Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Off To A Bad Start ?

A few hours into 2008 and Leeds have already dropped a place in the league, after a 3-1 home defeat to.......Oldham. Not Barcelona or Roma or Bayern Munich mind you. No, Oldham.

I'm not sure what statistic is worst. First home defeat of the season or the first time we've lost 2 league games in a row or even that the slide down one place has allowed Doncaster to go above us !!! DONCASTER. Oh dear god what am I saying !!!!?????

They're all pretty tragic.

I can't even go out into the sunshine to have a consolation swim in the park pool as it's a totally miserable UK-like day here. It's been throwing down those proverbial cats and dogs for hours and it's 'here for the day' as we'd say back home. Overnight tomorrow it's due to get down to 29F. What's going on ??? We might have icicles dangling from the palm trees. Residents walkers could become hazardous on the black ice that might coat the park roads.

It's just not on. Global warming my fanny pack. We're heading for another Ice Age I tell ya.
(Mind you the sequel WAS pretty good but I'm not sure a trilogy is on the cards).

So all in all things have been a bit gloomy in normally sunny Buttonwood Bay today. As you can see, I'm still typing the name of the park cause I get more blog hits that way.

I'm still nursing a hangover from all the New Year's Eve par-tays I went to as the booze was flowing and life was sweet for young financially independent swingers like wot I am. No ? Ok maybe not. Not even close.

I almost went to bed before 11pm but thanks to wanting to watch the end of a Top Gear show I'd downloaded a few days ago, it was suddenly 11:44pm and I thought......what the heck. Lets see the Big Ball Drop and THEN go to bed.

Earlier I'd watched the wedding of the year on Coronation Street ("what about ye then Liz"? - as Jim would've said) and was prepared to see in the New Year with whatever stirring show ITV was prepared to put on for my entertainment. It's the only live UK station I can get here.

In sepia days this often meant something involving Scotland as if they had the monopoly on such things in the UK. We'd have Andy Stewart and his kilt twirling croonies dancing around like Riverdance trainees when the tide went out. Thankfully those days are over but UK tv companies haven't really found anything to fill the gap.

ITV have just given up. Last night they had a live Take That concert and the group name seemed to sum up their attitude. The 2nd ITV station had the Coronation street rerun followed by Monty Python's "The Meaning Of Life". Very traditional.

Auntie BBC had some sort of dubious entertainment show until 15 mins after midnight when they assumed everyone who had been sat at home watching with them had finally trapsed off to their lonely beds and so they slapped on the really seasonal movie offering.........."Point Break"........all about the LA surfing scene. Brilliant.

Oh I sorely miss those twirling kilts !!

Anyway from 11pm onwards, I went all high tech and had 2....yes 2 streaming webcam views on my laptop and was also watch things live on tv from Times Square. One was from my fav cam outside Sloppy Joes in Key West and the other was from the Las Vegas Strip - two places where they know how to see in the New Year.

So as the countdown closed in on midnight and 2008, my eyeballs got a good workout switching between the tv set and the webcam views on the laptop. 10-9-8-7-and so on..........the NY ball hit the dirt and it was HAPPY NEW YEAR with streamers and fireworks and weapons of mass destruction going off in a cacophony of financial overspending.

But what about Las Vegas and Key West ? Well the crowds seemed subdued to say the least. A few handshakes between the pickpockets who were taking a well earned rest for a few minutes and that was about it. But of course. D'oh. The 30 second internet delay !!!

Sure enough at 00:00:30, the revellers in both towns suddenly went bananas and much hand waving, kissing, hugging and general gaiety broke out. In Key West some of this actually went on between consenting heterosexuals but of course, they were in the minority. This is Key West we're talking about here.

And so it was all over for another year.

The Harbour Bridge in Sydney was basking in a new afternoon heatwave while hundreds of city employees were getting paid time and a half to clear up the mess.

Tiananamen Square in Beijing was enjoying a new morning while hundreds of city employees were getting paid peanuts to clear up the mess.

Red Square in Moscow was greeting a new dawn while hundreds of city employees were lucky to have a job at all clearing up the mess.

Trafalgar Square in London was still in darkness while hundreds of city employees were ringing in sick and saying let the mess stay for a few more days.

No change there then.

An so on this first day of a new year, when resolutions can be made and broken by lunchtime, when thoughts of renewal and good intentions seldom last till suppertime, I've decided on posting a photo of something a lot more durable if also intangible; something definitely new and exciting. An image of the joy and happiness when a first time grandma gets to hold the latest addition to her family.




















Somehow this miserable weather and even Leeds losing at home don't seem to matter as much.

3 comments:

Daphne said...

A photo of Deb and Cole when you could have had a picture of men in kilts, Andy Stewart and the White Heather Club? - - yes, good decision.

Anonymous said...

There was a very good Jools Holland show on BBC2. We were glued to it until 1.15. The musicians were excellent.

Also had a good curry & more wine than was advisable. The diet has started ! Also no wine for the whole of January

Silverback said...

Thank you Sarah..........you've made my year. Oh ok, it's only 1st but still.

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