Wait until next year

Sporting Schadenfreude

Sunday was a good day for me.

Not because my team had won. They weren’t even playing, and probably wouldn’t have won even if they had been.

No, Sunday was a good day as Manchester United were knocked out of the FA Cup, 1-0 to Leeds United. This was a result to savour. Manchester United losing, not only to a team two divisions beneath them, but to one of their great historical and geographical rivals too. Wonderful.

Petty? Maybe, but then isn’t most sport pretty petty anyway?

This form of sporting Schadenfreude is not unusual. I’m sure many of us delight in the sporting misfortune of others. I have known football supporters who cannot just revel in their own team’s victory – for it to be a perfect day, all their rivals need to have lost too. Bizarrely, perhaps, there can be just as much joy in seeing another team’s failure as there is in seeing your own team’s success.

As a Liverpool supporter enduring a torrid season, I’m not proud, I’ll take what enjoyment I can get. As trophy after trophy slips away, I end up focusing more on hoping certain teams, such as the aforementioned Manchester United, will start to struggle too. As this season has seen all the ‘bigger’ sides be pretty inconsistent there has been more opportunities than normal for some Schadenfreude. Last season the top four sides lost 17 games in total between them. This season those same teams have already lost 19, with half a season still to go.

Sunday’s result saw yet another Alex Ferguson gripe about injury time, with him labelling the five minutes given as an ‘insult’. I’d suggest that was insulting itself, to the referee and to Leeds United. The arrogance is beyond belief, to essentially suggest that if one or two more minutes had been played Manchester United would have probably equalised. Ferguson should really look closer to home for the reason behind the defeat. His team lost because he picked the wrong side, not because the referee didn’t play a game of ‘next goal wins’. Yet, no sanctions will follow. Respect campaign? What Respect campaign?

Still, Ferguson’s rants do have one upside. Each time he complains about a lack of injury time, or indeed benefits from injury time given, more people visit here, and my post from earlier this year. So, thank you Alex, and thank you Google, for bringing me those people googling “fergusons injury time bitching” and “ferguson complains about injury time”. Much appreciated!

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January 4, 2010

Welcome to the working week

Happy new year, everybody! I hope you had a good holiday?

I had a fantastic break, probably the best Christmas of my adult life. Sadly, it’s back to work now, as eating mince pies just doesn’t pay the bills.

On the plus side, normal service will soon be resumed here. Stay tuned!

December 24, 2009

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

One of the most well-known Christmas songs was, prior to a re-write, really quite depressing…

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past
Have yourself a merry little Christmas, pop that champagne cork
Next year we will all be living in New York.

No good times like the olden days, happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us, will be near to us no more

But at least we all will be together, if the Fates allow
From now on we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

I hope your Christmas is a lot more fun and light-hearted! Thank you to every single reader and commenter this year, your interest and support are really, genuinely appreciated.

Have a very merry Christmas folks!

December 23, 2009

Ten little things that helped make 2009 a good year

We think in generalities, but we live in detail.

Alfred North Whitehead
English mathematician & philosopher (1861 – 1947)

The web and the wider world are full of ‘best of’ lists, looking back at the past year and indeed the last decade. However, I thought I didn’t have a whole lot worth adding to the more general debates, such as best albums, best films, best sportsmen and women. Does the world really need another end of year/decade review?

So…instead I’ve decided to compile a list of some ‘little’ things I’ve enjoyed this year. Maybe this will offer a tiny insight into my world, and hopefully prompt some thought on those little things in life that make the world a more enjoyable place. Life is all in the details.

1. The seaside

This year I’ve been to the seaside several times with my Significant Other, and had a wonderful time on every occasion. In the UK we’re really lucky in that you are never that far from the sea. Maybe there is some primal pull, but more likely it’s great to regress to being a kid again, with ice creams, crazy golf, dashing around the arcades, skimming stones and fish and chips on the beach. We realised that we can jump on a train and in an hour or so effectively be on holiday, if only for the day. A great way to ‘get away from it all’, and cheap too!

2. Actually going to the football

I used to go to games all the time years ago, but I think following a team week-in, week-out is probably a young man’s game. Saying that, there’s nothing to stop me going to see a match from time to time, and I’ve got back into that this year, again accompanied by my ever-supportive Significant Other. We live close to Charlton Athletic, who late last season started giving tickets away as they hurtled towards relegation. This season has been far better for them, and popping down the other week on a whim and catching a game was a lot of fun.

3. Piccolo coffee

I was never a big coffee drinker. But this year I’ve fallen for the trendy coffee brigade’s fancy drinks. A piccolo is kind of like a very strong, yet miniature, latte, essentially an espresso topped up with a little milk. I’ll often grab one from a little coffee stall near work, generally at lunchtime, to kickstart my afternoon. It is absolutely delicious, and a welcome change from the luke-warm, sugary, whipped cream abominations from the big chains. I’m on course to become a coffee snob!

4. Scoring baseball

More to come on this soon, folks, I promise. But generally speaking, I had real fun following this year’s MLB season. Even though the Mets were beyond rubbish.

5. Staying in on a Saturday night

I used to get rather jittery staying in on a Saturday night, worried I was at home while everyone else was out having fun. No more. I think I’ve finally hit full-fledged Grumpy Old Man mode, and so can’t abide jostling crowds and overpriced drinks in trendy bars, or nightbuses home from dingy nightclubs. Also, I’ve loved spending some time with my Significant Other, a takeaway and some crap telly. Strictly Come Dancing, X Factor, Match of the Day, bed. I never thought this would be my idea of bliss!

6. Spicy chilli peanuts

My snack food of the year. I’ve bought a big tub of them for Christmas, and can’t see it lasting long. Plus, I can kid myself that peanuts are a healthier option.

7. Cain’s Mild

My drink of the year. A classic beer from a Liverpudlian brewery. Full of flavour, but low in alcohol, so I can drink plenty of it without falling over. Coveting a can of mild, again, suggests I am now truly an old man, in heart, mind and increasingly in body. This is not a bad thing. I think I’m actually growing into myself.

8. The New York Review of Books

On the surface, this is a periodical with a load of book reviews. But really, they are just a launchpad for articles on much wider issues, so an issue might throw up some interesting perspectives on all manner of things – the fall of the Berlin Wall, Theodore Roosevelt’s environmentalism, the new ballparks in New York, prison reform, schooling…you name it. It is refreshing to see such a wide range of issues covered, and for writers to be given the room to cover them in sufficient depth. Plus, it makes me feel a bit cleverer for reading it.

9. QI

It’s bloody brilliant, isn’t it? And like number 8 above, I feel a bit cleverer for watching it. You can never have enough trivia stuffed in your brain, as far as I’m concerned.

10. Listening to Christmas songs

I love Christmas songs. Big Rock Candy Mountain feeds my addiction with some weird and wonderful efforts, but I’m just as happy with the more mainstream fare. Phil Spector’s Christmas album is probably one of the best (not just Christmas) albums ever. Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You is my number one guilty pleasure. To me, that song is perfect. It’s a shame that in just a few days I won’t be listening to these songs for another year…

So, what little things made your 2009 a good one? I’d love to hear about whatever helped make your year.

Photo from kevindooley, via Flickr

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December 18, 2009

Bar Humbug – A Christmas story

A first for the blog, a very brief piece of fiction, for this festive time. Let me know what you think! And apologies for the terrible pun in the title.

Christmas was not a happy time at The George for Reg.

In the last week of November Cathy the barmaid had hung up the Christmas decorations. Reg, being Reg, threatened to tear them down. In the end, he only removed the tinsel that hung over his seat in the corner. He also removed the mistletoe that mysteriously appeared there soon after.

If nothing else, Christmas made Reg punctual. At noon each day he would be waiting as the doors were unbolted, primed to secure his seat. He would not risk losing it to an unsuspecting gentleman wearing a paper crown.

By mid-December, Reg was plagued by the parties of revellers patronising The George. At any one time there was guaranteed to be someone acting festive.

On one occasion a group broke out a rendition of ‘Deck The Halls’.

“Tis the season for bloody amateur drinkers, more like,” grumbled Reg, to no one in particular. “Bring on January, when they’ll all have gone back to their gyms and widescreen televisions, and us proper drinkers can get some peace.”

Reg drained his pint of Best, got up from his seat, and left the pub, letting in some snow on his way out.

A gentleman wearing a paper crown immediately slumped in Reg’s seat. “Tis the season to be jolly,” he sang, raising his pint of lager, to no one in particular.

Photo by mfajardo via Flickr.