You can always tell when Ipswich Town are playing a home evening game. Large chunks of the office get up and leave early in order to go home, have a bite and get changed before coming back for the match. An equally large proportion stays late at their desks then goes straight over (the office is literally next door to the ground). This leaves the rest of us wondering what all the fuss is really about. Especially the way they have been playing recently.
With every result, hiring or firing of manager or players reported across the local media and discussed endlessly around me during the day I know far more about the workings of football than I ever thought I might pick up. While I may have watched the odd cup final or other game on the tv there is no way I could ever be described as a football fan, and yet I do seem to care about what goes on inside the stadium next door.
And good luck to the new manager as well - I can't imagine why anyone would ever want to take on a job like that. More to the point, I don't understand why it is always the manager that seems to get all the blame when things go badly, but the players who are praised when teams are winning. Surely they are both equally responsible either way?
I have been inside Portman Road on numerous occasions for meetings (it being a handy venue and all that) and also to see Bryan Adams back in 1992, but the only football I have been in to view was a charity tournament on the practice pitch. That's where the picture above comes from - a team from the office entered and did fairly well (but quite how well I can no longer recall).
I have tried to catch the bug properly in the past in order to fit in with friends, but it just doesn't grab me. Perhaps I need to go to a proper professional game but at those prices I'd rather take MrsB out to the theatre AND have a good meal as well.
So while I won't be joining those shivering in the stands tonight I will keep an eye out for the result later, if only so as not to put my foot in it when I get to work in the morning.
Showing posts with label Football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Football. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Friday, June 25, 2004
So England are out of the reckoning for Euro 2004. Another tournament, another defeat from a penalty shoot-out. Not the best way to be knocked out of a championship (is there a good way?) and another cause of trouble and fighting on the streets. Times like this I really hate the way people react and behave. Idiots, the lot of them.
Staying on a down note, we had a letter from Supreme on Wednesday telling us they were cancelling the Austria trip through lack of demand (so even fewer people than we went to Switzerland with last year must have booked up). Naturally we were a bit upset by this as we were really looking forward to it - new country to visit and all that. Still, they offered us a bit of a discount on anything else that was running which meant we were able to plump for our original second choice previously rejected for being a bit more than we wanted to pay:
The Glacier Express - The Jura, Montreux, Swiss Alps, the Rhine Falls and much more
Day one - leave home and travel cross channel and through France to spend the night in Dijon. So probably mustard for tea!
Day two - in to Switzerland via Lake Geneva, Montreaux and the Rhone Valley. Arrive in Brig where we spend a couple of nights.
Day three - "a trip to beautiful, traffic-free Zermatt affords views of the Matterhorn and the possibility of a mountain train to the Gornergrat."
Day four - "Glacier Express journey is a day of amazing scenery from Brig to St Moritz. During the 71/2 hour panoramic journey, it has been calculated that you will cross 291 bridges and travel through 91 tunnels." We then spend the next two nights just down the road from St. Moritz at Bivio.
Day five - more spectacular views when we go to the Maloja Pass and Pontresina and also into St. Moritz.
Day six - Homeward route via Zurich, Shaffhausen falls on the Rhine and through part of the Black Forest and the last night in Saarbrucken.
Day seven - all the rest of the way home.
So we will get to sleep (in beds as well as on the coach - neither of us manage to get through a whole journey without dropping off at some point) in France, Switzerland and Germany. And depending upon the route they take from Saarbrucken to Calais may get to touch on Luxembourg and Belgium as well. As we had wanted to go back to Switzerland this will be a worthy replacement to the Austria choice I think. And Charles is really jealous as we will be doing bits of Swiss Railways he hasn't managed yet. Hee hee. Being largely in the south of Switzerland it should be a bit warmer than last year (and August rather than September should help too).
Fingers are crossed that it all goes to plan now (they did say this one was nearly full - and yet we still have seats near the front of the coach...).
Been very quiet in here today. Only a couple of people in per team - but just when I thought that might give me the chance to catch up on stuff there have still been loads of minor interuptions to the flow of work. Must disconnect the phone system!
Really enjoying A Short History... - very good accessible style and all the info is just going in nicely. OK, so I am familiar with a lot of it from just general reading and education but very good nonetheless. Although I have been surprised by just how much I have retained from Physics and Chemistry lessons 15-20 odd years ago. I have also been surprised by quite how much of what we know about the world and universe etc was only discovered very recently. You always assume the stuff you get taught at school has been known for years and endlessly debated at higher levels before it gets down to mere kids books, but actually it seems to have been amazingly fresh as I was learning in the 70s and 80s. Also staggered somewhat by just how few people have been involved in some of the major discoveries etc - the same names keep cropping up time and again. Not always good of course, it seems CFCs were invented by the same guy who had already invented putting lead in petrol.
Oh well, weekend beckons, Joan off to Rome and me wondering what to do with myself...
Staying on a down note, we had a letter from Supreme on Wednesday telling us they were cancelling the Austria trip through lack of demand (so even fewer people than we went to Switzerland with last year must have booked up). Naturally we were a bit upset by this as we were really looking forward to it - new country to visit and all that. Still, they offered us a bit of a discount on anything else that was running which meant we were able to plump for our original second choice previously rejected for being a bit more than we wanted to pay:
The Glacier Express - The Jura, Montreux, Swiss Alps, the Rhine Falls and much more
Day one - leave home and travel cross channel and through France to spend the night in Dijon. So probably mustard for tea!
Day two - in to Switzerland via Lake Geneva, Montreaux and the Rhone Valley. Arrive in Brig where we spend a couple of nights.
Day three - "a trip to beautiful, traffic-free Zermatt affords views of the Matterhorn and the possibility of a mountain train to the Gornergrat."
Day four - "Glacier Express journey is a day of amazing scenery from Brig to St Moritz. During the 71/2 hour panoramic journey, it has been calculated that you will cross 291 bridges and travel through 91 tunnels." We then spend the next two nights just down the road from St. Moritz at Bivio.
Day five - more spectacular views when we go to the Maloja Pass and Pontresina and also into St. Moritz.
Day six - Homeward route via Zurich, Shaffhausen falls on the Rhine and through part of the Black Forest and the last night in Saarbrucken.
Day seven - all the rest of the way home.
So we will get to sleep (in beds as well as on the coach - neither of us manage to get through a whole journey without dropping off at some point) in France, Switzerland and Germany. And depending upon the route they take from Saarbrucken to Calais may get to touch on Luxembourg and Belgium as well. As we had wanted to go back to Switzerland this will be a worthy replacement to the Austria choice I think. And Charles is really jealous as we will be doing bits of Swiss Railways he hasn't managed yet. Hee hee. Being largely in the south of Switzerland it should be a bit warmer than last year (and August rather than September should help too).
Fingers are crossed that it all goes to plan now (they did say this one was nearly full - and yet we still have seats near the front of the coach...).
Been very quiet in here today. Only a couple of people in per team - but just when I thought that might give me the chance to catch up on stuff there have still been loads of minor interuptions to the flow of work. Must disconnect the phone system!
Really enjoying A Short History... - very good accessible style and all the info is just going in nicely. OK, so I am familiar with a lot of it from just general reading and education but very good nonetheless. Although I have been surprised by just how much I have retained from Physics and Chemistry lessons 15-20 odd years ago. I have also been surprised by quite how much of what we know about the world and universe etc was only discovered very recently. You always assume the stuff you get taught at school has been known for years and endlessly debated at higher levels before it gets down to mere kids books, but actually it seems to have been amazingly fresh as I was learning in the 70s and 80s. Also staggered somewhat by just how few people have been involved in some of the major discoveries etc - the same names keep cropping up time and again. Not always good of course, it seems CFCs were invented by the same guy who had already invented putting lead in petrol.
Oh well, weekend beckons, Joan off to Rome and me wondering what to do with myself...
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Well, Ipswich Town failed at the second-to-last hurdle last night and lost their division one play-off semi-final. Which means they won't be going to Cardiff in a couple of weeks for the final and thus won't be able to win that to gain promotion to the premiership. As a non-fan who's job is affected by football traffic I am generally not bothered by this. OK, so it would have been a good boost for the town as a whole, but it would have made the club even harder to deal with than they are at present, created greater traffic problems on match dyas and generally made more work. But there are plenty of people wandering about here with long faces and a general air of doom and gloom today. I'd be happier if they flattened the stadium and put in an ice rink - Ice Hockey I'm sure I could get in to as a spectator sport on a regular basis.
Anyway, since last I wrote it has been hot and sunny and we spent all weekend out in the garden. The sunburn is slowly fading away from lobster pink now. Of course there is still loads and loads and a bit more work to do out there, but then there always will be. Things will insist on growing and needing looking after or dying and needing replacement. Very inconsiderate if you ask me. Not that I did as much as Joan either - while shifting unwanted P&R for Elton John concert leaflets around town on Thursday I pulled a muscle in my back which is still giving me pain and stiffness. Nearly better it must be said, but could still use a bit more flexibility.
I think I am a bit better acquainted with what I am supposed to be doing now, but still largely in the dark over how to go about actually doing it. Part of me keeps thinking it will all click in to place one day, while another part says I'm going to be caught out as a fraud and got rid of. Now logically I know the second option isn't going to happen, but born worrier that I am... Still, Chris seems to be giving me the right knowledge in dribs and drabs so hopefully I'll see the light soon.
Today we have been out to meet one of our operators - Galloways. Quite a tidy little operation looking to gradually expand. They do a lot of coach holidays and stuff as well as bus contracts so there is plenty of scope for them to take on some of the more different stuff we are planning for the future. They have a good variety of vehicle sizes available and seem willing to innovate. OK, so they also have Ron who used to do this job (I am the fourth person to do this job in the last 6 years. Hope that doesn't mean I'll be moving on too soon) which may be a disadvantage but one I think we can work around.
Anyway, since last I wrote it has been hot and sunny and we spent all weekend out in the garden. The sunburn is slowly fading away from lobster pink now. Of course there is still loads and loads and a bit more work to do out there, but then there always will be. Things will insist on growing and needing looking after or dying and needing replacement. Very inconsiderate if you ask me. Not that I did as much as Joan either - while shifting unwanted P&R for Elton John concert leaflets around town on Thursday I pulled a muscle in my back which is still giving me pain and stiffness. Nearly better it must be said, but could still use a bit more flexibility.
I think I am a bit better acquainted with what I am supposed to be doing now, but still largely in the dark over how to go about actually doing it. Part of me keeps thinking it will all click in to place one day, while another part says I'm going to be caught out as a fraud and got rid of. Now logically I know the second option isn't going to happen, but born worrier that I am... Still, Chris seems to be giving me the right knowledge in dribs and drabs so hopefully I'll see the light soon.
Today we have been out to meet one of our operators - Galloways. Quite a tidy little operation looking to gradually expand. They do a lot of coach holidays and stuff as well as bus contracts so there is plenty of scope for them to take on some of the more different stuff we are planning for the future. They have a good variety of vehicle sizes available and seem willing to innovate. OK, so they also have Ron who used to do this job (I am the fourth person to do this job in the last 6 years. Hope that doesn't mean I'll be moving on too soon) which may be a disadvantage but one I think we can work around.
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