so its st george's day and naturally us english types are too confused to celebrate. after all who are we? what is our identity? unlike the scots and irish and welsh we are not supposed to be proud of our nationality; patriotism is a dirty word. so i just thought i'd help out by celebrating our national day with a great song from the 'olden days', a bit of nostalgia if you like.. and not a dragon in sight

mighty ones that is.. cambridge united in the conference play-offs! In my first season!

three items of post

my car tax disc.. another £100 plus well spent...
a bank statement.. showing i can (thankfully) afford to pay my car tax
la vie en rose from amazon.. my latest film rental something to look forward to

pizza for dinner after a very long day listening to presentations and finishing off all my marking - a clear desk! hurrah!
then watching the hated scousers play the detested chavs.. who to win? i guess i'm vainly hoping that barca beat utd tomorrow and that chelsea lose to them in the final (henry to score!) but i suspect we will have a utd/chelsea final and then I'll have to support the referee or just not bother. meanwhile the mighty U's are playing torquay tonight ..c'mon you yellows!

dom joly on C5 'complainers' - watching a fake cabbie drive fares round and round the kings cross junction to see how long it took them to complain. the first customer went round 4 times before he asked to be set down; the next was a bloke who lasted 5 laps before storming off angrily. but the best was the last: a young woman who went round 14 times (for 40 minutes) without complaint. they only stopped because they ran out of film! Hahahahahahaha

then again..

don't they use digital 'film' these days....

so arsenal beat reading and cambridge won away at salisbury which makes for a more enjoyable sunday morning than has been the case of late. mind you arsenal did manage to dominate a game for nearly 90 minutes miss a hatful of chances and risk the possibility that coppel's lot would get it together to sneak a draw. its the story of our season and i really hope they can address that over the summer. as for reading lets hope they can stay up; they try to play football the right way (i.e. they let us play and beat them 9 times out of 9 ) The mighty U's play torquay on tuesday night and, while its a big ask, a win would guarantee the play-offs and so an exciting end to the season.

i finally finished reading 'shantaram' (david roberts) this morning: it is 900+ pages of breathless adventure based on the true story of someone who escaped from an australian prison to live and work in mumbai. the book is interspersed with philosophy which gives it a 'literary' feel: its good, and would make an excellent film, but i think it was too long. I know have a stack of other books waiting to read and slightly resent robert's arrogance in imposing a lord of the rings like tomb upon me.

i was hoping to practice with my long lens somewhere today but the weather is (once again) too wet and generally crap to sit in a field looking for (feathered) birds, so i expect those dissertations will dominate my day..

from rithompson

**One
Word.**
You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.

Where is your mobile phone? desk
Your significant other? awaiting
Your hair? disheveled
Your mother? cornwall
Your father? dead
Your favourite thing? Books
Your dream last night? confused
Your favorite drink? Wine
Your dream/goal? respect
The room you're in? front
Your ex? gentle
Your fear? illness
Where do you want to be in 6 years? cited
Where were you last night? home
What you're not? handyman
One of your wish list items? nicole
Where you grew up? London
The last thing you did? breakfasted
What are you wearing? t-shirt
Your TV? on
Your pets? rats
Your computer? white
Your life? good
Your mood? up
Missing someone? no
Your car? red
Something you're not wearing? after-shave
Favourite Store? none
Your summer? writing
Like someone? lots!
Your favourite colour? red
Last time you laughed? saturday
Last time you cried? january

the day before my birthday and for once im actually quite well prepared (mentally) for it. I struggle a little with birthdays - its not really about the aging process, i struggled when i was a teenager. i suspect its to do with being the centre of attention without a particular function to perform (like lecturing for example). the fact that i am less concerned this year might reflect a greater degree of inner happiness; i am much more comfortable with myself at the moment. because my birthday is on a sunday i am celebrating it tonight )so heads can recover with a lie-in). im off to watch the mighty U's this afternoon then its drinks at mine before wandering down the road to the local balti house. im mixing up the travelers with a towcestrian; an ex and two old friends; a colleague and an ex- colleague. they don't all know each other well but they have all met. i like mixing up friends form different parts of my life; i know some people like to keep camps separate but i find it amusing to see how they all get on. so its an evening of people watching for me - with added red wine and curry (think i'll leave the cobra alone tonight, make more room for the food!)

the Rules -
1. Link to the person's blog who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself
4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.

well i hoped we might channel the '89 spirit to beat the scousers tonight but it wasn't to be. it was a fair game, played at full pace for the most part by two good sides. the arsenal dominated for 25 minutes but only scored once. the liverpool came back when a mistake by swiss tony let hypia score a trademark header. 1-1 as it been every time this season. then in the second half liverpool went ahead with a torres strike that was brilliant but he should never had got the chance - black mark again for senderos. but on came theo walcott who went on a mazy run (bit like TH14's goal against pool some time ago), crossed for adebayor to equalize and put us ahead on the away goals. then it all went wrong; we just can't seem to hold a lead at the moment. babel burst into the box and the otherwise superb kolo wrestled with him. penalty, a bit fortunate but predicable. equally predictably stev'errrrm gerrard scored. it was all over at that point and their 4th goal just sealed it. i am sure this ends our chance of silverware, we might beat united but i doubt it and think that even if we do we look too tired to win the league. whatever happens this has been a much better season for arsenal than anyone outside the club expected, including me and most other fans. so good luck liverpool, i hope you beat the chavs and reach the final: where thierry can his revenge on our behalf!

and on the bright side.. cambridge won away at rushden!