Morning all. Bright and breezy at the moment, but showers expected this afternoon. Went to the photo booth yesterday for my picture and as usual finished up looking as though I was on a police wanted list. The first one caught me looking down as though I had dropped a sixpence, the second one had me over correct and looking up to the sky. The final go had me looking straight at the camera, not smiling, everything within the box so it should be acceptable. As I really need a haircut it was a good job the back of my head is not visible. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. All thoughts of gardening are off for today as it is wet and very windy out there. It is one year ago to the day that professional football was closed down in the UK because of the corona virus. This was before the government realized that there was a problem and started to take any action to control it. It is not often that the football authorities are ahead of the game. It seems an age now since we have seen full stadia, and looking at results the home fixture being worth a point seems to have vanished. Hope that that idea works today. Have a good day with three points please.
Morning all. Bright sunshine at the moment but rain expected this afternoon. The house looks and smells like a florist's shop at the moment. The UK families have sent Mme. flowers for Mothering Sunday, and the French company they have used have put additional bunches of daffodils with the bouquets of flowers. The family in France will do their bit when Mothers Day comes round later. I will be going out to get my offering, a cabbage for our dinner. Have a good day whatever you are doing.
Morning all. Grey and not very warm outside. Found that all of my accounts had lost their passwords this morning, even Not606. I have a reminder pop up that I should update my version of Windows 10, but after several hours the other day it stopped, and said there was a problem, and I should try again later. I am now reading that there is a problem with the latest version, you may get the blue screen when you try to print anything. Advice at present is to uninstall latest version and go back to the current one. Just about to do some printing, so hopefully all will be well still. Have a good day.
Morning all. Misty and murky out there at the moment. Have to go into town later for a 2.00 pm appointment to have my fingerprints taken. I am told that inkpads are rather out of date, today it is some light gel and they are then scanned electronically. After that I just wait for a couple of months before La Poste brings me a card to say that I legally reside in France. After several false starts the system has been very easy and actually worked. To think that when I get my card it will actually be of greater worth to me than my UK passport if I go to England then return. Good service and all free of charge. Have a good day with a three point evening please.
Interesting point Frenchie regarding home advantage in matches Frenchie. At first glance it would appear to have gone yet statistically it is still there. In the Championship 42% of the games played so far have been home wins with 24% drawn and 34% away wins - there is very little difference to the 'normal' figures. However, some clubs who rely on their stadium being a cauldron of noise have suffered this season. I don't think that Liverpool would have suffered 5 home defeats in a row had the stadium been full. Clubs like Birmingham are suffering as well.
I think that when we were last in the Championship all of us who tried to predict scores knew that almost anything could happen, and life in the PL would be easier to guess the results. That was true to some extent as one of the "big six" would generally beat one of the bottom six, meaning it was just the middling lot where the action was. This season PL games seem to have thrown up more unexpected results, but that could be wrong, just a perception. I have watched a number of non-Watford games of late, and have really seen how some clubs without the financial clout of a Norwich or Watford are playing on poor surfaces. You mention Brum who are sharing their pitch with Coventry and it is not as good as it used to be. I am sure that some of our younger, lighter players must feel they are ploughing a farrow on some grounds. So despite the best efforts of ground staff, when it comes to pitches a factor of the weather in a particular part of the country has to be factored in. Are referees acting differently without the crowds to get on their backs? I don't know, but there have been some calls for penalties ignored that a noisy crowd might have influenced a different attitude. Still my musing is just that. You have some actual figures. Do you know if similar percentages are normal across all divisions?
The comparisons for the 1st Div are 41% Home win, 23% Draw and 36% Away win. For div 2 they are similar 40% - 26% - 33%. What has changed is the Premiership where home advantage has disappeared - there the figures are 37%-23%-39%. Also in Germany some clubs where the stadium is normally a wall of noise such as Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt are struggling more than usual. The big losers in terms of atmosphere are Liverpool.
Morning all. Grey again, but dry for the time being. Expecting our electricity to go off anytime now for work on the system somewhere. It was going to happen about four weeks ago, but didn't, so we will see. Fingerprints taken yesterday and everything in order for our residency cards, so another thing dealt with. It is all so daft, but then nothing I can do about it. Have a good day.
Morning all. Grey and quite chilly outside, not very inviting at all. Electricity was off for about two and a half hours yesterday morning, so hope that is now sorted. Our Christmas present and card arrived from Watford yesterday. Normally a parcel of that size would take about five days to be delivered, but this one has taken 11 weeks. Three lots of customs papers suggest that paper manufacturers will be on to a good thing. The parcel started off with Hermes, who passed it on to DHL, who passed it on to Deutsche Post who transferred it to La Poste. I have a feeling that people in Whitehall know little about supply chains. Have a good day whatever you must do.
Morning all. Grey with showers forecast for later. Today my piano tuner is coming to get me back on song. He is what you would call a bit of a character, with many tales about his time in London. Everyday he would tune the piano at Ronnie Scott's jazz club as well as working in all the concert halls before a classical performance. He became fed up with his life in the city and moved to France where he has a workshop, and buys, restores and then resells baby grand pianos, in addition to travelling to peoples homes for his tuning work. Although he travels some distance to me, I have him two other places to go to thus reducing his costs. I come across many English people who have come here and made what was little more than a hobby into a business. In addition to his restoration work, I know of woodworkers, brewers and vintage car repairers, and several who are small plant specialists. Have a good day whatever you are up to.
Morning all. Bright and sunny again, but a chill northerly wind. An entertaining hour and a half with my piano tuner who had a few more tales about his time in London. A lady spent nearly £15,000 on buying and having fully restored a baby grand that sat in the bay window of her house in Kensington. Every year he went and retuned it for her although she couldn't play a note. She just wanted it to be known that she could afford a lovely piece of furniture. His business of restoring pianos has been finished in one fell swoop by Brexit. Most were bought in England, and after his work resold there. The costs of import and export VAT and other duties make it totally unviable. Instead of two days a week out tuning and three days in his workshop, he is now travelling far and wide every day to make his living. Have a good day, and let us hope for another three points.
Had potentially the worst hangover today from dodgy yet fine to drink Tequila. My mate went to Tequila (yes, the village where it is from) and bough 25 litres. Not the best quality but very drinkable. Head was going to implode today after a BBQ at his yesterday, despite not being drunk it can kick like a mule the next day. Now with a couple of Micheladas on my patio and results going our way looks like fine form for another BBQ later with the Mrs. Have a good weekend all.
We drink it as "reshu" - over ice. Introduced to it in an izakaya in Nagasaki a few years ago, having only drunk it warm before then.
Warm is my fav to be honest. But, a great tipple. I lived in Musashi-Sakai, near Tokyo, for two years and their cusine and drinks are great. I was thin and healthy once. I loved it there.
