Wow

Bruco Win August 2008 Palio

It has taken me eleven months to find out that the Bruco contrade won the August 2008 Palio in Siena but that doesn't make it too late to celebrate.

I am proud to be an adopted Bruco - it means caterpillar.

We stayed in a hotel in Siena which was in the Bruco contrade so we feel that we belong.

It was a bit of a shock at first since some of the other contrade of Siena have more obvious glamour but we are proud.

Here is a short video of the win on 16 August 2008.    

B&B Bed & Breakfast Ludow Shropshire with Badgers

I am excited because I have found a B&B (Bed & Breakfast) place in Ludlow, Shropshire which has its own badger sett which means that in the evenings we will be watching badgers.

It is strange that we regularly go to Africa on safari to see their wildlife and last year in Botswana even had the delight to see a rare honey badger (or ratel), neither Margaret or I have ever seen live wild badgers in the UK.

I am expecting this to be a treat as we love watching wildlife and thought we might have to travel down to Dorset, Devon or Cornwall to get a chance to see badgers.

The Croft Cottage B&B looks a lovely place, even without the added attraction of badgers and you can get more details at:

Croft Cottage B&B,
Cumberley Lane,
Knowbury,
Ludlow,
Shropshire
SY8 3LJ

Telephone 01584 890664 

website: www.croftcottagebedandbreakfast.co.uk,
featured in Alastair Sawday's Special Places to Stay for Garden Lovers

I will let you know how we get on.  

Impala - Beautiful Antelope

I am pining to go back on safari at the moment so I thought I would start collecting safari videos that will make me feel a little better.

Instead of starting with the big, flashy big 5, I thought I would start with probably the most popular sighting in southern Africa, the beautiful impala, a mid sized antelope.

Impala Mother And Baby

This great video features a newly born impala suckling at its mum with a commentary from the safari guide.

  

Rachel Stevens Argentine Tango & American Smooth Semi Final

It's Monday morning and I need my next fix of Rachel Stevens on Strictly Come Dancing.

Saturday was the semi final and didn't it turn out controversial?

First let's have a look at Rachel Steven and Vincent's dances.

Argentine Tango

This was quite possibly Rachel's best dance yet it was so hot and smouldering to Prince's classic song When Doves Cry.



39 marks from the judges with Craig only marking with a nine. I really don't see what else he could have expected. But I was completely bemused by len Goodman giving Lisa and Brendan's Argentine Tango a ten. How he saw these two dances as equals is ompletely beyond me.

American Smooth (Foxtrot based)

A few weeks ago Rachel and Vincent did a quickstep American Smooth andb this time it was the turn of the more traditional Foxtrot.

Very emotional and beautiful.



But what was Len Goodman up to again. The total score was 36 with 10 from Bruno, 9s from Craig and Arlene and only an 8 from Len.

It didn't make sense to me and is part of the reason why the controversy has started.

Semi Final Voting Controvery

The judges were very generous with Lisa's Argentine Tango (35) and her Quickstep (a perfect 40 - good but it still lacked something in my eyes).

So this meant that Rachel and Lisa were tied for first place and bookies favourite Tom trailing in third place.

What the BBC hadn't realised that this meant that the viewers couldn't save Tom from the dance off so were in effect wasting their vote.

So at the start of the second programme there was a garbled statement that voting had been closed early and at the end it was announced that all three couples would go through to the final with the votes carried over.

I don't see this going away.

The general public don't see to appreciate Lisa who is being favoured by the judges - technically excellent yes but that special something is missing.

The public love Tom but under the rules, he should have gone out on Saturday as there is no way he would have won the dance off with either Rachel or Lisa.

What would have been interssting would have been an dance off between Rachel's Argentine Tango and Lisa's Quickstep or 39 v 40. To be consistent with the previous marks, Craig would have had to go with Lisa but what about the other three?

   

Rachel Stevens Tango and Cha Cha Cha

Another Saturday night so that means another Strictly Come Dancing.

6 December we were down to the last four Rachel Stevens, Lisa Snowdon, Austin Healey and Tom Chambers.

No surprise that I again thought Rachel Stevens was the star of the night and her Tango was sensational - Len Goodman said he wished he had an 11 point paddle.

Rachel and Vincent Tango


                

Wow!

Tens from Len, Bruno and Arlene with a 9 from Craig made this the equal best score of the night with 39. Both Tom and Lisa also got 39s for their Waltz and Foxtrot.

Rachel and Vincent Cha Cha Cha

So how do you follow that Tango?

With a cha cha cha of course.

This time she had 37 points (which I thought was a shade generous) to put her at the top of the judges' leaderboard, with Tom second, Lisa third and Austin fourth.

For some time I have thought that Lisa and Tom were the celebrities getting the fewest votes from the TV audience so I was not surprised to see Austin and Lisa in the dance off.

Austin had a huge problem. While his Salsa was excellent, Lisa's waltz had scored 39 points from the judges who remained consistent with their earlier preferences.

So after being the front runner for much of the competition and the leading point scorer up to Saturday night (by one point over Rachel), Austin Healey finds himself out of Strictly Come Dancing 2008. Shame he wasn't doing his dramatic Paso Doble from last week.

So we are now down to Rachel, Tom and Lisa.

Manchester United 1 Sunderland 0

A few days after Keano quit as manager of Sunderland, his team turned up at Old Trafford determined to stop United having an easy win.

Nine or ten men behind the ball and resolute defending was the order of the day and things were looking desperate for United.

Ronaldo was below par and went off injured, Rooney huffed and puffed and Berbatov continues to not look like the answer. Even Tevez had little impact when he came off the bench.

Fortunately in injury time, Vidic fastened on to a rebound off the post from a Carrick shot and put the ball in the net.

This wasn't a good performance and it looked as if United were going to blow it after Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal all won earlier in the day. Our play was too slow and we still lack that predator to kill off games. No wonder there are rumours that we are still interested in Karim Benzema.

Not a great win but wow! What a relief in the end.

Team

Van der Sar
Rafel, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra
Ronaldo, Fletcher, Carrick, Park
Rooney, Berbatov

Substitutes

Tevez replaced Park 57 minutes
Anderson replaced Fletcher 68 minutes
Giggs replaced Ronaldo 68 minutes

Manchester Evening News match report and player ratings
      

City Boy Videos

One of my favourite little know groups from the 70s was a Birmingham band called City Boy.

I never saw them live but I did buy their first two albums "City Boy" and "Dinner At The Ritz" when they came out.

City Boy were a cross between 10cc, Queen and Caravan but then they went poppier.

Since CDs I have bought the first six albums but the seventh still escapes my grasp.

Great to see on YouTube some of the City Boy videos.

Turn On To Jesus - City Boy

 A rare single...and with a religious theme.

  

What A Night - City Boy

Walk On The Water - City Boy

The Hap Ki Do Kid - City Boy (One of my favourites from the first album)

5705 - City Boy (The hit that told me it was time to put City Boy to one side and I'm still not that keen on it.)

The Day The Earth Caught Fire  - City Boy(the title track of what is considered to be their best album - me I prefer the first)

City Boy Albums

• 1976 City Boy    

• 1976 Dinner at the Ritz

• 1977 Young Men Gone West

• 1978 Book Early

• 1979 The Day the Earth Caught Fire

• 1980 Heads Are Rolling

• 1981 It's Personal

I will be reviewing the City Boy albums - or at least what I believe are the best of them - but what do you think about City Boy?

Manchester United 5 Blackburn Rovers 3

A comfortable victory over Blackburn n the Carling Cup last night has a misleading scoreline to give United a place in the semi finals.

Manchester United were always in control, even with a much changed team from the Sunday game.

The game was notable for a change in form from Carlos Tevez who scored three or four goals - one could be declared an own goal - and a goal from Nani.

But how did Blackburn managed to score three goals at Old Trafford, just a few weeks after Hull City also managed it? It doesn't help changing the defence but Gary Neville at centre back is now looking his age. It is sad when one of the greats declines but the progress of Rafael makes it difficult to see Gary Neville ever capturing his place back as United's number one right back.

The team was:

Foster
Rafael, Neville, Evans, O'Shea
Gibson, Possebon, Anderson
Nani, Tevez, Giggs

Scholes made a welcome return for injury and played the last 25 minutes for Possebon, Evra replaced O'Shea and Manuchio had more first team experience when he replaced Giggs.

Extra reading

Manchester Evening News report
Player ratings    

Manchester City 0 Manchester United 1

After being beaten by City twice last season, United went on to win the Premier League and European Champions League but they knew they weren't kings on Manchester.

So this was a grudge game to some extent although it was muted with City managed by United legend Mark Hughes for his first derby game.

Both sides put out attacking teams and it was builded as Ronaldo v Robinho but the press forgot the other Roo - Wayne who scored the only goal for United and was denied a fantastic second goal from a long range chip by City's goalkeeper Hart chasing back.

The goal was Rooney's 100th and he was delighted. Aftera  great October which took him to 99, this final goal appeared a millstone so let's hope he goes on another scoring run.

Good performance all around from United's players who were in control for virtually al game until Ronaldo was sent off for a crazy handball. I'm not sure we will ever know the truth as first there seemed a claim of a push and then a whistle.

United's team was:
Van De Sar,
Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra
Park, Fletcher, Carrick, Ronaldo
Rooney Berbatov

Too late substitutes with Giggs on for Berbativ and O'Shea on for Park but neither made an impact on the game.

One niggle was the fussy refereeing with five players booked and Ronaldo sent off.

Still it has consolidated United's place in third with Chelsea being beaten by Arsenal and Liverpool dropping two points at Anfield on Monday night, this could be the start of our march to glory.

Rachel Stevens Waltz & Paso Doble

Strictly Come Dancing is really hotting up this year and despite this beautiful waltz from Rachel Stevens which scored 39 points from the judges, she fund herself in the dance off after only coming third.

  



Simply beautiful.

Unfortunately the Paso Doble let the side down as Rachel and Vincent only scored 32 points. I thought the marks and comments were harsh but I did agree that we didn't need Vincent wasting time with all that cape nonsense.

It is one thing for the celebrities to want to have a play but another for the professionals as Vincent left Rachel posing at the back of the stage. What a waste.

As I mentioned Rachel was left in the bottom 2 with Christine and I did wonder whether the public vote was the exact opposite to the judges marks. I was sorry to see Christine leave as she is a lovely person but she was the least good dancer. Bags of charm but she lacked the poise and fluidity of Rachel.

I am getting worried that Rachel won't make the final. What do you think?