Clockwork

With former Aberdeen & Rangers keeper Andy Dibble.

Those with carefully placed items in the background on Zoom/Teams calls, a musical score, art easel, chess set, poetry books etc ‘look how cultured and sophisticated I am in my natural home surroundings’. Aww gtf.

Of an age now, where the odd stag do’s I get invited on are with a pal to chaperone his son and mates whilst they run riot over a couple of days. Never imagined I might be considered as a sensible steer. Anyway, a couple of years back ended up in Spain with around thirty lads all in their late twenties/early thirties. I was honestly shocked at the level of non stop drug taking across the whole 4 days. Most of em were pretty open about it too, as soon as they were up from their beds they were back on it, some completely incoherent and some clearly disturbed. No one seemed to bat an eye lid, left me thinking that this must obviously be the norm these days but was genuinely surprised that they all made it back home in one piece. Realise that they were all there to have a blow out on a Stag Do, but it must be impossible to manage a normal day to day life, job, relationships, mental health etc. getting into such a state, if it’s a regular occurrence. Is this casual use of ‘recreational drugs’ the road that leads to the use of hard drugs, addiction and dependency then the inevitable destruction it brings? I don’t know the true answer to that, but it sure can’t help.

Strangely enough a Black Redstart is the first bird mentioned in this thread, in the very first post no less, looking back through it. The RSPB estimates that there are fewer than a hundred breeding pairs in the U.K. https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/black-redstart/

I’ve been asked to write a Christmas Quiz to do on our Teams meeting tomorrow, where ‘’we can all have a wee drink on-line and share a bit of banter too’’. The colleague who asked if might be able to put some thing together has allocated me an hour and a half! The whole thing will take 10 minutes including instructions. Bah humbug!

Honestly think they could manage without the ‘expert punditry’ chat after each game, it rarely adds anything to the programme for me, other than stating the obvious and repeating just what we’ve also seen from the highlights moments before. They could just rely on the quick intros given at the start of each game (team news etc) by the match commentator, it would be perfectly adequate and just do away with the whole studio set-up, host and guests. It would save them a fortune, same goes for MOTD.

Watched a couple of old episodes recently, including the one with... “John William Pure Mad Mental Intae Your Body Simpson Craig Gemmell Chib The Bam Rib-Racker No Real Young Rebel Ya Bas St. John McGurn aka Young Young McGurn”. [emoji23]

Now at £2.285m. Amazing.

Assuming you’re a long-term poster on this subject JLD, we can’t excuse your own naivety then?

Those eye watering salaries alone, should be reason enough for every single paying household in the country to cancel their direct debits. It’s scandalous that a non-commercial and monopolistic organisation can squander such lavish wages, particularly on ‘presenter’ positions. Surprised that given the power of social media these days, that no-one has attempted to harness some sort of movement refusing to pay up. Would it take so much effort to get the momentum going?

Ebusua Mysterious Dwarfs, also from Ghana[emoji41] [emoji1110]

Julie Wilson-Nimmo (Greg Hemphill’s missus) played Gash’s girlfriend Sally, when he was poisoned by chemical sewage, on a Nesbitt family trip to the Lake District (presumably based on the Sellafield plant). The episode was titled ‘Fuel’.

Bit of a shock down at Warrenpoint this afternoon as Larne go top!

Another good episode, really enjoying this.

Wow what an incredible finish, brilliant!!

Cracking first half, something’s gotta give.

Widely populated across D&G too, seem to like the young conifers in the garden and also love the Niger seeds we put out. Not many of the other Finches, Tits or Sparrows seem to be able to eke them out of the feeder (or perhaps it’s only the Goldfinches that like them).

I don’t think he meant that type of Pharaoh.

That can’t be write

Red Kites released from the Harewood Estate ( North Leeds) back in 1999 that continue to flourish.[emoji106] https://harewood.org/explore/bird-garden/bird/red-kites/#:~:text=Red%20Kites%20were%20released%20on%20the%20Harewood%20estate,to%20Lowland%20areas%20of%20Yorkshire%20is%20now%20complete.

Nice wee bungalow just outside Forres, I’ll take it! Many thanks[emoji41][emoji122]

This. West Yorkshire Police we’re rightly castigated for the attitude taken to investigate the murder of prostitutes who were somehow less innocent or more deserving it seemed. The public at large I recall, held a similar view however, certainly at the start of Sutcliffe’s reign of terror. When teenager Jayne McDonald was killed in Leeds her neighbours described her as an ‘innocent young girl, who wasn’t like the others’. (Yorkshire TV 1977). A sign of the times back then, it wasn’t a sentiment that belonged solely to George Oldfield and his team.

Scotland 9/2 + Northern Ireland 13/8 £20 Double on Thursday, returns £288.75

Watched the Glens Vs Larne game on Sat teatime, thought the home side were probably just worth their point despite conceding most of the possession. Larne do move the ball forward quickly though, they’ll present a challenge to anyone this season. A couple of very good saves from Coleing made the Glens Keeper MOTM for me. Wasn’t such a bad game for a goalless draw. One thing I do enjoy about the NIFL/Danske Premiership is how the players pretty much still get on with the game, without the constant diving/falling about/feigning injury that plagues other leagues. The Ref’s too, also largely seem to be able to let the game flow wherever possible, it’s good to see.

Would go for a female Sparrowhawk[emoji848]