Paul O’Donnell

I was quite surprised how bloke heavy it was.
Female friend I went with, who I saw them with 30 (fuck) years ago, raised her eyebrows when I said that, put me right in my place.

The crowd at a gig by the band Gene, yesterday. (Very) Many of them them are men of a certain age.

Went to see Gene at the Hammersmith Apollo yesterday. Really fun gig, energetic band but distinctly male pattern mosh pit
#nicecuppacocoa

0-1
Ballard

A replica of a C17 galleon berthed, at Liverpool, next the a double decker bus enabling a speedy size comparison

A replica Spanish Galleon. Handily berthed next to the universal unit of measurement.

1-1 Connolly

It’s what Ralph would have wanted

Dreadnoughts

A plastic bowl with 15, variably shaped, homegrown pears in it.

15 escaped the attentions of wasps and squirrels this year

We want eight
Though for you, it’s too late

There’s also a lost poetry, eg. “Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious” doesn’t tick the right online boxes

A perfect blue sea bay, almost enclosed by mountains, with the flag of Montenegro flying in the foreground

The Bay of Kotor is absurdly beautiful

2-2, so better than I was expecting but probably fair over the 90 mins - #lofc were so bad for the 20 mins before halftime that we didn’t deserve more.
Has Brisbane Road ever hosted a wrestling card? If not then today was its first. Ridiculous level of holding and grappling by Stockport.

1-2 to Stockport. They’re going to be gunning for revenge

Ned’s Diesel Dustbin

Here we go, again…

Fair, It’s difficult to avoid applying hindsight, but I think there is a difference between, for instance, how Brook played last night - I wouldn’t criticise him for going for it - and the situation this morning

Generally I agree with you but this morning 30 minutes of playing straight/leaving could have calmed the situation. India were feeding off the chaos (and bowling very well) in a bit of bazzball way.

His inexperience showed though. Siraj, with 3/4 slips and a gully and the ball hooping around, wanted him to play outside off, and he obliged.

No, because, nowadays, sometimes the correct answer is ‘Play a ramp’.

I think occasionally some of our batsmen need a little angel on their shoulders asking them “what would Joe Root do?”

Maybe, but Siraj was obviously tempting him to play away from his body and he went straight for it. A little bit of mini platform building could have deflated the attack. But, then we’d have been robbed of the drama…

I think there were a scrambled minds there and his was one

A note from Winston Churchill wishing Mr and Mrs Alexander a Happy (and victorious) New Year. For 1940…

Spent the day with the papers of former Labour Minister A.V. Alexander. For some reason he thought this New Years greeting message was worth keeping for posterity.

Restarting football well before the end of the war

Yes I agree with that, but it does beg the question of why he bought it. Was he trying to get a mid-market publication to complement his red top and his broad sheet?

What about Murdoch and Today? That was distinctly centrist, from memory it vacillated somewhere between Majorism and the Lib Dems. You may remember better…

I’m English, French, Italian and a little bit Dane, but 100% party animal… champagne?!?

This is absolutely a comment on the Brexit years

My name is… my name is… my name is… Charles the 2nd

Football, bloody hell

For when you just can’t wait