003+01:00

I received a fine today from Parking attendent 009418 Maastricht Gemeente. 60 Euros for parking outside my own house where no parking restrictions exist.

The parking fine was timed 19:49 Friday 06.03.09. But we drove the car away from outside the house at 19:30 that night to the proper parking places. 2 weeks before we had done a similar thing, gone for shopping parked to unload, and received a similar warning ticket with no fine.

So we were very aware some jobsworth in our area was pissed off that we did do this. But Why?. Our car was not in the way of any road/access.

Strange thing is that this parking ticket appeared on Sunday. But still dated Friday. So some local person has contacted a Parking knob to ask for a ticket to be printed out to be two days later planted on our windscreen.

It rained most of the day Saturday and Sunday. And yet a perfectly dry parking ticket was placed on our windscreen on Sunday (but dated Friday).

Gramophone

2009-03-08T18:54:00.001+01:00

I had a USB record player bought for me for Christmas which I have finally got round to setting up. So up to the attic to rumble around in my old vinyl collection to test it out.

The Check-out Girl

2009-03-07T02:00:00.006+01:00

There is one job in this world that is not appreciated enough and that is the Supermarket check-out girl.

Proven by the bestseller & succesful blogger check-out girl Anna Sam. Her book adapted from her blog has been translated into 10 languages.

A University graduate, Anna, found her degree didn't help find her gainful employment so she went back to her student job in the supermarket in Rennes in France. A minimum wage job.

She then set up her blog which was after a few years spotted by a publisher and she is now a bestseller. Strangely enough the book has not been translated into English.

Some quotes from Anna's Blog (which attracts a lot of check-out girls)

Margot: A man at my till told his daughter: “See, if you don't do your schoolwork you'll be as stupid as that woman.” I told him that I had a degree. “Well, it's not obvious from your face,” he replied.

Maryline: A rich-looking woman asked me to look in her handbag for the right coins. I asked why. She said that she would ruin her manicure if she did it herself.

Amandine: I've been a checkout worker for eight years and I've lost my taste for laughter. I can't even smile any more. I hope I have the courage to leave and do something else with my life.

After the publication of her book Anna has been asked to help at Supermarket conferences to help on issues. She advised the managers at one conference to say "Hello" to all check-out staff at the beginning of the day.

The More important issues in life - Crisp flavourings

2009-03-05T00:00:00.006+01:00

In between writing reports on 'air disasters' I like to turn my mind to more important issues in life.

The flavours of the 'Chipje' (or crisps as they still like to affectionally call them in the UK).

Since my arrival in Holland back in 1994 the adventurous Dutch 'Chipjes' market had explored only 2 flavours. : Plain (Naturel) & Paprika.

But in recent years they have started to follow the English trend into adventurous flavours. I first realised how adventurous they were becoming about 4 years ago when I was invited to a company for an interview which specialised in powdered cheese.

Anyway at this interview I was shown the latest developments in flavours such as Bolognese and Cheese & Onion. And I was asked on my ideas. Of which of course I babbled a whole list of the latest Walkers flavours from the 1980's which received bog-eyed responses. And this the snack industry!!!

The reason for my blog this evening is that finally in the last year or two the 'Dutch snack industry' has finally become a bit more adventurous and tonight I had my first 'Roast Beef and onion" crisps. Lekker! And also on the market there is 'Thai spices', 'Salt & Vinegar', 'Roast Chicken and Thyme', but still no 'hedgehog'.

It is nice to see the Dutch catching up in adding chemicals to their potato snacks but it makes the trips back to the UK less worthwhile.

I think it is time for our superchefs to endorse Paprika and Plain 'organic' {bintje} crisps!.

Rise of the Superchef

2009-03-04T09:30:00.005+01:00

Last night BBC2 aired a documentary on the rise of the TV superchef. "The Rise of the Superchef". The show pointed out some of the chefs are suffering from the 'credit crunch'. One in particular Antony Worrall-Thompson who has had to close 4 of his 6 restaurants last month after the holding company AWT Restaurants went into administration.

I felt a little sorry for the carrot-topped double barrelled gastronome until it was later revealed in the programme most of his income comes from book sales and 'brand-slap' products. AWT slaps his 'boatrace' on various kitchenware products, to £700 barbecue grills to an 'environmentally friendly bathroom cleaner and lime scale remover'. His branded products are expected to generate over £60m in sales.

Bathroom cleaner and lime scale remover

Sennheiser

2009-02-18T03:32:00.004+01:00

Lovely headsets oh yes indeed.

And at only 300-500 Euros per shot

In Bruges

2009-02-16T03:00:00.002+01:00

Best Movie I have seen in ages. And the line in the art gallery can surely be a line anyone can use "Rubbish by Spastics'.

2009-02-14T03:28:00.001+01:00

In joke for us darts fans

Cactus 1549 in the Hudson River

2009-02-06T15:45:00.002+01:00

This is the R/T recording between US Airways (Cactus 1549) just prior to it being ditched in the Hudson River.

Kingfisher

2008-12-30T15:23:00.004+01:00

Alcedo atthis

Last time I saw a Kingfisher was around 22 years ago at Old Nunthorpe 'Watersplash'.
But yesterday whilst walking in the "Dellen" in Meerssen we spotted one sitting in a tree next to the stream we were walking along.

List Programs

2008-12-28T02:07:00.004+01:00

Whilst watching the usual avalanche of list programmes on BBC1 I was wondering why so many wanna-be celebs are commenting on either other celebs or wanna-be celebs and slagging each other off so much.

Well reason is they all want more air time surely.

I was looking on YouTube for an example but found one which tickled me more.

Mark. E. Smith was inducted into this hall of fame for his invitation to do the final score on BBC1 Sport.
Of course in the nature of the programme Colin Paterson 'a journalist' decides to relate the whole experience to MES's whole career. "Slightly shambolic, always mainstream, never making it". As about well-informed as most statements on these programmes. The most mainstream band ever The Fall.

Redcar Tourist Guide

2008-12-19T20:15:00.005+01:00

Last week we went for a walk down redcar beach. And Took a few photos of the seaside town.

Las Vegas Museys

Woolies

Pacittos

Redcar Front

The Clock

Regent Cinema

Laurel & Hardy

Penguins

Redcah Bowl

Oh Bertha lovely Bertha. Sometimes I think you're a dream!

Fossils from Redcar Beach

2008-11-13T01:29:00.018+01:00

John Appleyard is becoming a local fossil expert from his walks on Redcar beach where he has discovered many ancient fossils over the last years. Below are some examples of the artifacts he has uncovered from the beach.

John's exhibits have taken a long time to be in their present presentable form for exhibition.
In his workshop he uses many methods to clean away sedimentary deposits and polish the fossils so we can enjoy their form.

A calcified ammonite fragment - Ammonites existed 400-65 million years ago - this creature would have been around 2 1/2 feet in diameter

Belemnite (related to the squid/cuttlefish) existed juring the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods

Ichthyosaur snout - A Dolphin type reptile that existed between 240 million and 90 milion years ago. Originally land based they eventually moved to the sea.

Nautilus - One of John's finds which still exists today

You can hear Mr Appleyard talk about his discoveries on Redcar beach at the BBC local History Website at this link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tees/content/image_galleries/fossils_gallery.shtml

Washington DC

2008-11-10T01:22:00.010+01:00

I was lucky enough to have to visit Washinton DC last week for my work and it was surprisingly one of the nicest cities I have ever seen.

The most wonderful thing about WDC is that all the museums, art galleries and even the zoo are all free to visit. It is a surprisingly clean city and very international in it's residents.

I didn' t have a lot of time to look around but a free Sunday gave me chance to see a lot and also a lot of blisters to bring home as a momento.

A few pictures an a video of the president flying into the whitehouse follow.

The Washington Memorial

The Whitehouse

Capitol Hill

Mei Xiang in the National Zoological Park

DHL- Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn

2008-10-28T00:03:00.006+01:00

East Midlands Airport where my CDs will leave tonight (hopefully)

A company which I have worked for which I have a lot of respect for, but has unfortunately become to big for itself and lost the plot a little since setting up so many country self-administrated branches.

Last week I spent 100- Euros for a next day shipment to the UK from Holland. The next day I had a call from a sales guy asking me why I don't use their services so much and how could they change that.

I told him if he wanted to get me as a loyal customer make sure that when the shipment I sent to the UK (a single CD), is transformed into 3,000 CD's; Make sure the 3,000 CD's can be shipped to me in NL and I am a happy customer.

The reply.....No that can't be done. There is forms to be signed. No way around it. You need an International account. It will take a week to set it up.

So I ring DHL UK and ask if they can organise the 3,000 Cd's to be shipped to me. The answer was yes. I went through the procedure to be told at the final point that no we can't do this because your credit card is not a UK credit card. Rang my sister who tried to help as she had a UK bank credit card, but again the same result so ended up having to ask my father to ask to use his credit card to solve the situation. So after the call to my Father I managed to pay for the overnight service and tomorrow (before 12 AM ) I should have the package.

The next step is to use DHL again for an express service to Alexandria, Virginia. This wil take two days. It has to be there latest Friday this week. So tomorrow I will put my 'living' in DHL's hands and order a pick up from my Dutch location to arrive in USA 2 days later before 12 midday latest.

They are administratively screwed up DHL but you can 100% guarantee they do what they say.
If you can manage to pay them for it. Which I tried 3 times today with 3 different credit cards.

I am shocked that a company can be so reluctent to receive payment for it's servcies. In such a way that they would prefer to turn customers away. The only reason that I kept on trying is that I knew that they will do what they say they do. Deliver next day before 12 AM.

So at the end of the day me working my arse off to get around their rules gave them the business. Not them doing the same to help me.

Plus as a side comment, their red/yellow colour scheme sucks.

I think the Red symbolises the colours you see in your eyes when you try to arrange an unusual shipment.
The Yellow? Maybe what you see almost coming into your pants when you realise that their new administrative rules might screw up your plans!

Rebirth of the Eyldergaard Tree

2008-10-23T16:40:00.002+02:00

The Eyldergaard Tree Returns

Followers of this blog may remember in May 2007 the local 'Gemeente' decided to brutally savage an ancient tree that stands in the middle of my district of Maastricht, "Eyldergaard".
http://smogsblog70.blogspot.com/2007/05/denise-if-tree.html

It turned out the tree was actually diseased and was about to die anyway. Finally the Gemeente have decided to replace it. It has a long way to go to catch up in size. But it has a very nice birdbox attached. Bonus!

Cheeky little number

2008-10-16T02:05:00.005+02:00

I bought a bottle of red wine tonight with a cheeky title "Fat Bastard".

A Marketing ploy?. Most definitely. But one I fell for. The lable on the back of the bottle reads something like....

Thierry Boudinaud, a renowned winemaker who had crafted wines from California to France, from Chile to South Africa was sitting in a cold damp wine cellar one winter day when the door burst open. It was Guy Anderson his dear friend from London who had just arrived to sample the recent vintage. “It’s cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey” Guy bellowed with a big smile on his face. “Now Thierry let’s find out what gems we have this year.”
Guy was a rebel in the wine industry believing that quality was paramount in a wine but that the average consumer hated the traditional intimidation heaped on them by most of the wine industry. The two had collaborated before and this was yet another chance to drink wine, catch up on family and enjoy a few days together. After tasting hundreds of barrel samples both were pleased with the quality, but not blown away.

The next day after sleeping in past noon due to the late night before, Thierry thought he would have Guy try an experimental wine he had in a few barrels in the back of the cellar. “Dis is a experiment wine we left it on de lees. We try it no?” “Sure Thierry, you know how hard it is to get me to try a new wine.” Both friends had no idea that leaving the wine in barrel on the lees (yeast cells) would result is such a dramatic difference from the wine they tried the day before. It had a wonderful color and rich, round palate. Both men stood and stared at each other for what seemed like five minutes until Thierry exclaimed “now zat iz what you call eh phet bast-ard”

So a cheeky marketing ploy, web-site set up with tee-shirts to buy on-line etc. surely a good wine. I would guess so but hang on I forgot how it tasted after reading the web-site bumph.

No hang on it's coming back to me now it tasted like 3.99 bottle of red wine. You Daft Bastards!

The The

2008-09-17T03:08:00.002+02:00

Took a look at the 'The The' website tonight. All their catalogue is available to listen to free of charge for 1 min 30 secs. And the option to buy of course. Very nice quality in stereo even on the rubbish PC boxes. Better than most Ipod earphones though!

Problem is that most The The songs don't event start the first verse by 1 min 30.

http://www.thethe.com/sections/jukebox/jukebox.html

New Presidential Candidate

2008-09-07T11:25:00.002+02:00

http://www.inews3.com/topstory.php?id=43687269737c57616465

Ebay is pants

2008-08-30T18:50:00.004+02:00

Floggin off your old crap has never been easier

I have always Ebayed but recently have started using a more geographically suitable website www.marktplaats.nl. Ebay has never really been as succesful in Holland as in the UK and I think the main reason for this is the success of marktplaats. And lately due to Ebay making it more complicated to list items I have stopped using it.

With Marktplaats you can search on category geographically. Choices of <3km, <5km, <10km, <15km, <25km, <50km, <75km or no restrictions. This makes buying furniture, cars etc very manageable. Plus it is very simple to post an item. Choose category, add photo and text and post. Your contact dets are always listed through your profile. Plus there are no fees for most items.

Today whilst cleaning out the garden shed I found the stereo from our previous car which was destroyed by an MB 'Actros' whilst I was shopping.

I placed it on Marktplaats at 14:08, had a bid at 16:56, haggled till 18:42 and someone is coming to pick it up in the morning at 10.00.

McClaren talks to his FC 20 supporters

2008-08-19T03:35:00.002+02:00

I only hope that his PR team tell him his team is called 'FC Twenter'. They might be happy that they understand "big club!", but I am sure they still don't get who FC Twenty are.

Une Belle Fille comme moi

2008-08-02T04:41:00.003+02:00

Since buying the box set of Francois Truffaut from Japan about 3 years ago I have not managed to watch more than 1 or 2 of the films. The reason why i bought it from Japan is that it is the only place it is available from. A bit strange considering he is one of France's prized directors from the era.

But I decided to lob one in one my lunch break today and I remembered why I love his movies so much. There are only a few I haven't seen and this was one.

Une belle fille comme moi[1972] - was the title, translated as "A Gorgeous Bird Like Me".
For Truffaut it has more than the usual amount of humour, akin to "Bed and Board" (Domicile conjugal)[1970] so this must have been his comedy period.
Saying that there is always an element of humour in most FT movies, but the cartoon cinematography of parts of this particular film set it apart from his other works.

The basic plot of the story is based around the lead character Camille Bliss played by Bernadette Lafont (still very much active and starring in 'Broken English' [2007]). She is introduced as a bit of a slutty village girl who knows how to use her charms to get what she wants after being accused of murdering her drunken abusing father by removing his ladder when he is looking for wood in a garage attic.

A socialogist, Stanislas Prévine, goes to prison to start a thesis about 'Ciminal Women' and Camille is his first study. Despite protests from the prison warders, that she is just a 'hussy' and other murderers may have more intersting stories he persists in interviewing Camille.

Camille then begins to tell her life story. The interviews with Stanislas are intercut with the reality of what happened and also with Stanislas and his secretary Helene typing up the thesis. Helene becomes very jealous of Camille as she is in love with Stanislas and repeatedly persuades him that she is just a common whore.

During these sesions we find out that Camille had various lovers who she seduces. Her first, Clovis, a simple country boy who lives with his mother. She then goes on to marry Clovis just to annoy his Mother (who she eventually murders).
Then Sam Golden, a R&B bar star who she sleeps with whilst married to Clovis to annoy her husband and also to try to succeed at singing which she is not that good at. Following this affair is Marchal the lawyar who tried to help her after Clovis is run down in a car accident. He then sleeps with her after promising a lot of compensation but only to blackmail her later with adultery to help Clovis. And finally Arthur the 'pest killer'. A succesful religious man who willingly parts with his money to help Camille in any way. The one character in her life who doesn't seem to want to get into her pants. Confused by this she forces him to. The reaction to this encounter is that Arthur wants to top himself and asks Camille to join him in jumping of a cathedral roof. She obviously refuses.

As the interviews proceed Stanislas quickly falls for Camille and brings her various gifts. She becomes more and more flirtatious with her interviewer and even though she reveals more and more about her 'femme fatale' character the socialologist falls for her more and more and decides he wants to free the woman he loves as his attraction to her has made him believe she is innocent.

Eventually he finds a way to provide the courts with the evidence thay need to quash the conviction. A small film-fanatic child who had filmed the 'murder' of "Arthur the exterminator" which put her away. It turns out to be a suicide. The child Jerome seems to be vary much based on Truffaut himself as he refuses repeatedly to show the film as it hadn't yet been edited.

Eventually Stanislas and his secreatary convince the small child to show the film and they see that Camille did not push Arthur from the Cathedral walls.

We then see Camille freed and quickly Stanislas visiting her in a theatre using her less than talented voice as more jovial than vocal entertainment. But Stan seems to miss the plot yet again and brings her flowers night after night until she brings him home to her appartment where he almost beds the lead lady.

Clovis returns, a fight ensues and Stanislas is knocked out. Camille shoots Clovis and places the weapon in the unconscious hands of the socialologist. He is then imprisoned.

Stanislas's lawyer comes to visit him in prison and they come up with a plan. He suddenly remembers a piece of evidence which could convict her for the murder of Clovis' Mother. But instead of the blackmail that they plot it backfires on him again as Camille 'charms' the Lawyer and they together have the house destroyed.

The film ends with Camille visiting the smitten Stanislas in prison and telling him how prison could help him. He always wanted a book published. Prison helped her get her singing career and maybe prison could help him in the same way. Ironic ending as the beginning of the movie we see a woman asking in a Library "Do you have a copy of Criminal Wamen - It's a Sociological thesis?" - " No it was never printed - No idea why."

FIN

Afdalen is gevaarlijk

2008-07-23T08:55:00.003+02:00

Sometimes when watching the descents in the mountain stages of the Tour de France I feel like switching off and today I remembered why.

Le Tour

2008-07-11T01:14:00.006+02:00

I was never a real follower of the Tour de France until I came to Holland. But it is such a big sport over her it is hard to miss. The Dutch, German and Belgian channels all show it live (on their equivalent of BBC1) every day till the end. So it is easy to follow and I have got into it over the years.

This year I have found it avid viewing. The races are tighter and there seems to be no obvious outright favourite anymore. It is a wide open race. Much shown by the win on stage 5 yesterday by Mark Cavendish. An English rider no less. He told his team manager to lob a cool 1,000 Euros on him before he started the stage. It has been 5 years since an Englishman won a stage (David Millar -Time Trial). And before that you can look back 33 years to Hoban in 1975.

David Millar the only other Brit in the Tour is standing at 5th overall only 47' secs behind the yellow jersey man Kim Kirchen. The mountains are about to come, and everything can change in the Alps, but could we be seeing a possible Englishman in the yellow jersey?. I doubt it.

One thing I really enjoy is the Tour de France website (http://www.letour.com/) which is one of the best ever sporting event websites I have ever come across. It is very current, well-designed and although a bit over complicated, you can quickly get bang up to date if you weren't able to watch a particular stage. No need to Sky+. Just a 2min video and you see what happened.

Lego

2008-07-03T01:09:00.004+02:00

I delivered a parcel to a Lego fan today for 550 Euros if you please.
Well I'm sure the 13 hours it takes to put it together will justify the cost.

Review from the Lego Site : "When I bought it I thought it would take a few days to build but it took about 13 hours and its hard to believe the size. The web site does not do the size justice. Its really big, I have other models of Star Wars ships that can fit under it. This is the best model that I have ever done. If you want something that looks nice and a nice challenge, save your money and buy it."

Maastrichts Mooiste

2008-06-09T01:39:00.003+02:00

Today my girlfriend and I went on a communial ramble. One thing we always promised not to do. But as this one was so well organised I thought let's give it a go.

The "Maastrichts Mooiste" Week involves walks, runs and various other events. Today was the organised walks. There was a 20K and a 13K walk. Of course we went for the easy one.

The worry was that with 2,000 participants expected it would be too crowded and too full of Dutch walkers with their 'Nordic Sticks' and all the extra kit they think necessary to walk the extreme inclines that you face walking in the famously mountainous country that is Holland.

It didn't turn out too bad apart from the river crossings we had to make where we faced queues of 1hour, 30 mins and 20 mins. The first being run by the local scouts in tiny boats.

Anyway the whole event was well organised and getting 2,000 people across three river crossings in a few hours was no mean feat. They laid on water stops, catering, ice creams and toilets along the way as well as 6 theatre attractions.

Was a very nice route and I have to say Maastricht is quite 'Mooi' but the finish in the ENCI cement quarry is a bit of a contradiction.

Visiting Holland?

2008-06-01T19:20:00.002+02:00

Hans Brinker who thought in time and saved disaster

I saw an ad for an interesting site if you are planning a trip to the lowlands today on Scrabble Helper. The site helps you locate interesting geographical features in the Netherlands.

If you are planning a holiday to Holland you will find a lot of these geographical features in and around Amsterdam apparently.

Interesting Geographical Features in The Netherlands

So if you fancy sticking your finger in a dyke like little Hans Brinker then this is the site for you.

Crap Inventions #2

2008-05-27T12:41:00.003+02:00

The Triumph Solar bra

Following the automatic cat feeder, the Triumph bra company have come up with a solar powered bra. The bra can power an ipod, display text messages ("stop looking at my tits") and has two refillable drinking pouches. The purpose of the pouches is to increase bra size and cut down use of plastic and aluminium drinking containers.

Triumph Japan hopes the bra inspires people to think about global warming, the dwindling supply of fossil fuels, and the future of energy.

I was particularly impressed by Triumph Japan's website promoting the japanese woman when selecting it's models.

Chasing water

2008-05-26T02:04:00.004+02:00

We always thought our first cat was a bit 'dog-like' but now the second seems to be taking on 'dog-like' characteristics in that she likes to catch water. This short clip doesn't show her later excited state when she ended up soaked and looking like a drowned rat in her attempts to drink the water spray.

Nutter!

The Missing Man

2008-05-26T01:57:00.004+02:00

This afternoon I went to watch 'the missing man' being flown over the Margraten American Cemetery. Had to queue for 15 minutes to get parked with the other thousands of visitors who went to thank our American brothers in arms for saving this part of Holland.

It was quite a touching ceremony. Nice music and reeth laying etc. And beautiful weather but a long wait for the deafining jets which is the main reason I went. But the hour and a half wait amongst those crosses makes you think about what went on in this peaceful part of Holland.

F16's flying 'the missing man'

Waffling

2008-05-17T19:08:00.004+02:00

The Waffle Iron

For a few years now we have had an old Dutch Waffle Iron in the shed. It needed a good 'buff up' so it has never been used. But after we walked past a waffle maker outside the garden centre this afternoon I was compelled to do the required 'buffing'.

And soon after I began waffling. The first two were a bit of a disaster but later attempts were edible and quite tasty. I think a few more bashes and I'll be getting it spot on.

Some Waffle facts from wiki:

"Wafer" and "waffle" share common etymological roots. Wafre (wafer) occurs in Middle English by 1377, adopted from Middle Low German wâfel, with change of l into r. Modern Dutch wafel, French gaufre, and German Waffel, all meaning "waffle", share the same origin. The Dutch form, wafel, was adopted into modern American English as waffle, in the 18th century

The modern waffle has its origins in the wafers-very light thin crisp cakes, baked between wafer-irons-of the Middle Ages. Wafer irons consisted of two metal plates connected by a hinge, with each plate connected to an arm with a wooden handle. Some plates had imprinted designs such as a coat-of-arms or landscape, while some had the now-familiar honeycomb/gridiron pattern (there is evidence that in the 14th century only wealthy kitchens would have irons.

Lekkerrrrrrrrr!

Hot Air Balloon Simulator

2008-05-11T18:30:00.004+02:00

I was looking for some info on ballooning weather conditions when I stumbled across this site.

It is a hot air balloon simulator. Very realistically done and very simple to use.

http://www.balloonsimulator.com/

Click on the basket to burn, on the ceiling of the envelope to cool. Drop a marker at the yellow flag and return to base.

At different heights the winds change and you have a small weather balloon to release to guage the winds. It's actualy quite tough, but theraputic.

English tits thriving : Dutch tits not

2008-05-09T12:19:00.003+02:00

I read on the bbc website today that the English tits are thriving with climate change and nesting earlier due to the earlier emergance of catterpillars.

The article states that the Dutch tits have not managed to adapt in a similar way. I'm not sure I totally believe this as we have commented several times about the number of tits in our garden this year and they are around earlier than usual.

But there again living in the udder of Holland which is 'Limburg' our demographics usually are better compared to that of Belgium than Holland. There is no mention in the report as to how Belgian tits are coping.

The demise of English comedy

2008-05-07T02:37:00.007+02:00

Holland has always been a keen buyer of English comedy. But how long will it last with the current crap coming from BBC3. Scallywags is the latest desperate attempt on a new comedy programme series from BBC3.

Is it any good?

Bag ' o Shite

And use of the BBC3 site i not allowed outside the UK. I haven't seen a decent comedy in the last 3 years.

Cake or Buscuit

2008-04-12T19:21:00.004+02:00

The tunnock teacake, the 'original' teacake.

The European court of justice has finally ruled that the M&S teacake is actually a cake and not a biscuit. After around 10 years in discussion it seems the teacake may finally lose it's identity crisis.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2008/04/080411_teacake.shtml

Good news for Marks and Sparks as it means the VAT paid since the launch of the VAT biscuit tax will have to be refunded (around £3.5m).

I'm not a big fan of the teacake and I would call it neither a biscuit nor a cake, more a glorified biscuit.

McVities are currently investigating the possibility that the Jaffa cake could also be misidentified as a biccie.

Tunnock's, the more popular version of the teacake is not the companies most popular product with the 'Caramel' selling over 4,000,000 bars per week.

Whitby

2008-03-25T02:00:00.009+01:00

Whitby from the air

Sir John Craven (he may be no 'Sir' yet but he should be) introduced Countryfile this week from Whitby. It was a windswept Whitby and very quiet than what we are used to see. John seemed to give a good account of the town but he missed several of it's highlights. But still I learnt quite a few things from the programme.

For instance that the time that Easter is celebrated was decided by the Synod of Whitby in 664.
They also visited the St Hilda's Priory, at Sneaton Castle where they showed some insanely happy Nuns at work.

Sneaton Castle where Nuns are insanely happy

But I was disappointed not to see John go for Fish and Chips, Crazy Golf or the bumpy boats on the boating lake. The weatherman from the London studio though was quick to point out the snowy weather was a perfect opportunity to nip in for some Cod and chips.

Magpie Cafe visited by Rick Stein but not by Sir John

They did dabble on the Gothic interest in the town with Dracula (Bram Stoker) and the pilgrimage of the 'said' Goths on the town each year. The locals are now welcoming the event with signs in their windows. "Goths welcome" etc. It won't be long before we see the first "PVC R Us" store set up in the town.

Here is a tribute to the Goth Weekend which started in 94 by local Hartlepool Youtube band maddohartlepool

Hard Times

2008-03-10T07:26:00.006+01:00

Last night we watched on DVD 'Hard Times', a BBC Dickens production from 1994 starring Alan Bates, Harriet Walter , Richard E. Grant & Bill Paterson.

In Hard Times, Charles Dickens gives us a close-up look into what appears to be the ivory tower of the bourgeoisie of his day, yet these middle-class characters are viewed from a singular perspective, the perspective of those at the bottom of the social and economic system. Though Dickens' characters tend to be well developed and presented with a thoroughly human quality, the stereotypical figure of arrogant and demanding Bounderby fails to accurately capture the motivations and attitudes of the typical successful businessman of the day and is an indication of the author's political motives. Hard Times, rather than presenting a historically accurate picture of the extraordinary changes brought about by the industrial revolution, is a one-sided attack on the utilitarian value system of the middle 19th century based upon emotional blue-collar appeals for labor sympathy that are not uncommon in today's corporate environment.

Hard Times also features in a small role as Mrs Bounderby, Patsy Byrne, who most will remember as Queenie from Blackadder. According to her Wikipedia entry Patsy is famous for playing round, jolly, often slightly insane old women. In Hard Times she plays a round, jolly, often slightly insane old woman.

TEFAF comes to town

2008-03-08T01:23:00.005+01:00

Still missing in action

The TEFAF is back in town and this year they are hitting the headlines before they even started.

A quick reminder for the uninitiated: TEFAF = The European Fine Art Fair. And this year it is scaling the dizzy hights. More money than ever. The city is buzzing with posh cars, suits, limos, posh frocks, and 1000's of frothing mouths from the local supporting business fraternity.

So the fair started today and runs for 10 days and the TEFAF hit the headlines within hours of starting.

On the first day of opening two Mexican men stole a diamond necklace from one of the stands worth 1.2 Million Euros. They were helped by a Costa Rican woman. They were caught at the exit to the exhibition but the necklace wasn't found.

The Dutch media is helping in the case by frequently advertising on the news with any arrivals of Van Gogh, Monet paintings which are selling around the 14-M Euro mark.

Thank god they don't let any rif-raff in.

But yours truly did manage to get a free ticket this year. Valued at 90 Euros.

Best pants on and eat as much as you like before making a quick exit with a diamond necklace.

Lost Teesside

2008-02-17T20:54:00.002+01:00

I stumbled upom a nice new website this evening 'Lost Teesside' . It is part of the FMTTM website and chronicals the lost landmarks of Teesside.

The first entry featured 'North Riding Infirmary' , the ENT Hospital on the corner of Newport Road, which I must have passed many a time on the 266 back to Nunthorpe. Some of the text could be better written but this is Teesside remember.

The second entry is the The Royal Exchange which I seem to vaguely remember. Apparently in it's hayday the Exchange set the world price for Iron and Steel.

The Royal Exchange in Middlesbrough, part of 'Lost Teesside'

Silly emails

2008-02-11T02:15:00.000+01:00

I tried to register with a UK betting company today not to place a bet but to watch some live darts. And to watch the live stream you had to be registered. Whilst registering I noticed that 'Netherlands' was not an option in the drop down list so I chose Belgium as the nearest country.

I later received a mail explaining why this was.

"Unfortunately, we are unable to accept bets from customers who are registered in the Netherlands and for this reason we have had to close your account.
The reason for bet365 not accepting bets from the Netherlands is that the Dutch monopoly lotto won a case against Ladbrokes in the Dutch courts. The Dutch court held that Ladbrokes were operating illegally under Dutch law accepting bets over the internet from Dutch customers, despite the fact Ladbrokes operate from the UK. However, this is being challenged in both the European and Dutch courts and we are very hopeful that the decision will be eventually overturned. When the case is finally completed we will re-evaluate our position and hope to welcome Dutch customers back to bet365.
To let you know, we are now offering Best Odds Guaranteed on every horse race every day. Just remember to take the price and if the SP is bigger we will pay you out at the bigger odds! You can find out more information by selecting 'Offers & Promotions' from our home page.

The bet365 Team"

I loved the way they explain why you can't use their services but then continue to tell you what fantastic offers they have that you can't use.

Samba comes to the Riverside again

2008-02-08T02:40:00.000+01:00

Alfonso Alves has brought the Samba beat to the Boro again. The last time we heard the samba beat was for the signing of little Juninho, for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd time.

But with Alves we have an exciting goalscorer at last. His record in Holland speaks for itself.

45 goals in 38 appearances for Heerenveen is an exciting prospect but can a striker from the Dutch Ere divisie step up and do the same in the Premiership.

Alves set the all time club record with 34 goals in the 2006-07 campaign with Heerenveen, butyou have to look at how easy it is to score goals in the Dutch Eredivisie.

I don't think Alves will find it so easy in the Premier league and whether his £12.5M price tag is justified we will have to wait and see.

One thing for sure he must be glad to be playing in the Premiership and avoiding all those glamorous clubs like De Graafschap, Excelsior, FC Groningen, Heracles, Almelo, NAC Breda, NEC, RodaJC, Sparta R'dam, FC Twente, FC Utrecht, Vitesse, VVV-Venlo & Willem II.

2008-02-06T01:04:00.000+01:00

A report from Dagblad de Limburger : from Saturday.

Dollemansrit eindigt met arrestatie
Een dollemansrit van een dronken automobilist is zaterdag geëindigd met de arrestatie van de 26-jarige Maastrichtenaar. De politie had de bestuurder een stopteken gegeven omdat hij slingerend reed. Maar de man negeerde het bevel en ging er vandoor.
Hij haalde daarbij de gevaarlijkste capriolen uit. Verschillende mensen moesten zichzelf in veiligheid brengen door opzij te springen of hard te remmen. Uiteindelijk kon de politie de man op de Burgemeester Bauduinstraat klemrijden en aanhouden. Daarbij raakte een agent gewond aan zijn hoofd. De Maastricht had niet alleen te veel gedronken, maar had ook een ontzegging van de rijbevoegdheid. De politie zoekt getuigen van de dolle rit, die onder meer over de Terblijterweg en de Czaar Peterstraat ging.

And the fantastic translation site says:

Dollemansrit ends drank is Saturday ended with arrest A dollemansrit of a motorist with the arrest of the 26-birthday Maastrichtenaar. The police had the driver a stopper sign given because he swinging reason. But the man ignored the order and were off. He got near it the most dangerous capriolen out. Different men had to bring to jump itself in safety through aside or to brake hard. Finally the police could the man on the Mayor Bauduinstraat klemrijden and arrest. An agent besides touched wounded its head. The Maastricht had not only too much drunk, but also an ontzegging of the rijbevoegdheid had. The police seeks witnesses of the mad ride that went among many over the Terblijterweg and the Czaar godfather street.

The "Different men had to bring to jump itself in safety through aside or to brake hard." was including me as I had to almost dive to the pavement to avoid the pissed-up driver. Not a nice way to spend your Saturday morning if you have to work.

British Forces Radio

2008-01-30T00:58:00.000+01:00

For 14 years I have been listening to BFBS (British Forces Radio Service) in the car, as it was the only english radio available in Holland.

But since last week it is now available in the UK. Sky guide Number 0211. on DAB.
You can now also enjoy the sounds of BFBS.
http://www.ssvc.com/bfbs/index.htm

It is not a bad radio station and in recent years they have realised that they are listened to by a lot of ex-pats so it has improved for us non-forces listeners vastly.

In fact there are not many radio stations that can boast they have listeners in the UK, Germany, Holland, Afghanistan, Croatia, Iraq, Cyprus.;

The Dead Terrorist

2008-01-15T00:37:00.000+01:00

Postman Postcards #1

2008-01-10T19:07:00.001+01:00

I have started taking my camera on my postround as I often see something and wish I had it with me:

Unusual sky over Maastricht as the sight-seeing boats passes the Corversplein

£1,000,000 bargain

2008-01-05T02:16:00.000+01:00

Pure Shart from Banksy

There is a 'Banksy' wall painting up for sale on the Potabello Road on ebay.

I just bid £5,600 for it but was immediately outbid to£5,700. I am tempted to take it further.

Oh go on let's see what happens. £5,800 and it goes to £5,900. Not surprising when the 'buy-it-now' price is £1,000,000. Graffiti gone mad this is. If this wall daubing sells for more than £10,000 then I am going to start spraying the streets of Maastricht next week.

He must be pissing his pants. But there again making millionaires by graffiting people's front doorsteps I guess they aren't complaining.

Oh crap I can't stop £6,500 and still outbid. I must stop now before I don't get a higher bid.

I asked the seller how it was to be delivered and this is the reply.

"Dear Sir, It is a brick and concrete wall with an out layer and an inner layer Whether just the outer layer can be removed practically is a question I dont know the answer to. It would be the buyers responsibility to find out exactly how best to remove it in one piece. I have been told there is more than one way to do it, and before you bid I would advise you get a proffesional to look at it and quote you. Any assistance you need for this we'll be happy to help. Kind Regards"

Morgan's Boy

2008-01-04T00:31:00.000+01:00

Morgan's Boy was a BBC Drama from 1984 set in rural Wales. A superb drama that has never been repeated since even though some fans of the series rigurously petitioned them to do so.

Letters were sent and polite replies received but still it sits in the BBC archives collecting dust.

Since it's screening the actors have obviously not been doing the same:

Gareth Thomas: (Morgan) ; has starred in many TV series including Torchwood, Heartbeat, Distant Shores, Randall and Hopkirk deceased and is currently filming "Made in Romania" with Liz Hurley.

Martyn Hesford: (Lee) {as in comb my hair Lee} ; has not done a lot but featured in a few TV series Juliet Bravo and Taggert.

Ioan Meredith: (Williams) ; also similar with Pie in the Sky, District Nurse and Coronation Street.

Marjorie Yates : (Valerie) ; probably best known as Carol the hard faced mum from Shameless, also starred in Heartbeat, Casualty, The Bill (who hasn't), Dalziel and Pascoe.

Maxine Audley : (Eileen) ; seems to have stopped working in the 'biz' since 1992 after a few roles in Casualty, Prime suspect and Bergerac.

Alan Rowe : (Harry) ; Also seems to have stopped after Lovejoy, Inspector Morse and Forever Green.

Jack Walters: (Pugh) ; starred in The District Nurse and The Englishman who went up a hill and came down a mountain.

Michael Troughton: (the vicar) ; The New Statesman, Boom, Get well soon, Cold feet.

Gary Oldman: (Colin) ; The Firm, JFK, The Fifth Element, Dead Fish, Batman Begins, Harry Potter.

Michelle Collins: (Carol) ; Eastenders, Two thousand acres of sky.

Tracey Chils: (Louise) ; Howard's Way, Born and Bred, Hollyoaks.

Charles Dale: (Gareth) ; Rocket Man, Coronation Street, Steel River Blues.

Robert Demeger: (Mr Ellis) ; Forever Green, Doctor Who, Secret Passage.

Pippa Hinchley: (Sarah) ; The Dressmakaer, Coronation Street, The Bill.

David Quilter: (Tom) ; All creatures great and small, Charles and Diana, The Bill, Eastenders.

James Warrior: (Tom Griffiths) ; Doctors, The Bill, All Creatues, Hotel Babylon.

Stephen Yardley: (Alan) ; Dr Who, Howard's Way, The Bill Heartbeat.

Be Prepared

2007-12-23T12:25:00.000+01:00

Still have to buy some Christmas presents this year and will have to face the mad rush of underprepared blokes in the city. But how about this for preperation. For Christmas 1982 and my 13th birthday my Father bought me a Diamond Back Silver Streak II from Armstrong cycles in Middlesbrough 22/24 Princes Road. He left a deposit on it (No! A monetary deposit!) on the 30th October and it was delivered and promptly hidden at Grandad's house on the 13th December.

The Diamond Back Silver Streak II - RAD!

Kylie

2007-12-10T12:45:00.000+01:00

Kylie was on German TV yesterday on the ZDF show Wetten Dass.

Thunderstorm, (TS)

2007-12-02T18:02:00.000+01:00

Ever wondered what happens when a thunderstorm travels over an airport. Here is a clip from the approx 150 aircraft that fly into the Memphis Airport Fed-Ex hub every early morning in about 2 hours whilst a thunderstorm is approaching.

Famous People?

2007-11-21T17:22:00.000+01:00

Whilst walking around my 'route de poste' this week I was starting to get annoyed by the names of the streets. The area I deliver to has many streets named after people. But I realised that I didn't know who any of them were.

Antonius Bieleveltstraat
Franciscus Romanusweg
Karel de Vogelstraat
Gebroeders Hermansstraat
Louis Loyensstraat
Matthias Wijnandstraat
Theodoor Schaepkensstraat
Valentijn Clotsstraat
Antoon Lipkensstraat

So 9 names and no clue who one of them is.

Time to do something about it;

Antonius Bielevelt

born in Maastricht in 1576, Bielevelt was an artist. Some of his works can be found in churches in Florence and his materpiece 'The Holy Family' hangs in the Uffici Gallery in Florence.

The Holy Family by Antonius Bielevelt 1644

Franciscus Romanus

born Gent (Belgium) Mar 23rd 1647, Romanus was a laypreacher and architect. He restored the 'Dominican' church in Maastricht and rebuilt the first arch of the Maas Bridge.

In 1865 he went to Paris to restore the Pont Neuf bridge over the Seine, he was also involved with the restoration of Ront Royale over the Seine.

Karel de Vogel

Also an artist born in Maastricht in 1663. He worked mostly in Rome and painted mainly flowers which earned him his Italian name 'Carlo del Fiore'. A lot of his works can be seen in German Museums.

Gebroeders Hermans

The brothers Hermans; Lodewijk and Franciscus Bernadus born both in Maastricht 1750 and 1745 respectively. Both artists. Lodewijk painted still-life, mostly flowers and fruit. In the state archives in Maastricht 8 paintings recovered from the the St. Nicholas Church can be found.

Frank was a art teacher in the Central Latin school of art in Masstricht, where he was well known as an historical artist.

Louis Loyens

Lodewijk (Louis for short) born 1689 in Maastricht, was a magistrate and clerk of the court in Liege. He put together the Chronicals of Maastricht from which all future chronicles were formed.

Matthias Wijnand

born in Maastricht in 1643, Matthias was Canon for the 'St. Servaas' capital. Wijnand left all his worldy goods to the Maastricht students studying Philosophy and Theology in Leuven. This set a precedent and later the Mayor and Priests of the St. Matthias and St. Servaas Churches gave out study finances in honour of his gesture.

Theodoor Schaepkens

born in Maastricht 1810, Theo was also an artist. Scholar of the school for artists in Maastricht, later the Antwerp art academy and later in Italy and France. He painted a great number of historical paintings, portraits, etchings and lithographs.

Valentijn Clots

Clots was a military engineer and produced topographical maps of Maastricht and ink drawings of the city. He was a devotee of East Indian ink and colours made from natural products.

Antoon Lipkens

born in Maastricht 1782, Tony was a civil engineer/surveyor and later became an Engineer/Auditor in Luxembourg. Lipkens was founder of the Delft Academy, today known as Technical University of Delft.

Well now I know. Not sure if I will gain anything from it but.

Grampohone

2007-11-16T10:34:00.001+01:00

I went to immense trouble about 6 months ago to find a stylus for an old turntable I have so I could listen to some of my old 12"s. After 2 unsuitable ones being sent I evetually found the correct on which cost almost 20 Euros.

But dues to the effort and inconvenience of having to use an old amp to set it up which is a bit tempremental and has a tendancy to have fits of deafening feedback it was soon retired to the attic again.

Yesterday whilst flicking through a catologue I saw a picture of a turntable and was surprised to see they are on sale again and quite popular. The attraction being a USB connection to link to your PC so you can convert your old records to your storage device. At only 80- Euros I think I might add this to my Christmas list.

Maybe if enough of us children of the 70's 80's buy these there may be limited edition novelty vinyl being added to the thousands of options in distributing your music.

Marijuana in Maastricht

2007-11-07T02:19:00.000+01:00

The Mayor speaks out about the drugs policy in Maastricht. Before he had chance to dye his brows.

And the hip version forthe kids;

Working in the City

2007-11-03T01:59:00.000+01:00

I was getting fed up with my first post round and the immense amount of cycling up into the countryside so I took on a city 'round' aswell. And when they offered me the neighbouring section of the city of Maastricht it seemed an easy decision to give suburbia a 'boot' and become a "city boy".

So now I am delivereing post to 2 sections of the centre of Maastricht where I can enjoy the river with the fog in the morning, the sun reflecting off it in the afternoon and the sunsets in the late afternoon (now 5pm).

The best part is that my first round is in 'Wijk' . For me one of the most interesting parts of Maastricht. The best shops, the best restaurants, the best bars, but still not realised by most of the tourist population so it remains pretty quiet most of the time. I deliver to art galleries, restaurants; as in: tapas, Indonesian, Japanese, French, posh 5***** restaurants, designer shops, fetish wear shops, antique book shops, Irish bars....you get the picture. And the fun bit is in this part of town you can't pop the post through the door as the place is normally open so you have to walk in and meet the owners and hand over the post.

The second route is mostly student territory and cheapish housing as far as the centre goes but the 'studes' are also intersperced with the old timers. The other day I had a fascinating conversation with an eighty year old woman about which postal company I worked for. And she told me even though I was still lost and having trouble finding the right postal box : "You are lost but you are living in Holland for more than one week I think.mmmm". Quite flattering considering it's taken 12 years to get such comments. Anyway I plan to have a cuppa with the old bird in the next few weeks as her hobby seems to be to look out for the 'postman' each day.

So I am quite sad to say goodbye to suburbia which I have enjoyed delivering to for the last three months but looking forward to getting to know the city and the people better.

Security Clearance

2007-11-03T01:35:00.000+01:00

Another AWP clip.

2007-10-25T00:57:00.000+02:00

Quiz question; Who is the lass who pops in to watch Oz sing and which movie was she in?

Gronsveld Windmill

2007-10-22T01:47:00.000+02:00

Commonly known as the 'Gronsveld Windmill' but it actually stands in the suburb of "De Heeg" in Maastricht.

Google Flight Sim

2007-10-20T01:03:00.000+02:00

I read on a site today if you use the new version of Google Earth you can use a Flight Simulator by easily pressing '[ALT] [CTRL] [A]'.

It gives you the option of flying an F16 or a SR-22 a small 4 seater light aircraft. I tried the light aircraft to see if I could fly over the Tranporter Bridge.

I ended up crashing into the Tees. So it is quite a realistic flight sim, for an add-on to a system. I'm gonna have another go tonight with the F16. A low high speed pass.

It is quite a good programme to use considering Microsofts Flight Sim you have to pay shit-loads to get realistic land simulations of areas that you want to fly over.

Update: I tried again with the F16 and failed. Went for a low pass over Roseberry topping and ending up crashing near Yarm.

ITV - the crooks - 7.8 million

2007-10-19T01:15:00.000+02:00

A review of ITV phone-ins has identified a "serious cultural failure" within the company.
Shows including Ant and Dec's Gameshow Marathon and Saturday Night Takeaway were among those involved, an audit of ITV's output has found.

ITV executive chairman Michael Grade described the findings as "horrible" and "inexcusable".
Ant McPartlin said he and co-host Dec Donnelly were "extremely disappointed" their Takeaway show was singled out.

"We'd like to make it clear that we had no idea these problems existed," he continued.
"Ant and I are now reassured that strict measures have been put in place to ensure that these kind of incidents can never happen again," said Donnelly.

Although both he and McPartlin have an executive producer credit on Saturday Night Takeaway, he said they had "no direct involvement in the phone line process".

ITV made £7.8 million from uncounted votes. Mr Grade said the company would reimburse those who were misled - a decision McPartlin said he and Donnelly were "100% behind".

I heard on BFBS radio today that even one prize was given to a relative of a producer of one of the programmes.

Corrupt bastards.

I hope everyone rings up and gets their money back but they probably won't as they will hear the old familiar "This call costs £1 per minute".

Margraten

2007-10-18T03:05:00.000+02:00

I have recently taken a 2nd post round and have to go to Margraten to pick up my post as the company is too lazy to deliver it t my door. On my first collection I realised I was passing the American cemetery in Margraten so as it was such a nice October day I decided to pop in and have a wander.

The Tower beyond which lies 8,301 WWII dead. ( The 2nd biggest USA memorial in Europe)

The enscription on the tower is:

"Each for his own memorial earned praise that will never
die and with that the grandest of sepulchres not that in which his mortal
bones are laid but a home in the minds of men"

Including 7 Wades:

Saturday England Triple

2007-10-14T02:13:00.000+02:00

It is unusual to see 3 England teams looking for success in one weekend. But this weekend it happened.

First up was the Footie.

Rooney scores the second in a 3-0 comprehensive win over Estonia.

Second up was the Rugby Union World Cup Semi-Final against France. It looked like it was seriously going wrong until 5 minutes from the end old JW does it again and finished the match off. The Final beckons against the Argies or the South Africans.

Johnny safe foot Wilkinson does it again

And Finally it was the turn of the darts England team in the Darts World Cup semi final against the USA in the team event. Martin Adams, Tony O'Shea, John Walton & Steve Farmer took on the USA in the World Cup which involved 45 countries. Tomorrow they will take on the Netherlands in the Final.

Tony O'Shea the 'Silverback'

Sylvia Geersen

2007-10-07T19:25:00.000+02:00

I was flicking through the music channels this afternoon when I came across a talented young lady on the TMF's (the Music Factory) "Oranje" show. This is broadcasting Dutch music which at it's best is not great. But Ms Geersen obviously has 'talent'. If it is in the musical side of things I am not so sure.

Sylvia was runner up in the 1st 'Holland's next top model' beaten by Sanne Nijhof.

Sanne Nijhof

According to Wikipedia who wrongly list her name as Sylvia Geertsen, after being on the show she signed with Next Model Management in New York, as well as a bevy of agencies around Europe.

Anyway here is her wonderful work 'Give it to me!'

Twitching

2007-10-06T01:26:00.000+02:00

It seems that these days more and more we are having rare breeeds of birds visiting our towns. The Eagle Owl that perched on Middlesbrough town's buildings. Recently my sister told me she saw a Kingfisher in the center of Maastricht. And just yesterday my other half saw a 'Vlaamse Gaai' or as we call it a 'Jay' ouside her office in a built up area of Maastricht.

Vlaamse Gaai (Jay)

Why is this happening?. One reason is the quick availability of food the other is the reduction of their normal habitat through farming.

Yesterday I received a form through the door asking us to sign up to close a local cement quarry in order to reduce noise and dust polution. This was the same quarry I wrote about that boasts the only 'Eagle Owls' except from the one spotted in the Boro.

Eagle Owl - Usually only though to live in Scandinavia, but spotted in Boro and Maastricht

It is good to see these birds visit the 'town' but it does make you wonder what happened to the sparrow, the wren and the starling which I haven't seen for quite some time.

When routine bites hard

2007-10-03T01:45:00.000+02:00

I was so pleased to see Johnathon Ross give "Control" the number 1 spot on Film 2007 tonight.
And also a good review. He even said even though he was not a fan of the music he wished he was.

I was first introduced to Joy Division by my brother, in about 1981, when he bought 'Unknown Pleasures'. I was 11 but for once the fact my brother was in to something first didn't stop me liking the music, and soon I was getting into the New Order album 'Movement'. And Ian Curtis RIP was written on my haversack at school. 18.05.1980

My New Order obsession and Joy Division obsession continued till the age of 18 when I had to decide which University to go to. I basically chose Salford on the fact that that they came from that area. Big mistake!. But still I was happy to be in that place.

It was not long before I realised that JD and New Order were pretty dead and there was a new music scene starting in Manchester. But I did manage to catch New Order once at the GMex in 1988.

After that I was so wrapped up in the upsurgance of The Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses etc. that I kinda forgot about New Order.

15 years later I met a Dutch guy in Holland who reminded me about Joy Division and gave me 2 bootleg CD's and I was hooked again. Then Youtube started and I saw all the old performances. And Anton Corbijn, the guy who took those famous photographs, started talking about making a movie.

And now it is nearly here after years of waiting 'Control'. I have been so desperate to watch this movie but also so apprehensive. I see the trailers and I almost break up. It has been part of my life for so long. I can't wait. But in another way I don't want to see it.

Anton Cobijn talks about his film in Dutch (subtitled)

The official trailer

Bonsai is Buggered

2007-10-01T01:25:00.000+02:00

Today I went to the 'Pasar Malam Asia' at the MECC which was very disappointing, but I did see one stand which caught my eye.

It was a 'bonsai tree' stand. I bought an impressive looking tree for 12.50Euros and went home looking forward to clipping it's wings. But a quick search on the BBC website sadly told me I may have been ripped off.

So my beautiful tree might die, but I am gonna help it as best I can.
Unfortunately it seems both my cats enjoy eating it's leaves. Basically it has no chance.

Postie

2007-09-22T02:27:00.000+02:00

I recently started a post round which i have to say I am really enjoying so far. It is for a competitor of the usual post company and I only have to do it twice a week and the weather so far has been perfect. I am not so sure how much I will enjoy it when 'come rain or shine' happens. But so far it has been very enjoyable getting out on the bike, seeing the dutch way of life, and meeting the people of suburbia.

My round is a very affluent area of Maastricht. The 'Doorns'. Each street ends in 'Doorn'; so as 'Vuurdoorn, Gaspeldoorn, Duindoorn, Meidoorn, etc, etc.

Apart from the Doorns (in blue) there is the Vijverdal in 'yellow' which is the psychiatric hospital, which can be interesting as the inamtes scream at you as you deliver the post.

The 'orange' part I take next which is a series of schools where you get through various security to make sure you are nor a 'pedo'. And also here many teachers telling the pupils, "Oh there is the postman, watch he has to put the post in the post box". Very educational.

The bit which I choose to do last is the 'Bemelerweg' (green) which is a bit a of trip into the countryside and uphill so best to do with an empty bag. This ends at a farm where there is two very aggressive Dalmation cross-breads waiting on chains to attack you as you deliver their post. Fortunately they are both tied in such a way that neither one can reach you if you zig-zag through to the postbox. Always an exciting way to finish the round.

Gordon Bennett takes off again

2007-09-15T00:53:00.000+02:00

The long distance balloons ; very different from the usual ones

The 51st Gordon Bennett balloon race will set off today from Belgium. The start off point is still not decided due to the possible interference with EBBR (Brussels Airport) . See the fantastic ATC Network for details - http://www.atc-network.com/site/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=822

The competition will set off from Belgium when the 14 balloons should set off late afternoon saturday. Looking at the wind they will be passing close to Maastricht and probably set off in the direction of Russia. But you can track their exact position live on the website

It will be a totally different competion than last year when the competitors headed in the direction of the UK then the wind changed and they finished in Scandinavia.

The Teams taking part this year are:

1. FRA 1 Leÿs / Rolland (F-PPSE)
2. BEL 1 Van Havere / De Cock (D-OAVB)
3. NED 1 Jurg / Van Houten (PH-KTS)
4. USA 1 Abruzzo / Rymer-Davis (N801NM)
5. GER 3 Hageney / Gerhardt (D-OWBA)
6. GBR 2 Folkes / Rich (D-OCOL)
7. SWI 1 Krebs / Vollenweider (D-OCFT)
8. BEL 2 Berben / Siméons (D-OBYN)
9. USA 3 Sullivan / White (D-ORZL)
10. GER 1 Eimers / Seel (D-OWBI)
11. GBR 1 Hempleman-Adams / Rivers-Scott (D-OBCW)
12. SWI 2 Stoll / Mattenberger (HB-QHP)
13. USA 2 Critelli / MacNutt (D-OWML)
14. GER 2 Hora / Löschhorn (D-OWNT)

Since 1906 this competition has taken place 54 times and so far the countries winning are:

USA - 12
Belgium - 10
Austria - 8
France - 5
Germany - 5
Poland - 5
Switz - 4

So it looks like time for a UK win considering we almost beat the Belgians last year.
Come on GBR 1 & 2

World Darts Trophy

2007-09-01T19:31:00.000+02:00

The Netherlands are going darts crazy again this week as the World Darts Trophy kicks off today in Utrecht. Utrecht is a city just south of Amsterdam. This will be the 6th WDT but this year it is unique in that it is between 28 PDC and 28 BDO players.

This is the 2nd time a joint tournament has been held since the breakup of darts in 1994.

The last time also happened in Holland in the International Darts League in Nijmegen in May. That time the BDO players came out on top with 3 out of 4 in the Semis and Gary Anderson picked up the title.

There is another joint tournament scheduled to be held in September in the UK the Grand Slam of Darts which will be shown on ITV. The first time they have shown darts in many years.

Previous winners of the WDT are:
Tony David, Raymond van Barneveld (2), Gary Robson and Phil Taylor. Taylor won the tournament last year when it stopped being exclusively for BDO players and 5 PDC players received wild cards.

The politics in darts seems to be hitting a new high again even though these joint tournaments are taking place. The BDO players are not happy their old exclusive tournaments are being taken over by PDC players (the WDT and the IDL).

And also the BDO has purposely moved it's BBC tournament the Masters to clash with Barry Hearn's PDC ran joint tournament (the Grand Salm of Darts) in September.

Martin Adams the current BDO World Champion refused his invite to the GSOD. Hearn went on record to say that Adams lacked ambition. To which Adams replied he is loyal to the BDO and that is a great quality and said that without him the tournament has lost it's value.

I think for 'Joe Public' having 2 live tournaments on at the same time will probably alienate people from the sport and confuse them but for the darts fans it is interesting times to watch and compare the 2 codes.

Who will come out on top at the WDT this week we can only wait and see. So far we are 3 matches in and it stands 2-1 to the BDO.

Mieke de Boer will not be taking part as there is no ladies tournament in the WDT. But she is often showed as a interested member in the audience by SBS6 TV . I wonder why?

The West European Hedgehog

2007-08-28T16:20:00.000+02:00

Hedgehog an endangered species

The latest UK List of Priority Species and Habitats¹ which has just been published includes quite a few shocking items. One which would surprise most people is the common garden hedgehog. The continuous attack from being used as footballs, burnt alive in garden fires, spiked by garden forks, squashed by cars and being used as a crisp flavour² has finally taken it's toll.

So if you do want to see our prickerly garden visitors in the future I suggest you put out a saucer of cat food or slugs to help them on their hazardous potter through our habitat.

1:After two years of work involving in excess of 500 people, the proposed UK List of Priority Species and Habitats was presented in a UK BAP website report in June 2007. The Priorities Species and Habitats Review Working Group and the Priorities Review Group recommended that this list was formally adopted. The Governments of all four UK administrations have now adopted the recommendations of experts and published the UK list of priority species and habitats. The new UK BAP list is an important reference source, bringing all the scientific information on UK BAP species and habitats together in one place.
This list, a result of the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken in the UK, contains 1149 species and 65 habitats that have been listed as priorities for conservation action under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP).

2: No hedgehogs were actually used in Hedgehog crisps, Hedgehog flavoured crisps were actually flavoured with pork fat and no hedgehogs were used in the manufacturing process. Consequently, it wasn't long before Hedgehog Foods Ltd was in court (1982), up against the Office of Fair Trading, on a charge of false advertising.Bizarrely, a settlement was finally reached when Mr Lewis, of Hedgehog Foods, interviewed gypsies who actually did eat baked hedgehogs, to ascertain the flavour of hedgehogs. Mr Lewis then commissioned a flavourings firm to duplicate the flavour as closely as possible and changed the labels from "hedgehog flavoured" to "hedgehog flavour".

Google Sky

2007-08-23T13:33:00.000+02:00

Google have just launched their newest tool. 'Google Sky'. An astronomical 'add-on' of Google Earth. The program allows you to discover parts of the universe only seen by the Hubble telescope. This concept is nothing new though, back in the 80's Ian Bell and David Braben created 'Elite' for the BBC microcomputer. "Now where should I fly".

Google Sky

Control

2007-08-21T17:37:00.000+02:00

Cascade

2007-08-21T17:23:00.000+02:00

Cascade by Matchbox®

I was perusing a website about 70's and 80's games when I saw an old Christmas present that I received which was really good for about 2 weeks and then never seen again. It was a game called 'cascade'. I remeber thinking it was a load of rubbish when I first opened it but once set up the ball bearings bounced along the three rubber drums perfectly landing in the scoring bay and would be raised up to the top again by an archimedes screw type affair. A bit Heath Robinson but amazing to watch.

Lizzie's Wall

2007-08-13T14:14:00.000+02:00

Middlesbrough amateur photographer, Jason Hynes, had one of his photographs selected for the new Tate Britain's exhibition; How We Are: Photographing Britain.

Photo of a wall and a door

Jason describes his photo ('Lizzie's Wall') : "The image is from a series about how we all change and progress in life and I chose the image for the competition because I think it conveys a sense of longing. Whether it be for the good or the bad Britain is, culturally and economically, constantly changing and developing. I feel my photograph freezes this evolution and holds the viewer in a place and time that is safe and comfortable but the imagery contained within the photograph, the door, the blossoming fruit, and the shaft of light, show that growth and change is inevitable and constant. "

Balloon Fart

2007-08-12T15:35:00.000+02:00

The Balloon I should have been on yesterday evening.

Yesterday I won a 'balonvaart' (Hot air balloon trip) on a local radio station (Radio Meerssen) competition. It was the star prize in a 'vacation top 100' competition. I only entered it as I was disgusted by the choice of most people's top 5's. So I put mine is with 'The Smiths, Joy Division, New Order, The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays'. Needless to say none made the top 100.

Anyway they rang up and said that I have won the 'star prize' of a hot air balloon trip and could I come in live on the radio show on Tuesday to pick it up.

They actually wanted to present the prize to me yesterday and take the trip there live on the show which was being transmitted that day from a small caravan site. But as I was out they gave the ride to other volunteers at the event.

Strangely enough whilst sitting here at the PC I then saw the balloon floating towards the house with the volunteers on board. They landed somewhere in Belgium.

I've always wanted to take a trip in a balloon but now I have the chance I have to admit I am bricking it.

Tony Wilson

2007-08-11T19:44:00.000+02:00

Mahjong : Public Health Warning

2007-08-04T20:20:00.000+02:00

Mahjong - The most complicated game on earth

My Mother bought a Mahjong set about 30 years ago but we never actually played the game. Which I always thought was a bit of a shame as it cost a lot of money. But it seems we might have been better leaving it on top of the wardrobe as it has emerged that mahjong can actually be bad for your health.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6931119.stm

Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud

2007-08-03T18:40:00.000+02:00

Brian May is friends with Glockenspiel maestro Sir Patrick Moore

Brian May has finally handed in his PhD 36 years after starting it. Mr May decided to not complete his PhD and instead pursue a musical career with the pop group 'Queen', fronted by rockstar legend Freddie Mercury, back in 1971.

But after a recent research trip to Tenerife he decided to start work on his thesis and today handed in the 48,000 word work to Imperial College, London.

The thesis entitled "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud", studies Radial velocities in the Zodiacal dust Cloud.

Panorama

2007-08-03T02:18:00.000+02:00

Panorama showed on Tuesday the huge amount of child violence being posted on YouTube. The Google run company repsonded that they have '0' employees in charge of vetting such videos and it was the 'YouTube' communitie's resposibilitiy to 'flag' and remove such videos.

So the next morning I searched and found 5 school/street fight videos online and flagged them as "Inappropriate".

Google, and YouTube have said they will review them usually in 20 minutes of flagging.

2 days later and all 5 videos are still on line.
One of these I found was from Middlesbrough. Makes you proud!.

If you do take a look make sure you click the flag as "Inappropriate" button below, if we click it enough times maybe the 1 employee might get a 'heads-up'.

But I would suggest you don't watch. God I sound like Panorama.

The second one is the lovely Boro one.

link1
link2
link3
link4

Always start with a strong coffee

2007-07-28T15:19:00.000+02:00

Yesterday the pilot of a 105 meter cargo ship fell asleep at the wheel on a canal in Holland. Fortunately the family of 4 inside their holiday home were not hurt.

Happy as Larry

2007-07-19T02:08:00.000+02:00

1 and a half weeks in and they are getting on now, but mainly when food is the issue.

These two do 'best mates' dances around their dishes.

They eat from their own then swap and then share.

P.S. They are Clogs

Little Gem

2007-07-08T03:09:00.000+02:00

Little bundle of fur 'Gem' - name after the diamond shape on her back

Today I went for a walk in the 'Eijsderbeemden' to enjoy the sunshine which we have unfortunatley not seen for almost two weeks now. I came back to the entrance of the nature reserve and saw a tiny little creature mucking about in the waste bin overflow licking beer cans.

It was the cutest little cat. Strangely enough I wandered past thinking someone else will sort it out but as I reached the car I thought to myself 'who will look after it'?. I looked around and the nearest house was 1 mile away. So I asked a local Dutchy who was on his' Jollies' who fortunately had enquired about the dierenambulance' (RSPCA) numbers and programmed them into his phone.

Both numbers didn't work so I decided to take the 'little one' into the car after some protest from my dutch friend. His son had already become fond of the cat. But I drove on to the nearest building to ask if it was maybe theirs.

As they replied 'no' and supplied me with a box, we and two oldish women walked to the car to pack our little one into the box to transport it home. It was going quite well (scruff of the neck technique) until the two 'mature ladies' decided they wanted to pet and 'ooh and argghh' at the kitten. At which point it freaked out and wanted to escape. Due to the fact we were on a pretty busy road I held on for my life to it's neck while it protested and fought for it's freedom.

One of the ladies asked me 'Did he get you?'. I replied "No". But she said ' I think he did". I looked to my arm to see 7 bleeding wounds.

Back home we introduced the kitten to Spike much to his disgust. And a hissing fit followed, growling etc. for the rest of the night. Spike is very displeased with his house guest. A 6 week old kitten. (The big brute). Probably more disgusted because this little frail kitten is getting all the milk and food it asks for and cuddles galore.

So my mission tomorrow is to hopefully find the owner of this bundle of fur. Otherwise it might have to be a decision for the 'cat home' or 'our home'.

Gorillaz to Monkey

2007-07-05T13:28:00.000+02:00

Jamiie Hewlett and Damon Albarn are following up their succesful collaberation with 'Gorrilaz' with a foray into the world of Chinese Opera. Last night on Alan Yentob's "Imagine" the programme followed them through 2 years of hard work to realise the project.

The Opera opened in Manchester last week at the Palace Theatre. The story of 'Monkey' did not originate with the 70's TV series as Albarn and Hewlett originally though but it is an ancient Chinese story going back hundreds of years.

After a spell in Manchester the production will move on to Paris.

Ahhhh Piggsy!

Kylie Cyber Woman

2007-07-04T10:38:00.000+02:00

No, not an online simulated experience with the pint-sized Aussie sex-bomb, Kylie is going to star in the hit-series 'Doctor Who' this winter as a 'cyber woman'. David Tennant is said to be literally foaming at the mouth at the prospect of Kylie in a vinyl cyber suit.

Ms Minogue

Test Match Special

2007-06-29T20:30:00.000+02:00

Whilst back in the North-East I went to the West Indies v England Test Match at the Durham County Cricket ground. It was a present for Fatha's 70th birthday but everyone thought it a good plan so we all went. Not a cheap affair!. 7 people @ £42 per ticket. Mother made ham sandwiches and I prepared a flask of tea to economise a bit on the day but I have to admit I was enticed by the 'dirty burger' stand with it's attractive 1/2 mile queues.

It is a boring game cricket at times and we didn't pick the best day to go, but at least we didn't pick Friday when not a single over was thrown. Anyway my sister's boyfriend came up with a good game 'Spot the celebrity'. The 'posh stand' - The 'Don Robson Pavillion' was directly on the other side of the ground so with the aide of binoculars we scanned for the stars.

After a few false alarms, Fern Britten, Jim Bowen etc. I heard on the TMS commentary that Bobby Robson was watching from the balcony so I quickly scanned the corporate boxes and found a 'silver haired' guy who I then pointed out to everyone. Later I found the real Bobby. I kept a bit quiet about it though.

Will the real Bobby please stand up

Hoegy Drought

2007-06-01T19:22:00.000+02:00

My drink of choice if I am going to a bar is usually Hoegaarden. Last night we went for a 'Ruby' and did a mini bar-crawl on the way back to our regular to finish the night of with a game of darts. I was very disappointed to find in all 3 bars no Hoegy was available on tap.

By the 3rd bar I had got so incensed that I asked the Landlord why? 'Dodgy beer' came the reply. Apparently Hoegaarden have closed their brewery in 'Hoegaarden', a small Belgian village inbetween Maastricht and Brussels. The new brewery is in Jupille, where Jupiler beer is made in South Belgium.

Problem is they are having teething troubles getting the first batches of Hoegy right at the new brewery and therefore due to the popularity of this beer it has quickly become a drought.

It is not only here in Holand and Belgium which was the original market for the beer but now it has been marketed so well the problem has extended to the UK where Hoegy lovers are wondering what the hell is going on.

Fortunately here in Maastricht we produce another fine 'white beer' which during the Hoegaarden explosion on to the world market has been incompetently slow at 'taking a piece of the pie'. So 'white beer' is still on the menu if you want a 'Wieckse Witte' formally brewed on the side of the Maas in Maastricht, but now by Heineken.

Mr Interactive

2007-05-27T03:51:00.000+02:00

Tim Booth obviously learnt to ineract with the crowd in his early days. Can be seen very clearly in this performance of on of my faves.

How much for your chuddy

2007-05-26T02:31:00.000+02:00

The Schmidt 'Hot Jet' Chuddy destroyer

I watched a documentary tonight about 'chuddy'. Wrigleys owned 98% of the market in the UK till Cadburys decided to get in on the deal. And with the release of "Trident Splash" they have quickly cornered a 15% chunk of the market. Wrigleys are not that 'bovvered' though as the chuddy sales have also increased by 15% since it's launch 6 months ago.

The documentry showed the Wrigley's PhD doctor emphasing the health bonuses of chewing a petro-chemical product. Helps with mastication, aiding dental care, helps with mental awareness. etc. etc. No wonder Sir Alex Ferguson is a staunch user of the product.

The documentary went on to tell of the hidden costs of a piece of 'Chud'. Most local councils are having to invest in a peice of German hardware to clean the streets from 'post-masticated chud bombs'. This vehicle costs £100,000. Plus it doesn't do the job properly so council employees are having to follow it around with high pressure water machines to clean up the rest of the gum.

It has been estimated that 80% of chewed gum is left on the streets. Chewing gum was brought to the UK by our American friends during the war. I think we should go back to our original chew of choice the Liquorice-root. I recently went into a dutch health shop to purchase a few sticks and they cost 20 Euro-cents. They last a lot longer than Cadbury's 'Splash'. Also they don't require any German Hardware.

The Cadburys company has launched a big advertising campaign to help it's attack on Wrigleys. The marketing 'bods' came up with the phrase 'Mastication for the Nation'. But they do have a banner on the bottom of their site promoting 'Resposable Mastication', i.e Put your Petro-chemical based product in the Petro-chemical based bin liner so our Petro-chemical vehicles can despose of them properly in a land-fill site.

Pond Life

2007-05-25T02:03:00.000+02:00

Kermit with red cheeks - "The tanning experience"

When we moved into our place I found a sand pit in the 'back gard' which I quickly decided to turn into a pond. It doesn't take long before such a creation becomes an attraction for all sorts of wildlife and it is now breaming with frog spawn in early spring-time. As the months get warmer we are spending the evenings in the garden and I decided to put the pond light into the pond yesterday to enhance the garden experience. Only to find a frog knicking the limelight and destroying our enjoyment. Obviously I set the cat upon it and it was quickly destroyed.

I forgot to recognise that the cat prefers to lick frogs then go into a strange cross-eyed stupour for the next two hours whilst the frog disappears into the depths.

Anna Friel Pushing Daisies

2007-05-18T16:28:00.000+02:00

Anna Friel, famous for the first pre-watershed lesbian kiss on a British soap is going to America to star in ABC's new series 'Pushing Daisies'. The show is about a man who can reanimate dead people but only for a short time. Very useful in crime investigations.

"Quick tell me who stabbed you? You've only got 15 seconds!"

The demise of a the Eyldergaard Tree

2007-05-13T03:22:00.000+02:00

I posted a blog about a local tree a few months back which I was always impressed with. On my trip to the the supermarket on my bike today I was very shocked to see it had been butchered. The tree I estimate must have been over 200 years old, sitting in a suburb of Maastricht 'Eyldergaard' which is built up of houses from the 70's. What a sad loss that the only piece of history has vanished. I guess they did it on safety reasons as it would have fallen on to the surrounding houses but it will really miss my big tree. I might start hugging trees in future just incase I don't get to say goodbye.

Vic Reeves Alan Rickman Eddie Izzard and Harry Enfield Monty Python Sketch

2007-05-10T02:20:00.000+02:00

O'Shea 9 darter IDL

2007-05-10T01:53:00.000+02:00

It has never happened before in one tournament but tonight in Nijmegen the second 9-darter was thrown by Tony O'Shea from Stockport. A man I had a nice chat with outside the MECC last year. Good on ye Tony and Happy 46th Birthday. Shame that the car was already gone.

Me Moir Vic Reeves

2007-05-09T18:52:00.000+02:00

Phil Taylor 9 dart finish Topic IDL

2007-05-09T15:23:00.000+02:00

I was playing darts this afternoon and finished in 9 throws. Just like Phil Taylor did last night in the Topic International Darts League in Nijmegen. He won a car which he immediately gave to a Dutch couple who ferry him from Hotel to venue each day, as they had had an accident and wrote of their van.

Caravan Man

2007-05-09T12:08:00.000+02:00

No Flytipping

2007-05-07T16:25:00.000+02:00

Close Premiership Finish

2007-04-29T17:13:00.000+02:00

The Phillips Stadium, unlucky for some but not for PSV

Well it looked like yesterday we might have had a very exciting finish in the English Premier League until Rooney spoiled things for us. But in Holland today the Ere divisie had a very exciting finish. Ajax and PSV were tied on the same points with Ajax ahead on goal difference by 1 point. At half time Ajax were 1-0 up over Willem II and PSV leading 2-1 at Vitesse, which meant PSV would need to score 2 more golas and hope Ajax didn't score. Ajax pulled off a 2-0 win over Willem II but PSV managed to win 5-1 at home to take the title.

Apparently the 2nd time in Ajax's history that they have lost the title by 1 point in goal difference.