Off Topic Other Stuff (anything you want to share)

Seems that FCO people also left personnel details for Afgans who worked for them or who had applied for jobs in the Embassy when they pulled out. Idiots.

 

Why all the hand wringing now? The USA never for one moment ever gave a fig for the Afghan people and their freedom or anything else. They went in there for their own self interest and as a sort of show of revenge for 9/11. They had to be seen domestically to be doing something. Like the USA of old they once more thought they were going into a third world country of bumkins and they would just throw their considerable weight around for a while. Trouble is they had learned nothing from Vietnam and this was always destined to be a repeat. This wasn't particularly Biden or Trump but the fool who ordered it in the first place. All the Taliban had to do was sit back and wait. They did it very well picking off a few of the opposition every now and again to keep the interest going. When the cost became too high the Americans were always going to leave. When they did the Taliban was always going to walk straight back in again. They did. As for all the equipment well no shock there either. If there was a port to drive it all to then a lot would have been taken out. However, there was no planning for an airlift for it so unless they can come up with a huge fleet of aircraft then it has to stay. If it stays then there is only one receiver of the stuff free of charge. None of this is rocket science is it.

Then of course there is the who stays behind to get killed once they have gone. Oh shock horror it's the locals. Since when has a bigger power ever cared what **** they leave behind as long as their own get out. To be honest they are lucky to have got anyone out. All the Taliban had to do was shell the airfield. I think it's a single runway airport so if they did that and blew holes in the runway then nobody leaves. But, the Taliban want shot of the Yanks as much as the yanks want to go so they were never going to stop them doing that. Giving a deadline for it is a no brainer either. Basically if you don't feck off by xyz day then we will bomb the runway and you will have the humiliation to clean up. No chance of that so they get out all they can in the time allowed and dump the rest. Bit like the equipment really it's just collateral damage.

Anyway plym look on the bright side. Think of all those immigrants we would have had if they had allowed all of them to leave there. They would all have been on benefits and in Social Housing before anyone born here could blink. Close shave there then.

 

I now we are short of lorry drivers but I don't know where they got this one from:

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This is the bridge on the way up to the Penquin pub which makes me duck every time I go under it in a car, never mind a truck.

It happened on Monday and there are expected to be no trains to or from Exeter until Wednesday.

 

Strangely it's really quiet where I live.......

 

Don't let the travellers hear that they might return to liven things up.

 

I watched some of the Dommy Raab grilling today. I say some because after a while I had to vomit into a bucket and couldn't watch it all. That man is supposed to be our Foreign Secretary and have a finger on the pulse of all things Foreign. It was pretty clear he had no idea what he was doing and even had no clue about reports from his own Department. "Did you consider resigning" he was asked. "NO" was the reply. Never mind resigning he ought to be sacked at the very least. This Government becomes a bigger embarrassment daily.

 

Our ex-Orpington school girl is roughly half a million pounds better off by getting to USA tennis semi-final.......and she only got two A levels.

 

Poland...0-0...England....the star so far is the Ref with some anti English calls....why isn't VAR picking up on some of his wrong calls.

 

0-0...H/T....the Ref isn't up to it.....and neither is VAR.....no breaks for England from this Ref or VAR....I think he's German.

 

0-1....Kane...72mins....Brilliant shot from distance.

The Ref is useless....some Polish rugby tackles.....and no bookings.....why isn't VAR pickling it up.

 

1-1...F/T....unlucky not to win....played some good football tonight.....when Poland equalized you would have thought they'd won the World Cup.

 

Tense game right the way through although I didn't think either side was particularly good. Kane was anonymous with the exception of his one telling contribution. Thought England were far too slow to move the ball on and Sterling tried far too many individual runs to beat the entire Polish team. I thought Poland had a plan to pretty much kick anything that moved and I do agree that the Ref was almost, but maybe not quite, biased in his rulings. Glik should have had a Red for the pure number of fouls he committed let alone anything else. In the end we got what we deserved out of that for sitting back at the end and trying to defend the lead. We WILL qualify so no biggy really.

 

We do have a collective case of what football insiders call "mayoremia". This a tendency to get into promising positions down the flanks and then instead of putting the ball into what experts call "the area" or sometimes "an area", making what fans call "another effing backward pass".

 

Reading your comments notdistant I think you have my front room bugged. I almost scream at the TV most games. It just amazes me that they take ages trying to get to the byline only to pass back to their own keeper almost rather than cross it. All in the name of playing keep ball. It's them darned Spanish to blame.

 

Aren't Argyle trying to do the same thing at times.....instead of playing Div1 football...that is the actual level that they are playing in.....should they not be using the talents they have instead of trying to turn players into wing backs that neither defend or attack very well.....last year our wide areas left oceans of unguarded territory that continually got exploited....and the end result was 80 goals against us....and that was happening even though we had a good young keeper.....so it could have been worse.....at least we have some defenders that have more savvy to tighten up our defence this season.

The problem this year might be our attack...already down to two regular strikers.....with Niall Ennis absent until possibly the end of October or even the start of November...that's approximately 40% of the season....and we fail to bring in cover....meaning we will be fitting round pegs into square holes.....heaven forbid we get more striker injuries or they go off form like Jephcott did for 4 months of last season.

Then of course we will need plan B to come into effect to help out....Oh hold on a minute this manager hasn't got a plan B....to be able to turn a game around like our opponents regularly did against us.....we have already turned 6 pts at home into 2pts because of our inability to hold on to winning positions.

I hope we can avoid some of the problems that Lowe's rigid style of play could lead us into if things start to go wrong as this season progresses.

 

What is Div one level football? If that is to go back to the hoof it and hope stuff then NO, NO, NO. It is awful to watch with little or no football included. There are not many teams even in league one that do that anymore. However, I do not want to see them retain the ball regardless either.

You are perpetually going on about the lack of this or the lack of that in the team. Perhaps you would like to drop an envelope off with half a million in it as a donation to allow Argyle to get a couple in. Argyle supporters, or at least some of them, have learned nothing from previous overspending on things we lack just because they think we need several more. We have a decent forward line and we have players who can fill a gap or two. We also have a midfield who should be contributing a few more as well. You do not need a bag full of strikers to get goals.

 

Firstly, we conceded 80 goals because our defence was what the top coaches deem to be "utter crap". Yes OK I'll stop using that format now.

I can understand being very very careful not to lose the ball if you are playing a much better side. So if England had been playing Belgium or similar, I'd understand. But Poland who've been on a really poor run? Shouldn't we have had the confidence to think we could beat them several to nil?

 

Poland were using the dirty tricks of the trade.....and it seemed as if the Ref was part of the act as well....there was a clear corner he gave as a goal kick....and various fouls he ignored.....and credit to England that they didn't lose there cool over what was happening.

It did seem as Polish defender Kamil Glik had been given the job of roughing up anyone who was in an England shirt....and to not just physically do it but verbally as well.....he went too far it seems at half-time whistle... and is alleged to have made a racist comment to Kyle Walker....which insenced Harry Maguire enough to get him booked as well as Glik by the Ref.

But England I feel could have upped the odds by bringing on some fresh legs in the last 15 minutes....they had the players on the bench to embarrass a tiring Polish team.....but as we know a one goal lead in not always enough....and so it was that they equalized....which took the edge off what had been a satisfying evening.

 

Twenty years ago today, 2 planes were deliberately crashed into the World Trade Centre, a 3rd into the Pentagon and a 4th, probably heading for Washington, was brought down when passengers overcame the terrorists on board.

It's a day I remember well. I rang IT because the network was running slowly. They told me everyone was on the Internet because a plane had crashed into the Trade Centre. I assumed he meant some amateur in a Cessna who'd strayed into the wrong airspace. When he told me it was an airliner, the true horror dawned.

We spent the rest of the day watching the TV in my boss' office.

I'd spent the previous week working in a data room on the umpteenth floor of the Citi building next to the iconic 50 storey 1 Canada Square that would certainly have been a target if the UK had been attacked. I imagine there would have been panic there that day.

Those dreadful events are still rumbling on and with the Taiban having formed a hard line government in Afghanistan it may be we still haven't heard the last of it.

 

Wasn't sure where to post this as it isn't Argyle. Anyway, was looking at the stats this evening for the Lincoln v Rotherham game. The stand out for me was there were 32 fouls in the game which seem rather a lot. However, when you look at the bookings there were 3. For the number of fouls that looks very low to me. Even an accumulation gets you a card now never mind a bad foul as they always describe it.