Well, I’m starting to slip again aren’t I! It’s about two and a half weeks since my last entry.
The concert at St Matthew’s Church went OK. There were a few hairy moments especially in the cornet solo, La Belle Americaine. However, we emerged unscathed.
Band-wise, it’s been a busy time. There was the Whit Friday marches, followed by the Christmas CD, followed by this concert. I missed a concert the following weekend (25th June) as it was my dad’s 60th birthday and we all congregated in Leicester to celebrate. However, this weekend, it was a return to form as we spent the weekend in Cockermouth opening the annual Cockermouth festival. It wasn’t the greatest timing in the world, given that it was the quarter-final weekend of the World Cup, the 5th One Day International at Headingly and the middle Saturday of Wimbledon, but the audience was appreciative enough. The venue was the United Reformed Church in the town centre which was a hot place to play in with an average acoustic, but the concert went well. The soloists were in good form and the playing from the band was good in the main. The programme was a varied one, ranging from the candyfloss of “Pop Looks Bach” or “Hello Dolly” to the virtuosity of “La Belle Americaine” and the power of “The Pines of Rome”. The band celebrated in traditional style afterwards, heading out for beer and curry, despite the football result.
Football seems to have dominated the agenda over the last couple of weeks. I suppose that’s not really that surprising when you consider that it’s the World Cup. I can’t begin to describe the anger I feel towards Cristiano Ronaldo. His behaviour towards Wayne Rooney, considering that they are team-mates at Untied, was unforgivable. The kid might be a good footballer, but he’s not the finished item by any stretch of the imagination. He’s too cocky, too arrogant and it’s about time United sold him. I’d rather have the £25 million in the bank than a blood-bath at Carrington anyday of the week. I can’t see Rooney forgiving him in a hurry, and I suspect a lot of the other United players will feel the same way.
Personally, I can’t blame Rooney for England’s defeat. Yes, it was an indefensible action, but if he’d gone down, he would have won a free-kick and maybe Carvalho would have been booked. Instead he sees red for a stamp that isn’t an acceptable part of his game. However, the blame doesn’t lie there. Nor does it lie with the inept penalty taking of Lampard and Gerrard, or the over-enthusiasm of Jamie Carragher. For me, the blame for England crashing out of the World Cup lies with the English media. For weeks, they have built up pressure on the team, especially concerning penalties. How many times have we seen Lampard and Gerrard bang penalties away for Chelsea or Liverpool without a care in the world? However, because we have such an appalling record in penalty shoot-outs, the pressure is immediately applied by the journalists. You can see it in their body language the minute they stepped up to the spot. They were absolutely terrified of writing themselves into that book which already contains the names of Waddle, Peace, Southgate, Batty, Ince, Beckham, Vassell etc. They envisaged failure before they struck the ball, and as such, were always going to miss.
I dislike the sports journalists in this country anyway, because they would rather attack our sportsmen and women than sing their praises. This from overweight, pompous windbags who know nothing more about sport than your average arm-chair fan but who get paid to write about it. This World Cup campaign has really sealed the deal for me though. I think in future I will read ESPN.com more closely. At least I can get well-balanced views there!
On a final note about England, what a waste of time picking Theo Walcott was. Michael Owen got injured, but instead of using two strikers, Erikkson dropped any extra man into midfield. Thank goodness he’s gone, and thank goodness Beckham has stepped down as captain. I’d like to see Gary Neville take over. I think he’s got the tools to do the job. He’s done a great job at United and I’m sure he could lead England as well, especially when he’s appeared in nearly 100 games. However, I think McLaren will give the job to Terry or Gerrard. I do think that most of the squad will stay in contention though, with the possible exceptions of James and Campbell. I’ve been really impressed with Owen Hargreaves during the competition. He’s taken a lot of stick from England fans and the media but did a great job for England during the tournament.
Now that the World Cup is coming towards an end, I’m hoping that United will buy a player or two. I’d like to sign Torres, but given that he has a release fee of £41m in his contract, I’m not sure that will happen. I’d also like to sign Hargreaves, Carrick or Maschereno. We need to challenge Chelsea next season, and given that they have added Ballack, Kalou and Shevchenko to their line-up, that will be a hard task.
On the house front, we’re hopeful that we will move into our new house in the middle of August. I’m really looking forward to being a family under one roof. I’m also looking forward to our holiday to Majorca which will give us all a chance to relax and unwind. I’m hoping to get some diving in and maybe take my Advanced Open Water certificate. I’ve just started running and exercising a little bit. I’m running in the Sport Relief Mile in a couple of weeks and it would be nice to do the mile in about 8 or 9 minutes.
Big Brother ticks on. I’d like to see Pete or Glyn win. I’m glad Grace and Lisa have been evicted, and I’ve been really amused to see Grace, who slagged off Nikki for posing in Zoo, has been getting her tits out in the mans mags. The sooner she disappears of the face of the planet the better. A sexual Ferrari? More like a Renault. She reckons she’s experienced when she’s 20 and has slept with 6 men!?! Get real dear.
Anyway dear reader, stay tuned and I’ll write more soon.
