theblacksheep

not been on for a while because things have moved on and i've been very busy. I'm not sure i have the words today to describe my feelings - 'love' seems somehow inadequate. anyway i'm getting to know her more and she's letting me in deeper. hope you are all happy and well
i shall return when i can

in 1884-5 there were a series of bomb attacks on London.dynamite, packed in tubes and with a crude detonator made from a pistol firing mechanism and a clock, were left at Victoria and Paddington stations. two boys found an unattended package in trafalgar square before a policeman took them , and it, to scotland yard. in early january a bomb exploded on the underground, near gower street on the metropolitan line. no one was killed but sevral ladies fainted and the ticket collector was thrown off his chair.

then, at 2pm on the 24th january - a saturday - the 'dynamitards' struck at the tower of london. a device in the white tower startled tourists but again, thankfully no one was seriously hurt. there were two injuries - if not fatal ones fortunately, at the houses of parliament.

miss davies, visiting the crypt in westminster hall with her brother, noticed what seemed to be part of the carpet on fire. her brother realised it was a bomb and they alerted the policeman on duty, PC cole. he then 'pluckily' picked up the bomb and ran up the steps. it went off and he spent until the end of march in hospital. his colleague, PC cox, raced to his assistance from his station outside the entrance to the commons chamber. and this was the bombers' plan: the bomb in the crypt was a diversion (and this probably saved pc cole's life) while the commons was unguarded the second device was dropped in and it exploded doing a great deal of damage. luckily, no one else was injured - just frightened.

the press went mad with calls for retribution; of clampdowns on sedition and warned the irish community that this did them no favours. the police were criticised, although the dynamitard at the tower was arrested at the scene and an accomplice soon after (the result of 'good detective work').other papers cautioned calm and reminded their readers (and the government) that less than £20,000 worth of damage had been caused, two pc's were injured, no one had died and that this was mere 'onepenny twopenny' mischief-making.

the terrorists (for surely that is what they were?) were put on trial and in just a week found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. the secret servive continued the battle it had been having with fenian nationalists since the 1860s.

i thought this was an interesting, and perhaps little known, tale of the late nineteenth century with poignant reflections for society 125 years later.

p.s there's a fascinating book, 'the Dynamite Wars, by Short - probably out of print but i got a s/h copy online. i'm revisiting it with help from the 19th century newspaper collections of the british library and the old bailey online (which has the trial record).

what a game at the madrigal! villareal come out like a train and almunia gets run over in the first five minutes. midfield looks good but adebayor doesn't seem up for it on his own (even bendtner might have been better). then senna scores an awesome goal. chequebook out please mr gazidis BUY HIM! he is just what we need to get the best out of cesc.

arsenal struggle after that. billy gallas gets his inevitable injury - song's poor tackle the cause. but despite 3 minutes of injury time they hold on.

meanwhile at the so-called 'theatre of dreams' it is the portuguese that are dreaming of rome. 1-1..

second half we are much brighter. walcott is brilliant at the moment. arsenal begin to dominate and the spaniards resort to trying to get our entire team booked and fabregas sent off. the ref doesn't fall for it but he didn't have to book the skipper for taking a free kick quickly - he learned from the master TH14. Then fab flicks a pass through to the togolese muppet who suddenly transforms himself into 'supersoccerhero' (c) and scores a blinder! 1-1.. that'll do nicely.

on comes bobby pires and how i have missed him! just a couple of corners and a few moves because he couldn't get into the game. but what a player! i thought fabregas looked tired with 10 minutes to go and eboue replaced walcott a little earlier. so, overall great result, good preformance and i hope almunia and gallas are not out for long. fabianski did very well but i'd rather not rely on him for the run in.

mac power cables are rubbish. i'm on the second one for my ibook, its such a poor design - for apple that's unforgivable!

anyway its been a good day so far. i got up late, read a bit of the paper (just the sports bit) then went to get marvin some treats and stuff to clean him out. i haven't done yet - its on for later this evening or tomorrow. popped in on the travellers and they seem in good spirits: she's got on a really good horticultural course and it allows her to earn and get some benefits. he's talking positively about setting up in business on his own again. finally they might be able to move forward.

it helps put all my recent troubles and desires into perspective. they have been coping with her cancer, and the emotional turmoil that brings, along with having to move, getting a puppy, him changing jobs and not being able to let their flat. its touching that they care about me so much. as i said, perspective.

i spent the rest of day gardening and listening to the football (and that horse race). i dug over the veg plot and mixed in lots of good things before planting a few different things (peas, broad beans, cauliflower, potatoes and spinach). now i'm watching pool and fulham whilst relaxed after a bit of physical work. good to see fabregas back and sounds like he did well: adebayor's return to scoring is also most welcome, might enjoy MOTD tonight

none other than lembit opic the cheeky girl-dating liberal democrat. oh yes. in a pub in norfamtpun. with a young woman (name undisclosed) that i once had a 'thing' with. she's a real gold digger. very attractive certainly but heart of stone and only interested in £££££££. trust me. so watch out mr quircky lib dem she will be one expensive shag....

oh my goodness what an incredible day!

because i had a very special visitor this afternoon i ignored the football (which in itself says how special this person is), only catching the second half of the gunners at newcastle

united lose!...

chelski lose!...

we beat the barcodes 3-1!

i got a bit annoyed with rvp for not passing but otherwise it was a great 2nd half performance. i hope newcastle stay up, my towcestran friend deserves better

eboue's goal celebration was great - dancing at the emirates! its been far too long since the players really looked like they were enjoying themselves. from what i could see we should have had many more. poor bendtner, he just keeps missing sitters. at least he gets there and his link up play is often excellent. eboue plays well until he picks the wrong pass so perhaps his two goals (and one against burnley) will give him the confidence to stop acting like a tit so often

denilson is playing really well - almost (almost) making up for the loss of flamini and song looks much more like the very capable international he is rather than a pub team player. wednesday night must have done something for them. we were soooo lucky against roma and that can mean as much as thrashing someone. i even think we can win the CL now. i mean, how crazy is that?

i've got another busy week but i'd like to go to the hull game. at least it will be on tv - i watched half of today's game on a very poor stream.

so it was great to see arshavin's goal on MOTD. what a delight! i saw him play against burnely and i was very impressed. he puts himself about - just like a recent highbury favorite. its unfair to make comparisons but freddie ljungberg was one of my top gunners: always totally committed to the cause and a massive personality. have we finally found his replacement in andrey arshavin:arsenal's greatest goal machine?

what a difference a bit of sunshine does. bright and windy over here today and it brought people out into the garden and carpark to chat and potter about. i've been cleaning - spring cleaning - and everything feels nice at home. i bought some veggie plants but will wait for any late frosts before putting them in.

arsenal won 4-0 against the horrible combination of blackburn and fat sam (if they had children..urghh its too dark to contemplate)

my neighbour is bonkers or very very stupid. she has had a new bathroom installed but instead of getting a proper workman in she hired two romanians who speak little english and work cash in hand. they don't have a van, they have a dodgy estate car which looks like it would fail an MOT. they tried to dump all the rubbish in the black bin bay but i caught them. they shoved it in her garage instead.

that was a week ago. since then the flat below her awoke to water pouring through his ceiling. she got the 'plumbers' back. now its leaked into the wall ruining the paintwork outside her flat. and one of them has done a runner owing her £200. the other one says he will fix the problems - for another £200.

then she recommended i use them. because 'they're very cheap'

unbelievable

i am restricting myself to the few moments allowed to let a risotto (prawn and pea) do its stuff. crap day spent trying to write. nice chat with a former students about cars and redundancies. little bit of admin and postive marking of debates about prostitution and the wearing of the veil (no connection..) and finally a reply from the current object of my affections. she does make me smile and laugh out loud this woman. its undeer control though folks.. at least for the time being

that's enough - c'mon cambridge (on setanta vs histon) - food beckons

went out today to a nearby gardens with some friends. lots of pretty snowdrops but also some tame 'wildlife'