Lucky me

Time to stop bemoaning my luck. I have just won a competition receiving a FM2005 T-Shirt as well as a copy of the game.

E-Baying

This summer there was a plethora of articles in the papers about ebay. It seems to have increased the members of the site massively. Very good for ebay but for me it is just not the same anymore. The amount of bargains has decreased massively, fraud is widely publicised and I myself have had a recent bad experience.

My current ID has been in use since Feburary 2003 but I had another ID a year before that. Before that I used Yahoo auctions at a time when it was full of Third Reich paraphernalia which was banned in a blaze of publicity in 2000. When someone like myself is thinking seriously about not using ebay anymore then something needs to be done to restore confidence - now.

Frozen Over

Well my index toe has just about thawed out from the football yesterday. I had a pair of gloves on and my Moleskin coat from Next kept me warm, but I had neglected the feet department and only wore one pair of socks - big mistake! On the way back I got on the wrong train adding a good hour to my journey.

Oh and we lost 3-1.

Monoglot Michael

I hate the fact that I am a monoglot English speaker. Yes, English is the dominant language in world affairs and culture but the fact that when abroad so many people speak English or the American English dialect doesn't mean otehr languages are irrelevant. Paul Johnson's article in the Spectator magazine is rather smug about the fact that a commision in France has reccommended that English be taught in all French schools. Fair enough, but what about teaching foreign languages in English schools? I suppose monoglot English speakers would counter that it is not necessary to learn another language but I disagree.

The fact that most of the writers & poets had private school education means that they certainly had to learn Latin. Many studies show that learning Latin also improves the pupils English, with improved appreciation of grammar, verbs and tense. In my experience appreciation of your own language improves when you learn another language.

Currently I am trying to get fluency in Welsh, the language of my mother and one I have been exposed to since I was a child. My general vocabulary is what I am working on, my understanding of French in school was based on the fact that I had a strong vocabulary, conversly my dire German was based on the fact that more emphasis was put on masculine/feminine distinctions and grammar rather than learning vocabulary so not only could I not understand what was being said but my failings in grammar (I got a D in English Language) left me bottom of the class.

A Japanese Proverb

Vision without action

is a daydream

Action without vision

is a nightmare

Doomed

When I thought of doing a blog previously I wanted a specific subject blog. So I thought, what is my main interest? It took a lot of umming and arring before I realised that I have no main interest. I decided to do a blog on a sport I like, but kind of ran out of enthusiasm and subjects and started posting stuff about myself, politics e.t.c. needless to say when you have a theme and don't stick to it, the result is a big pile of crap which my blog turned into. I tried another one which again was a themed blog trying to do some sort of history cum human nature comments blog - again I lost enthusiasm very quickly.

Maybe it's because I am a Gemini but I get bored of subjects, interests very quickly but when I get interested in something I become virtually obsessed. So with absolutely no subject perhaps this blog will be better.

John Toshack

Now we know it's Toshack it's time for all Wales' fans to get behind the lads. Even if we are already too far behind the top 2 we still have pride to play for and the chance to beat the English at the Millenium.

Good luck John.

Just a test

A test and an intrrducion.