At the Devils' den

It was cold ... it was freezing and yes, in certain Jose Mourinho's words getting a bit too familiar, the better team lost. But I was not at the Stamford Bridge, in the home of a team who used to be called "the Pensioners" not too long ago but now invigorated by numerous cash injections..

I was at New Den, the home of the club whose fans pride themselves with the slogan "No one likes us but we don't care". Millwall FC.

And the better team lost this night I dare say (ok, the point should be getting across, it was obviously my team Norwich City FC)

To make the matters worse, I had to sit out the match in the middle of Millwall-fans (yes, my vocabulary increased with some phrases - but better not repeated here).

Since I last time wrote about the fortunes of the Canaries, their plight or should I say unsteady flight has continued. Before this match they had encouragingly managed to beat Luton Town at Carrow Road (by the way, the first Norwich City FC home-venue was indeed called the Nest).

And this match did start definitely better than the 3-0 thrashing that I had to endure at Loftus Road, home of QPR a month back or so. Craig Fleming was on the bench (sensible decision) and even Gary Doherty playing surprisingly well, our central defence looked fine.

Unfortunately my man of the match against QPR, Dean Ashton, didn't get to one single goal-scoring opportunity in this match. He had apparently some injury worries though.

At the end of the first half, Millwall fans at the Lower West Stand, section 30, (without a homewin all season) seemed to be celebrating a goal-line clearance from us like (probably) reaching the FA Cup Final in 2004 against Manchester United. (we are not on a formidable away-win-run if it really needs reiterating).

Needless to say also, since that many things have changed within both clubs. Players sold, money thrown out at wrong things, important players missing, the usual stuff that takes you to that slippery slope towards oblivion (or the wrong half of the Championship table anyway, very very far from the promised land called the Premiership where Jose does his bit of moaning).

Perhaps indicative of the state of Millwall is that the announcement of the new chairman (sorry, don't remember the name - and don't care either) received only some lukewarm applause. (After the match i overheard a fan wondering if he is going to "dig into his pockets" and a fellow-fan saying dunno but the pockets are apparently not even that deep than the current chairman's (who has not put even Abramovich's smallest yacht's worth was my interpretation)

But cack to the match. Back to the future.

Some half-chances occurred one way and another - just about enough to get some blood circulation going due to occasional need to stand up. Then, after about an hour's worth(lessness) of play, Darren Huckerby (who funnily enough scored at Highbury last season against Arsenal) was clean through on goal, a defender desperately chasing him. Hucks fell over, but the referee did not point to the spot. Of course the "wanker" - that's Millwall supporters, not me! - waves play on, the crowd got wild in shouting their abuse ("Dive, submarine commander" seemed to be the wittier verson, another being referral to onanation and selling the products thereof).

And soon, a goalmouth scramble at the other end of the pitch, and Millwall hit the back of the net. 1-0. And so it stayed, with some of their players refining their versions of "dying men on the pitch" after having been anywhere near our players. No dive accusations to my ears then.

Ok, I felt increasingly bitter (no, i had had no pints), our attempts to get level lacked vision if not effort and in the end Millwall's (bottom of The Championship) first homewin of the season was reality.

Evidently this must have been due to the "deep thinking" of their manager Colin Lee.

A quote from the surprisingly interesting (otherwise) match programme, section "Management speak". "Getting points is the priority. However much we want to play good football and pass the ball around, at the end of the day the points are all that matters. I've THOUGHT VERY DEEPLY ABOUT THIS THE PAST FORTNIGHT ...(blahblah)"

Some blossoming ideas for a career as a philsopher if the axe falls you have, Colin... And by the way, in the web there are random sentence generators in the web, Colin, that do a rather decent job as well. Seriously.

The end result is, now, that I am ever more determined to see my team at least score a goal live this season. (180 mins so far, seen none). If Nigel Worthington is in charge of Norwich then anymore, not so sure. But I felt for the team and him tonight. It is a long and cold enough journey home with not much to take home at all.

Just have to keep believing in the long run justice prevails. Seen Norwich live six times, four draws and two losses now. I mean, statistically speaking, it must happen sometime soon ...

Over and out.

FYI: Plumbing lecturer

FYI

I have been following with a keen eye this hunt for a plumbing lecturer. They seem to be getting increasingly desperate... judging by using "ANY plumber" in the opening sentence...or "If you do not have a CV don't worry ..." I mean,when have you seen a probably quite highly paid job advertised like this?

But it is no wonder. Even in Finland plumbers used to command so high salaries that it would take something extraordinary to get their eyes of the pipes.

For this one guy who used to live near us a bottle of vodka would do him nicely for that purpose. Once he actually offered a mate what now would be £20 to take him to somewhere to get ... you know what!

But no qualms, he got my family's dishwasher installed quite fine.

No leaks there yet, and that was over five years ago!

Plumbing Lecturer

This is an exciting opportunity for ANY plumber who has an NVQ level 3 or Advanced Craft in Plumbing.

If you have the above you are suitable to start a career in teaching and I currently have a position available as a Plumbing Lecturer.

Basically you will be given full training and support so that you can use your skills to pass on your knowledge, and at the same time you will be given the opportunity to train to become a fully qualified teacher. The position itself offers a huge amount of potential along with unmatched benefits in terms of holidays, stability, career progression etc and my client are looking to interview ASAP.

For more information please do give me a call on 0870 16 55 369 and I will go into further detail. If you do not have a CV don't worry as we can have a chat about your skills etc and I will build a profile for you.

Down to earth - a big step for technology?

Surely progress is supposed to be about grander and grander designs, technological systems no less impressive than what the best minds in science fiction could conjure.

And preferably the truly astounding innovations involve space, which still carries a certain exciting ... air? ... even in these days of incessant Ryanair-travel.

At least US presidents seem to believe so.

Take Star Wars satellites from ... 1983 (he had to beat George Orwell's 1984, didn't he?). Ronald Reagan's cold war recipe was like a wet dream factory to influence future box office -hits (ok, Star Wars the movie got there a bit earlier). For various reasons, George Bush 2's own science fiction fantasy has not got too much coverage recently.

I know, I am ironic, but all too unfortunately, many innovations have been made for military purposes. Wars - preferably big ones - and innovations are definitely interlinked as the following concise article shows.

Against this, admittedly a bit rambling - background the article that I recently read seems very interesting. The piece read that sending and receiving TV signal via satellites is in danger of becoming obsolote technology!

(Sky will be ... moving from satellite distribution into the broadband market, via the recent purchase of telecom company Easynet, and is clearly contemplating its options on other delivery platforms. Full story here (needs registration that is free))

So, broadband is the future, especially wireless one. Networks invisible to the eye covering most of the globe.

No need for exact pinpointing of the satellite dishes to far far away energy beams of tens of only tens of watts to receive a grainy signal, then, surely. (GPS satellites emit signal of max 50W whereas a normal light bulb is 60W) . And you for sure know which one its emitting its radiation from a nearer distance! And, sorry, can't resist, oh those Russians. (A small confession that 'a victim of popular culture' am I too)

If that goes for the military as well is not so sure. Even though I'm pretty sure they would want to avoid £500,000 phone bills made on their stolen satellite phones. This actually happened recently to the British military. The story did not tell to which numbers these calls were made ...
(for an exercise, try to find this article yourself if you don't believe me as you obviously should. i'm going to bed!)

Beam me up, Scotty!

A dying breed of warriors

Yesterday there was a good piece in the Gurdian of the past that will not soon live with us any more, Lest we forget.

All the people still alive who fought not in the World War II - but WWI - are over 100-years-old. But memories of any war tend to be etched in the minds of those that have had to go through them painfully well. This piece is thus well worth a read for anyone wanting to join the army.

Technologies might have changed, but even today's wars are no video-games - as the TV images of distraught parents and relatives of those perished show painfully well.

Actually, and perhaps contradictorily to the previous, anecdotal evidence that I have come across (admittedly, in Finland) shows that the group with expressing the most pro-military attitude is the middle aged. Those who have fought in wars and the young people considered 'ripe' for military tend not to be that keen.