TWOTW in Manchester

"No one would've believed the last years of the nineteenth century human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space.
No one could've dreamed we were being scutinised as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets - and yet across
the gulf of space minds immeasurably supior to ours regarded this earth with
envious eyes. And slowly and slowly they drew their plans against us."
-Jeff Wayne's interpretaion of the words by H.G.Wells-

As mentioned in an earlier post (or two) I and seven other people headed for the
M.E.N. close to Manchester's Victoria Railway Station.

Two of us had already had the pleasure of a trip to Cardiff in December 2007 - the C.I.A. where we had been dazzled by the performance and drawn in hook, line and sinker to a tale that we knew so well and had done since 1978.




The Martians putting their final plans together before the invasion of Earth



CGI Richard Burton - as the narrator



"Bows and arrows against the lightning.
They haven't seen the heatray yet" - artilleryman





The collected bands led by Jeff Wayne bring us the music



Alexis James as The Artilleryman with plans for a Brave New World




Fighting Machine in it's immensity.

No word of a lie this was better than Cardiff. The whole balance was brilliant. The volume was loud but not too loud.
Thank you Jeff and the gang!

A bag of Wind

I wrote such a long and provocative thought about the wonders of wine and then the internet ate it and never regurgitated for me. [as you see i've found it so don't mind that pissed off piece ]

So sod that. Here's a piece about football instead. And the happy tale about 22 men on approximately 120x100yards of turf kicking a bag of wind for extortionate sums of money.
I am watching, sorta, the semi final of the Champions League match between Manchester 'scum' United and Barce' you cheated in the final the other year' lona being played at the latter's Nou Camp.
Now, i like football (the Yankeedoodles have a problem with that reference so call it soccer... sommat to do with the term Association ::shoulder shrug::) but it frustrates me on so very many levels.
Where do i begin?
1. the wages
2. the facial expressions if someone dares look at them the right way
3. the faux innocence
4. the writhing on the floor in agony.
Anyone who knows anything about a genuinely bad injury is that the last thing you'll do is make any unnecessary movemnets (watch a video of Eduardo da Silva's horrendous injury when playing for Arsenal vs Brum earlier this year - he hardly moved once he hit the deck)
5. the tripping over a blade of grass that the ground staff have failed to cut to the required centimetreage

That'll do.
This, after all, is a game. Yes it's great to support a team (or two or three) but let's not get our underwear in a twist.
Whilst i may refer to Man U in less than endearing terms i do not loathe them.
Whilst i may support Arsenal i do not love them. And whilst it's sad when they lose and throw away a whole season right at the end it is ONLY a game.
These people have no direct bearing on the health and well-being of the world around them.
Yes seeing your number one player visiting your ward when you're suffering from some horrible disease is great and famous faces bring in money to hospitals and hospices, blah blah blah but they don't save lives. And, when they have so much money given to them for kicking around a bag of wind then, quite honestly, so they bloody should hand over significant wads of dosh.
Earlier this evening, the talented Mr Cristiano Ronaldo screwed up a penalty. The goalmouth was gaping wide and he missed.
Now, despite the sarcasm, he is a talented player but he gets paid a fortune to fk up that which he is paid to do.
If i fk up what i am paid to do then a few things can happen.
1. i get away with it
2. i get fired
3. someone dies
4. i go to prison
5. i fall on my gerbers

I know the world will never be a fair place but come on this is getting out of hand.
The money and all the rest that footballers receive is, to put it simply, obscene.

I don't say that high pay to any sportsman is justified. It isn't but footballers just seem to go nowhere near earning it.
Cricketers don't get anywhere near what footballers have yet they can play cricket for 5 days back to back.
Rugby players (union and league) crash into each other for roughly 80 minutes and then buy each other drinks in the bar afterwards. If someone hurts them they shrug it off, shake their heads and get on ( and wreak revenge... but anyway -)

What price 22 men (+ subs) and three officials running around a field for 90 minutes for X thousands of quid... against an AMI (Acute Myocardial Infarction) sufferer being attended to by two people earning roughly £11 - 15 an hour (gross)?
there's unfair and then, there's unfair and, more to point, NOT RIGHT!

Result?... Barcelona 0 Manchester United 0.
FFS!