Xmas Dinner

Merry Christmas everybody!!! Have a good 'un.

El Chimpador

Merry Xmas From A Cornish Hobbit Hole

Embrace had a bit of a Xmas 'do' for their fans last week. T'was in a cave in Cornwall (location of the cover shot of Echo & the Bunnymen's "Ocean Rain" [which, incidentally, the band played on the night in tribute]). I think I speak for everyone that was there when I say it was an outstanding gig. Both the venue and the performance were truly awesome Fan's favourites and a few Xmas classics were on the bill for the set. Shame they didn't cover East 17's "Stay Another Day" as I think it would've suited them really well, but you can't have everything, eh? Was good to catch up with the band again. The mulled wine tasted like liquid mince pies (i.e. far too easy to drink). Well worth the long drive to get there.

Magic. Got the Xmas spirit now.

Have fun.

Oh yeah, and tonight's match is VITAL!!!

A Bit To Catch Up...

OK, been too lazy to post recently, but if you need to know, we won again in the 2nd match of the season, but stupidly, we got over-confident. 3rd game of the season was supposed to be a walkover, we were predicted to win. We lost. I couldn't get into any sort of rhythm & was piss poor. We had a midfielder in goal. Jimbo wasn't able to keep the ball down, virtually every shot rattling the caging around the pitch. Everyone got frustrated by the result (especially not being used to losing) and there was far too much bitching. Not good.

However, it was all sorted out over a few drinks & all was good again.

Roll on match #4. Confident at the start. Went a couple up before we started conceding silly goals. Despite hard-fought last ditch efforts, we ended up getting screwed at the last minute, losing the hard-fought point we'd managed to get back.

It's gonna be an uphill struggle for promotion now, not the "we'll piss this league by xmas" we expected, but we're still confident of being promoted in 1st. We just need to win our remaining 3 games.

Methinks I need to rediscover my scoring boots.

Football Boots

I was reminded of something Nick wrote a while back on his blog:

"Somehow during the last week I managed to lose my football boots, meaning that on Sunday I had to play in ordinary trainers, which was not good. Despite searching high and low for them last night they were nowhere to be found, necessitating a trip to JJB to buy some new ones. Do you know how difficult it is to get a decent pair of black Astroturf football boots at a reasonable price? They’re either fuck-ugly Patrick ones for a tenner, or else Puma Kings for £50. So now I am the proud owner of a pair of WHITE Adidas boots. This is not satisfactory. They make me look like a cunt. Plus they gave me blisters, nearly. But they were only £20 (sale, innit)."

This week, I had something very similar happen. My mate said "Oh yeah, you know that 5-a-side league we were talking about joining ages ago??? First game's tonight, don't forget your boots & shinpads".

1) I have not played proper football (other than a kickabout) for a couple of years, so therefore, have no shinpads.
2) I generally wear non-sporting type trainers (unless you count my Adio skate trainers), so therefore, have nothing I would be able to kick a ball in.
Bugger.

So the inevitable trip to the sports shop, and guess what... Absolutely BUGGER ALL in a size 9 (or 10 for Adidas, way too narrow). Except for one pair. Out of 3 sports shops in the town. One pair of astroturf boots that would fit me.

£30 and a few grimaces later, I'm walking out of the shop with a silver & blue pair of Nike Total 90 astroturf boots.

Got a few funny looks when I walked out of the changing rooms with them on, but fuck it, I'm here to play, let's go for it. Started as a sub. Not a good start, but rolling subs, so I knew I'd be on after a bit.

Terrible start to the game. Down 3-0 within minutes. So I gets me onto the pitch.

I like my new boots now. Whether they truly do have mystical powers, or if it's just the style of play in 5-a-side, we may never know, but a goal in a 10-7 comeback victory, along with some tough tackling, well-timed blocks and a couple of inch-perfect passes seemed to point that way.

If we keep playing like that, and shore up the defence a bit, the league is ours. Oh yes.

Giving the pros a lesson 

So, here's where it begins...

Bugger. Bottles of cheap bubbly not breaking against the creaking hull of la Blog. Oh well, more to drink in toast : Here's to the Monkey's first online endeavour. Who knows, maybe one day I will find out who gave the pesky critters those munchies......

For now, I'll leave you with this, but hey, more to come....