Euro 2012

Interesting draw in Poland as the groups for the 2012 European Qualifers were made. Scotlands group is not that easy:
Spain
Czech
Scotland
Lithuania
Liechenstein

Spain will be exciting, especially with the Santander work situation, but I think second place is doable!

England in same group as Wales and another easy group!

6 Nations

Always very exciting to watch the 6 Nations championships, even if it did involve England Winning.
Ireland are still top of the early stages of the Championships, having laboured to a win against Italy at Croke Park in the early game.

'Girl' Wonder

Is it just me who finds it funny that a professional athlete needs to take a gender test?

Stress

My god it is a pain in the backside.

Need to get a flat, and need to sort out football!

Soccer-Time vs. Spain

We lost 2-0, oh dear oh dear
That is me there on the right,











Down here on the left are the Happy Spanish

Quiet Weekend

I have to say a really nice quiet weekend is occasionally the best thing ever! Lovely!

Nice too as off to Scotland next weekend to see Iona and Ed!

Twitter

I'm going to give this a go. Only seems fair. See link to the right for me!

Cup-Tastic...again

So the 4th round of the FA Cup this weekend, and only one shock to really deal with, Swansea dumping the holders Portsmouth 2-0 at Fratton Park. Jason Scotland, former Saint-ee played a key part.

The glory hornet boys also progressed beating Crystal Palace 4-3 at Vicarage road. Chelsea and Man U also progressed, whilst Arsenal face a trciky visit to Ninian Park and Liverpool host the game of the round in a Merseyside Derby, 6 days since their league meeting.

I'll be watching on Setanta Broadband!

The big game North of the border was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

News

Firstly a happy new year to you all.

Secondly, expect a lot more mutterings, as Neil is now on-line 24/7. Hold onto your horses now!

Boxing Day

So a big happy birthday to the big man!

Family went off to Vicarage Road today to check out Watford's Christmas Cracker of a tie against Gary Johnson's Bristol City. Was a very poor game, but did see 6 goals. Sadly only 2 were notched for Watford!

Merry Christmas

Well now, it is properly Jesus's Birthday now peeps, so make sure you have a good one, eat too much and of course set it all off with some fine alcohol!

That Time of Year!

So then, Christmas has come around again! Seems no time since last year. A nice and quiet one for Neilly Boy with just the folks and Katy here. Still plenty of sport on, including live action at Vicarage Road.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Once Again!

P6 and P7 on the 1st and 2nd of December!

Congratulations to Manchester United

Well Done those Boys!

This was the Key Moment though! Penalties so literally a Russian Roulette:

That Time of the year again

P1, P2 and P3 on the 9th, 10th and 11th June. Fingers Crossed!

UEFA Cup Final

Managed to get myself a free ticket to the football in Manchetser today through work.

Abspulytely great atmosphere, terrible game though, with Rangers losing 2-0 with very negative tactics.



Lots of trouble afterwards too, managed to miss it all though luckily!

Cardiff

Just back in from Cardiff where went to see the EDF Cup semi-finals between Leicester Tigers and Wasps and Saracens and Ospreys.

What a stadium the Millenium Stadium is though. Only 41,000 there for the games, but I can imagine it is really a special place when Wales play, especially with the roof closed. Think it is second in the 'Great' stadiums I have visited, although Mile High Stadium in Denver still holds that 'Honour!'

Infrequent

Technically, it's been less than a year since I last left a post on this puppy, however, it is Easter again now so feels like it could be a year!

Anyways, another year, another injury, with a pucker couple of broken ribs being nursed as I speak. Cracking good news that!

Reminiscing - Good Watford Times

I've made it!

I have mad it onto YouTube. Unbelievable, I've made it at last. Hollywood here I come!

Facebook

This bad boy apparently has taken over the world, and my life too to be honest. See my page here.

Easter Mutterings

At home in Harpenden for the Easter weekend. Not too bad to be honest, have enjoyed the relaxing time,with no responsibilities. Got over my run now and realising only 2 weeks to go to the Marathon now!

That is only the start of the busy period though, with moving to new flat with Telfs and then the bloody exams in June too.

Still another day off tomorrow, and the Masters to look forward to tonight.

Knackered

Wow, Final Long run today for the London Marathon, a belter of a 19 mile run. Felt horrible towards the end, but on track to get round within the 3hr 45minutes I am looking for!

Remember to sponsor me.

Power Hours & Beer Pong

Seriously need to be brought to the UK!

And I think I am the man to do it!

Power Hour

The Greatest Drinking Game ever, got better!

Peter Crouch Brings Back The Robot

Peter Crouch Is Officially a Sex Machine...Apparently!

Photos

More Photos Available from the Link here:

Photos

Callum - My wee Cousin

Here he is the little Rascal.







With a cheeky grin on his face to Boot!

Mr & Mrs Hodge

Here is a photo of the happy couple, taken in the University Quad.

Wedding of the Year!

Just got back from an absolutely tremendous weekend up in Scotland, back in the Auld Toon (St Andrews) as my Big Sister Iona got married to Eddie Hodge, Gentleman and St. Johnstone fan, which are not mutually exclusive by the way (Came as a surprise to me!). Unbelievable time, got quite nervous myself, but Mum managed not to cry (too much), saw all the family again, including Granny and wee Callum, plus of course many of the Big Prizes boys. Absolutely faultless day and night, had an incredible time, and couldn't be happier to have such a great new brother-in-law.

£40 Million, and the big time!

Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army
Aidy Boothroyd's Yellow Army

Oh Yeah, you have to love those Hornets, massive 3-0 drubbing of Leeds in the play-off final at Cardiff. Bring on Chelsea, ManUnited, Arsenal and the rest! Then bring on Europe the season after that.

Best FA Cup Final

Today's showpiece final really was thrilling, high drama from start (or at least after a slow opening 20 minutes) to end, with for once the penalty shoot-out actually being quite anticlimactic after what had gone before. Truth be told, you have to feel sorry for the Hammers as they should really have won it, but that man Steven Gerrard really showed how good a player he is with two of the best goals you will see, both volleys, designs of power and technique. His first was a real classic, his second a goal you will struggle to ever see bettered. Congratulations to Liverpool, the sides they have had to put out edged them my support so I was chuffed for them. That and the fact they have a player called Pepe, clearly this was always going to go in their favour.

Scotland Win Silver!

OK only the Kirin Cup, but better than nothing! 0-0 against Japan this morning clinched it.

Recognition

I give you....Me. Sandrige Rovers Managers Player of the year and Players Player of the year. Just so you know, I never win any of this stuff, so to say I am overjoyed is an understatement. Collected my awards from Andy Linnegan, he of last minute FA Cup winning heroics for Arsenal against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993.







Might be a bit worse for wear when this was taken!

MySpace

Well Myspace has apparently taken over the world, so right enough I should set up my own account.

Abbey

First day went OK. It wasn't as well polished an opening day as at PwC but it was interesting enough and the guys all seem like good guys. Think it is going to be a slow and boring week though until real auditing starts next Tuesday.

Stagged Up

Quality weekend up at Crieff Hydro for Eddie Hodge's Stag Do, a mixture of drunken debauchery, quad biking, golf and fives football (Prizes Vs) Had a whale of a time and 7 hours sleep for the weekend so feel a bit tired now. Nothing like a man dressed up as a pig dancing to Dignity by Deacon Blue in a bar in Perth before watching him Klinsman dive into a massive roadside puddle!

New Work

Found myself a new job then, working as an internal auditor for Abbey. Work starts on 10th April!

Holiday Rocks

Just back from an absolute belter of a weeks 'Boarding in Val D'Isere with Dad. Snowed all week the week before we arrived, but during our time there we had pretty much nothing but blue skies. Didn't count a cloud of note during our entire time there. More photos here.

Out!!

So long and farewell to PwC, I am officially out of here. Sorry it didn't work out, but not a lot can really be done anymore. Many interviews in the pipeline, but I think I really need to sit myself down and work out exactly what I want to do in life!

It's been unemotional

Countdown to Iona and Eddie's Wedding

Apprentice rip-off

I'm a big fan of the original apprentice with the King of unintentional humour, Mr Donald Trump. However, the British version is rubbish, doesn't have nearly the same high profile Business celebs (They got the dude who won the superbowl to interview them in the USA's 2nd series) and Alan Sugar is a fanny and a Spurs fan/owner to boot. Enough said!

You just can't beat a bit of conversation with Mr Trump and George for some sure fire good times.

Arsenal do a Bolton on Real

What a result for Arsenal at the Bernabau last night for Arsenal, with Thierry Henry's second half strike giving the North Londoner's a slim 1-0 victory. Arsenal wee fantastic and probably should have had more, Reyes should have scored in the early stages of the first half and Henry at around the 20 minute mark with a header. Arsenal came with a plan, stuck to it and executed it clinically, they basically did a job on Real, similar to the one Bolton, Everton et al. have done on them this season.

Looking forward to the big match tonight, although am sick of hearing about the state of the park. Barca, get over it, Chelsea can do what they like, it's their pitch, look after the Nou Camp, it's the reason the games are played over 2 legs.

Aside from that, Liverpool have it all to do now, and Rangers will need to be on their mettle tonight.

It's a posh sport no?

So we won a silver medal in the skeleton. I'm certain we invented this sport and all the posh folk go to St. Moritz to try and kill themselves on the Cresta Run.

Olympic Action

I have totally been enamoured with the Winter Olympics so far this year, from the classic alpine downhill skiing disciplines to the more energetic and off the wall events such as the speed skating, ice dance, luge and cross country skiing. I've been amazed at the simplicity the athletes have made their task appear, despite the fact they clearly are not easy. I'm still awaiting Dick Cheney to learn how to ski though, with his new found reputation he is more than capable of scaring his contemporaries into handing him a gold medal. Been quite nice that the Danes haven't had to deal with too many countries from the Muslim world too, the global winter games certainly is still missing a large participant contingent from Africa and the middle east. My favourite non-story of the games so far is 'grandma luge' of the British virgin islands who is 50 and was planning on sliding in her 6 games, but she managed to break her wrist during training and won't be riding the icyhighway this time. Top 'shows' so far both American half pipers and the Russian gold winning pair. How this bunch won silver after a horrendous accident I've no idea. There you go though, wouldn't be an Olympics ice skating competition without any controversy.

Fixtures

Provisional Euro 2008 Qualifying

6th September - Scotland v France
7th October - Scotland v Italy
11th October - Lithuania v Scotland
15th November - Scotland v Faroe Islands
28th March - Ukraine v Scotland
22nd August - Scotland v Georgia
8th September - Faroe Islands v Scotland
12th September - Scotland v Ukraine
13th October - France v Scotland
17th October - Georgia v Scotland
17th November - Scotland v Lithuania
21st November - Italy v Scotland

Wow, so quite a tough start where we need to ensure we get either 2 or 4 points I would say i.e. not lose! Hopefully the French and Italians are slow getting out of the blocks after the world cup, but it would be terrible to be sitting on a big fat zero after 2 home games. Also, have to say a tough run-in too aside from Lithuania at home with 3 out of our last 4 games away. Does mean that Paris and Italy are likely trips and may head out to Lithuania or Ukraine as my other trip!

Frozen Flame

Well I’m quite excited about the Winter Olympics that start today in Torino, even if I suspect the British Press manage to turn it into a bit of a circus as they get on at an unsuccessful British team and poke fun at many great athletes. I am looking forward to quite a few events too, obviously the skiing will be great, and it’s hard not to enjoy the luge, Bob and skeleton events. I also want to see the hockey, speed skating and endurance skiing events, those dudes are hard as nails/mental, depending on how you want to look at it. I’m going to go for the first one, although I have the right to change my opinion as and when one of them crosses the line with snot hanging icicle-like frozen from their nose , face redder than Sven Goren Eriksson as he reads the News of the World and lungs busting with frozen air. Please, please, please BBC, don’t subject us to hour after hour after hour of bloody curling. It is the worst excuse for the sport ever, with no tension, hype or excitement whatsoever. No thanks, not for me.

Almost Over it

I am sick and tired of audit now, it is a job where you really get absolutely no fulfilment whatsoever and no matter how good or bad you are, it has no effect whatsoever on when you finis, if you are stressed, pushed for time, as detailed as you should be etc. I am as happy as a pig in the proverbial that I am getting out of it in less than 3 weeks now, although the no job, no flat saga is still a little worrying to say the least. The fact that I am sitting here now is not the problem, but once again you have no expectations of why and until when you are required to stay. I am not overly keen on staying that long obviously, it’s not like I have some one to impress now is it?

Glory, Glory Golden Boys

Look at how my Hornets are flying, or as Tim Lovejoy from Soccer AM would call them, the Glory Hornet Boys, with a magnificent 4-1 away win against 2nd in the League Sheffield Utd. The Golden Boys 5th win on the bounce pushed them above Leeds in the table on goal difference into 3rd place, but still leaves them 11 points adrift of the automatic places. You never know what might happen, but at the very least it seems to be underlying the fact that the play-offs are a probable and perhaps we might put enough pressure on the Blades to catch them.

Anyways, working in a very strange business park at the minute on Vue, the cinema chain. It’s called Chiswick Park out by Gunnersbury and is only half finished at the moment (although the 7th of 12 buildings is in the process of being completed). Its full of people cutting the lawn brushing the paths and so forth, is always spotless and full of futuristic buildings, but it cannot rid two points, firstly it is in Gunnersbury, secondly, the Futuristic roof means that instead of stopping you getting wet when it rains, it means that you alternate between walking through a torrential drips or permanent dryness. Very Strange, if this is the future you better hang on.

Down The Tube

Absolutely sick and tired of the bloody tube now. Definitely one thing I am not going to miss at all about having to change digs for a while and head back to sunny Harpenden. Last night it took 1 hour for the journey from Embankment to Clapham South on the tube and in all I was on no fewer than 4 different tubes. Yet, the unions still hold LU and the customer to ransom as and when they want.





Absolute scandal by the way!