Posts

Showing posts from October, 2011

Singapore 3

Image
Another quiet start to the day – Bill and I took the bus to Chinatown after a late breakfast.   Walked around the area using the Lonely Planet walking tour as our guide, visiting the Buddha Tooth Relict Temple and then the Hindu Sri Manamman temple.   There were lots of small market shops along Trengganu St and many restaurants on some of the others.   The walk took us into areas of small balconied houses, probably late Victorian era.   Took the bus back to the hotel, stopping at a 711 shop for a lunch snack, then up to our room for an afternoon rest.   We met in the foyer for the coach at 16:30, reaching the ground a little about 17:15, in good time to start preparations for the match at 18:30.   Team talk, stretching, Pilates and final team talk. The Aussies looked good for the first 10 mins, winning a couple of corners, but we played our way into the game and started to put them under some pressure.   We won a series of corners, unconverted, and then Kaka was fouled as he went to

Singapore 2

Team meeting at 09:30 beside the Carlton Hotel pool .   Prof, the other keeper (Webby was already with us), flew in yesterday, so we were at full strength.   A good opportunity to talk team formations and build-up.   Trish gave us a quick chat on managing liquids etc.   I need 15 minutes on my own, as do others, to do a full set of stretching and this is now built in to the squad pre-match programme.   A quiet day doing a bit of editing and email catch-up.   Went across the road to get lunch and a mango and banana pressed fruit drink.   Strolled to the Fort Canning park, but there were a few drops of rain and got back to the hotel ahead of a deluge.   Others were not so lucky and got soaked.   Met at 16:30 changed, dry by now, for the coach organised by Kaka and Irish, en route for our 18:30 game against Scotland.   The coach has made transport easy for all of us and helps in the build-up.   At the ground, we changed and had a team talk.   Ibuprofen on the ankle, strapped my toes and t

Singapore 1

Image
Arrived on the overnight flight from Amsterdam on Wednesday evening local time, having taken the KLM flight from Bristol.   Hilary dropped me off with my various bags. Met up with Bill Deayton in Changi Airport and used the MRT (Tube) to get into the city and walked to the hotel.   It is certainly warm (c. 28 o C) and there are regular thunderstorms.   We are right next door to Raffles, the famous hotel, so easy walking to many of the local sites, including Marina Bay and the famous merlion.   Clean, green and prosperous is a good description of the Singapore I’ve seen so far. On Thursday evening we made our way to the tournament ground (about an hour on the MRT & walking) for a practice match against the Singapore U18s.   I was soaked with sweat before we started and drank and lost 2 litres over the game – we came second to some very quick and skilfull junior Olympians, but it was great to run off the flight, find out the best trainers to use etc. Not so good to shake up my worn

Unsolicited Mail

Image
National Grid, that monolithic monopoly that is trying to put huge pylons across swathes of beautiful Britain, has just sent out it latest A3 size glossy “Project News” to Somerset householders.   This seems to be part of its second consultation – after the first was shown to be a sham.   However, this seems to be no better, with the company again only presenting overland options for its giant 46 m- high pylons.   These will pass through our Lox Yeo valley, despite it being a protected Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – and despite them admitting that they have still not included an uncompleted independent report on undersea (the most obvious route) and underground options. One also cannot but help notice the glossy cover has a great picture of Brent Knoll complete with gliding buzzard.  BEFORE: How crass, when one considers what this view will actually look like, if the pylons go ahead.  AFTER: National Grid is a plc quoted on the stock market.   This means that profit for its sha