New show, new timeslot, same old garbage public transport that attempts to get you to work at a reasonable juncture.
This is my lot with working Sundays as I have for nearly a decade with one station or another - you are more at the mercy of train, bus, underground and motorway networks than at any other time of the week. You feel like Reggie Perrin when you finally stumble into the maelstrom of the talkSPORT office, announcing "55 minutes late - escaped hippo at Harrow and Wealdstone"
Still at least I made it in with plenty of time to take in the afternoon's games and prepare for Football First's new 6-9pm format. And it was received pretty well by the listeners if the text & emails we received were anything to go by...apart from the one I got from 'Dave' whose language toward me was rather fruity. You take the abusive ones on the chins and move on.
At Derby/Cardiff yesterday, all reporters almost got a nasty shock (literally) when a cloudburst midway through the 1st half sent rain lashing almost sideways into the West Stand and onto our electrical equipment. These are the times when quick thinking comes into play...so maybe my logic of placing a single piece of A4 paper over my broadcast box was a little flimsy as the puddles formed on the press area desks. Not as flimsy as Derby's defending for the winning goal, though, as Steven Bywater and Gareth Roberts decided to play an impromptu game of 'after you Claude' allowing Chris Burke to nip in with the freedom of the East Midlands to score Cardiff's second.
24 hours later and we received word that Cardiff, who've been in and out of the High Court like (insert Premier League love rat here) in a nightclub toilet, have netted enfant terrible Craig Bellamy from Manchester City for a 6 month loan. Now I'm not a member of the Craig Bellamy fan club by any means, but what the Dickens is Roberto Mancini doing in not only farming out Citeh's best player last year, but also leaving Jo in his squad, a man seemingly made from glass given his injury record and buying a player in Balotelli who makes Bellamy's rants look like rational, well thought out rhetoric????
Still, not my problem - my lot nicked a point at Sunderland. Go with me on this, but with the addition of 6'8" Nikola Zigic in attack, I have a suspicion that Blues might, on occasion, use the long ball this season.
Bonkers I know, but you wait and see. I'll be right and you'll be amazed, that's for sure.
Over the Expressway at Villa, the shock over Martin O Neill's departure was instantly forgotten as Kevin MacDonald showed he had nothing to lose as caretaker by blooding 2 youth team stars in the line-up that Martin steadfastly refused to do...and promptly thrashed West Ham 3-0. Easy for him to do given both his knowledge of young players at the club and the seeming inevitability that he'll be replaced by a 'name' sooner rather than later...I hope for his sake that Randy Lerner gives his CV just as much attention as Sven's, Jol's and Bradley's when he considers his next move.
Now, how constructive was that for a Bluenose on Villa?
How random is this - sat on the train home, and my KISS t-shirt attracted the attention of the train manager who came over and started chatting about seeing KISS in Toronto back in 1983...turns out he's best friends with Eddie Van Halen's long-time guitar tech Lonnie, and also saw Van Halen in Canada on the Fair Warning tour in 1981 - how jacksy to get to see Dave Lee Roth and co. at that stage of their ascent to stardom, rather than the fragmented VH we all saw at Donington in 1984. Had a lovely long chat as the train crawled predictably between Tring & Milton Keynes about all sorts of stuff...see how KISS helps make the world a better place. Hopefully, I've persuaded said train manager Mark to come along to DRESSED TO KILL's show at Stourbridge River Rooms next month...see how his memory of 27 years ago in Toronto matches up to our best efforts!! :o))
Which reminds me - go to www.dressedtokill.org.uk for a list of all our remaining shows in 2010 - our 20th Anniversary Tour - calling at Bradford, Stourbridge, Grimsby, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Newcastle, Glasgow, Witney, Swindon, Cardiff & Norwich. First Class guaranteed ;o)
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