Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat....

Except we don't eat goose at Christmas. Turkey of course, at least in our gaff. Sign of the times I suppose.

Which brings me on to a minor rant about the festive season. Now I'm not hugely a man of faith, although I do have my moments (not that many people would know), and it therefore may seem perverse that I'm writing this. But Christmas IS a religious festival, celebrating the birth of Jesus. I hate that it's now largely just the "Christmas holidays". An opportunity to overindulge on food, drink, presents and so on without a thought about why we are doing this.

It's bad enough that you have to dig hard to find a "holy" Christmas card amongst all the teddies and rabbits and puppies on show. Robins and holly and snow encrusted trees are at least in the general spirit of the season.

And the tat. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind a bit of Christmas tat - a Santa hat or Christmas jumper, and various iffy decorations here and there, so long as it's not overdone. And I do like a set (or several) of Christmas lights, though I prefer traditional fairy lights to the dazzling blue and bright white type of late.

But I draw the line somewhere. And in a local "bargain" shop the other day I saw (and I kid you not) a "Musical bum" - a mooning arse that presumably when pressed somewhere plays a dodgy version of Jingle bells.




Sigh. Sad times. And it costs £2.49. Suffice it to say I won't be getting one.




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Saturday, November 07, 2015

Cardiff City 2-0 Reading: Some stuff we knew, and some we didn't.

Cardiff City finally ended their goal drought today as they eased past Reading 2-0 at the CCS. For the first time in a long time, fans gave the team a rousing cheer and a well deserved round of applause at the final whilst celebrating a good win against a decent side with an improved all round display. 

I'm not a micro analyst of City,  and this isn't intended tone a match report. But during the game a number of things occurred to me that would exceed  140 character tweet that is my more usual form of social media communication.

1. David Marshall is by far and away the best keeper in the Championship - and probably as good if not better than many in the Premier League. We all knew that anyway, so we didn't find that out today, but half a dozen outstanding saves - three in quick succession, reinforced that.

2. We didn't miss Peter Whittingham. I was going to write that we don't "need" Peter Whittingham, but that may be a step to far. Certainly Slade was forced to juggle his plans after Whitts missed the match though a fifth yellow picked up last time out. But I thought Ralls did a superb job in the centre, and he provided two great deliveries from set pieces for our goals. Whitts shouldn't be a shoe in. Ralls should.

3. Matt Connolly is class. Contentious maybe, as I know he has his detractors, but I've always liked him. He plays football, can play in several positions, although CB is his best spot, has a cool head and can come up with important goals.

4. Mason is good, but only when he gets service. But obvious really, but today he just looked like a short version of Alex Revell. 

5. Noone should start every match. End of.

6. In the brief time he was on, Idris Saadi looks good. Eager and hungry. But it looked like he'd tweaked his hammy just before the end.

7. Slade is still not the man for the job. 

8. Reading's kit. Meh.

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