The selection of novice Senator Sarah Palin to be John McCain's running mate is a desperately cynical move by the Republicans, intending to capture the appeal of voters towards someone sexier looking than Barack Obama.
I can't say that I'm won over by the Obama whirlwind either; too much style (and a certain amount of opportunism) and not enough substance - very much in the Tony Blair mould. His official acceptance of candidacy for the Presidency (before 84,000 Democrats) was given "with great humility". Shameful.
Whoever does have the good fortune to step into the White House early next spring, the American people will at least have the consolation of knowing that the successor could only be an improvement on the present incumbent, one of the worst Presidents this side of the Vietnam War.
Saturday 30 August 2008
Saturday 23 August 2008
Castle Park - Day 4
The first properly sunny start to the day this week. The trouble is, I have to confess, I don't find excessive amounts of sunshine particularly agreeable (as Day 2 will testify). Still, another full or near-full day's play in prospect. As slightly expected, Essex declared on their overnight total of 322 for 8, a lead of 346, to set Worcestershire the reasonably imposing target of 347 to win.
A skeleton early crowd on the last day - a Saturday. Madness.
I sat down in the ground bright and early to see the start of play at 11.00, and as often happens with the last day of a 4-day match, I had plenty of room to choose my spot, especially when that last day is a Saturday. The cricket authorities in their infinite wisdom have regulated (over the last 10 years or so) that most 4-day games will start on Wednesday and continue through the rest of the week, because that's when the businesspeople will come over and lunch luxuriously in their complimentary hospitality boxes, while the poor old cricket fan has to lump it in the wind and the rain (and just occasionally the sun.) As usual it comes down to money. In the good old days of these things the match would start on the Saturday, for which a healthy crowd would bolster things up as the game continued through the rest of the week.
In the case of today the football fixtures taking place elsewhere were an added distraction for sports fans (West Ham, Colchester, Ipswich and Spurs among them), and depending on where I sat today, there was a regular update from people's radios of the latest football scores from 3pm onwards.
By that time Worcestershire had built on an excellent platform set up for them by Darryl Mitchell and Stephen Moore with an opening partnership of 102, and apart from two hiccups either side of lunch, when Moore was out to a bat-pad catch off James Middlebrook, and his captain Vikram Solanki likewise (out for a "pair" in this match), the ball seemed to be coming onto the bat much easier, and Essex were inevitably feeling the loss of their Pakistani leg spinner Danish Kaneria.
A lunchtime drink under the trees.
By teatime I said to a couple of visiting Worcestershire fans that they had this game sewn up with only 2 wickets down for 219, and Graeme Hick still waiting to bat. He duly got his chance shortly after teatime, after Mitchell was out for a match-winning 102.
21 years ago I first saw Graeme Hick bat at Castle Park in 1987, where he scored 156. Back in those days he was the great wonder boy who couldn't qualify to play for England (as a Zimbabwean) for another 4 years. When the great day finally came, it was a bit, like The Phantom Menace, a case of too much hype. Nevertheless, in time he went on to a reasonable Test career for England, and now at the age of 42, watching him still bashing and stroking fours to the boundary, it truly felt like the ghost of Cricket Past.
Worcester comfortably knocked off the seemingly difficult target of 347, with Hick hitting the winning four at 5.45pm. Soon afterwards a very boisterous celebration chant could be heard inside the small Visitors' dressing room, whilst I nipped off to London on the 6.00 express to see some friends in the Shakespeare's Head Wetherspoons in Holborn, after they had been to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars this afternoon - ah, more ghosts of younger days. By an interesting coincidence, this mirrored the previous Worcestershire-Essex fixture earlier this summer, when "the Groovy Gang" gathered to see another Lucasfilm in Birmingham (blog).
BBC Match Report
A skeleton early crowd on the last day - a Saturday. Madness.
I sat down in the ground bright and early to see the start of play at 11.00, and as often happens with the last day of a 4-day match, I had plenty of room to choose my spot, especially when that last day is a Saturday. The cricket authorities in their infinite wisdom have regulated (over the last 10 years or so) that most 4-day games will start on Wednesday and continue through the rest of the week, because that's when the businesspeople will come over and lunch luxuriously in their complimentary hospitality boxes, while the poor old cricket fan has to lump it in the wind and the rain (and just occasionally the sun.) As usual it comes down to money. In the good old days of these things the match would start on the Saturday, for which a healthy crowd would bolster things up as the game continued through the rest of the week.
In the case of today the football fixtures taking place elsewhere were an added distraction for sports fans (West Ham, Colchester, Ipswich and Spurs among them), and depending on where I sat today, there was a regular update from people's radios of the latest football scores from 3pm onwards.
By that time Worcestershire had built on an excellent platform set up for them by Darryl Mitchell and Stephen Moore with an opening partnership of 102, and apart from two hiccups either side of lunch, when Moore was out to a bat-pad catch off James Middlebrook, and his captain Vikram Solanki likewise (out for a "pair" in this match), the ball seemed to be coming onto the bat much easier, and Essex were inevitably feeling the loss of their Pakistani leg spinner Danish Kaneria.
A lunchtime drink under the trees.
By teatime I said to a couple of visiting Worcestershire fans that they had this game sewn up with only 2 wickets down for 219, and Graeme Hick still waiting to bat. He duly got his chance shortly after teatime, after Mitchell was out for a match-winning 102.
21 years ago I first saw Graeme Hick bat at Castle Park in 1987, where he scored 156. Back in those days he was the great wonder boy who couldn't qualify to play for England (as a Zimbabwean) for another 4 years. When the great day finally came, it was a bit, like The Phantom Menace, a case of too much hype. Nevertheless, in time he went on to a reasonable Test career for England, and now at the age of 42, watching him still bashing and stroking fours to the boundary, it truly felt like the ghost of Cricket Past.
Worcester comfortably knocked off the seemingly difficult target of 347, with Hick hitting the winning four at 5.45pm. Soon afterwards a very boisterous celebration chant could be heard inside the small Visitors' dressing room, whilst I nipped off to London on the 6.00 express to see some friends in the Shakespeare's Head Wetherspoons in Holborn, after they had been to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars this afternoon - ah, more ghosts of younger days. By an interesting coincidence, this mirrored the previous Worcestershire-Essex fixture earlier this summer, when "the Groovy Gang" gathered to see another Lucasfilm in Birmingham (blog).
BBC Match Report
Friday 22 August 2008
Castle Park - Day 3
Watched Hitchcock's Vertigo on DVD late last night, which nearly made me fall asleep. I never thought that vertigo could be a cure for insomnia. However, I stuck it through and settled down to bed properly sometime before 1.00am, but then woke again to hear the sound of the rain falling heavily during the middle of night.By this morning therefore, things inevitably looked bleak for the prospects of a prompt start to the third day's play. Thanks however to the diligent efforts of the ground staff (and the helpful BBC on-line commentary), I was able to see the start of play shortly after midday, by which time another early Essex wicket had fallen.
More injuries to both line-ups today - Danish Kaneria's broken finger rules him out for the rest of the season, and now Kabir Ali's bad back deprived Worcetershire of their top bowler (and the country's leading wicket taker) in the final session, as Essex drew away to build a lead of 346 runs. James Foster reminded the England selectors that he's a reasonable batsman as well as an excellent wicketkeeper with a determined 111 not out.
I sat through all this however in a permanent state of drowsiness, induced not only by lack of sleep but by suncream, which gives me the urge to rub my eyes whenever applied near that area. The sun only made cameo appearances today, and after I returned the Vertigo DVD to Blockbuster, I came back to the ground at lunchtime accompanied by a rather large and ominous-looking black cloud coming in from the West, which thankfully did not discharge itself onto the cricket. For the first time for a few years, the annual Colchester 4-day game looks like having something resembling four full days.
More injuries to both line-ups today - Danish Kaneria's broken finger rules him out for the rest of the season, and now Kabir Ali's bad back deprived Worcetershire of their top bowler (and the country's leading wicket taker) in the final session, as Essex drew away to build a lead of 346 runs. James Foster reminded the England selectors that he's a reasonable batsman as well as an excellent wicketkeeper with a determined 111 not out.
I sat through all this however in a permanent state of drowsiness, induced not only by lack of sleep but by suncream, which gives me the urge to rub my eyes whenever applied near that area. The sun only made cameo appearances today, and after I returned the Vertigo DVD to Blockbuster, I came back to the ground at lunchtime accompanied by a rather large and ominous-looking black cloud coming in from the West, which thankfully did not discharge itself onto the cricket. For the first time for a few years, the annual Colchester 4-day game looks like having something resembling four full days.
Thursday 21 August 2008
Castle Park - Day 2
This time it was Dad's turn to walk through Castle Park and put a potential hex on the proceedings, by saying we were going to have a prompt start to the day's play. This happily did not turn out to be the case, for the whole day in fact.
One thing though: I'd planned for the rain, but not the sun. Keeping in the shade wherever possible, and trying not to face the direct glare of the sunlight (although at a ground like Castle Park such a thing is unavoidable at some point), we sat and watched Ryan T-d-S and Essex carve out another 13 runs, before he unwisely exposed Danish Kaneria to the strike, and Essex were bowled out for 282, with T-d-S just 6 away from a century.
More bad news was to come for Danish (and Pakistan). Just before lunch things couldn't be better, taking a wicket with his first ball, but after the interval he dropped a sharp return catch and broke a finger on his left (non-spinning) hand. An attempt to return to the field and bowl again yielded only one delivery before he realised he couldn't continue, so both sides are now hampered in the bowling department. But Essex, with the slightly stronger starting line-up, bowled Worcestershire out for 258, a lead of 24. Things are pretty even steven at the moment, and it could go either way. If Worcester win this, they have a chance of clinching the County Championship Division Two title.
The view from the bar at lunchtime.
What I did complain of today however, was a headache from my glass of Oranjeboom shandy just after lunch, of which the lager may have been a little too close to the end of the barrel. That
together with my sunburn from the unexpected clear weather, which had me going to rehearsal for Murder in the Cathedral for Colchester Theatre Group later this evening resembling some sort of vestige of the French Tricolour, in my blue shirt, red burned skin and white unburned skin.
Young Essex bowler Chris Wright fields at deep fine leg, in view of the pavilion, Colchester Town Hall, and the guest marquees arranged like the Battle of Agincourt.
One thing though: I'd planned for the rain, but not the sun. Keeping in the shade wherever possible, and trying not to face the direct glare of the sunlight (although at a ground like Castle Park such a thing is unavoidable at some point), we sat and watched Ryan T-d-S and Essex carve out another 13 runs, before he unwisely exposed Danish Kaneria to the strike, and Essex were bowled out for 282, with T-d-S just 6 away from a century.More bad news was to come for Danish (and Pakistan). Just before lunch things couldn't be better, taking a wicket with his first ball, but after the interval he dropped a sharp return catch and broke a finger on his left (non-spinning) hand. An attempt to return to the field and bowl again yielded only one delivery before he realised he couldn't continue, so both sides are now hampered in the bowling department. But Essex, with the slightly stronger starting line-up, bowled Worcestershire out for 258, a lead of 24. Things are pretty even steven at the moment, and it could go either way. If Worcester win this, they have a chance of clinching the County Championship Division Two title.
One other exciting prospect today was the announcement that the Olympic flag together with the Friends Provident trophy (that Essex won last Saturday against Kent at Lord's) is being paraded around the ground for this Sunday's one-day match against Glamorgan. A shame that the UK hasn't lobbied for an Olympic Cricket event at London in 2012. A new cricket ground in nearby Stratford would have been just the thing Essex CCC needed for a new stadium to deal with the growing influx of Twenty20 cricket. As it is, the County Ground at Chelmsford is being closed for redevelopment in two years time, with that season's fixtures being shared around at other grounds like Southend and Colchester - not that I'm complaining on that score.
The view from the bar at lunchtime.What I did complain of today however, was a headache from my glass of Oranjeboom shandy just after lunch, of which the lager may have been a little too close to the end of the barrel. That
together with my sunburn from the unexpected clear weather, which had me going to rehearsal for Murder in the Cathedral for Colchester Theatre Group later this evening resembling some sort of vestige of the French Tricolour, in my blue shirt, red burned skin and white unburned skin.Young Essex bowler Chris Wright fields at deep fine leg, in view of the pavilion, Colchester Town Hall, and the guest marquees arranged like the Battle of Agincourt.
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Essex v. Worcestershire at Castle Park - Day 1
Well, the weather seemed reasonable enough at 8.30 this morning: some cloud but not too dull, and a prompt start to the match at 11.00, I said to Dad as we proceeded through Castle Park.
Me and my big mouth.
As soon as we walked into the ground, paid our £15 admission and sat down, the players took the field, and the Essex batsmen were at the crease for the first ball of the day.
And then it rained.
At the first sign of a drop they were off the field, without even a ball bowled.
Had I been in the persona of Bruce Banner, I would have turned into the Incredible Hulk at that point.
Apoplectic with rage and despondency, it didn't look like the sort of weather that was going to move away either, and I braced myself for a day of watching covers coming on and going off, of umpires making inspections and further inspections, and of the whole day's play eventually being called off by teatime.
Happily however, I sought refuge (and a cup of tea) at my sister Catherine's flat, not too far away from the ground, and came back when - Hallelujah - there was a break in the weather this afternoon. Essex had already lost two quick wickets, soon to become a third when I strolled in to watch. But Worcestershire, already suffering from a weakened bowling attack with the knee injury of Simon Jones (see June 2nd blog), were further hampered when another bowler (in the starting line-up), Matthew Mason, injured a shoulder after just one over and was out for the rest of the match.
Come the late afternoon, when the fiery Kabir Ali inevitably had to be replaced, the junior bowlers weren't up to the challenge, and Mark Pettini and James Foster were able to capitalise with a stand of 114, followed later by a breeze of an innings by Ryan ten Doeschate (that's "ten Derr-Skar-ter") who notched up a fifty in no time, and with the help of the tail he had amassed 81 not out - 68 of them in boundaries.
Essex were 269-9 at the close (BBC report). All in all, a pretty good resolution to the day in view of how disastrous things appeared at first.
Catherine dropped in later on when the gates were open during the evening session (as too, she noticed, did David Elliott), but the highlight for me was Mum popping over to the outer
perimeter of the ground (to give Dad his latest copy of Private Eye that came in the post), and getting a good look at what she described as the "bubble coach" for the Worcestershire team, and spending as much time at the game as cricket widows like her would want (or need) to.
Me and my big mouth.
As soon as we walked into the ground, paid our £15 admission and sat down, the players took the field, and the Essex batsmen were at the crease for the first ball of the day.
And then it rained.
At the first sign of a drop they were off the field, without even a ball bowled.
Had I been in the persona of Bruce Banner, I would have turned into the Incredible Hulk at that point.
Apoplectic with rage and despondency, it didn't look like the sort of weather that was going to move away either, and I braced myself for a day of watching covers coming on and going off, of umpires making inspections and further inspections, and of the whole day's play eventually being called off by teatime.
Happily however, I sought refuge (and a cup of tea) at my sister Catherine's flat, not too far away from the ground, and came back when - Hallelujah - there was a break in the weather this afternoon. Essex had already lost two quick wickets, soon to become a third when I strolled in to watch. But Worcestershire, already suffering from a weakened bowling attack with the knee injury of Simon Jones (see June 2nd blog), were further hampered when another bowler (in the starting line-up), Matthew Mason, injured a shoulder after just one over and was out for the rest of the match.
Come the late afternoon, when the fiery Kabir Ali inevitably had to be replaced, the junior bowlers weren't up to the challenge, and Mark Pettini and James Foster were able to capitalise with a stand of 114, followed later by a breeze of an innings by Ryan ten Doeschate (that's "ten Derr-Skar-ter") who notched up a fifty in no time, and with the help of the tail he had amassed 81 not out - 68 of them in boundaries.
Essex were 269-9 at the close (BBC report). All in all, a pretty good resolution to the day in view of how disastrous things appeared at first.
Catherine dropped in later on when the gates were open during the evening session (as too, she noticed, did David Elliott), but the highlight for me was Mum popping over to the outer
perimeter of the ground (to give Dad his latest copy of Private Eye that came in the post), and getting a good look at what she described as the "bubble coach" for the Worcestershire team, and spending as much time at the game as cricket widows like her would want (or need) to.Monday 18 August 2008
Friday 8 August 2008
Good Things 13: Beethoven
Nothing unlucky about him, and even if there were, he'd make it into sublime music of the soul.
Wednesday 6 August 2008
Technology: here today, gone....today
My lovely little MP3 walkman has packed up. After a busy three months or so using it to dabble in the wonders of MP3's and iPods, I found the other day that I had seemingly loaded too much music/audio onto the player (or that some of it was corrupted), so now I have to look around at other means of downloading music from computer. Well, it was at a cheap price, I must admit.
All the same, in bygone days such gadgets would have lasted rather longer than just 3 months. I still generally prefer creaky but more reliable cassettes over CDs. The music shops in their infinite wisdom decided to remove cassette music from their shelves, as well as the much lamented but still popular and reliable vinyl - why else would they be called record shops, after all?
Current technologies have their flaws, and may well be a "quick fix". I can see DVDs for example (which have supplanted good old video) themselves being supplanted by downloads or much smaller forms of entertainment storage.
All the same, in bygone days such gadgets would have lasted rather longer than just 3 months. I still generally prefer creaky but more reliable cassettes over CDs. The music shops in their infinite wisdom decided to remove cassette music from their shelves, as well as the much lamented but still popular and reliable vinyl - why else would they be called record shops, after all?
Current technologies have their flaws, and may well be a "quick fix". I can see DVDs for example (which have supplanted good old video) themselves being supplanted by downloads or much smaller forms of entertainment storage.
Sunday 3 August 2008
Virtual arts facility
One of the biggest brouhaha's over the last year or so in Colchester has been the new Firstsite: Newsite, (aka. "Visual Arts Facility") intended as a massive extension to Colchester's existing art gallery, with many other potential facilities including conference rooms, screening rooms, galleries, new concourse and general pleasant ambiance.
To cut a very lengthy story short, the VAF was quickly proposed and pushed through by the Conservative-run local council in 2006. Almost overnight, the bus station was partly demolished to make way for the new building, which didn't endear it too much to the majority of the townspeople whose taxes are paying for it.
Now the original proposal to have the spanking new arts facility open by summer 2008 is gathering dust, the original budget has been spent, the builders have pulled out (with only the exterior finished), and has now fallen into the laps of the Liberal Democrat councillors to deal with.
By a complete coincidence (or is it?), the completion of Colchester United's new football stadium has overtaken the VAF, miles out of town, but with partial council (and private) funding. I personally suspect that, overlooking all the shenanigans with the builders, the VAF would probably have been up and running, if the fortunes of Colchester United had not improved in 2006.
As it stands, rotting away at the moment, the VAF is Colchester's Dome - and that remember, was a scheme which was only saved by Government money back in 2000.
Saturday 2 August 2008
Good Things No. 12
QI
A programme of genuine wit and intelligence, even if genitalia often creep into the discussion, and Alan Davies reminds me of the sort of annoying, eager for attention little schoolboy that would always sit at the front of the class and put his hand up.
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