The sheer scale and grandeur of the plans and designs for the new Pompey stadium take the breath away! This is real thinking out of the box - not for Pompey a concrete box stuck away on the outskirts of the city hidden on an old playing field site. This audacious idea will make Pompey a visit to remember for home fans and away fans alike and will put us on the map in football terms that must inspire the team to even greater heights.
Already the cavils about transport and how to get there have started - it will be impossible to park the car, etc. The only way I can get to Fratton Park is by train using the station and under present circumstances that can be quite a challenge in itself. But under present circumstances getting into and out of Portsmouth normally is a challenge.
If the same quality of thinking is given to the matter of getting 36000 people to the match and out again as is evident in the design of the stadium itself, perhaps we will begin to see solutions to the more everyday problems of transport around and within the city.
Portsmouth could become an exciting city in which to live, as famous in its way as Venice, because it has found modern and innovative ways for its citizens to move around.
Play Up Pompey and thank God for an exciting young chairman prepared to dream of the impossible rather than settle for the probable!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Musings
I am in the process of destroying my teaching notebooks of many years. It is a sad process but I am also aware that some of it is sensitive in personal information about classes and children so it needs careful editing in order to shred rather than just jettison.
One of the things I have been prone to is the gathering of exhortations - I am a simple soul and need to hang my principles on such things.
One I came across yesterday was not attributed in my notebook but I suspect is a Pie Corbett quotation. It is worth retaining for my grandchildren and other people's children as I believe it contains such truth and power.
If a child reads, it doesn't need to be taught English.
If a child doesn't read, it can't be taught English.
N.B. the use of the words "doesn't" and "can't because the last statement can be misread.
One of the things I have been prone to is the gathering of exhortations - I am a simple soul and need to hang my principles on such things.
One I came across yesterday was not attributed in my notebook but I suspect is a Pie Corbett quotation. It is worth retaining for my grandchildren and other people's children as I believe it contains such truth and power.
If a child reads, it doesn't need to be taught English.
If a child doesn't read, it can't be taught English.
N.B. the use of the words "doesn't" and "can't because the last statement can be misread.
Weight
Before Christmas and before I was aware I had a heart problem I weighed 18 stone. One of the reasons, I thought at the time, which explained my breathlessness, was the fact that I was basically unfit and overweight (although technically the term should be obese!). Once I was retired I would be able to pay attention to such matters as diet and exercise without the stress and strain of just getting through the working week.
After the operation and my stay in hospital my weight had fallen to a fairly respectable 16 stone, although my target has to be in the 14 - 15 stone area if I am to be normal for my height and age.
However yesterday the day before I begin my Cardiac rehab programme I weighed myself and was disgusted to find it was now 17 stone. I have put on a stone in a month! I could say this shows my appetite is back to where it was but I was really pleased with my newfound sleeker look.
Alan Ball, 1966 World Cup winner, died of a heart attack - he was aged 61! - yesterday. Just a reminder to keep all concerns and carpings in perspective. Thank you for your work with Pompey, Alan, and I am looking forward to today's announcement in London about the fate of Fratton Park - and presumably some idea of where the new ground is gonna be. Watched the Villa Park game on Sunday and was once again struck by how toothless our attack was. Pompey's defending has improved enormously this season (is the presence of Tony Adams as assistant manager coincidental?) but we need strikers who can score goals.
Man U's defence last night was ramshackle thanks to injury list absentees but Kaka, Ronaldo and Rooney showed enormous quality and skill in the goals they scored to make it an exciting match even for the neutral. What price a boring scoreless draw at Chelsea when they play Liverpool in the first leg of their semi final?
After the operation and my stay in hospital my weight had fallen to a fairly respectable 16 stone, although my target has to be in the 14 - 15 stone area if I am to be normal for my height and age.
However yesterday the day before I begin my Cardiac rehab programme I weighed myself and was disgusted to find it was now 17 stone. I have put on a stone in a month! I could say this shows my appetite is back to where it was but I was really pleased with my newfound sleeker look.
Alan Ball, 1966 World Cup winner, died of a heart attack - he was aged 61! - yesterday. Just a reminder to keep all concerns and carpings in perspective. Thank you for your work with Pompey, Alan, and I am looking forward to today's announcement in London about the fate of Fratton Park - and presumably some idea of where the new ground is gonna be. Watched the Villa Park game on Sunday and was once again struck by how toothless our attack was. Pompey's defending has improved enormously this season (is the presence of Tony Adams as assistant manager coincidental?) but we need strikers who can score goals.
Man U's defence last night was ramshackle thanks to injury list absentees but Kaka, Ronaldo and Rooney showed enormous quality and skill in the goals they scored to make it an exciting match even for the neutral. What price a boring scoreless draw at Chelsea when they play Liverpool in the first leg of their semi final?
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Domestic bliss?
Ingrid has the bit between her teeth and is throwing herself wholeheartedly into transforming the house in this her first spring clean freed of work commitments. Something similar happened in the first three weeks of January when I concentrated on just cleaning.
The decoration of the lounge is now complete and we await the carpet laying on Thursday. We are negotiating with the furniture people to ensure our new suite arrives after the carpet laying but they only deliver one day a week so this issue is delicately balanced.
While waiting for the lounge to complete, Ingrid has attacked the spare bedroom. The end result is that both downstairs and upstairs are cluttered with items moved out of the rooms under decoration. The only resort for me is the garden, even though it was decidedly chilly yesterday. I watched, in the garden on my portable DVD player, Part 2 of La Belle Noiseuse, in which the incredibly beautiful Emmanuelle Beart spends most of the time naked. She has one of the most divine posteriors one could hope to see. However there is nothing salacious about the film as it deals with the creative process in an ageing master painter. More screen time is devoted to his attempts to render a likeness of Miss Beart on canvas so we see a lot of his hands and marks being made on blank canvas. The film takes a total of 2 hours 40 minutes on 2 DVDs and is supposed to represent the three days in which painter and model lock horns in a futile attempt to complete his final masterpiece. I am sorry to say the film felt like I had spent the entire three days in their company and except for the occasional divertissement of a naked Emmanuelle I really wasn't involved in the old man's story. Jane Birkin as the painter's former model and now his wife has certainly stood the test of time and gives the younger Emmanuelle a run for her money.
Wednesday sees the start of my cardiac rehabilitation programme in Langstone. I have set great store by this programme as I hope it marks the next stage of my recuperation towards the new me. At the moment energy still runs out and I can keep little in reserve, so feel I am marking time. A fellow heart sufferer says it took six months for full recovery, which means August 2.
I have ordered a medical dog tag from MedicAlert as advised by the ENT consultant from Southampton. This will inform medical practitioners that I am difficult to intubate (in ER, they refer to bagging the patient!) so if future medical aid or operations are needed, alternative arrangements can be taken. Apparently the tracheostomy was performed because I have "prominent lymphoid lingual tissues, reduced mouth opening and an infantile long epiglottis". The reduced mouth opening may account for some inarticulation encountered on the stage but will come as some surprise to those who have heard me in "full bellow".
The Bench Theatre are in the second round of a drama festival with "Grimm Tales" on Saturday and I am looking forward to supporting the event, especially as my Alice is taking over one of the roles (the actress is auditioning in London but is also appearing in Play It Again Sam at the Arts Centre so the firstborn is covering that part!)
May 2 is three months after operation and is also Ingrid's birthday. Dinner at Fat Olive's is planned.
May 3 is local elections and I am being a teller for an hour at a local polling station on behalf of LibDems (see previous post) although I have no idea what the task entails!
The decoration of the lounge is now complete and we await the carpet laying on Thursday. We are negotiating with the furniture people to ensure our new suite arrives after the carpet laying but they only deliver one day a week so this issue is delicately balanced.
While waiting for the lounge to complete, Ingrid has attacked the spare bedroom. The end result is that both downstairs and upstairs are cluttered with items moved out of the rooms under decoration. The only resort for me is the garden, even though it was decidedly chilly yesterday. I watched, in the garden on my portable DVD player, Part 2 of La Belle Noiseuse, in which the incredibly beautiful Emmanuelle Beart spends most of the time naked. She has one of the most divine posteriors one could hope to see. However there is nothing salacious about the film as it deals with the creative process in an ageing master painter. More screen time is devoted to his attempts to render a likeness of Miss Beart on canvas so we see a lot of his hands and marks being made on blank canvas. The film takes a total of 2 hours 40 minutes on 2 DVDs and is supposed to represent the three days in which painter and model lock horns in a futile attempt to complete his final masterpiece. I am sorry to say the film felt like I had spent the entire three days in their company and except for the occasional divertissement of a naked Emmanuelle I really wasn't involved in the old man's story. Jane Birkin as the painter's former model and now his wife has certainly stood the test of time and gives the younger Emmanuelle a run for her money.
Wednesday sees the start of my cardiac rehabilitation programme in Langstone. I have set great store by this programme as I hope it marks the next stage of my recuperation towards the new me. At the moment energy still runs out and I can keep little in reserve, so feel I am marking time. A fellow heart sufferer says it took six months for full recovery, which means August 2.
I have ordered a medical dog tag from MedicAlert as advised by the ENT consultant from Southampton. This will inform medical practitioners that I am difficult to intubate (in ER, they refer to bagging the patient!) so if future medical aid or operations are needed, alternative arrangements can be taken. Apparently the tracheostomy was performed because I have "prominent lymphoid lingual tissues, reduced mouth opening and an infantile long epiglottis". The reduced mouth opening may account for some inarticulation encountered on the stage but will come as some surprise to those who have heard me in "full bellow".
The Bench Theatre are in the second round of a drama festival with "Grimm Tales" on Saturday and I am looking forward to supporting the event, especially as my Alice is taking over one of the roles (the actress is auditioning in London but is also appearing in Play It Again Sam at the Arts Centre so the firstborn is covering that part!)
May 2 is three months after operation and is also Ingrid's birthday. Dinner at Fat Olive's is planned.
May 3 is local elections and I am being a teller for an hour at a local polling station on behalf of LibDems (see previous post) although I have no idea what the task entails!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Feeling foolish
I am feeling foolish. I have been an orphan for some considerable time now, about thirty or more years, almost as long as I have been married. This is the only explanation I can offer for mistaking my mother's birthday with that of my Auntie Doris, who was 86 yesterday and is still very well thank you living with her daughter in Blackpool.
In a previous blog I stated my mother's birthday as being April 22 and have had to ask my brother, the family tree recorder, when her birthday actually was and he is getting back to me. I have a vague recollection that she was born in 1917, which would have made her 90 this year. I would like to make reference to my mother in the Father of the bride speech I am preparing for Alice's wedding on August 25. As time goes by and events such as this year's sharpen the concentration, I feel such reminders are needed. If we don't remember our parents, why should our children remember us?
In a previous blog I stated my mother's birthday as being April 22 and have had to ask my brother, the family tree recorder, when her birthday actually was and he is getting back to me. I have a vague recollection that she was born in 1917, which would have made her 90 this year. I would like to make reference to my mother in the Father of the bride speech I am preparing for Alice's wedding on August 25. As time goes by and events such as this year's sharpen the concentration, I feel such reminders are needed. If we don't remember our parents, why should our children remember us?
Friday, April 13, 2007
Remembering
My brother texted me this morning out of the blue to remind me that our Uncle Walter died on Grand National Day three years ago so it is an anniversary of his death tomorrow.
My mother's birthday on the 22nd April, the eve of St George's Day. Ingrid's father's birthday was April 21st as was that of her maternal grandfather - the Queen's real birthday.
I don't remember my father's birthday which is a great shame as he was a real character. In Bradford I was often asked if I was "Big Jim's lad"! I will use this blog to record some of the moth eared and half remembered snippets I can recall about him.
It is good to remember.
My mother's birthday on the 22nd April, the eve of St George's Day. Ingrid's father's birthday was April 21st as was that of her maternal grandfather - the Queen's real birthday.
I don't remember my father's birthday which is a great shame as he was a real character. In Bradford I was often asked if I was "Big Jim's lad"! I will use this blog to record some of the moth eared and half remembered snippets I can recall about him.
It is good to remember.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Great Easter Weekend
To reassure all those lovely people who have expressed concern about my health and sent me good wishes for a speedy recovery, I have had a really enjoyable Easter weekend.
On Good Friday went up to London with Alice and Liam to see John Gabriel Borkman at the Donmar (there is a review in the pipeline).
On Easter Saturday we were visited by the lovely Liles family. I am known to Carys and Morgan as Guppy (Great Uncle Peter). In the evening we went to see Nathan, Alice and Zoe in Dude, Where's My Script, improvisational comedy evening at Havant Arts Centre. I was able to see Vincent Adams as the new compere - strangely enough I had phoned him on January 22nd. while suffering my heart attack, to ask him to take over as compere. He did a fine job.
Easter Saturday was also marked by a terrific victory by Pompey over table leaders Man. United in the Premiership.
Easter Sunday was a blissful day spent in the garden of our friends, the Penroses. We were celebrating their 30th. wedding anniversary. (Ingrid and I celebrate 32 years on August 23rd, just two days before the marriage of our younger daughter, Alice)
Easter Monday was a quiet day at home with Ingrid, who is decorating lounge with only tacit moral support from yours truly - but the day was marred by Pompey's 4-2 collapse against Watford, firmly anchored at the bottom of the premiership.
All of the weekend was linked by lovely sunshine and warmth - remarkable for April but especially for a bank holiday weekend in Britain!
On Good Friday went up to London with Alice and Liam to see John Gabriel Borkman at the Donmar (there is a review in the pipeline).
On Easter Saturday we were visited by the lovely Liles family. I am known to Carys and Morgan as Guppy (Great Uncle Peter). In the evening we went to see Nathan, Alice and Zoe in Dude, Where's My Script, improvisational comedy evening at Havant Arts Centre. I was able to see Vincent Adams as the new compere - strangely enough I had phoned him on January 22nd. while suffering my heart attack, to ask him to take over as compere. He did a fine job.
Easter Saturday was also marked by a terrific victory by Pompey over table leaders Man. United in the Premiership.
Easter Sunday was a blissful day spent in the garden of our friends, the Penroses. We were celebrating their 30th. wedding anniversary. (Ingrid and I celebrate 32 years on August 23rd, just two days before the marriage of our younger daughter, Alice)
Easter Monday was a quiet day at home with Ingrid, who is decorating lounge with only tacit moral support from yours truly - but the day was marred by Pompey's 4-2 collapse against Watford, firmly anchored at the bottom of the premiership.
All of the weekend was linked by lovely sunshine and warmth - remarkable for April but especially for a bank holiday weekend in Britain!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Advice from abroad
As you're no doubt discovering, Peter, trying to fit everything you have to do in retirement - let alone those things you want to do - into the time available is, in itself, a challenge.
However, I have two maxims which have influenced my life since we moved to France -
first, never do today what you can put off until tomorrow
and secondly, if you feel like working, sit down until the feeling wears off - it's magic !
These wise words come from Terry Cattermole, who moved to France a very long time ago, but Ingrid and I (and the two girls in times gone by) have spent some magical moments in the company of he and Robbie.
However, I have two maxims which have influenced my life since we moved to France -
first, never do today what you can put off until tomorrow
and secondly, if you feel like working, sit down until the feeling wears off - it's magic !
These wise words come from Terry Cattermole, who moved to France a very long time ago, but Ingrid and I (and the two girls in times gone by) have spent some magical moments in the company of he and Robbie.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
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