Now That is a Bus

And I don't mean the Arriva bus in the background.

Taken in Valletta, Malta Friday 18 May 2012. 

Make My Day

Paignton is a wonderful place, you can park your car on a bus stop for only 35 quid. Yes the car is on a bus stop and that bit of paper on the windscreen is a fixed penalty notice and yes the driver was only there for less than a few minutes.

Big Weekend Coming Up

A couple of big events coming up next weekend here in beautiful Torbay. On Saturday BBC Radio One are doing a huge 7 hour outside gig on Paignton Green. It all kicks of at 3:00 pm when a few roads in Paignton get closed. Devonian Bus service 50 uses some of those roads so there will be a couple of minor diversions in play between Paignton and Cockington on Saturday. Most of Paignton Green has been boarded up for the event. I was down there this morning and the place looks like Stalag Luft 18.

It's a good job the Olympic Torch isn't going that way on Sunday. It wouldn't show our fair town of Paignton in a good light.

The other big event is the Olympic Torch is going to make it's way through the Bay. I arrives at Tweenaway Cross about 3:00pm, still ongoing roadworks at Tweenaway Cross, should look good on TV. Then through the centre of Paignton before ending up at the English Riviera Centre. To get there it will have to pass one of the jewels of Torquay, the 11th century Abbey. Closed down by Henry VIII it was bought by a local land owner. Recently Torbay, using lottery money have been restoring it.

Sadly it is presently surrounded by boards similar to those used at Paignton by the BBC. Not the best advertisement for Torquay. Then on, past the balloon which used to adorn the sea front and carry people 400 feet up into the air where they had grand views of the Bay. Sadly it got destroyed in a storm lots months ago and hasn't yet been replaced. All the remains is the gondola covered with bits of the balloon to keep the rain off.

Then past the world famous Palm Court Hotel. Sadly not famous enough to keep it open. It closed down ten years ago and stood empty and derelict before it was partly destroyed by fire 18 months ago. It sits there, fire blackened masonry adding extra colour to our beautiful sea front. Bit of an eye sore really, hopefully the TV cameras can gloss over that bit of the relay.

Then along the Strand, past the Clock Tower, looking good after a big clean up last year. Then up Torwood Street. 5 years ago a development of this area of Torquay was promised, big hotel, cinema, shops and restaurants. The existing shops closed down expecting the bulldozers to arrive any minute and work to start on this wonderful development. We are still waiting for the bulldozers and the big hotel, cinema, shops and restaurants and all the jobs the development promised.

After that it heads up to Babbacombe, never to pass this way again. Not in my lifetime anyway.

Football, it's only a game.

I still look back at Sunday's football and think even Eastenders couldn't have come up with an end to the season like the one that unfolded in Manchester. On second thoughts, given some of the storylines in Eastenders it is possible they could had there been a couple of football teams in Walford. Just a thought, What ever happened to Walford United? They figured prominently in the story line for a few months about 20 years ago but have since vanished. Not gone into liquidation have they?

Anyway, before we go to Manchester there was the little matter of Torquay United and their attempt to make it into Division One. Like Man U, a few weeks before the end of the season they look like automatic promotion was on the cards but faltered in the last few games and had to settle for a play off spot. They played on Sunday against Cheltenham and lost 2 nil which means on Thursday in the second leg that have to win 3 nil or 4 - 1 or 5 - 2. Not beyond them but a bit of a challenge.

To Manchester now, I used to be a regular at Old Trafford, back in the glory days of Charlton, Law and Best. Then a move away from Manchester and the violence that attended football in the seventies plus refereeing local teams for many years meant I stopped going. But I still like them to win. And Man U looked like they were going to win before pressing the self destruct button at Wigan and Everton. Then the game against Man City where they played like they had all been out on the biggest pub crawl Manchester had ever seen the night before.

In the end a win at Sunderland would be no use if City were to beat QPR. And we all know that City were two down after 90 minutes and Man U had won at Sunderland, Championship Trophy was going to Old Trafford yet again. Well as our American cousins say, "It ain't over till the fat lady sings." And in the 5 minutes before the said lady did sing QPR had two goals knocked past them and the taxi with the trophy in it had to change it's destination.

The other game I did watch on Sunday night was the Stoke V Bolton game. Bolton needed to win and QPR to lose to avoid a drop down to the division below. Well QPR did lose but Bolton only drew. They should have won because the first goal Stoke scored must by all the rules concerning contact with the goalkeeper were broken by the Stoke player who shoulder charged the keeper in the chest while the keeper had hold of the ball which ended in the net. Desperately unfair, but then I remembered the 1958 Cup Final, I was there and watched with disbelief as Nat Loufthouse (centre forward, Bolton and England) bungled United keeper Harry Gregg and ball into the net and the ref gave a goal. The saying, "What comes around goes around" came to mind but only half heartedly. 54 years is too long a time to hold a grudge I expect.

Then Stoke's second goal came when the Bolton keeper dived and pushed the ball away and the Stoke play ran in to the keepers legs, fell over and the ref, to just about everyone's amazement gave a penalty. Bolton drew 2 all and went down.
Funny old game, football.

Dead Mouse

There was the mouse, on the table in the living room. Then the cat came bounding in to the room. Now our cat never just walks into a room, he runs every where. Once in the room he sits down in the middle of the room looking pleased with himself while he decides what to do. I don't know why he does this because he always does the same thing. With a sudden bound he jumps on the table. He hadn't seen the mouse but the table had recently been polished and was a bit slippery. Cat just kind off slid into the poor mouse, knocking it of the table. I fell head first, it's tail acting like a somewhat ineffectual parachute and landed will a sickening crack. I knew at once it was dead, it's light forever extinguished. Never again would it move the little arrow around the screen on my netbook computer. I didn't bother trying mouth to mouse resusitation though I did unplug and replug it a few times. No, still dead. A quick look on Amazon, there was a suitable replacement but several days delivery time so onto PC World. They had the same wireless mouse as Amazon and I could nip up to Lowes Bridge and pick it up at once. Last one in the shop.
When I got it home and set it up I wondered why I hadn't gone wireless years ago. so much better with out all that wire getting in the way and so much easier to us. Trouble is, my partner took one look at it and said, " Can I have one of them, please?" So back to PC World for an other wireless mouse, a different make but just as effective.
One problem is it takes an AA battery to make it work and there is a switch underneath and I forget to switch it off so now my desktop looks like this.

Oh and the cat gets shouted at if he jumps on the table. He still jumps on the table anyway.

In keeping with my advertising policy on this blog I should point out that there are other outlets and retailers than the ones mentioned about where wireless mice are available.

PS  A few days later guess what the cat brought in from the garden, and this one wasn't dead.