My view and thoughts on everything!

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in Sydney way back on 28 th April 1996.  I was making my way to the local gym as, in those days, I was a regular gym junkie.  Just before I left my home, I heard on the radio that a gunman had been on a killing spree in Tasmania.  At that stage only a small number of people had lost their lives.  When I got to the gym, the number of deaths had risen to 23.  I mentioned this to my gym instructor.  His response was that it was the gunman’s form “of self-expression”.  The instructor was reading the Celestine Prophecy at the time, which probably explained his comments.  I personally preferred the term “madman”. The gunman was named Martin Bryant and the final death toll was 35.  The whole of Australia was in shock. How could anyone kill 35 innocent people?  There was an outpouring of disbelief and anger.  How could we stop this from happening again?  The Prime Minister at the time was the right wing conservative John Howard.  He had been in the ro

The following is the article I wrote for the Ebbsfleet United v Grimsby Town Match-day programme.  It seems like only a couple of weeks ago that the Blue Square Premier League season 2012/13 kicked off.  But here we are in December and fast approaching the halfway mark of the season.  I am sure that both managers will have differing views about how the season has gone thus far.  As we know, Grimsby Town are flying high at the top of the BSP, whilst Ebbsfleet are just above the relegation zone. I am sure that the Mariners joint managers, Rob Scott and Paul Hurst, together with our own Liam Daish will agree on one thing – A win today!  At present a mere three points separate the top five teams , and only four points separate the bottom seven teams.  So it is a very tightly contested league at present. At this time of year the general thoughts of most people turn towards Christmas. In less than a month, a rather portly old man with long white hair and beard, will pay us all a

Life really is full of repetition.  It seems to be the same old thing, day after day. Be honest, how often do you feel like you are repeating things over and over and over again? Just like that great movie Groundhog Day, when Punxsutawney Phil makes an appearance to decide if winter is coming to an end or not, Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again.  Despite its comedic theme, the film does make a good point that our lives do seem to be stuck living the same old scene. To make my point, I will give you an overview of how most of my days go.  Normally the weekdays rather than weekends, where there is a bit of flexibility. On most workdays I take my two daughters to their school which is about a 7 minute walk from where we live.  We really have to leave home at 8am, to ensure that I can catch a train to work and get there at a respectable time. Nine times out of ten, this is never the case.  Even though I am ready, my daughters hardly ever are! After dropping my girls

In life it is important to set goals, objectives and targets in our working and personal lives.  Having a goal helps you to focus and, hopefully, achieve what you set out to do.  They can be set for a myriad of reasons ranging from really small objectives to very large ones.  Recently, I achieved one of my goals after trying for more than two years.  What was this achievement, I hear you all say.  Well, continue reading and I will elaborate dear reader. There is a weekly question and answer show on television called, funnily enough, ‘Questions and Answers’ or better known as ‘Q & A’ or as I like to call it Qanda.  The show consists of a panel of guests, generally politicians and the like, who answer questions posed to them by the live audience.  The panel then put across their point of view on the relevant subject. As the show goes out live across Australia, viewers are able to post some tweets, with a select few being aired visually across the bottom of the screen. W

Well there I was on a Saturday night, with not a lot to do.  My drink of choice (Milk) in one hand and the tv remote in the other.  Then, all of a sudden, an idea came into my head. Why not give my blog a bit of a makeover? So, I quickly drank my glass of milk, and set about finding a new template for my scribbles.  After a few test runs, I have decided on the one that you are reading from.  I hope you like it, as I certainly do! Let me know what you think!

The following is the article that was mainly used in last week's Ebbsfleet United matchday programme. Today is a very special day.  Not only for Ebbsfleet United, but for all non-league clubs across the country.   Today has been designated ‘Non-League’ Day.  An annual event which aims to celebrate the lesser footballing lights in England.  It takes place when there is a break in the Premier League due to international fixtures, and gives those fans the chance to go along and watch some true grassroots football. Here at the Fleet we have fans who travel far and wide to cheer on the lads.  Even if it is a winter mid-week game away at Barrow AFC, you can be sure that there will be a few die-hards making the long trek from North Kent to Cumbria.  Having done a Carlisle round trip in a day, I can tell you it is dedication of the highest order.  It is also a great feeling if your team wins, as the journey back home feels all that much sweeter! Due to the MYFC exposure, th

The following is my article from the Ebbsfleet v Barrow AFC game which took place recently.  Unfortunately, the Fleet lost 4-2!  Football and music are, in my opinion, a marriage made in heaven.  Both offer passion, a feeling of happiness, and are definitely at times thought provoking.  It struck me, whilst listening to the radio, that there are songs that indirectly have football connotations.  So without further ado, here is my list of songs that could have been recorded especially for the Beautiful Game. The first song is the obvious ‘We Are The Champions’ by Queen.  No doubt this epic will be sung the entire length and breadth of the country come April.  Next on the list is a nod to all the Managers out there.  I wonder if Liam Daish has picked up the phone and uttered the words ‘You’re the One that I want’ to a potential signing.  I’m not sure that John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John ever thought about football when they were singing it. Now we move onto the madmen

It has been a long time since I have posted a typical blog rather than a football one.  Well it seems that way really.  I have been very busy lately with work related matters, as well as birthdays for my two daughters, a few school events and other crazy deadlines! Quite simply, our modern life is one that is crazy and chaotic.   I remember back when I was a grasshopper, well much younger than now, our school class visited a local college.  In one of the rooms there was a huge machine (called a computer).  To us youngsters it was truly amazing.  A machine that could do lots of things automatically.  Anyway, the head of the computer department told the class that in the future, the world would be paper free, have quicker processes and we would all have more leisure time.  To me, that sounded really good.  Less work, and more time to spend with family and friends! Fast forward to 2012 and the opposite is true.  We are still churning out reams of paper.  Our litigious world is the m

Recently I had to attend a compulsory  training session at my workplace.  Now there is nothing unusual with this at all. Virtually every employee at one time or another will have to undergo some sort of training courses.  In my opinion there are two types of training.  On the one hand (lets call it the left hand, as I am a proud leftie) there are the training sessions that are enjoyable, interactive and you actually come away feeling like you have learned something.  Then, on the other (right) hand there's the bland, boring, dictatorial type of training.  You know what they are like - you don't want to attend them but you have to.  You make your way to the training room knowing that the next 120 minutes will feel like a lifetime.  Well the session I attended recently was of the bland and boring type. I was glad that I had a strong coffee prior to my attendance, as my general phobia of training is falling asleep!  The session got off to a bad start.  The trainer was late a

The following is the article I wrote for the Ebbsfleet United v Braintree Town match.  Unfortunately, the Fleet lost :-( Now that the euphoria of the London Olympics is slowly dying down, we can all turn our attention to the Blue Square Premier League and our first home game of the season.  Before going any further, I would like to send out a huge ‘well done’ to Team GB on their massive haul of medals.  They certainly did us all proud!  The GB football team did fairly well too, until that deadly quarter final penalty phobia struck again! For Ebbsfleet United, and all teams nationwide, the football season is like an Olympic marathon.  It’s all about pacing yourself so that you can get to the finish line well ahead of your rivals, and thus ensuring a great final position.  In the case of an athlete, the goal is to get onto the winner’s podium with a gold, silver or bronze medal around your neck.   In our case, the gold medal equivalent would be a mid-table, or higher, finish in t

The following is the article I wrote for the Ebbsfleet United v Gillingham Pre-Season game, which the Gills won 3-2. Today we welcome our near neighbours Gillingham for what is on paper a mouth-watering pre-season friendly.  It is certain to be a no-holds barred encounter with both sets of players keen to impress their respective managers.  For Ebbsfleet it has been a pretty good pre-season so far.  A win at Tonbridge was followed by a narrow loss to Reading and then a great 1-0 home win against Leyton Orient.  A number of players have impressed in these pre-season games, and it was good to see new signing Nathan Elder score the winner against the O’s.  Talking of new signings, we extend a warm welcome to defender Patrick Ada who has signed for the Fleet from Burton Albion.  To date he is developing a useful partnership with our defensive stalwart, and inspirational skipper, Paul Lorraine.  If his pre-season form is a sign of what we can expect, then Ada will have a very

Recently I was on Twitter and I came across a hash tag that was labelled #100confessions or something similar.  It got me thinking that it was probably about time that I revealed some more facts about myself.  After all, it was 5 years ago in my first ever blog, when I was very much a virgin blogger that I did this previously.  5 years is a long time in the blogosphere and indeed in our own lives.  So I have decided it's time for the world to learn more about me - when the non x rated stuff at least! So if you are ready, here we go! I once did a hole in one on a golf course.  Now I should say that I honestly find golf very boring and extremely tedious.  I am not sure why a number of business meetings are done "on a golf course".  I would much rather prefer watching a sport or even discussing things over a meal.  The hole in one occurred at the local golf course where I grew up in the old country - England. I am a qualified commercial barista but have never ever w

Amira Aly is one of the nicest people you can ever come across. Not only is she now a good friend of mine, she is also an up and coming author.  A few months ago she completed the second part of her fantasy thriller series. Having read both books, I can assure you, dear reader, that they are certainly worth checking out!   Recently, I managed to catch some spare time with Amira for the following interview: Did you approach writing the second book in a different manner to the first one? There was less of a structure and more of a natural “flow” to the writing process, especially since I did not have to stop and dig into research as much as I did writing book 1 of the series. I’m guessing from your storylines that you are a big fan of history and fantasy.  How much research did you do when structuring your writing for this book? I am a pretty big fan of fantasy and science fiction, and I find reading history as useful as it is fascinating. But when writing Egypt: Rise

A few months ago I wrote a blog called 'A Festive Spirit' which was about some ghostly happenings that occurred to me over the Christmas period. These extraordinary experiences happened during a visit up north to see the outlaws, ahem I mean the in-laws. During the Easter period No Worries (aka the wife) and I decided to take the gals and drive up the north coast to see her family.  We were both a little apprehensive.  Would I experience any more ghostly events? Would I sing my favourite songs during the long drive north? Or would Justin Bieber quit the music scene? The drive up to Ballina was generally a pleasant journey.  However, driving 10 hours with a couple of toilet breaks is not a great deal of fun.  Especially when there are kids involved.  We drove through a number of towns - both large and small.  Most had the traditional Australian food essentials available - KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's and Red Rooster.  No Worries, being the Desi (Indian) she i

I have a theory.  It's a good one, a bit left of centre I have to admit, but still a good one!  So, what is this theory? How did  I manage to come up with it? Read on, my friends and all will be revealed, eventually. Once a month, for the past few months, the family has been helping one of our clients with a stall at the St Ives Shopping Village.  For the family, it means getting up early, packing the car and driving up to St Ives, and then helping out with the stall.  My main role is to undertake the hard task of blowing up all the balloons.  I am glad to say that I have a machine to help me inflate them.  Otherwise, given the number of balloons required, I would be in intensive care at the local hospital.  This is a story in itself, but I think I will save it for another day as it will make great blogging material one day! One thing that I noticed when we first helped our client out was the fact that the car park at the shopping centre was virtually 100% full.  I assumed

Writing blogs can be lots of fun, pure and simple.  You have freedom to write anything you want at a drop of a hat!  Some people write about things that are close to their heart, whilst others will offer their opinions about certain matters by putting their own spin on it.  Then there are others who will go full circle and write blogs as if it's their own diary, their personal space in time.   As for me, I don't want to re-invent the wheel every time I write a blog.  I just let my mind go with the flow and see what comes up, or I should say, what is transcribed via the laptop! When you are on a roll, blog speaking, you need to make hay while the sun shines, and let the creative juices flow.  That way you will always reach your goal of writing the best blog of all time! Well I can dream about that, at least. At times you feel like a kid in a lolly shop, as the words flow fluently from your fingers, and what you write actually makes sense to yourself and the averag

Recently I made a decision.  To some it might seem like a monumental decision.  To me it was a simple decision.  Actually, it was a very easy thing for me to do. What is this decision I made? Why did I make it?  Read on dear listener and I will reveal all! After 5 years I am deactivating my Facebook account. There I have said it.  It is in black and white, and as a reader you can judge me on this decision.  Actually, I stopped using Facebook a week ago, but re-activated it so I can post a link to this blog and let all my friends know why I am no longer going to be a Facebook user. I first started using Facebook back in 2007 and was impressed with how you could connect with your friends, share photos and create groups.  In the early days there were groups that you could chat in, which was lots of fun.  This didn't last too long, however. Over the years there have been many changes.  The format seems to change regularly, and its latest re-creation reminds me more of a My Space

The following is my latest piece for Ebbsfleet United, and was published in the programme for the game v Telford on the 14th April.  I hope you all enjoy it! Spring time is here again. It’s that time of year when you can feel the warmth of the sun, the days are getting longer (yay!), birds are chirruping in the blossomed trees, and you can hear the distant sound of a ball hitting willow – as another shot from the dodgy centre half misses the goal completely, and hits the advertising board near the corner flag! Yes, it’s that time of year again, folks.  If the football season was a restaurant menu, we would now be entering the deserts section.  Having started out with our prawn cocktail entree, through to our chicken tikka masala and pillau rice main course, and are now picking up the desert spoon and about to attack and devour the ever so inviting sticky date pudding!   Over the last week or two, teams the length and breadth of the country have been playing football with th

The following is an article that I wrote for the Ebbsfleet United matchday programme v Kettering.  The good news is the Fleet won 1-0!! Anyway, for those not lucky enough to get to the game, here is my latest offering: Sport is becoming very connected with social networking sites nowadays.  A quick internet search will provide you with a number of networking sites where you can find your favourite sporting teams and players.  Aside from the obvious marketing aspect, it is a chance for fans like you and I to follow our idols.  For example, there are many Facebook pages that cater for our sporting cravings.  Then there is Twitter where you are able to follow your favourite player, read their tweets and, if you are lucky enough, get a reply from them. In some respects it’s like belonging to a family as you follow all their highs and lows.  Naturally, there are other social networking sites which are becoming used more and more often.  However, I cannot imagine a transfer listed pla