To day has been a good day marred by one little act of stupidity. After the match I walked to the bus station to find the last passengers boarding the 35 bus so I rushed on and found the last seat only to see another 35 arriving as we moved off and the though occurred. Which direction was the 35 travelling? Towards South Shields or in the opposite direction. It was a few minutes before I could discover the truth. It was the wrong way route so I got off again close to the Varsity bar restaurant and then decided to walk along the High Street rather than return to the bus station. This was pride although it was closer than the High Street stop for the four bus options to South Shields.
This was an important reminder that at my age I need to take care and remember my age and potential frailty. I enjoyed the trip back although it takes 50 minutes and then the walk up the hill and which will the walk to the Sunderland Bus station, mini bus trip and further walk and wait meant that the journey home took 90 mins, compared to 35 to 40 by car. But I saved cash on petrol and contributed less to the environmental destruction of the planet as well as my own physical fitness, so I felt good about it. Having given myself a little lecture about thinking before acting, I did it again. Approaching Azda from Ocean Road there was a group of adolescent boys on pedal bicycles and I had previously noticed this group on previous occasions, but on those instances they were just standing around talking. In this this instance they were throwing what appeared stones at another boy on the other side of this part of the pedestrian area of bar and public houses. Although one missile was not aimed at me it was thrown regardless of my presence and was sufficiently close for me to react and I told the young man to behave. He apologised and explained that he was aiming for someone else. I said that did not make any difference hw was behaving badly. It was a forceful and confident telling off without anger or malice. A smaller young man in a motorcycle type helmet with disguised his appearance came up in what was intended to be a threatening manner so I told him to behave as well. I threatened to call the police if they did not take my advice. The group appeared shocked that anyone was speaking to them in this way but stopped the stone throwing. Inside the ground level entrance of the store I was approached by a heavy set man in his late twenties. The type you usually see in doorway security at this time of night. He explained that they had nearly hit him so I said I hoped a word had done the trick in preventing them getting into trouble, that night at least. It was their way of letting of steam with back to school after the weekend. It struck me that he had been observing the youngsters from inside the store commenting on their behaviour to other shopped who had been hesitant to leave, but after my words were content to do so. I had forgotten my advice to myself an hour before, forgot my age and just reacted. I hope I continue to do so though.
I had gone to bed late with everything going wrong with problems publishing writings on both Myspace and Google and then printer refusing to recognise the cartridges. I resolved the printer disconnecting from the computer and turning off before going to the match then only using the printer separate from the computer to copy the card to hand. This worked.
Less successful has been resolving the publishing of previous and latest Blogs on Google. If I open Google Blog on the Internet Explorer when I go to paste what has been copied Internet Explorer crashes and reconnects but to the starter screen and every attempt to paste again results in the same cycle. However if I load Google Blog on Mozilla Firefox this works except I have to use Microsoft Works Word and Microsoft Word does not. The reverse occurs when using Explorer. However this is not the end of this story as on Mozilla the complete Blogs do not print out so presently I have to upload on Mozilla and print on Explorer. I also ran into problems on MySpace uploading the latest writing but this appears to have been a temporary problem.
There has been no sign of Blackbird for two days although I have been up late and out for part of both days. I had a quick smoked mackerel salad for lunch and a banana with a cup of coffee at the ground. My allocated seat today was a good one although at the back of the East Stand it was still about the same level as the upper part of the Director’s box as close to the centre line as I have been. It was also an end of row seat and with a post across the gangway. If I was going to take out a season this was a good spot and worth asking to see if it is free in future. It is a long climb but getting fitter it did not pose a problem as long as one is early and able to take it steady. Going down is more of a problem and the choice is to wait until the final whistle and until everyone in the rows below have departed or to leave the seat early in sufficient time to get down to watch the closing moments on the way down or on the TV screens as I needed to go to the gents first. I was able to watch a late substitute hit the post with a good shot after some good action before the final whistle.
This was a vital game for both sides as a win would achieve a small cushion over the bottom three sides which presently include Newcastle and the Borough. Hull brought with them the best support I have seen all season and the performance the team justified the commitment of the fans. The players were well organised and played as a team and if their future lives depended on what they did, which at one level is true. Sunderland in contrast looked nervy because of the way Hull played attacking football and tried to hold a defensive line well up the pitch. This is potential dangerous as a skilful and confident team will cut through their defence and have a clear run at the goal. Sunderland were not quite good enough although looked liked to be more effective before the goal. On balance I thought Hull should have been one or two goals up as the first half ended and then Sunderland scored a goal which later on TV was shown to have been offside. However it was a fine decision given that Cisse received the ball from Kenwyn Jones. The goal countered although one other into the net did not. I thought the narrow win was deserved.
This took Sunderland above Hull and also Blackburn who were beaten at Stoke who are nearly safe, but with teams at the bottom having five or six games to play, 15 to 18 points any team getting two or three wins and a couple of draw points should survive if they are presently above the bottom three. West Brom play tomorrow as do Newcastle. Newcastle have the toughest of games against Spurs and will be lucky to get a point. Alan and his assistant Manager were at the Portsmouth game this afternoon preparing from when Portsmouth plays at Newcastle in May, a game which is on the TV. Sunderland have perhaps the easiest of final games and the penultimate game against Chelsea is not as challenging after what happened today as it could have been. Chelsea in beating Liverpool have reached the semi final of the Champions League along with Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona and this evening beat Arsenal to reach the final of the FA Cup. Their place in next season’s competition appears secure as they are 13 points ahead of the fifth placed team who have one less game to play and can only gain 15 points if they win all their games, with Chelsea only having to win one of their six games to confirm their position. They are 15 points ahead of the next team who likewise have to score a maximum 18 make up a goal difference deficit of 20 and Chelsea only gain 3 points. Moreover while Chelsea still have a chance of winning the League they have a deficit of four points on Manchester United who also have an additional game to play. It is still likely that one North East team will be relegated with Hull and West Brom being the likely two others.
On return I enjoyed a cuppa soup, two fishcakes with beans and a fruit salad with a snack of two thin crackers and with a slice of salami x 2 and coffee.
Today was the first two matches of the Indian 20 20 competition in South Africa and I was able to watch the highlights of game between Kevin Petersen’s side and captained by Shane Warne. Unfortunately the composition of the 8 teams and the scores in the first two games has not been found on the internet either through the BBC or the official site of the Indian League. I then found a site with the information Kevin’s Team the Bangalore Charges scored 133 runs with Shane Warne and Mascarenhas taking 5 wickets including two of the first two balls with Kevin scoring 33 and Dravid the star with 66. The Rajasthan Royals could only make 66 with Kumble taking 5 for 5. In the other game the Mumbai Indians, the holders with Tendulker 59 reached a creditable 169 which is 8 plus an over while Flintoff’s team the Chennai super kings could only reach 146 with Flintoff. Although every match is on Satanta I shall miss most first through watching Durham with five days this week, four days on TV next and six the following six days some 15 days plus days away for others reason and travelling.
Arriving at the match earlier there was time to read Friday’s papers and undertake a word search. Having reach over 65 wins at chess the highest run to date I stuffed up this evening while watching Match of the Day. The political situation is building up and more on this tomorrow or Monday. The weather forecast for tomorrow omens well.
This was an important reminder that at my age I need to take care and remember my age and potential frailty. I enjoyed the trip back although it takes 50 minutes and then the walk up the hill and which will the walk to the Sunderland Bus station, mini bus trip and further walk and wait meant that the journey home took 90 mins, compared to 35 to 40 by car. But I saved cash on petrol and contributed less to the environmental destruction of the planet as well as my own physical fitness, so I felt good about it. Having given myself a little lecture about thinking before acting, I did it again. Approaching Azda from Ocean Road there was a group of adolescent boys on pedal bicycles and I had previously noticed this group on previous occasions, but on those instances they were just standing around talking. In this this instance they were throwing what appeared stones at another boy on the other side of this part of the pedestrian area of bar and public houses. Although one missile was not aimed at me it was thrown regardless of my presence and was sufficiently close for me to react and I told the young man to behave. He apologised and explained that he was aiming for someone else. I said that did not make any difference hw was behaving badly. It was a forceful and confident telling off without anger or malice. A smaller young man in a motorcycle type helmet with disguised his appearance came up in what was intended to be a threatening manner so I told him to behave as well. I threatened to call the police if they did not take my advice. The group appeared shocked that anyone was speaking to them in this way but stopped the stone throwing. Inside the ground level entrance of the store I was approached by a heavy set man in his late twenties. The type you usually see in doorway security at this time of night. He explained that they had nearly hit him so I said I hoped a word had done the trick in preventing them getting into trouble, that night at least. It was their way of letting of steam with back to school after the weekend. It struck me that he had been observing the youngsters from inside the store commenting on their behaviour to other shopped who had been hesitant to leave, but after my words were content to do so. I had forgotten my advice to myself an hour before, forgot my age and just reacted. I hope I continue to do so though.
I had gone to bed late with everything going wrong with problems publishing writings on both Myspace and Google and then printer refusing to recognise the cartridges. I resolved the printer disconnecting from the computer and turning off before going to the match then only using the printer separate from the computer to copy the card to hand. This worked.
Less successful has been resolving the publishing of previous and latest Blogs on Google. If I open Google Blog on the Internet Explorer when I go to paste what has been copied Internet Explorer crashes and reconnects but to the starter screen and every attempt to paste again results in the same cycle. However if I load Google Blog on Mozilla Firefox this works except I have to use Microsoft Works Word and Microsoft Word does not. The reverse occurs when using Explorer. However this is not the end of this story as on Mozilla the complete Blogs do not print out so presently I have to upload on Mozilla and print on Explorer. I also ran into problems on MySpace uploading the latest writing but this appears to have been a temporary problem.
There has been no sign of Blackbird for two days although I have been up late and out for part of both days. I had a quick smoked mackerel salad for lunch and a banana with a cup of coffee at the ground. My allocated seat today was a good one although at the back of the East Stand it was still about the same level as the upper part of the Director’s box as close to the centre line as I have been. It was also an end of row seat and with a post across the gangway. If I was going to take out a season this was a good spot and worth asking to see if it is free in future. It is a long climb but getting fitter it did not pose a problem as long as one is early and able to take it steady. Going down is more of a problem and the choice is to wait until the final whistle and until everyone in the rows below have departed or to leave the seat early in sufficient time to get down to watch the closing moments on the way down or on the TV screens as I needed to go to the gents first. I was able to watch a late substitute hit the post with a good shot after some good action before the final whistle.
This was a vital game for both sides as a win would achieve a small cushion over the bottom three sides which presently include Newcastle and the Borough. Hull brought with them the best support I have seen all season and the performance the team justified the commitment of the fans. The players were well organised and played as a team and if their future lives depended on what they did, which at one level is true. Sunderland in contrast looked nervy because of the way Hull played attacking football and tried to hold a defensive line well up the pitch. This is potential dangerous as a skilful and confident team will cut through their defence and have a clear run at the goal. Sunderland were not quite good enough although looked liked to be more effective before the goal. On balance I thought Hull should have been one or two goals up as the first half ended and then Sunderland scored a goal which later on TV was shown to have been offside. However it was a fine decision given that Cisse received the ball from Kenwyn Jones. The goal countered although one other into the net did not. I thought the narrow win was deserved.
This took Sunderland above Hull and also Blackburn who were beaten at Stoke who are nearly safe, but with teams at the bottom having five or six games to play, 15 to 18 points any team getting two or three wins and a couple of draw points should survive if they are presently above the bottom three. West Brom play tomorrow as do Newcastle. Newcastle have the toughest of games against Spurs and will be lucky to get a point. Alan and his assistant Manager were at the Portsmouth game this afternoon preparing from when Portsmouth plays at Newcastle in May, a game which is on the TV. Sunderland have perhaps the easiest of final games and the penultimate game against Chelsea is not as challenging after what happened today as it could have been. Chelsea in beating Liverpool have reached the semi final of the Champions League along with Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona and this evening beat Arsenal to reach the final of the FA Cup. Their place in next season’s competition appears secure as they are 13 points ahead of the fifth placed team who have one less game to play and can only gain 15 points if they win all their games, with Chelsea only having to win one of their six games to confirm their position. They are 15 points ahead of the next team who likewise have to score a maximum 18 make up a goal difference deficit of 20 and Chelsea only gain 3 points. Moreover while Chelsea still have a chance of winning the League they have a deficit of four points on Manchester United who also have an additional game to play. It is still likely that one North East team will be relegated with Hull and West Brom being the likely two others.
On return I enjoyed a cuppa soup, two fishcakes with beans and a fruit salad with a snack of two thin crackers and with a slice of salami x 2 and coffee.
Today was the first two matches of the Indian 20 20 competition in South Africa and I was able to watch the highlights of game between Kevin Petersen’s side and captained by Shane Warne. Unfortunately the composition of the 8 teams and the scores in the first two games has not been found on the internet either through the BBC or the official site of the Indian League. I then found a site with the information Kevin’s Team the Bangalore Charges scored 133 runs with Shane Warne and Mascarenhas taking 5 wickets including two of the first two balls with Kevin scoring 33 and Dravid the star with 66. The Rajasthan Royals could only make 66 with Kumble taking 5 for 5. In the other game the Mumbai Indians, the holders with Tendulker 59 reached a creditable 169 which is 8 plus an over while Flintoff’s team the Chennai super kings could only reach 146 with Flintoff. Although every match is on Satanta I shall miss most first through watching Durham with five days this week, four days on TV next and six the following six days some 15 days plus days away for others reason and travelling.
Arriving at the match earlier there was time to read Friday’s papers and undertake a word search. Having reach over 65 wins at chess the highest run to date I stuffed up this evening while watching Match of the Day. The political situation is building up and more on this tomorrow or Monday. The weather forecast for tomorrow omens well.
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