A Day at Wembley

The only word that possibly suits Wembley Stadium is Immense. Sure, the old stadium was a unique place, but somehow I cannot remember it being so huge inside. Whatever the feelings about Old or New, the stadium was a fitting place for the NFl game between the Dolphins and Giants.

Unlike other American football games played at Wembley back in the 80's, this one was for real. So watching how teams play in regular season was a great scene. It's a pity we were not a little bit close to see some of the sideline acitivity in close detail.

The Giants won the game with a below par performance from QB Eli Manning but with a good solid day from the offensive line and Brandon Jacobs at running back. To the Dolphins credit, they had decent secondary coverage which helped keep Eli Manning's passing game in check.

The Dolphins cheerleaders added some sparkle to the time between plays and even joined in dance routine before the kick off when the Feeling where on stage siging a few songs.

It was also emphatic that when Paul Potts (replacing Russell Watson) came on to sing the national anthem, the whole stadium joined in. This does not happen in the states, where they stand in salute during their anthem.

Overall it was a great day and a pleasure to watch a genuine game. Fingers crossed that the NFL decide to return soon.

Naked under James Joyce

Ah, now that has grabbed your attention!!

Not that I would wish anyone to be naked under James Joyce, I am not sure how much fun that would be.

If you visit Ireland, chances are that if you go by ferry you will travel to and from the port of Dun Laoghaire. Not far from the port is a small cove overlooked by the James Joyce tower, called the Forty foot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Foot

here you can observe (or partake) in swimming in the bay. Fair enough in summer and early autumn but to be honest the last you thing you expect to see is a butt naked old boy jumping in without a care in the world.

It looked great fun and I would love to have ago next time I am there. But as for a full monty swim, well that will have to wait.

Another thing that is great to look at when you walk along the seafront here is a giant anemone sculpture.

O.Z

Saw this on you tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sjnie-aqYw

It s a trailer for a re-imaging of the Wizard of OZ from the Sci-fi channel.

Now the Sci-fi channel has done superb work with Battlestar Galactica, a truly marvelous series that has redifined the concept of spaceship drama. But I ma not sure if this is going to work. It looks like a formula concept, last seen in Sliders. It looks handsome and as a good cast but it may not be different enough to be respectful of the source material and ballsy enough to have a steel edge.

Maybe a version of Gregory Maguire's "Wicked" would have been more a safer risk?

To the Emerald Isle

As I write this I have just finished packing my bags for the week, as tomorrow I am travelling to Ireland for a week of Work, Guiness, Work, Jamesons, Work, Craic... you get the picture.

I love Ireland. Much like I love Scotland. The sounds, the scenery, the history and the people are a blend that really delight me. I love the openess and friendly spirit that seems to be part of the very fabric of the place.

The only downside is the getting up at 3.30 in the morning to have plenty of time to drive to Stranraer.

I have prepared my Mp3 player, got a new book to read. So I am all set to go.

North of Watford - into the unknown via TomTom

A friend at work told me about some house guests he had visiting him at the weekend. Apparently they had never been outside of London and all they knew about Harrogate (theri destination) was that it was in the north. The only place they knew about was Manchester and thus horrogate was part of Manchester.

So they programmed their TomTom to go to Manchester.

They left London at 10.30am on saturday morning and finally arrived in Harrogate at 2.30 am on Sunday morning.

To be fair, the guests of my friend were from Sri Lanka and newly arrived in the UK by 1 year but you would think that it would have been easy to work out that Harrogate is not in Manchester.