The Lair

I was watching Eurovision a few weeks ago when Terry Wogan intro-ed the segment where the votes were presented.

He said - ok, now you can shout at your TV.

I was eating dinner at the time and I remember being amused at the very idea. Shout at the TV? What does this Wogan chap think I am, uncivilized?

So the vote for Scooch was less than great; I’m sure patriotic Brits would have been shouting at their TV. Me? I was unmoved. Ok, so I cheered a little bit when the hapless Maltese gifted us 12 points. But that’s it.

Fast forward a few weeks later and Beckham won a recall to play at the Brazil-England game at the Wembley. A bit of background, I am most emphatically not on the bring Becks back bandwagon. In fairness though, the guy has earned his place, he’s done the job better than most - recently against Estonia.

Be that as it may, the prematch conversation had started and then Alan Hansen produced this genius piece of fancy verbal footwork. Speaking of the McClaren decision to bring Becks back, he said (paraphrased roughly) “Well, we never said dropping Becks was a good decision, we just said it was a BIG decision“. Umm. Yeah. He never said anything like “Beckham has to go.“. No sir.

What did I do? I squawked in outrage at the TV. Poor innocent TV.

And then, that awesome Apprentice semi-final last night. Where the much despised Katie was told that she was in the final. What did I do?

I shouted at the TV. More like wailed in anguish actually.

Which goes to show that I’m completely unaccustomed to watching television in a family room now.

Ed, don’t read after this bit. It’s a spoiler. You have been warned.

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It seems like England won. Will it make up for the mauling they suffered in the Ashes? Maybe not. It’s still nice to see that the frantic (and necessary) tinkering has paid off somewhat. Who’da thunk that Plunkett would become a potent strike bowler? I certainly didn’t see that one coming.

And in more pick-me-up news, it seems that Viagra will be available over the counter. From Valentine’s Day. If the symbolism escaped anyone, please do go to your local A&E and have that nasty pointy stick poking out of your eye attended to. And via the same source, I see that Glaswegian smokers got a head start. That must have made for some awkward consultations in Scotland, eh? “It’s been great, doctor. I’ve had just as many fags and lots more wood after the treatment. Isn’t that marvellous?” [I'm channelling Frankie Boyle here]

And I’m highly taken with UsedToBeCool - only slightly less weird than one of my longtime favourites, Aphex Twin. I discovered UsedToBeCool via Lady Luck - and I somewhat shamefacedly confess that this was completely contrary to my preconceived notions and thus an extremely unlikely (or so I thought) source of decent DnB. Not one of those bandwagon humping indie chicks? Awesome. Now to see if UTBC’s second album will be as good as their first.

or not.

It’s not often that people living in Yorkshire can gloat about good weather but today is one of those days. While the southern half of the country closes schools and advises people to stay indoors; York is enjoying a pleasantly balmy (ok, not really) -2c low. And no snow. Plenty of ice on the roads though, which sucks.

And I gave up watching last night shortly before Spain scored the only goal of the game against England. Yeah, injuries and missing players but whatever. And interestingly, MacLaren got booed by the crowd when the game finished. Again. How many matches has he been in charge now? 5? Not having much of a honeymoon period as a manager, is he?

And some compelling TV - a video doing the rounds recently - American A-10s versus UK Scimitars in a friendly fire incident. The subtitled text pretty much says it all. War is hell.