Mixed Bag

It's been a week of high and lows.

I passed my driving test today (It was the first time I'd taken a test, despite being 27). I'm now free to drive my Renault Laguna on the motorway... scary!

On the downside, I did a bit of walking around town on Saturday and my bad toe was causing me sufficient pain for me to be limping by the end. I got it x-rayed at the hospital and it turns out I have a stress fracture.

I've been told to rest my feet as much as possible and to avoid any impact sports for the next three to four weeks. So that means:

No cricket

No walking / running to work.

Gutted

No Signal

I have Telewest at home. I chose it ahead of Sky for several reasons, most notably because my landlady would not let me install a Sky dish on her outside wall. Her house, fair enough.

I subscribe to the Sky Sports channels and have been a bit pissed off over the last few years about the fact that I don't get any of the interactive services.

I understand that Sky want to use most of it as a selling point for Sky Digital over cable.

However I draw the line at the fact that I'm unable to choose which Champions League game I can watch like Sky Digital subscribers can. Sky pays UEFA for the broadcast rights. It does so with the money it gets from Sky Sports subscriptions so in effect I'm paying for a service that I'm not receiving.

Whatsmore, I've now discovered that despite my TV Drive (Sky+ for Telewest) being HD compatable (Months before Sky HD was launched) Sky isn't putting any of its HD content through cable. So if I had forked out on a brand new HD TV set all I'd be able to watch would be pay per view movies and one sodding TV channel (BBC HD).

Selling points is one thing but Sky should not be allowed to hold back scientific progress to preserve an unfair monopoly. I pay subscriptions for Sky Sports channels and I expect to have the option of watching them in HD like anyone else. It's not like they'd be some kind of saint that gives it away - I fucking pay them for it!

What's next, giving cable customers black and white feed?

Anyone know which ombudsman I whinge to about this?

Equality

Not sure about this.

Traditionally women have earned less because they worked less. Before anyone gets the wrong end of the stick I mean that they were (and some still are) able to claim the state pension five years before men. It only seems fair that they earned less as a result.

In the next couple of years the retirement age will be equal and it would be only fair that women who work until the age of 65 earn the same as the men.

The only ones that would loose out would be those that didn't work as much as they were caring for children or elderly relatives. Without being sexist who traditionally picks up the tab whilst they're doing this?...

Nothing seems to be getting done about making child custody equal or divorce settlements for that matter. And then there's the hulking great gap between maternity and paternity leave.

I'm all for equality but the changes all seem to be a bit one way.

Talking of divorce settlements, I wonder if Paul McCartneys lawyers have looked at the case of Ray Parlour? His ex-wife argued that she'd saved his career and he was rich as a result, therefore she was entitled to her fair share of his wealth. Macca on the other hand was rich before Heather Mills came along and is still just as rich now. She contributed bugger all to improving his financial position so should be entitled to very little of his wealth as a result... She'll get custody of the kid no doubt.

Guilty until proven innocent - update

Just been looking at some of the feedback to my earlier post.

Yorkshire Lass In London has put in a much better post about this which you can view if you go here. Mine was just one of my usual rage-filled rants but this is much more objective and has some really good feedback as well - not that the feedback I received wasn't good, far from it.

I was going to talk about a bad police experience that I had when I was 19 but on reflection it seemed a bit too much of a 'me, me, me' rant.

So instead I'll talk about this. It seems that if you're under 18 you can be protected from having accusations made public about you. Why stop at adulthood? In our legal system you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty but if the accused can be named whilst the 'victim' can be kept anonymous and free to make as many wild accusations as they like, then they are blatently being judged outside of court.

From what little I know about the Damilola case there doesn't seem to be anything conclusive saying that he didn't just slip in the torrential rain and fall onto a broken bottle.

He could have died in a tragic accident but when a child dies it would seem that there has to be a monster out there somewhere.

It's the same sort of thing with cot death. There is often no medical evidence that can explain how a baby died suddenly but naturally the authorities pursue the carers regardless. Whatever happened to 'Beyond reasonable doubt'? All those women that were wrongly convicted shouldn't have had to prove that they didn't kill their children as there was no medical evidence that suggested that they did. As a result our legal system says they were all innocent as you cannot prove guilt.

In a nutshell, we often have to prove that we didn't do something despite our legal system dictating that it should be for the prosecution to prove that we did.

I don't blame jurys for this as they don't know any better, how could they? The judge should offer better instruction to them throughout the trial and before they leave to deliberate their verdict. The judge should also emphasise that it is only the evidence submitted in the court room that counts towards the verdict, not anything they get from the media or elsewhere and that it is for the jury to determine whether this evidence is in fact proof of guilt.

Do I have an overly simplified view of our legal system? If so do let me know...

Warning

If you're not interested in cricket then don't read the post below, it's a big one...

Just like me ;-)

Away to Dawlish

Having rested my sore foot all week, I felt confident that I wouldn't suffer any ill effects yesterday for my first full-length game of the season.

The captain lost the toss and we were put into bat. This is bad as Devon league rules state that if you're bowled out with overs remaining, the opposition are given your overs. Plus if they reach 75% of your score, they can be awarded points in a 'loosing draw'. So in a nutshell, you have it all to do if you're fielding second.

I was a bit disappointed to be as low down as seventh but given that I was seriously lacking in match practise and had failed to score for my evening team on Tuesday, I found it understandable.

The wickets tumbled from early on. Within about 8 overs we were 15/5. Chris, who went in before me at 6th put in a good partnership with the captain (who'd opened) but was eventually clean bowled, meaning that I went in with the score at 45/6. My objectives were clear:

1. Stay in
2. Get through the overs
3. Try and get some runs.

Ian (the skipper) and myself managed to hold off the opening bowlers. The one coming down the hill was particularly dangerous as he was able to cut the ball in towards you, so if you thought it was missing the off stump, you'd find out pretty soon that it wasn't.

The runs were slow coming, I must have faced at least two overs before I got off the mark (My absolute first run this season). We were frustrating the opposition just by staying there as it was obvious their secondary bowling options weren't up to much. Wides and byes were plentiful and we must have had at least a 20 run partnership (I remember it being 66/6 as I made a bad joke) before Ian was cought off their leg spinner. I could see it coming as I'd been consistently getting Ian with my leg spin in the nets all winter.
After me there were three kids, so I knew I'd have to take the lead role.

I was a bit surprised when Wayne managed to score a few runs. His leg work was worse than mine was last year but with the fearlessness of his youth he got the bat on ball and it was away - somewhere. Between us we smacked their leg-spinner around enough to warrant taking him off - one over was in double figures. More significantly though, for the first time in years I was enjoying myself at the crease. Nets had been fun this year too but there you have the luxury of unlimited wickets.

We took the score over 90 (100 runs would get us a bonus point) and the opposition were starting to feel threatened. They brought their openers back on and 'Cutter' dispatched Wayne's off stump despite my advice to cover it in anticipation.

I can't remember the ins and outs of it but basically I'd taken one more run (when I probably shouldn't have) and 'Cutter' clean bowled all three kids. It might have been Wayne that I gave four balls of the over to or Ashley a couple of overs later on but either way, as the senior player I should have turned down the single and kept the strike. Elliot, the last lad in went for a golden duck and all I could do was watch from the other end.

So on the plus side more than half the runs were scored when I was out batting, and I had another not out (10 this time) but we could have got that bonus point if I'd been a bit more sensible.

There were ten overs left so Dawlish were given 57 overs to chase down 92. To cut a long story short, they did. That wasn't the worst of it though, chasing after the ball in the field made my foot even worse. I think my cricket boots must be too narrowl as I'm now in pain on the side of my foot rather than the top. Getting new boots on Tuesday as the end of the month is too far away.

This leaves me incapable of resuming my walks to work for another week and means I'll almost definately miss this Wednesdays evening game - but this does have the advantage of leaving me free to watch the Champions League Final. I rate myself as doubtful for next weekend as well.

This is all virgin territory for me as I've never sustained a sporting injury before (well apart from kicking the football around in the park) when I was younger I was too busy being ill to worry about getting hurt. It sucks having to sit out games, especially as I'm really starting to enjoy my batting. And I'm loosing another week for my marathon bid.

The only positive that has come from this is that when I was in the sports shop looking at cricket boots (which they don't have stocked in a size 13 - typical), my wife noticed entry forms for a run in November. It's 11 miles which should be an excellent training opportunity for the marathon, especially as it'll be at roughly the half way stage of my training time-frame. I have to stay focussed on this, I've given up on far too many 'grand plans' in my younger days so I'd like to think I'm getting stubborn in my old age.

Answers on a postcard

Why?

Guilty until proven innocent

Nice to see the media and police has learned from the Matthew Kelly affair.

Jonathan King was kept anonymous until he was convicted, why should Chris Langham be given the naming and shaming treatment when he hasn't been found guilty of anything yet?

It was the same with Craig Charles when he was accused of rape. He was branded as a rapist until the not guilty verdict but his name is still tarnished now. I remember when he made his statement outside of court, it was at least 10 years ago. He argued that as the claimant was kept anonymous for their protection, the defendant should be entitled to the same treatment.

And then there's the John Leslie fiasco. An old slapper makes up a rape story* to sell a few books and the media falls for it hook, line and sinker.

I just hope that Chris Langham is given the fair trial he deserves as a British citizen (after all, if he was foreign we'd just let him go already) and if he is found innocent this doesn't tarnish his name for the rest of his life.

*Despite being encouraged to by the police, Ulrikka Johnsson has never made a formal statement about her aledged assault. Her only references to it have been in her book and in a documentary promoting her book. It makes you wonder what she did to Stan Collymore to make him go so mental**

** Pyloank does not endorse actual bodily harm.

Disaster

Having not played cricket at the weekend I was all the more eager to put in a good performance in last nights cup match. Sadly I was unable to score a single run in the fourteen balls I faced. On the plus side, the opposition didn't despatch me having hogged the crease all that time.

Nine of my team were clean bowled and the last man in played a good positive shot that was cought by a good positive fielder.

The opposition bowling was near faultless, if it wasn't on line with the stumps it was going down the leg side (Not my best side). I knew that once I'd hit a good shot off the bat, I'd settle in but without anything wide of the off stump (my striking zone) I didn't want to take a chance only to hear the stumps tumble behind me. Sadly the loose ball never came so despite not giving my wicket away, I still let the side down. Every ball I got the bat on went straight to a fielder, there wasn't even the chance of a quick single.

With a low total to chase, the opposition had us beaten with overs and wickets to spare... Not as many as I thought though, our bowlers did well considering.

That wasn't the worst of it though, when I was at the crease one of the deliveries hit me on my left foot between my second and third smallest toes. The pain at the time wasn't too bad but the swelling and bruising that followed left me unable to walk to work today (and Friday) as planned. I'm even a doubt for the game this Saturday but hopefully the swelling will have reduced by then... Apparently you can get cricket shoes with toecaps - I'll be off to Tony Pryce on pay day then.

I'm a bit gutted that I'm in only my third week and I'm having to suspend training already (I was supposed to go for a jog on sunday but that's doubtful too). But at least it was due to physical injury rather than a lack of will.

I'll have to see how quickly I heal before I set any targets for next week, I refuse to let this be anything more than a minor setback. It might just mean that I don't start running to work until next month.

I've been thinking about doing the mile for Sports Relief. On the plus side it's a bit of distance running but on the down side, it's only a short sprint compared with the marathon and Sports Relief isn't really a charity I believe in - several of its overseas projects are for India which as I said before isn't short of money itself, unlike many African countries where many people live in extreme poverty and there isn't wealthier middle and upper classes to help support them.

Bad memory

Villa have just published pictures of their new away kit. Maybe I'm getting old but I don't remember this being any of the options that we could vote for...

And can someone tell me why we keep going for light blue shorts? Not only do they look shit but we nearly always loose in them. I think next seasons home kit has light blue shorts as well...

I guess it's relegation next season then.

Week Two

So having failed to walk in on Wednesday, I had to walk in two days running to meet my target for the week.

To cut it short, I succeeded. I did both walks in about 64 minutes. Hard to tell with the second one as I didn't actually record when I left the house.

The plan for next week is to walk to work twice and go for a short run with my wife - well she'll run, I'll probably just jog at her pace.

She's doing the 'Race for Life' next month which I'm not allowed to enter because I don't have a vagina (I wanted to say breasts but sadly that would be a lie). It's all in aid of Cancer Research UK (not an all-wimmin charity) but I'm guessing it's more of a trendy charity event because of the women only aspect. After all, if you ran in a unisex medium distance fun run, who'd give a shit? I'd better stop going on about 'doing' charity before I turn into Ricky Gervais.

So having hit my first two targets and having a five day week ahead of me, I'm fairly confident I'll meet target number three as well.

On a seperate note, my first Saturday cricket game of the season was cancelled because the opposition failed to raise a side. As a result we were awarded maximum points (including all possible bonus points) whilst they were docked 10 points. This means that I won't get to bat possibly until Tuesday, when I should be playing an evening game. Next saturday I'll hopefully be away to Dawlish (a 'lovely day out' according to the skipper) but the side won't be announced until Tuesday.

I feel so dirty

Yesterday evening I did something I once vowed never to do... I voted Conservative.

I should point out that unlike the muppets that voted for them because they were angry with the labour government, I actually voted for them because I was unhappy with the labour local council (Plymouth City).

In the last three years they've managed to award themselves immense pay rises (far more than the tories ever did), ruin the city centre and remove successful policies implemented by their predecessors (the most notable being free parking in the evenings and on Sundays - this had boosted trade in the city centre shops and made saturdays far less hectic than they are now). Their transport policies have been a complete shambles as well. Plymouth rarely had road conjestion in its centre, now it's rarely without it.

The icing on the cake was the introduction of fixed penalty notices for people who put out there rubbish a day early (We've suffered directly as a result of this) without warning them that they are liable for a fine in the first place or worse still when their alternative collection day is around public holidays. The council won an award for this initiative whereas all we got was a £50 bill. We only put the bags out a day early because I was going on holiday for a week (in late June) and didn't want them to smell.
The fixed penalty classed what we did as a littering offense but when we looked through the act it came under, early disposal of refuse was not classed as a littering offense.
It made us feel like we were as bad as scumbags that drop gum on the floor in town or leave a broken fridge in a ditch or don't clean up after their dogs. All we did was put rubbish in a service lane a day early and as I said, we didn't even know we weren't meant to do that.

Back to the whole going tory thing, I don't know where my vote will go for the national or european elections. I've not been won over by Honest Dave like many others seem to have been. I do know one thing for sure though: A Prime Minister that publicly backs his home secretary and then sacks him two days later (immediately after a disasterous election) has either panicked or lost the plot (or both). It makes me think of Thatcher in 1990 when she'd lost all the support of her cabinet and wouldn't even listen to her advisers (we call them spin doctors now)
I cannot and will not support this administration. Labour will have to change considerably if I'm going to consider voting for them in the next election.

The Longest Day

The first day back after a bank holiday is always a bit hectic but yesterday was particularly bad:

When I arrived at work I found out that my first senior manager had died suddenly at the weekend. He was in his early fifties. I didn't know him all that well but my heart goes out to his family. Apparently his son was in doing work experience last year and is only about 16. When I was 16 my dad was about the same age as his, so (having not lost him - he was here this weekend) I can only imagine how he must be feeling right now.

I had to nip out of work to have my first ever opticians appointment. I figured I use display equipment every day so it's perfectly sensible to make sure my eyes haven't been damaged. It turns out that I'm slightly long-sighted (my long range vision was described as 'impressive') so I'll be supplied with some glasses to wear when I'm reading up close to take a bit of the strain off my eyes. It does explain why I feel so tired at the end of the day.
Courtesy of the naff bus services in Plymouth I was out of work for the grand total of 1hr 40mins.

When I got back to work for a brief cameo appearance, I then had to rush off home again to get ready for my first cricket game of the season.

We only did 14 overs each. We batted first, I didn't get to bat as I was next in when we ran out of overs. We made 92 which was defendable to say the least. Unfortunately despite some athletic fielding by yours truly (still got it) we were unable to stop the opposition from chasing down the runs. We didn't manage to take any wickets and they won with 4 balls to spare. Nevermind, at least it was a close one.

I have a proper game on Saturday (my first REAL game in years). I'm looking forward to batting in that one. You don't have to rush as much when you've got 50 overs to play with. Having taken three wickets in three overs at practise last Friday, I might even get a bowl.

I went to bed with the intention of walking in to work today (as part of my progressive marathon training). Unfortunately the cricket had left me both aching and tired when I woke so I had to take the bus. I'll now have to walk in two days in a row if I intend to meet my target of walking to work twice in one week. In all fairness, the bank holiday has made it a bit of a short week but if I miss a target in only my second week then I'm liable to struggle with more difficult targets further down the line.