The Merc with a Mouth

Ben is going to abandon athletics in the summer and play rugby league for the Rutlish Raiders instead. He was supposed to go for a half term taster training session last night, but didn't turn up as he had forgotten and gone to the movies. He was watching Deadpool. "The film has been a smash – a sure sign that we can expect more sex, violence and swearing in the next crop of superhero movies," and he is old enough to see it. How did that happen? I think I can safely throw away the Johnson's Baby Shampoo in the bathroom now.

As you can see from the clip above, Deadpool features Gina Carano as - who else? - Angel Dust. Back in 2008 (Icons passim) there were only three degrees of separation between her and Ben. He trained Muay Thai with Woytek. Woytek had his hand raised by Master A when he won the British championship. And Master trained Gina C in Muay Thai Ring Girls.

Hang On

I read that the Hang Fire Smokehouse’s new restaurant has received more than 1,300 bookings in less than 24 hours – and it hasn’t even opened yet. It is amazing how far they have come since last April (Icons passim).

This sent me back to the Munchies YouTube channel, where I first saw the film about the huge queues at Franklin BBQ.

This time I came across:



and

Right String But Wrong Yo-Yo

Beverly “Guitar” Watkins is seventy-six years old. She is wearing house slippers, a hair net, and an Atlanta Hawks t-shirt on backwards. She is probably the greatest living blues guitarist that no one has ever heard of.

Whatever happened to my plan for a food and music pilgrimage to the South?

As a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, so must you become Derelicte!

Before I arrived at the Antelope last night I got a call to say that the quiz was cancelled due to some sort of power problem and that we would regroup at the Guerilla bar in Tooting for their rival contest.

We came second but I didn't enjoy it as much. I suppose I have reached a period in my life where I have a low tolerance for hipster beards and even less of an appetite for interior design channelling Zoolander's Derelicte.

Mugatu: Let me show you Derelicte. It is a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique.

Myself: This unasked-for jollity in the middle of an English afternoon left Sir Henry shivering with a red passion, his face a crumpled tissue on which a lobster might well have wiped its bottom.

tell me if I am repeating myself

As two evil sisters prepare to conquer the land; two renegades - Eric the Huntsman - who previously aided Snow White in defeating Ravenna, and his forbidden lover, Sara set out to stop them. In this April 8 release, second unit director Simon Crane (Icons passim) takes care of the action scenes. He certainly gets some interesting gigs.

Wee laddie for a palfrey....HIT

Gareth the rugby gnome came along to the Charles Holden yesterday  afternoon and was pleased to see Wales edge Scotland 27-23.

It bucked him up after a sliver of ice had entered his heart earlier when Treviso beat the Cardiff Blues 13-7 and Danny Wilson's men became the first Guinness Pro12 side to lose against the Italian club this season.

Dan Fish had a reasonable game by all accounts, with an interception and a try-saving tackle but that was of small comfort the little bobble-hatted fellow. For he is a rugby gnome which can be lonely as most of his brethren prefer fishing.

Keynsham. Tell me more about Keynsham.

I got an email from Jim yesterday saying that we have the first day of rugby planned U15s tour to Bath late in April. It will be a triangular tournament with locals Keynsham RFC and another touring party from the Northampton area, Olney RFC.

That is handy as Keynsham is - if anything - nearer to Bristol than Bath - so John can bring Mum and Dad along from Cardiff to see Ben.

Martin says we've played Olney before at Brean Sands and that "Ring of Fire" is their song.

As a long time Bonzo fan, I know that Keynsham have a song as well.

Perhaps we should have Sport (also from the Keynsham album) as our theme.

Let's go back to your childhood ...

The odd boy lay down by the football field

Took out a slim volume of Mallarme.

The centre-forward called him an imbecile.

It's an odd boy who doesn't like sport.

Sport, Sport, masculine sport.

Equips a young man for society.

Yes, sport turns out a jolly good sort.

It's an odd boy who doesn't like sport.

Dear Mr. Poxham,

Would you kindly excuse Steven from Games today? He has had a nasty cold over the weekend and still has headaches and feels a bit snotty. I don't feel he should be outside with the rougher type of boy, as he is a little delicate. Hoping you will understand.

Yours Sincerely,

Nellie Maynard, Mrs.

The Art of the Deal

Funny Or Die Presents Donald Trump's The Art Of The Deal: The Movie from Funny Or Die

I haven't actually watched this yet, but Johnny Depp's Trump spoof has reminded me that I did actually read the original Trump: The Art of the Deal all those years ago when the book came out. I can't remember much about the content to be honest, but do recall that I was working as a Corporate Develop Executive at George Wimpey PLC at the time, and  that I wrote a memo about some obscure point in it asking for an opinion from our legal department. It seems an extraordinary thing to have done, reflecting on it now.

a holding page

The Welsh team for the Scotland game is due to be announced today and will appear here once it is available. Originally we were due to hear on Wednesday but it seems that the management want to give Dan Biggar every opportunity to recover.

After the New Hampshire primary, I suspect that we will play Donald Trump on the right wing and Bernie Sanders on the left wing but I have no inside information.

Come to think of it, Ben's Rutlish U15s have an away game at Hollyfield School (Eric Clapton's alma mater trivia fans) this afternoon, so maybe I will put that rugby result up here later as well.

Update 10:30 - The U15s school game today is cancelled but the club U16s have asked Ben to play for them on Sunday.

Update 11:00 -Wales team to face Scotland: Liam Williams; George North, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, Tom James; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Scott Baldwin, Samson Lee; Luke Charteris, Alun Wyn Jones; Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.

Reps: Ken Owens, Gethin Jenkins, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Dan Lydiate, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Priestland, Gareth Anscombe

Dan Biggar starts in an unchanged team. Alex Cuthbert misses out all together.

The Rugby Gnome

I was in the Royal Standard
When I heard a belch behind me
And there was a little old man
Red jersey, boots black; up for the craic.
Well we staggered back to my house
Shouting "Go the whole hog, Mog!"
Where we sat and watched "Grand Slam"
Laughing at Maldwyn and Caradog

Ha ha ha, he he he
I'm a rugby gnome and you can't cwtch me
Ha ha ha, he he he
I'm a rugby gnome and you can't cwtch me"
Said the rugby gnome

To be continued .....

The undiscovered country from whose Bourne. Geddit!?

The world and his wife got a first look at the new Jason Bourne movie during the Super Bowl. Second unit director Simon Crane (Icons passim) takes care of the action scenes. He certainly gets some interesting gigs.

time to park it

Mum crashed her car into a lamp post on Friday outside the house and wrote it off. John, in Winston Wolf mode, managed to sort out a quick collection via the insurance company so it is out of sight and out of mind. That should be the end of her driving as far as I am concerned.

Two local press stories I remember are relevant and bolster this.

• Elderly driver taken to hospital after crashing through Wandle Park wall in Colliers Wood High Street.
• Parents' grief after son, 48, mowed down in Colliers Wood when driver 'lost control in epileptic fit'

Ireland 16 Wales 16

Q: Warren, how satisfied are you?

A: Not satisfied at all. I’m flat at the moment. It’s disappointing. It’s not a loss, but it’s taken a couple of trophies out of the cabinet already.

Quite.

inventin' done, man

JUST IN: We will be celebrating Grenada's Independence Day at Merton Abbey Mills on Saturday 6th February with Live...
Posted by Merton Abbey Mills on Tuesday, 19 January 2016

I am away down in Cardiff so I can't get along to this. I have long thought that the people of the Caribbean, having invented rum, reggae, jerk barbecue and the hammock, must be among the greatest benefactors of mankind. Do you actually need anything more than rum, reggae, jerk barbecue and a hammock for a perfect sunny afternoon?

Prodnose: So the bartender says, "Well, the worst way I know of is standing up in a hammock."

Myself: Vulgarity begins when imagination succumbs to the explicit.

AN OPEN LETTER TO CHARLES DARWIN AND GOD ABOUT THE HAIR SPROUTING FROM MY EARS.

Dear Charles Darwin and God,

For over a half a century, I looked in the mirror each morning and saw a pair of hairless ears — admittedly oversized, but nonetheless, utterly and completely without hair. And, between the three of us, that was just fine with me. Then on an otherwise mundane Tuesday, out of nowhere, a solitary hair popped out on the side of my left ear. I sleepily gazed at my reflection and almost without pause thought “Hmm, that’s odd.” I then yanked out the offender and went about my day.

What I didn’t know was that there had been a shift in the cosmic balance and soon this sort of thing would be no longer be “odd” at all. In fact, it would be the opposite… it would be routine. The perimeter had been breached and there was no going back. Slowly and inexorably, like a shuffling zombie hoard, they made their way to my ears. At first, it was just a couple a month — “no big deal” I thought, “just remain vigilant.” But, no, they just kept coming… and coming — in every growing numbers. Now, they’re fxxxing everywhere — tops, sides, lobes, even down in the canal.

At a time in my life when my hairline retreats toward the back of my head like the Union army at Bull Run, hair sprouts out of my ears like a game of “Whack a Mole” gone horribly wrong. Suddenly, a routine of auricular depilation has become a part of my daily existence and I don’t want to be rude, but I think someone owes me an explanation ...... read on ......

This is horribly true. I even have an "emergency" nose and ear hair clipper in my desk at the office.

Wales: Rob Evans, Justin Tipuric and Tom James start against Ireland

Wales team to face Ireland: Gareth Anscombe; George North, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, Tom James; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Scott Baldwin, Samson Lee, Luke Charteris, Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Warburton (capt), Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Ken Owens, Gethin Jenkins, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Dan Lydiate, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Priestland, Alex Cuthbert.

Warburton moves to blindside; three hundred and sixty odd caps on the bench.

"Leave now for Iphigenia in Splott"

I've switched from the iPhone to an Android model. Google Now, the "intelligent personal assistant" that comes with it, advised me to leave for "Iphigenia in Splott" before I had even finished work yesterday, "intelligently" inferring that it was actually on down the M4 in Splott rather than a convenient hop up the Northern Line to Waterloo and the National Theatre.

As for the work itself, Sophie Melville gives a great performance in a fine production, but if "Gary Owen’s brawling, big-hearted, raging monologue" (UK Theatre Awards Best New Play 2015) is good writing then I am a Dutchman.

How did I get here?

I finished reading Searching for John Ford by Joseph McBride yesterday. Coincidentally, as the BFI noted on Facebook, the great American director's birthday.

Today, I will be starting on Toby Harnden's Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan.

This is the tale of the Welsh Guards in Helmand in 2009. Underequipped and overstretched, guardsmen from the coal mining valleys and slate quarry villages of Wales found themselves in Helmand in some of the most intense fighting by British troops for more than a generation. They were confronted by a Taliban enemy they seldom saw, facing the constant threat of Improvised Explosive Devices and ambush. Leading them into battle was Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, destined for the highest ranks. He was a passionate believer in the war but was dismayed by how it was being conducted. Dead Men Risen will unnerve politicians and generals alike. In chilling detail, Toby Harnden reveals how and why Thorneloe was killed by an IED during Operation Panther's Claw. Harnden, who had known Thorneloe since they met in Northern Ireland in 1996, was on the ground in Helmand with the Welsh Guards. He draws on a trove of military documents, including many written by Thorneloe, the first British battalion commander to die in action since the Falklands war of 1982. Major Sean Birchall left behind an unvarnished assessment of the shortcomings of the Afghan forces that represent Nato's exit strategy. Lieutenant Mark Evison wrote a diary that raises questions from beyond the grave. It was more than half a century since a British battalion had lost officers at these three key levels of leadership. By the time the fighting was over, almost no rank had been spared. A visceral and timeless account of men at war, Dead Men Risen conveys what it is like to be a soldier who has to kill, face paralysing fear and watch comrades perish in agony. Given unprecedented access to the Welsh Guards, Harnden conducted more than 300 interviews in Afghanistan, England and Wales. From the searing heat of the poppy fields and mud compounds of Helmand to the dreaded knock on the door back home, the reader is transported there. Harnden weaves the experiences of the guardsmen and their loved ones into an unsparing narrative that sits alongside a piercing analysis of military strategy.

All Cardiff

Dan Fish scored in under 90 seconds as the Blues beat Edinburgh at home on Saturday. The Sherman's Iphigenia in Splott opens to rave reviews at the National Theatre. (I must try and get along.) Are we witnessing a Cardiff renaissance?

Show and Tel

Don't miss us feeding Sir Terry Wogan & Mason on their trip to Abergavenny. Available on BBC IPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06b944y/terry-and-masons-great-food-trip-10-abergavenny
Posted by Hang Fire Smokehouse on Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Like the rest of the county I was saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Terry Wogan today. I noticed on Facebook however that he did not however shuffle off before he had caught up with the quite remarkably ubiquitous Hang Fire posse late last year. How on earth do they do it?

My entire life

Now onEntire Stout 4.5%A rich dark stout with a strong roasted malt flavour and a long, smooth aftertaste. Suitable for vegans.Entire Stout has an ABV of 4.5%
Posted by The Sultan, SW19 on Saturday, 30 January 2016

I had planned to end dry January tomorrow at the U15s Warlingham game, but that has been cancelled. I am very tempted to replace it with a pint of stout this afternoon, since I read the Sultan's public service announcement above in Facebook.

Bacon-Chocolate Shot Glasses

We’ve all been there before, standing at the bar, shot glass in hand, ready to throw the spirit down our gullet, when we’ve thought to ourselves “man this would really be so much better if the shot glass I’m holding was made out of bacon and dipped in chocolate.” Well wish no more, because thanks to food blog Through The Eyes Of My Belly, that dream is now a reality.

Hat tip, Marcus. As the last weekend of Dry January heaves into view I think I am starting to get delirious.

MAKE AMERICA ONE SYLLABLE

A linguistic analysis of Donald Trump shows why people like him so much.

Willy: There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. The competition is maddening! Smell the stink from that apartment house! And another one on the other side . . .

Sleeping Trees

I went to the Pleasence Theatre in Islington last night to see, friends of Spike, Sleeping Trees revisit their Edinburgh Festival show MAFIA? and managed to resist throwing my Marlon Brando impersonation and complete knowledge of the Godfather into the mix to everyone's' relief.

Radiator

As I was having one of my occasional chats with Tony Kane yesterday, he told me that his daughter, Sarah, had worked as the production designer on a film called Radiator. He has seen it, and recommended it to me.

In cinemas from 27 November. Also screening at Picturehouse Cinemas for Discover Tuesdays on 29 December.

Director: Tom Browne.

Starring: Richard Johnson, Gemma Jones, Daniel Cerqueira. UK 2014.

Careworn teacher Daniel (Cerqueira) is summoned by his elderly mother Mariah (Jones) to his parents’ remote, rubbish-filled, ramshackle cottage, where his infirm and incontinent father, Leonard (Johnson), is refusing to move from the sofa. Disapproved of as a failure by his irascible, demanding father, Daniel eventually persuades Leonard into a specially adapted bed and the care of a visiting nurse. That, in a nutshell, is the darkly amusing plot of director/co-writer Tom Browne’s film, a pithy, highly watchable account of the unravelling of a marriage held together only by fear and familiarity, albeit underscored by a son’s good intentions. As two of Britain’s most seasoned character actors, Jones and Johnson give of their terrific best, while co-writer Cerqueira emanates exactly the right degree of frustrated, put-upon affection. A joy.

I seem to have missed it at the cinemas and I can't find any trace on Amazon or iTunes yet, but I will keep an eye out; directed by a guy who shares my surname I was pleased to see.

Time takes everybody out; time's undefeated.

I went to see Creed this weekend. The LA Times said, it is a film "that is nominally a spinoff of the celebrated "Rocky" series but actually plays like something more interesting: a spiritual remake of the 1976 film that retells the original story in the kind of involving way one would not have thought possible." That is certainly true. I enjoyed it but it references the original so much I can pay tribute by reusing what I wrote about the latest Star Wars movie here.

I finally surrendered to the dark side of the zeitgeist yesterday and went along to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens Creed.

Ryan Coogler JJ Abrams et al seem to have solved the problem of coming up with a plot for Episode VII, by - to all intents and purposes - remaking the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope Rocky.

"Daddy issues" from The Empire Strikes Back have also been grafted on to the new film.

Spookily accurate.

Dan Young RIP

Sunday is rugby day for the Ruts' minis and juniors and we have found out that behind the headline Morden tube station murder: University lecturer Daniel Young stabbed to death on first day of dream job is one of our own. What a terrible thing.

Foodie

In this richly penetrating documentary odyssey, Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold shows us a Los Angeles where ethnic cooking is a kaleidoscopic portal to the mysteries of an unwieldy city and the soul of America. Combing through colorful neighborhoods in his green pickup truck, Gold is sniffing out his next strip-mall discovery—whether Oaxacan grasshopper soup, hand-cut tonkotsu ramen, or a particularly unctuous pad see ew. As piping-hot platters are served up, so are stories of immigrants whose secret family recipes are like sacred offerings pledged for the opportunity to build their American Dream. With eternal curiosity, razor-sharp intellect, and existential longing, Gold is a culinary geographer taking us where no critic has gone before.

This movie isn't out in theatres in the States until March 11, but I stumbled on it free via Amazon Prime yesterday. Well worth a look.

While I have got my Amazon foodie head on, the Hang Fire girls' (though they don't like to be called that) book is now available for pre-order.

Barbecue is a serious business. And for anyone who thought barbecue was about big, bearded blokes toiling over hot coals, think again: the Hang Fire girls are the real experts.In 2012 Sam and Shauna ditched their jobs and embarked on a 6-month road trip around the best barbecue joints in the southern United States. From Texas to Tallahassee, they learned the insider secrets of what makes barbecue great, were captivated by the thrill of smoke and fire, and back home in Cardiff they set out their meat manifesto in the form of Hang Fire Smokehouse.Now they sell out week after week from their street-food stall as customers flock to Hang Fire for stunning dishes including smoked brisket, ultimate pork 'n' slaw and tailgate hot-wings. This cookbook reveals how they make their delicious recipes and the secrets behind the perfect smoke and BBQ. Sam and Shauna explain the basics of getting started with a home smoker and different types of wood, and what rubs, cures and brines work best with certain types of meat. Hang Fire's approach is simple: get the best ingredients, cook them low 'n' slow, and tuck in.

Chicks dig it

AWS Certificate Manager is a service that lets you easily provision, manage, and deploy Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) certificates for use with AWS services. SSL/TLS certificates are used to secure network communications and establish the identity of websites over the Internet. AWS Certificate Manager removes the time-consuming manual process of purchasing, uploading, and renewing SSL/TLS certificates. With AWS Certificate Manager, you can quickly request a certificate, deploy it on AWS resources such as Elastic Load Balancers or Amazon CloudFront distributions, and let AWS Certificate Manager handle certificate renewals. SSL/TLS certificates provisioned through AWS Certificate Manager are free. You pay only for the AWS resources you create to run your application.

This kind of thing is my bag.

Unlock the power of your emails with schema.org

Email is an important part of how we get things done -- from planning an event with friends to organizing a trip to Paris. So much information is contained inside emails -- like the details of a dinner party or travel itinerary -- and so many emails require action -- like RSVP, or flight checkin.

By adding schema.org markup to the emails you send your users, you can make that information available across their Google experience, and make it easy for users to take quick action. Inbox, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Search, and Google Now all already use this structured data.

Schema.org is a markup vocabulary that is standardized and managed as a collaboration of Google and other companies. By working with schema.org, we are creating an open standard, so that the markup you embed can be used by any email product that receives them.

Prodnose: http://schema.org/docs/schemas.html

Myself: [to Vanessa] That's not mine.

Prodnose: https://moz.com/blog/markup-for-emails

Myself: I'm telling ya baby, that's not mine.

Prodnose: https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/reference/

Myself: I don't even know what this is! This sort of thing ain't my bag, baby.

Velindre

A thank you letter to David Bowie from a palliative care doctor. https://t.co/ibFYRY8wc1 - thanks for sharing @DrMarkTaubert

— Marie Curie (@mariecurieuk) January 17, 2016

David Bowie's son retweeted this.

Oh no, don’t say it’s true – whilst realization of your death was sinking in during those grey, cold January days of 2016, many of us went on with our day jobs. At the beginning of that week I had a discussion with a hospital patient, facing the end of her life. We discussed your death and your music, and it got us talking about numerous weighty subjects, that are not always straightforward to discuss with someone facing their own demise. In fact, your story became a way for us to communicate very openly about death, something many doctors and nurses struggle to introduce as a topic of conversation. But before I delve further into the aforementioned exchange, I’d like to get a few other things off my chest, and I hope you don’t find them a saddening bore ..........

Dr Mark Taubert is a palliative care consultant at Velindre in Cardiff. That is the hospital where cancer took my brother in law David from my sister and their three children in the middle of 2004. I was there when he died. It was a terrible day. Anything that can make such a thing, if not easier then at least, less difficult is good.

To travel hopefully ....

It has been my invariable habit for years now to post once and once only here each  day and then to let the chips fall where they may.

Yesterday, however, Andy Howell published an article called The players who caught Warren Gatland's eye on the final weekend before Six Nations selection, in Wales Online.

On possible eye-catcher, I was pleased to note, was Dan Fish:

Although Dan Evans at the Ospreys has had more headlines this season, the slippery Fish has been a creative influence for Cardiff Blues with the counter-attacking ability which has netted him a new contract and saw him touch down twice at Harlequins.

Wales’ full-back worries may have eased at the weekend with Gareth Anscombe making a successful return to combat, albeit at outside-half, but Fish could be among those in the swim for a place if Liam Williams was to be ruled out.

Warren Gatland will announce his squad for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations at noon today. This post will be updated after that. Until then, we live in hope.

Update 12:00: Nothing Fishy about this.

Warren Gatland has named a 37-man squad for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations that features one uncapped player in scrum-half Aled Davies and squad recalls for Tom James and Josh Turnbull.

Cardiff Blues pair James and Turnbull last played for Wales in 2010 and 2014 respectively, though James was part of Wales' 2015 Rugby World Cup training squad before withdrawing through injury.

The experienced squad includes 31 players who featured for Wales in the 2015 Rugby World Cup and will be led by Wales' most experienced captain Sam Warburton.
The front-row contingent is made up of props Gethin Jenkins, Paul James and Rob Evans, along with Samson Lee, Tomas Francis and Aaron Jarvis.

Scott Baldwin, Ken Owens and Kristian Dacey are named as the hookers.

Alun Wyn Jones, who today it was announced signed a new long-term National Dual Contract, is named along with Luke Charteris, Dominic Day, Bradley Davies, Jake Ball and Josh Turnbull.

Four British and Irish Lions are named in the back-row, captain Sam Warburton, Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau. They are joined by James King and Ross Moriarty.

Uncapped scrum half Aled Davies is joined by regional team-mate Gareth Davies and Lloyd Williams. Dan Biggar and Rhys Priestland are named as the fly-halves. Jonathan Davies, who missed the RWC through injury, returns alongside Jamie Roberts, Cory Allen and Tyler Morgan in the centres. The back three players include Tom James, Hallam Amos, George North, Alex Cuthbert, Gareth Anscombe, Matthew Morgan and Liam Williams.

"We have selected a squad that rewards players form as well as picking a lot of experience and that continuity is important to us," said Gatland.

"We have picked a larger squad than normal, we have a few injuries at the moment, those players aren't too far away from getting back on the field so we are happy with the mix.

"Aled (Davies) is someone who has been on the radar the last couple of years and his selection is reward for his form.

"Tom (James) is playing very well for the Blues and we have been impressed with Josh's (Turnbull) performances recently.

"It is always exciting when the Six Nations comes around and we are looking forward to meeting up next Monday."

Wales kick off their 2016 campaign away to reigning champions Ireland on Sunday February 7th before welcoming Scotland to Principality Stadium on Saturday February 13th.

WALES' 2016 RBS 6 NATIONS SQUAD: (37 Players)
Forwards:
Rob Evans (Scarlets), Paul James (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Kristian Dacey (Cardiff Blues), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing 92), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Dominic Day (Bath Rugby), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), James King (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (CAPT) (Cardiff Blues).
Backs:
Aled Davies (Scarlets) *, Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne), Tyler Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Tom James (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Matthew Morgan (Bristol Rugby), Liam Williams (Scarlets).
* Denotes uncapped player

Déjà vu

half time
Harlequins 28 Cardiff Blues 0
Carolina Panthers 31 Seattle Seahawks 0

full time
Harlequins 34 Cardiff Blues 26
Carolina Panthers 31 Seattle Seahawks 24

Yesterday's six hour Sky Sports marathon ran from three in the afternoon until nine in the evening and consisted of the same roller coaster ride repeated twice with my team battered in the first half then fighting back in the second only to fail narrowly at the death.

So it's goodbye to the Seahawks for another season, and almost certainly (though there are mathematical possibilities of qualification) farewell to any Blues' ambitions in the European Challenge Cup.

On the bright side, Dan Fish got two of Cardiff's four second half tries and was - for me and the Bomber at least - arguably their best player.

Also, I managed to catch quite a lot of Richmond WRFC claiming the Women's Premiership title as they powered to a 28-17 win over Saracens in the final at the Twickenham Stoop. (It followed the 'Quins Cardiff game at the same venue.) They are coached by Liam Shanahan (Ben's head of rugby in school) so kudos to him.

Total Ankle Replacement Versus Arthrodesis

Well, this seems to be the rock and a hard place choice for mum. I need to read the whole website before I can even start contemplating an opinion.

filial piety

The funk legend that is MISTER FRED WESLEY returns with his GENERATIONS project. Fred funking on the T-Bone with Leonardo Corradi on Hammond plus bass pedals and the groove machine that is Tony Match on drums...ripping up the rule book and exploding the grooves of Jimmy Smith plus some huge funk treats...DO NOT MISS!!

The only trouble is I DO MISS, as Fred has returned to the Hideaway in Streatham (a stone's throw away from my London gaff) while I have returned to Cardiff to see how mum and dad are getting on. Ships that pass in the night.

Legendary bandleader and trombonist Fred Wesley is one of the forefathers of funk and he is still setting the standard for others to follow. As music director for James Brown and the JBs, arranger for P-Funk and one third of the amazing JB Horns, he secured his place in funk history forever!

During the 1960s and 1970s he was a pivotal member of James Brown's bands, playing on many hit recordings including "Say it Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud", "Mother Popcorn" and co-writing tunes such as "Hot Pants". His slippery riffs and pungent, precise solos, complementing those of saxophonist Maceo Parker, gave Brown's R&B, soul, and funk tunes their instrumental punch. In the 1970s he also served as band leader and musical director of Brown's band the J.B.'s and did much of the composing and arranging for the group. His name was credited on 'Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s' recording of "Doing It to Death", which sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in July 1973. He left Brown's band in 1975 and spent several years playing with George Clinton's various Parliament-Funkadelic projects, even recording a couple of albums as the leader of a spin-off group, The Horny Horns.

Wesley became a force in jazz in 1978 when he joined the Count Basie Orchestra. He released his first jazz album as a leader, To Someone in 1988. It was followed by New Friends in 1990, Comme Ci Comme Ca in 1991, the live album Swing and Be Funky, and Amalgamation in 1994.

In the early 1990s Wesley toured with his colleagues from the James Brown band, Pee Wee Ellis and Maceo Parker, as the JB Horns. With the departure of Ellis the band became The Maceo Parker Band. Wesley was featured trombonist with Parker until 1996 when he formed his own band, The Fred Wesley Group, now known as Fred Wesley and the New JBs.

Wesley's 35-year career includes playing with and arranging for a wide variety of other artist such as Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, Randy Crawford, Vanessa Williams, The SOS Band, Cameo, Van Morrison, Socalled and rappers De La Soul, to name a few. Many other artists have sampled his work.

Line Up: Fred Wesley (trombone and vocals), Leonardo Corradi (Hammond and bass pedals), Tony Match (drums)

Creed is right, Creed works

Creed is released in UK cinemas today.

Adonis Johnson never knew his famous father, boxing champion Apollo Creed, who died before Adonis was born. However, boxing is in his blood, so he seeks out Rocky Balboa and asks the retired champ to be his trainer. Rocky sees much of Apollo in Adonis, and agrees to mentor him, even as he battles an opponent deadlier than any in the ring. With Rocky's help, Adonis soon gets a title shot, but whether he has the true heart of a fighter remains to be seen.

Rocky completist I am, but I won't be able to catch it until next week as I am driving to Cardiff after work.

I had sworn never to watch The Jonathan Ross Show ever again, but if Sly Stallone can be persuaded to do his Les Dawson impression when he appears on it promoting the movie on Saturday I will break my vow and tune in.

Dr Strabismus gets religion

Biblezon is the First Catholic Tablet that will help you focus on your Catholic Faith. It is safe, secure and Holy. No Distractions! (Wi-Fi required).

I remember that time in the Standard when it gradually dawned, I forget why or how, on Andy H that everyone else around the table was raised a left footer, and that we were - to his astonishment - almost like normal people.

Dry January: Day 13

Hungover Bear and Friends is an ongoing comic by Ali Fitzgerald about animals and feelings. The main character is not an anti-hero, he’s just a bear in a sweater trying to make it all work.

RIP: Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud

It is fair to say I was something of a Bowie casualty back in the day. I had every one of his first nineteen albums before bailing out on Tin Machine II, twenty two years into his career.

Let's record a generous gesture rather than the music per se to celebrate the great man. Bowie's cover, on Let's Dance, of Iggy Pop's China Girl from The Idiot, generated enough royalties for the guy known to his mum and dad as James Newell Osterberg, Jr. to pay a three quarters of a million dollar IRS tax bill and saved him from bankruptcy and penury.

I have never read that the recording's purpose was to pull Iggy out of the fire, but I bet it was. Pure class. Letting Mr. Pop earn the the money was even better, and in a strange way more selfless even, than giving it to him as charity.

We are the Ovaltineys

Yesterday was a roller coaster ride with both the Old Ruts and the Seattle Seahawks.

The boys went down 31-24 to Reeds Weybridge after being 19-5 up in the first half. We got a losing bonus point for scoring four tries, which means we have five in total now. That is likely to be crucial come to the end of the season. It was frenetic stuff. The 24 all draw the game would have ended in had the whistle gone five minutes earlier would have been a fair result I feel. Their outside half was a right handful, fizzing with energy all the way through the second half. Someone less well brought up than me might well criticise the performance of the Gary Glitter look-a-like referee. I couldn't possibly comment.

Then in the evening, the Vikings led for three quarters before the Seahawks stormed back in the fourth to score all 10 of the points in the 10-9 victory points that ended Minnesota's season, but not before the Vikings had one last opportunity to snatch victory at the death only for Blair Walsh to miss a 27-yard field goal that I could have kicked, with 22 seconds remaining. I was glued to it on Sky Sports 1 from half past five until 9pm.

I must be about ten years older today than I was on Saturday from cumulative stress acquired over the two games.

I had intended to go and see Action to the Word's Dracula next Sunday night, but I think my inner meat-head win win out over the theatre aficionado, and I will be sitting down at home for the TV coverage of the Carolina Panthers v  Seattle Seahawks NFC Divisional Play-off.

Oedipus in Space

I finally surrendered to the dark side of the zeitgeist yesterday and went along to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

JJ Abrams et al seem to have solved the problem of coming up with a plot for Episode VII, by - to all intents and purposes - remaking the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.

"Daddy issues" from The Empire Strikes Back have also been grafted on to the new film. Practically every major character - it is at least implied - is the abandoned offspring of another. For all that the films are chaste, the inhabitants of the extended Star Wars universe must be at it like knives whenever the camera is pointed the other way.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to discover in Episode VIII that the adorable new 'droid BB-8 is the result of a drunken R2-D2 getting off with C3-PO at a party after the Death Star was destroyed.

Further - the bloodlines now being so limited and entwined - we may hear "Duelling Banjos" on the soundtrack as Yoda speaks from the hereafter:

Marry him you may not, honey-chile. Your cousin Billy-Bobba is, and his niece, you are.

New alcohol guidelines

What you need to know

Men and women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week - the equivalent of six pints of average strength beer or seven glasses of wine - in order to keep their health risks low, new guidelines have recommended.

Summoning all the authority of a man on day nine of dry January, it seems entirely likely to me that I will get through my entire week's allowance after noon on the 31st win, lose or draw to Warlingham.

I do not regard this as a moral fault, but I am at fault when it comes to item 7 of Esquire's How to do a Dry January (Without Losing the Will to Lve):

7 | Don’t bang on about dry January to everyone you meet as if you're training for an ultra-marathon.

It's not such an impressive feat that you need to involve all your friends and tell every stranger you meet. See it more as a personal, private pain that is well within your capabilities and may just help to remind you that you are in full control of your drinking.

Sorry everyone,

The Hundred-Year-Old Man .........

When I picked the Bomber up on Sunday, I asked him - by way of conversation - if he had watched any good films as he flew back over the Atlantic. He told me that he had very much enjoyed The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

I watched it last night as it was free on Amazon Prime. I'd already read the novel in 2014, because I've already read everything dahling!

The kooky pic should be a welcome arthouse counter-programmer for those wary of heavier foreign imports, said Variety of this multi-lingual, largely sub-titled, Swedish black comedy. Nothing changes (Icons passim), he has been recommending quirky indies to me since he was seven years old.

Only if and when Mike Leigh ever directs a Jason Statham vehicle, will the son and heir and I finally be able to agree on a evening's movie entertainment without compromise.

This Sick Beat: A Socratic Dialogue

TAYLOR SWIFT: Tell me, Socrates, must the player always play, play, play?

SOCRATES: Well, that depends on what it is to be a player and what it means to play. Could you be more specific?

SWIFT: I’m thinking of the dirty, dirty cheats of the world. Those about whom so many get down and out, while they could be getting down to this sick beat. Alcibiades, for example, abandoned Athens and sought refuge in Sparta, then left Sparta for Persia before finally returning to Athens, leaving an inter-imperial trail of broken hearts.

SOCRATES: Yes, I see. Alcibiades is, in fact, a player who will play, play, play.

SWIFT: Yes, very much so.

SOCRATES: But must he? That is the question at hand.

SWIFT: I believe he must for, consider that the hater must hate, hate, hate, and the faker must fake, fake, fake. Why should the player be different?

SOCRATES: But might people change? Couldn’t something convince the player to stay, stay, stay rather than play, play, play?

SWIFT: Ah, but you see Socrates, it is not the player that decides to stay, stay, stay. Rather, the player becomes a stayer when he ceases to play, play, play.

SOCRATES: So then one must eliminate the other. A player can never stay, stay, stay because, according to you, he would then be a stayer and not a player.

SWIFT: That is correct.

The student has become the master.

SLATER AND GORDON: This law firm represents Ms Taylor Swift in connection with intellectual property rights. Your use of THIS SICK BEAT is a violation of Ms Taylor Swift’s common law trademark rights, common law service mark rights, and trade name rights, and this here text, y'all, constitutes Ms Swift’s demand that you cease and desist any and all use. You should immediately forward this information to your attorney who is to be referred to https://trademarks.justia.com/864/34/this-sick-86434794.html.

SOCRATES: It seems we’ve reached an impasse — you say players will always play, play, play, but its possible for them to appear to stay, stay, stay and yet this makes them a faker who will fake, fake, fake. But if they fake, fake, fake then they do not always play, play, play for there must be at least some stay, stay, stay for otherwise, they only play, play, play and hence, are a player and not a faker.

SLATER AND GORDON: 'Cause we never go out of  style.  https://trademarks.justia.com/864/34/cause-we-never-go-out-of-86434916.html

There's a poor little bean in the diner car

Hang Fire (Icons passim) chose the songs for Cerys Matthew's three track Sunday Roast play list on Sunday. You can catch them about 2 hours and seven minutes into http://bbc.in/1ms4u2n.

It struck me that having been inspired by rattling round the Southern States in search of good eatin' they should make a fine addition to my Spotify Route 55 playlist.  

Here are the tunes. (Spotify doesn't seem to have Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks' Walking Blues, so I added Bonnie Raitt's version instead and offer a YouTube take on what was played on the radio below.)

Get thee behind me Satan!

Our range of superb malts ready for the mash tun and 1st brew of 'Phoenix', our @WimbledonBrew subtly smoked porter. pic.twitter.com/JUGFf8FDJV

— Wimbledon Brewery (@WimbledonBrew) January 4, 2016

What a thing to read in Dry January! I do love my stouts and porters. I will pop round the corner to pick up some Phoenix come Feb.

Day five and counting: We came second in the quiz last night. I was less effective than usual particularly on the music and film rounds. Perhaps all my years listening to CDs and watching DVDs with refreshment in hand have left my brain better wired to recall them powered by something more potent than lime and soda water.

Highlights

I have embedded the highlights of the Blues/Scarlets game above and tweeked it to start 46 seconds in with Dan Fish's try.

YouTube embedding from the NFL channel is disabled, but if you take a gander at https://youtu.be/6dgGdxfSUPg you can see the highlights of last night's game in which the Seattle Seahawks closed out their regular season with a 36-6 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. They now move on to the NFC playoffs to face the Minnesota Vikings away. That game is around 6pm UK time next Sunday. I wonder how I can watch it?

The Young Master is home

Ben is back from the USA. We are going for high tea in Wetherspoon's and then to see Verne Troyer in panto. Surely Florida has nothing to compare.

Always read the small print

Looking at the Old Ruts U15 league fixtures I can see that there is a home game on Sunday January 31 against Warlingham.

If that - as it should be - is played at the club, my Dry January will finish at noon in the bar rather than midnight. Everyone is cordially invited,

On the subject of rugby, Dan Fish played very well and scored a great try as the Blues beat the Scarlets yesterday. The only way I could watch it online was on S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru) which is a Welsh language channel. I muted that and put the Radio Wales English language commentary on a different device. The video lagged the audio by about twenty seconds which was initially disconcerting, though I was amazed how quickly I got used to it.

drink refusal self-efficacy

I am giving up booze for January. I'm already over half a day in and there are no withdrawal symptoms to report so far.

I thought I may as well announce it here to bind myself officially and discourage recidivist backsliding.

An early test will be watching the Pro12: Cardiff Blues v Scarlets game at five o'clock. The BBC say it is live on the iPlayer and Dan Fish returns at full-back. Is it possible to watch a game of ruby on the TV without a can of lager in hand? We shall see.

Prodnose: Drinking refusal self-efficacy?

Myself (with some little impatience): One's perceived ability to resist drinking in high-risk situations. It is distinct from alcohol expectancy which deals with assumptions about the effects of drinking alcohol on one's behaviour and mood.

Prodnose (superciliously): The specificity of these constructs to alcohol consumption has been demonstrated, I imagine?

Myself (infuriated): If using 161 first-year psychology students and multiple regression analyses, is anything to go by; yes. This study indicated that alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy were specifically related to quantity of alcohol consumption, but not to caffeine or nicotine intake.

Prodnose (placated): Well that certainly strengthens the theoretical foundations of alcohol expectancy theory.

Myself (like a nightingale with a toothache): Come back to me on the first of February and we'll see.

It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future

Way back in 2000, the CIA convened a group of experts from outside the Agency. Their mission: to gaze into the near future and predict what 2015 would look like.

The result was a 70-page report covering everything from the rise of nanotechnology through oil shocks and demographic change to the fate of the global economy.

You can read the full document here. On the last day of 2015, I can fairly confidently assert it is a load of rubbish.

the food here is dégustation, and such small portions

The seven course tasting menu for £45 will in fact get you ten separate and perfectly portioned plates of food (including petit fours and other throw-ins received with much enthusiasm). I am yet to find elsewhere in London with this sort of price-point in exchange for the same finesse of kitchen skill, number of courses and quality of ingredients experienced.

If you haven’t yet eaten at The Dairy, a visit should be high on your priority list. If you have, I suspect your next is already on the cards.

Talking to my brother John over the holidays, I was surprised to learn (God knows how the topic came up) that he has never eaten a tasting menu (sample portions of many different dishes served in several courses for a set price) in a restaurant. I have decided this must be remedied next time he comes up to London, and googled up the review extracted above of The Dairy, which is a short hop up the Northern Line from Colliers Wood to Clapham Common.

The Dairy's website indicates that the £45pp menu is still available so it is all systems go.

Leyla Kazim, who wrote the Wimbledon Guardian piece, says in the first paragraph that she has moved to Colliers Wood, so I have added the RSS feed from her food blog (www.thecutlerychronicles.com) to feedly, the aggregator that I use.

Lemmy Kilmister, Motörhead frontman dead at 70

..... one of those beings whose pace of life was faster and more intense than what is normal. Just as an aeroplane only flies by its speed and pressure against the air, so he flew best and easiest in the hurricane. He was not in complete harmony with the normal.

R.I.P.

Crystal Clear?

After the 23-17 defeat yesterday against the St. Louis Rams.....

the Seattle Seahawks go into Week 17 not knowing whether they'll travel to Washington, Minnesota or Green Bay for the wild-card round.

Depending on what happens next week, they'll be the No. 5 or the No. 6 seed. There are two games to keep an eye on. One is the Seahawks' matchup in Arizona against the Cardinals. The other is the Packers' matchup at Lambeau against the Vikings, which will determine the NFC North champ.

Here are the four possible scenarios, along with what each means for the Seahawks.

If the Seahawks win and the Packers win ...
The Seahawks would be the No. 5 seed and travel to Washington. The Packers would win the NFC North and host the sixth-seeded Vikings. In this scenario, the Seahawks get the tiebreaker over the Vikings on account of Seattle's head-to-head win.

If the Seahawks win and the Vikings win ...
The Seahawks would be the No. 6 seed and travel to Minnesota. The Vikings would win the NFC North, and the Packers would travel to Washington. Green Bay would own the tiebreaker over Seattle in this scenario on account of its head-to-head win.

If the Seahawks lose and the Packers win ...
The Seahawks would be the No. 6 seed and travel to Green Bay. The Packers would win the NFC North, and the Vikings would travel to Washington as the fifth seed on account of having a better overall record than the Seahawks.

If the Seahawks lose and the Vikings win ...
The Seahawks would be the No. 6 seed and travel to Minnesota. The Vikings would win the NFC North, and Green Bay would travel to Washington as the fifth seed on account of having a better overall record than the Seahawks.

Simples!

Suggs

I caught the tail end of Suggs: My Mad-Life Crisis on Radio 4 as I was driving about over the Christmas break, so I am publishing the link http://bbc.in/1Ul7hW0 to remind myself to catch the rest even though I am going to the staged performance that it is based on in the summer.

Big of him

Dec 2015

June 2011

Ben is with Rayburn in Florida this week on the left. I bet they're going fishing as they did in the Wandle in June 2011 on the right.

That is a lot of growing in four and a half years. I am sure Ray is at least six feet tall, so Ben must be coming up to six two now, regardless of any foreshortening in the photo. (Looking again, why he thinks a Kim Jong-un hair style is a good look is a mystery to me.)

Before he moved to the US, Rayburn (and all his mates come to think of it) were great at taking the Bomber around with them. Fishing or going to an all-you-can-eat buffet with a group of nineteen year olds when you are ten, must feel great. I remember Ben telling me that when they went to the park mob-handed Ray would get him to run and climb Marine Corps style with a rucksack filled with rocks on his back "as training for Muay Thai." I know it sounds a bit like they were taking the Mickey, but the boys always treated him like one of the gang, and he loved being around them. You can't really ask for more.

Season's greetings

I can remember watching this on Top of the Pops as if it was yesterday.

Hat tip: Paul McGhee, a Johnny-come-lately I didn't even meet until 1980.

five minutes walk and fifty two years ago

#OTD 1963. https://t.co/gl6t9riblB pic.twitter.com/2Ne2oiuUuO

— The Beatles (@thebeatles) December 14, 2015

Looking at the Beatles' twitter feed yesterday I noticed the tweet above. The Wimbledon Palais was actually on the corner of Mill Lane and Merton High Street; five minutes walk from the Abbey Mills office where I am typing these words.

Heritage: The day The Beatles came to Wimbledon Palais from the local Guardian tells the story of what sounds like a mad day.

And this morning of course, you can stream the Fab Four as you read.

a very happy Chrimble and a gear Near Year

December 24 at 12:01am local time, The Beatles’ music is available for streaming worldwide: https://t.co/99cigizLza pic.twitter.com/42vZSNGVHG

— The Beatles (@thebeatles) December 23, 2015

.... and to think I will get it five hours before Ben in Florida.

twenty five years and a day ago

According to the Telegraph, the world's first web site went live on 21 December 2015 at http://info.cern.ch/

It's popped into a line-mode browser simulator in an Iframe above. An unlikely looking green-on-black candidate to change the world at first glance, n'est-ce pas?

tube tongues

The Tube map has been reimagined to show which foreign languages you’re most likely to hear at each station.

Oliver O’Brien, a geography researcher at UCL (University College London), crunched the data to produce his Tube Tongues map.

The skinny on Colliers Wood is to the left. Nearly a third of us have a native tongue other than English.

If you read the 'blog regularly, you may suspect that English is my second language as I am not sufficiently fluent to qualify for a first language.

No stopping them

Since John and I met Shauna last April (Icons passim) the Hang Fire girls have been continuing to conquer the world one rib at a time. It is a privilege to observe them from afar.

 I think perhaps they should be awarded their own label here, but while I thjnk about that why don't we just rekindle singalongablog to mark their interview with Cerys (isn't it boyo).

All together

If all you've got to do today is find peace of mind

Come round you can take a piece of mine

And if all you've got to do today is hesitate

Come here, you can leave it late with me

Yes, Catatonia pretty much summed up work tomorrow, and how I am likely to cope, all those years ago.

Mount Dora

Jane and Ben have flown out to visit Rayburn in Florida for Christmas and New Year. They are staying in Mount Dora. Look at all the fun they can have.

Stay Safe: Firearms and Weapons Attack

It was interesting helping to put together http://www.npcc.police.uk/staysafe yesterday.

One hundred and ten years and two days ago

On 16 December 1905, Wales beat the All Blacks for the first time.

On that great day 110 years ago the Welsh team, led by Gwyn Nicholls, triumphed 3-0 in a fixture that contained a number of notable firsts:

it was the first international match that New Zealand had lostit was the first game played by New Zealand in Walesit was the first, and the only, time Dave Gallaher's 'Originals' lost on their 35 match tourit was the first time Wales sung the National Anthem before a game, in retaliation to the Haka

Gallaher's men had become the talk of the sporting world from the moment they beat the reigning English county champions, Devon, 55-4 in their opening game. Wales were their 28th opponent on tour and they had already beaten Scotland (12-7), Ireland (15-0) and England (15-0).

They hadn't conceded a point in seven and a half matches (10 hours) before arriving in Cardiff, including Test against Ireland and England, and had kept a clean sheet in 22 of their 27 games.

Forty years ago

Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was the UK’s Christmas number 1 in 1975. Forty years later, the song is reinterpreted by a duet from the English National Ballet, a string quartet from the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity Boys Choir, cut with archive footage of Queen’s performance on Christmas Eve in 1975.

I can distinctly remember Kevin describing it to me, before I had heard it, as we walked down to the Countisbury Avenue shops from school at lunchtime. That is along time to remember a conversation about nothing much.

20 Seconds to Comply

From Amazon - see http://nickbrowne.coraider.com/2015/10/segue-swegway.html

We've received information that your RioRand Two Wheels Self Balancing Electric Scooter with RioRand Bag (Black), purchased through the Amazon.co.uk website: order #111-1111111-1111111, is unsafe for use as this product is supplied with a non-compliant UK plug.

Please dispose of this product in a WEEE certified location as soon as possible. Please follow this link to view the nearest WEEE certified location: www.recycle-more.co.uk. For more information on Recycling Electrical or Electronic Equipment (WEEE), please see our help page, below.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ie=UTF8&nodeId=200142750.

Does this mean that if I fit a compliant UK plug to it all will be well?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/14/amazon-pulls-hoverboards-over-safety-fears

The Festival of Me 2016

Entire series of Welsh international football and rugby games have been arranged to celebrate my birthday on June 22 next year.

Euro 2016 football

Saturday, 11 June
Wales v Slovakia (17:00; Stade de Bordeaux)

Thursday, 16 June
England v Wales (14:00; Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens)

Monday, 20 June
Russia v Wales (20:00; Stadium de Toulouse)


2016 Rugby Summer tour to New Zealand

Saturday, 11 June
New Zealand v Wales (Eden Park, Auckland, kick-off TBC)

Tuesday, 14 June
Chiefs v Wales (FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton, kick-off TBC)

Saturday, 18 June
New Zealand v Wales (Westpac Stadium, Wellington, kick-off TBC)

Saturday, 25 June
New Zealand v Wales (Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, kick-off TBC)

Ow

Wow!!!! Conor McGregor Knockouts Jose Aldo at #UFC194!!!!! https://t.co/zEbZursoW6

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) December 13, 2015

13 seconds against a man unbeaten in a decade. Never seen anything like it.

football's coming home

AFC Wimbledon has been given permission to build a new stadium close to its spiritual home in Plough Lane.

The League Two club applied to build an 11,000-seater stadium - that could be expanded to hold 20,000 - on the site of Wimbledon greyhound stadium.

Merton Borough Council had recommended it for approval and councillors unanimously approved the plans.

That is good news. It will just be a pleasant stroll along the Wandle Trail from home.

Things are looking up

'At 12.35pm on Thursday, November 5 a man, believed to be aged in his late 20s, was seen to walk around the Boots store in the Tandem Centre, Tandem Way, Colliers Wood without selecting any product.

'The man was caught on CCTV pretending to look at products behind a woman and then put his hand between the woman's legs and take pictures up her skirt on his mobile phone.

'He later returned and took further pictures of the same woman.

'A security guard at the store challenged the suspect, told him to delete the images and asked him to leave the store.

'The suspect is described as a slim, white man, 6ft tall with short brown hair and blue eyes.

'He was seen wearing a white T-shirt with a dark patch at the base and Adidas written across his chest. He wore navy blue tracksuit bottoms and brown shoes.

'Anyone with any information is asked to contact Merton Police on 101, quoting image 195987, or anonymously on Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.'

That is a scarcely credible thing to have happened  anywhere, never mind just round the corner.

The more I practice, the luckier I get.

I came across a highlight reel of Jack Walsh playing for England 7's, Blackheath and Wasps. He took the Old Ruts U15s for training at the Hub last night as he has been doing regularly lately so I thought I would post it above.

Copperhead Road

If we are going to take a serious shot at mastering Southern BBQ, we need to make sure we get all the right equipment: Firefly White Lightning Moonshine.

All together now:

Well my name's John Lee Pettimore

Same as my daddy and his daddy before

You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here

He only came to town about twice a year

He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line

Everybody knew that he made moonshine

Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad

He headed up the holler with everything he had

It's before my time but I've been told

He never came back from Copperhead Road

The Real Mike Phillips

I think this was transmitted as a regional programme on BBC Wales last night and wasn't shown in England, but we can still catch up with it from London via the iPlayer over the course of the next week.

a clean sweep

Cardiff Blues beat Connacht 20-16 on Friday evening. It was Connacht's first defeat in seven Pro12 matches, and the Blues' first win in seven. My only small disappointment was that Rhys Patchell started at full back, so Dan Fish was on the bench.

The Blues’ shock win over the PRO12's leaders opened the door for the Scarlets to go back to the top of the table when they narrowly beat Benetton Treviso away in Italy.

Then wins for the Ospreys and Newport Gwent Dragons yesterday meant Wales' regions completed a clean sweep as all four sides claimed victories over the course of the weekend.

Scrum V Sunday should be a cheery affair when I catch up on the iPlayer.

Also on Sunday evening the Seahawks continued their recovery after a poor start to the season thrashing the Minnesota Vikings 38-7 on the road. They look like a reasonable (though not certain) bet for one of the wildcard places and a Divisional Playoff game now.

Away, for we are ready to a man!

Our camels sniff the evening and are glad.

AN UNSCHEDULED DETOUR

Jim's 79 year old Dad is rowing the Atlantic. It is difficult to imagine my father doing likewise.

The 'blog today says:

For those of you following the tracker, you’ll notice the latest update shows that 2 Hopes has taken a turn northwards. While both Rob and John are safe, a medical issue has arisen which they feel it would be wise to attend to while still within reach of the islands. They’ve therefore taken the decision to head for El Hierro.

More info when we have it.

I hope everything turns out OK.

not killed: not stronger

The school U16s won the Surrey Cup yesterday; without the Bomber though who was taken ill during the day and had to drop out.

Adding insult to injury the Surrey RFU have said he can't go to tomorrow's U15 squad trial as he went before, two seasons ago, at U13.

To summarise, the head of rugby in his school, who is a Surrey U15 squad coach and had a team win the county's cup yesterday, trains Ben week-to-week and says he "100%" deserves to be there on Sunday can't even nominate him to be looked at.

Words fail me.

Top 10 budget restaurants in Cardiff

Cardiff offers great places to refuel on the cheap. Updating his 2010 guide, Tony Naylor picks 10 spots where you can eat for under £10

Posted as a reference for if and when I manage to get back over Christmas and the New Year.

a dish best served cold

I didn't even know that match was on, but yesterday Ben and Jonnie (year 10) had both turned out for the Year 11 rugby team that beat the Ashcombe School 34-5 in the semi final of the Surrey Cup.

The final is tomorrow against Howard of Effingham at 5pm on the 4G pitch at Rosslyn Park and I will try and get there

Rutlish and H of E at U16 are the same sides who met in the U14 final of the same competition two seasons ago. Effingham edged that 15-12 and Ben played (for the year above) in that game as well.

There's history in the fixture and it would be good to pinch the title in 2016.

A man in a hurry

January 30th 2015 marked what would have been the 80th birthday of Edward Brian Hayes, known to the world of jazz as Tubby. A professional jazz musician at just fifteen, by his untimely death at thirty-eight, he had left behind a body of work, that has both stood the test of time and has proven to be an inspiration to many like minded musicians today.

For ten years from the mid 1950s to the middle of 1960s, jazz musician, composer and arranger, Tubby Hayes became a household name in Britain. He had his own shows on national television and he played on some of the most iconic recordings of that era, including the soundtracks to the films ‘Alfie’ and ‘The Italian Job’. Tubby became the first solo UK jazz performer to be invited to play in the United States, where Miles Davis attended his first gig in New York and his services were much in demand here in the UK by the likes of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones and Dizzy Gillespie.

........... and he went to Rutlish School. Well I never.

This new movie about him only seems to be available on DVD at the moment, and I much prefer streaming or downloads these days. My DVD player isn't even plugged in to the telly.

Contributors include Brian Foster "member of the same school orchestra and friend of Tubby’s at Rutlish School in Merton".

Maybe the Old Ruts could get the makers to do a screening at the club?

Memorandum

David Cameron prepares for Syria air strikes as up to 100 Labour MPs plan to defy Jeremy Corbyn in vote - live

If the vote is passed on Wednesday British bombers will begin launching attacks on Syrian targets within hours. Latest updates

Well, here we go again. I haven't read the Prime Minister's thirty odd pages on why this is a good idea yet, but I will. Then in a year or so I will read it again and consider how much of the analysis turned out to be correct. Click on the image of the first page below for the whole thing.